Building a Better Sandwich:

  However, this article is not about ideation sessions or market analyses. It's about the food! As it happens, The Chef Services Group, Lincoln, RI, is right in the middle of developing a series of wrap- or sub-style sandwiches for a summer rollout to a QSR client here in the northeast, so it's a natural to share our approach to this project.

The sandwich

• The sandwich is portable and can be eaten on the fly.
• Meats or vegetables must be fresh, and offer a complementary flavor profile to the overall theme of the sandwich.
• A sandwich's bread and spread differentiate it from all the other contenders, while flavor enhancers such as relishes and chutneys further raise the bar.

  Many of the chains that my company works with are constantly striving to elevate the status of their sandwich offerings. As popular wraps, flat breads, bagels, focaccias and flavored breads continue to fill menus, operators are pairing those breads with unique fillings and higher food-quality standards to create new twists on the traditional approaches.

The operations perspective

  So, what about the food? The basic strategy first requires learning a client's business, then applying that knowledge to the design process. Don't offer an idea that purchasing can't support or that marketing can't sell, and most importantly, one that operations can't execute. (And by the way, don't forget one very important item - will the customer like it?) Keeping this in mind, here are a few of the rules for developing sandwich concepts for chains.

• Who are you currently buying meats from, and what are their capabilities?
• Who supplies your breads, and are other suppliers available in your distribution network?
• Who makes your dressings and can they custom formulate new types if needed?
• What is the existing inventory base that can be used to provide ingredients for a different sandwich?
• What concerns arise from operations limitations at the unit level?
• What is the objective of the sandwich program?

  Answering these questions takes time, but obtaining this information upfront will save time in the long run. Also, remember that operations needs to buy in on the project, or it just won't happen. Therefore, first, and most importantly, conduct an operations assessment and use a research chef with the experience to accurately identify requirements. Too many times a project goes sour because this assessment isn't done.

  Let's look at a specific example, an entree-style meatloaf sandwich that contains mashed potatoes, onion rings and gravy. Evaluate the equipment needs. You'll need a fryer, a microwave and a vessel to hold the gravy. Decide whether the idea will float based on the existing equipment in the store. How do sandwiches get assembled? Is there packaging for this sandwich? It could turn out that based on the answers to these questions, the sandwich just won't work. If so, this preliminary assessment will save a lot of time.

  What happens when things go wrong? Consider this case in point. A manufacturer develops a reactionary rub for a large chain that cooks rotisserie chicken. The R&D team designs the rub to caramelize and coat the chicken with a glazing effect at 375°F. They've created a great product - but there's one "little" problem. When it comes time to go to the unit-level test, they discover that the chain's rotisserie ovens have been pre-set by the manufacturer to go no higher than 350°F.

  To avoid this type of fiasco, do your homework and find out what will and won't work at the unit level. Talk with the operations people and visit their restaurants to sample some of the menu items. The simplest approach is to use what is available and already in the system.

Brainstorming sessions

  At my operation, we begin development by focusing on a well-dressed, fully themed sandwich concept that takes a hard look at regional and ethnic influences. We also take into account the effects of the operational challenges within the system. Then, upon weighing all consumer trends, we go to work.

  To start off the brainstorming process, identify the season in which the concept will be featured. For our current project, for example, the sandwiches will be tested in the spring and rolled out for the summer. Determine the menu price-point wanted to maintain a perspective on a food-cost target. Once all these parameters are investigated and determined, the actual development begins.

  For this project, we focused on some ethnic and regional influences, looking at southwestern, Mexican and Mediterranean elements and ingredients in the categories of meats, breads, cheeses and spreads. The next consideration was examining the menu to see what types of ingredients were already available. The chain already offered four distinct wrap sandwiches: Caesar chicken, turkey club, Greek salad and buffalo chicken. This gave us a starting inventory base of chicken, turkey, bacon, cheese (including feta), tomatoes, olives, different greens, etc.

1. Didn't want to change any process in the current platform of executing and delivering a wrap or sandwich concept.
2. Prefer to use mostly available product inventory already in the system.
3. Should offer one completely new idea, a wrap or sandwich that addresses seasonality in the northeast part of the country; could be an LTO (limited time offer) for the summer.

  The next step was making a laundry list of ideas in categories such as Italian, Mexican, Asian, Southwestern, Cajun and so on. We came up with numerous sandwich/wrap ideas in each of these categories. Concepts ranged from a chopped chicken salad with Pomeray mustard sauce to an Italian spiced chicken wrap with melted cheese, sun-dried tomato and a kalamata olive spread. We then presented the concepts to the marketing department. The wraps that made the cut met all our criteria for operational ease and cross-utilization of existing inventory.

  One of the non-negotiable items was a lobster-salad wrap or sub sandwich with lemon, lettuce and chive spread. We considered this a necessity because everyone wanted to create a special concept for the season to drive new customers through the door. Also, it makes logical sense for a sub shop in New England to offer a great lobster-salad sandwich during the summer.

  However, the idea sparked a controversy, since the chain in question was used to food costs of about 30%. Even developing a small lobster sandwich meant accepting a food cost around 50%. Luckily, the dollar return per sandwich would actually be higher than the normal menu items.

Tale of the lobster salad

  The lobster-salad sandwich became a huge research and development project, because the operators told us that they didn't want to prepare the salad. They were concerned about safety, shelf life and quality issues that might arise from purchasing frozen lobster, thawing and holding it, and getting the right chop on the meat. Ultimately, we found that the reasons not to make the salad in-house outweighed the reasons to do so. We decided to source a prepared salad or find a lobster producer and pair it up with a co-packer that could make this salad to specification.

  The minimum estimated salad use per week was 8,000 lbs. We estimated that each restaurant would average around 40 lbs. of lobster salad per week. Obviously this would vary from unit to unit depending on location, but the total needed is important because it doesn't make sense to hook up with a producer that can't supply the necessary amount.

  Luckily the Boston International Seafood Show was held in March during the development process. This facilitated the options for buying lobster meat, plus it gave us a chance to meet with producers that could give us our options for mixing this salad. The requirement of 8,000 lbs. minimum per week at start up was an attention-getter, to say the least. Most of the lobster-meat producers had the capabilities to mix the salad required for a chain.

  Through product comparisons of competitive and gold-standard salads, we determined that the salad must have only meat and mayonnaise. The mayonnaise was a given - we didn't want to design the culinary equivalent of vinyl seats in a Mercedes, and mayo would give the product a full body and premium taste. Many restaurants add celery, lettuce or other vegetable particulates, but we needed a 10-day shelf life on this salad, and felt that the potential microbial load, moisture and enzymes might adversely affect the quality. To meet this shelf life, the salad required a preservative; the combination that proved to be effective was potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and citric acid.

  Lobster meat comes in two versions, whole claw meat and the more inexpensive shredded claw- and leg-meat variety. The percentage of each of these establishes the cost parameter. The meat particulate and the size of the lobster chunk are important as well. The shredded meat gives the salad a nice overall flavor of lobster in every bite while the whole claw meat gives great visual appeal. We chose a mixture that would meet cost, flavor and quality targets after careful sampling of many pounds of the salad mixture. (A difficult task, but we had to force ourselves to perform repeated tastings of lobster salad.)

  The next area of investigation was the type of mayonnaise to use in the mix. We tried every mayonnaise under the sun to determine the stability. We ultimately chose the system's existing mayonnaise - it stayed thick through the shelf life and didn't separate, turn dark or oxidize.

  Then we picked a co-packer to make the formula to our specified ingredients: mayonnaise, mild seasoning (our blend), a selected percentage of shredded leg and claw meat chunk. This sandwich was shown to the executive team and operations teams for final approval, along with the other sandwich concepts. (The pricing of this sandwich remains a matter for marketing, purchasing and operations to finalize, and they will - because this sandwich just has to happen.)

The final cut

• An antipasti wrap with cappicola, mortadella, provolone, pepperoni, lettuce and tomato with vinaigrette dressing, along with a vegetable relish we developed to give this sandwich a sharp flavor edge.
• A salad wrap with romaine, peppers, cucumber, onion, broccoli and carrot all tossed with a rich ranch dressing with croutons. (This made sense because all of these ingredients were already in the restaurants.)
• A ham and turkey wrap with honey mustard and Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese and a fine honey mustard were new to the inventory, but could also be used on the other sandwich offerings on the menu.

  Each of these sandwiches started with the basic guidelines and all were scrutinized for their delivery on operations, purchasing and pricing parameters, as well as overall appeal, given the season and this chain's customer base.

  The sandwich/wrap category is a menu staple that we will continue to reinvent. But the foundations for building great sandwiches will always be rooted in the Earl of Sandwich's original premise - that the sandwich can be eaten on the go. And that's a wrap.