Summer Menu Innovation Trends

2. Summer Menu Innovation Trends During the summer months, operators focused on introducing new menu offerings that embraced seasonal ingredients. As seen in the spring, operators once again highlighted seasonal fruit flavours this summer. Restaurants menued a variety of specialty drinks, smoothies, frozen beverages, salads and ice creams featuring fruit flavours such as strawberry, banana, blueberry, raspberry, peach and wild berry. Summer is an ideal time for grilling, and operators took advantage of this by offering a wide variety of grilled options. Grilled entrées ranged from Mediterranean chicken to Canadian pickerel to ribs. Outback Steakhouse introduced its wood-fire grill menu with six mixed-grill offerings, including a combo plate with a 6-ounce sirloin and a choice of grilled chicken, mahi mahi, rib-eye or shrimp. Ice cream, a typical summertime treat, was a highly popular addition to menus throughout the season. Early in the summer, operators focused on offering ice cream with fruit and tropical flavours, such as mango and citrus. As the summer progressed, operators began introducing flavours more closely associated with cooler months in an attempt to welcome the approaching fall season. Ice-cream flavours added later in the summer included salted caramel and French toast. As the late summer months approached, operators began introducing offerings that highlight the spices and flavours generally associated with fall. In preparation for the approach of autumn, flavours such as cinnamon, apple and caramel began appearing on menus.

3. Summer Report by Segment Note: 724 menu items in June 2011–August 2011 for the Top 200 Canadian chains. The Top 200 chains rolled out 724 new menu items and promotions between June and August 2011. The casual-dining segment was the most active, with some 386 new and returning menu items launched during the period, representing 53% of total activity, the same as in the previous period. Quick-service restaurants also introduced many new items this summer; operators in this segment added 227 items. Midscale and fast-casual chains combined represented 16% of all new items.

4. Summer Report by Daypart Note: 15 chains with new Breakfast items in Summer. 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer. As is the pattern, the lunch and dinner dayparts provided the vast majority of menu innovation at the Top 200 chain restaurants tracked during the summer period. More than 95 different chains added 670 new items to their lunch and dinner menus, accounting for 93% of all additions during the period. That compares to just 54 items that 15 chains added to their breakfast menus.

5. Summer Report by Mealpart Note: 15 chains with new Breakfast items in Summer. 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer. The entrée mealpart by far accounted for the largest number of menu additions during the 2011 summer season with 421 items. The second most-active mealpart, adult beverage, only had 76 additions. Dessert had the third highest number of new items with 58 additions, respectively.New ice creams dominated the dessert mealpart, with restaurants adding fruity offerings and developing unique flavours such as French toast.Add-on, with only 20 new dishes, had one of the lowest number of new items compared to the other mealparts.

6. Add-On Mealpart • Most add-ons were introduced by pizza concepts such as New Orleans Pizza, Pango Pizza, Gino’s Pizza, Pizza Nova, Topper’s Pizza and Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza. Popular add-ons within this segment included bread sticks, chicken wings and side salads. These add-ons demonstrate that pizza chains offer patrons so much more than just pizza. • Another add-on from pizza concept Pango Pizza offered guests the option of adding a dozen strawberry shortcakes to any pizza purchase. This offer particularly suited large group orders by pairing an entrée with a sizable dessert order. • Casa Grecque offered a noteworthy add-on: the addition of lobster to any entrée. This represents chains promoting their upscale offerings to guests and finding ways to upsell their menu. • Topping add-ons this summer were Olive Garden’s Pizziola Meat Sauce and Roasted Mushroom Parmesan, as well as adding Mixins to any milk shake at Marble Slab Creamery. Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

7. Adult Beverage Mealpart • Specialty drinks were the most added adult-beverage offering this summer with 35 new options. Many restaurants celebrated the warmer months by adding summer- and tropical-inspired drinks such as sangria and bellinis. Casey’s Grill and Bar, Earls Kitchen & Bar and Moxie’s Classic Grill all added bellinis. Cactus Club Café added a summer sangria, as did Earls Kitchen & Bar. • More specifically, lemon-flavoured specialty drinks were popular additions with both Elephant & Castle Pub and Restaurant’s lemonade cocktail and Earls Kitchen & Bar’s lemon meringue cocktail. These concepts embraced one of the most popular summertime fruits when creating these new adult beverages. • Beer was the second most popular adult beverage added this summer. A number of restaurants added IPAs including Moxie’s Classic Grill offering Big Rock IPA and D’Arcy McGee’s addition of Keith’s IPA. Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

8. Appetizer Mealpart • Non-breaded proteins were the most added appetizer this summer. The season prompted the addition of a number of new non-breaded seafood options, including tuna tartar (The Boathouse), tuna tataki (Cactus Club Café), lobster gratin (The Keg Steakhouse & Bar) and Thai shrimp cocktail (Canyon Creek Chophouse). • Spicy flavourings were a common trend among breaded protein appetizers with Cactus Club Café’s Spicy Chicken, Canyon Creek Chophouse’s Spicy Calamari and Montana’s Cookhouse’s Crispy Cajun Onions. • Appetizers took inspiration from ethnic flavours and seasonings for the summer. Examples include Mediterranean chicken flatbread (Outback Steakhouse), Moroccan meatballs (Canyon Creek Chophouse), grilled Mediterranean calamari (Casey’s Grill and Bar) and Asian lettuce wraps (Milestones Grill & Bar). Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

9. Breakfast Mealpart • Breakfast starches were the most prominent addition to menus within the breakfast mealpart, highlighting the flavours of summer with dishes featuring a variety of fruits. IHOP added fruit-topped funnel cakes, strawberry banana waffles and summer berry crepes to its list of breakfast offerings. • French toast was a popular breakfast starch added this summer. Continuing the trend of fruit-flavoured offerings, restaurants added French toast topped and filled with various fruits. Perkins Restaurants & Bakery added both a strawberry-banana French toast and a strawberry-stuffed French toast to its breakfast menu. • Country Style added seven new breakfast sandwiches, all of which are available throughout the day. The sandwiches feature The Sunriser, a breakfast bagel; The Breakfast Club, a grilled sandwich; and The Matador, a breakfast wrap. Note: 15 chains with Breakfast items in Summer.

10. Dessert Mealpart • A large number of operators added ice cream to their dessert menus this season. Many of these frozen treats featured unique flavours, such as green tea, mango, passion fruit and salted caramel. • Baked goods were also popular additions to the dessert mealpart this summer, with 21 new offerings. Several of the new baked goods featured chocolate flavours, including Chocolate Ganache Pops from Moxie’s Classic Grill and Hershey’s Chocolate Dunkers from Pizza Hut. • In preparation for the coming fall months, caramel and apple were commonly featured in many of the new dessert items. Some of the fall-inspired desserts included Cinnamon Apple Crisp Topperotti from Topper’s Pizza, Caramel Frosty Shake from Wendy’s and Caramel Toffee Cookie Blizzard from Dairy Queen. Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

11. Entrée Mealpart • Pizza was overwhelmingly the most popular entrée addition this summer. With school out and summer playing host to group gatherings, operators promoted both their traditional pizza varieties, such as pepperoni and cheese, as well as their new pizza offerings. Noteworthy new pizza varieties included Italian beef, ham and pineapple, grilled chicken bruschetta and meatball. • Sandwiches were commonly added entrée offerings this summer, featuring steak and chicken as popular protein options. New steak sandwiches included Olive Garden’s Steak & Portobello and Arby’s Steakhouse Sandwich. New chicken sandwiches included Chicken Philly Cheese from Montana’s Cookhouse and Cajun Chicken from Cactus Club Café. • Many operators added burgers to their menus this summer, offering unusual varieties including the Fajita Ranch Grillburger (Dairy Queen), Chipotle Firecracker (Montana’s Cookhouse) and Jalapeño & Crispy Onion (Boston Pizza). • Other noteworthy new summer entrées included Wild Pacific Salmon Flatbread, Asian Mango Salad, Tofu Hot Dog, and Watermelon & Roasted Beet Salad. Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

12. Non-Alcoholic Beverage Mealpart • The hot weather brought a demand for more frozen beverages. To respond to this demand, operators developed new offerings featuring fruit flavours. Blenz Coffee introduced four summer FruitChillo flavours: banana, mango, strawberry and wild berry. • Smoothies also followed the fruit-flavoured trend with a focus on tropical variations. Country Style added four offerings to its new line of smoothies: mango, mixed berry, peach and strawberry. Michel’s Bakery Cafe also introduced new smoothies, including four berry, strawberry-banana and tropical mango. • For the summer season, Williams Fresh Cafe added its Citrus Iced Tea, and Second Cup introduced its Wildberry Iced Tea as limited-time offerings. • Different varieties of lemonade were added by a few restaurants to help customers cool down during the summer. Seasonal lemonade beverages offered included a Strawberry Lemonade Chiller (Williams Fresh Cafe), Frozen Lemonade (Tim Hortons) and Market Fresh Lemonade (Casey’s Grill and Bar). Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.

13. Other Mealpart • The Pantry Restaurants added the majority of the new kids’ dishes; its new options included rainbow pasta, cheeseburger and fries, chicken burger and fries, chicken strips and Caesar salad, cheese quesadilla and Caesar salad, and Caesar salad with focaccia bread. • Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen added a healthy kids’ menu option, offering two naked chicken tenders, applesauce, a toasted baguette roll and a zero-calorie drink. • French fries accounted for two of the new sides introduced this summer. Valentine added a poutine option to its menu, promoting one of Canada’s most well-known sides. Note: 96 chains with new Lunch/Dinner items in Summer.