We eat out for many reasons: convenience, schedule, location, a treat. Sometimes we do so to try new and different dishes than we might make ourselves. Other times it's exactly the opposite: we crave the comfort of certain preparations. How often have you gone to favorite place, and eschew even look looking at the menu, instead ordering your usual club sandwich, or spaghetti and meatballs, or burger and fries?
But nothing is carved in stone. That goes for rivers and buildings, sock drawers and hemlines, government benefits and family ties. And yes, restaurant menus. Retiring an old favorite can cause much disappointment, consternation and hand wringing. On the flip side you might find a new love if you only give it a chance. You just gotta roll with it, because, as Jay Asher wrote in the novel "Thirteen Reasons Why," "You can't stop the future and you can't rewind the past."
In the case where they taketh away, there are a number of factors come into play. Current labor shortages means that kitchens are streamlining to make it easier and faster for fewer people to prepare food. Supply chain issues means that some ingredients are not as available as they once were. And as the cost of ingredients have gone up it's not always economical viable to use certain items.
Take McDonald's. While you likely won't have any issue if you order a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets, other more labor-intensive items have been removed. No more salads, fruit and yogurt parfaits, McChicken Biscuit or Egg White Delight McMuffin. Per a statement from Mickey D HQ, "Our transition to a limited menu, involving taking dozens of less popular national and regional items off menus, helped simplify operations for our restaurant crew while also improving our customers' experience." Translation: it's a lot easier to throw it in the fryer or on the grill than mucking around with all those prissy healthy items.
They are hardly the only name to take actions to streamline the back of house. Burger King has also cut its salad offerings. As to burgers, according to US and Canada President Tom Curtis, "We have six ways of putting cheese on hamburgers. Put it on first, last, top, bottom, three slices, two slices. We condensed that. It involves less muscle memory." And Chick-fil-A discontinued its Sunflower Multigrain Bagel and associated breakfast sandwiches. If they were expecting a backlash, they needn't have worried: an online petition garnered just 60 signatures.
It's not just the big chains that are doing this. Annie's Diner in Kaysville, UT is a classic local eatery, with some menu items named after regulars. Order "LaRae's Breakfast" and you get three strips of bacon and sausage gravy on hash. New cooks also have to learn how to make Kathy and Shawn's Sandwich, Donnie's Omelet and Richard's Classic Reuben. (Actually, Richard's namesake is the same as any other Reuben sandwich: Richard isn't a high-maintenance customer.)
Owner Jason Sanders said that's just not sustainable. And so Annie's streamlined their menu, "in order to speed up the ordering and cooking processes," giving the boot to Kathy and Shawn's fav and other customer-named creations. In a related move, they also cut the liver and onions special: "We had more leftovers than we sold. Liver isn't something that can keep, so there's a lot of waste involved." Perhaps not as much a blow as axing Donnie's creation, but a loss none the less.
At the same time, establishments of all types are adding items that they hope will be fan favorites and drive incremental volume. McDonald's added a Chocolatey Pretzel McFlurry, which is a sundae with vanilla soft serve, chocolate-covered pretzel pieces, and caramel swirl. Chipolte is introducing a new seasonal drink, Watermelon Limeade. Taco Bell's Mexican Pizza is already such a success that they are running out of ingredients to make them. Even Annie's is getting in on the act, recently hiring an in-house baker, and offering raspberry and orange rolls as well as other baked goodies.
For now at least, you can still go to Starbucks and get a Blackberry Cobbler Frappuccino, or stop by a Wendy's and get a Quadruple Baconator, or pull into DQ and get a Chocolate Cheesecake Blizzard. But better do it now before it's too late, and all they are offering is a vanilla cone with sprinkles.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to see what the chef is up to. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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