Article

Spicing up the holidays

Operators look to holiday flavors that border on the bold and exotic.

August 25, 2008

With the holiday season right around the corner, fast casual operators are looking for creative ways they can spice up their menu items. While customers will expect the scents and flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger on menus during the holiday season, what they are likely to find this year is a mix of the traditional with the exotic.

Maria Caranfa, director of menu insights for Chicago-based marketing research firm Mintel International, said spice pairings offer fast casual menu developers an opportunity to give customers the flavors they expect while offering a new sensation.

"For flavoring, (pairing spices) really gives deeper dimension to whatever the menu item is," Caranfa said. "You might taste one, the flavors might combine really well to form new flavors, or one spice might come to you first."

One example is combining cinnamon with the more exotic flavor of cardamom in a hot beverage. Cinnamon was a popular flavor in hot drinks last season, Caranfa said, so pairing the spice with another will add a new twist.

Nels Storm, manager of product development for Caribou Coffee Co., said the coffee chain does pair cinnamon with other spices in some of its hot holiday drinks but that adding exotic ones such as cardamom doesn't do well in coffees or espressos.

"Cinnamon has that traditional woody sort of flavor," Storm said. So he finds success when pairing it "with a higher note, for example with ginger, and just really (trying) to bring both of the flavors forward."

Using the spice blend in a hot drink, instead of a cold one, allows both flavors to "intertwine and come across your palette at the same moment," he said.

Caribou Coffee also is replicating its successful spring menu launch in which orange was applied to several beverage options. This holiday season, the base will be pumpkin added to a variety of drinks, from lattes to snowdrifts, the store's take on milkshakes.

Whatever the application, utilizing holiday spices on the menu connects with customers in a special way, often eliciting fond memories and good feelings.

"People are looking for traditional flavors they can go to more around the holiday times," Storm said. "There's so much chaos with family and preparations for the upcoming holidays that they're looking for those big flavors they can go back to year after year."

Tropical Smoothie CafÃ© had such an outpouring for its limited-time-only Cranberry Truffle that the company decided to bring back the menu item this year. On Nov. 2, the chain will roll out the Cranberry Truffle along with a second seasonal LTO, the Pumpkin Spice smoothie.

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"Each year we look to do a holiday LTO and a holiday profile that we can bring back every year," said Barbara Valentino, Tropical Smoothie's vice president of marketing.

The Pumpkin Spice smoothie features pumpkin, white chocolate and a hint of cinnamon, and is designed to give customers a taste of the holidays without going over the top, she said.

Fuse tradition with the unexpected

JoAnne Theodore, president of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Greek Island Spice, said the chef-supply company has several products for this season that build on American traditions by combining them with "ideas from around the world."

Theodore said she also is seeing a combination of traditional holiday spices with more ethnic ones, particularly those with an Asian theme. Using a five-spice blend — a traditional Chinese mix using cinnamon, clove, star anise, fennel seed and pepper — in holiday dishes like pumpkin pie or squash soufflÃ© is a good example.

"Basically what you're doing is using a Chinese blend that evokes the same smells and emotions (as traditional American holiday spices) but in a kind of different way," she said.

Using traditional holiday food items and adding an unexpected spice also is popular this season, Theodore said. For example, a fast casual restaurant may add ginger to a pumpkin cheesecake or finish the dessert with crystallized ginger.

Holiday spices don't have to be relegated only to desserts and beverages, however. A dipping sauce made with hibiscus, for example, is versatile and has a high impact.

"Hibiscus is a wonderful ingredient because it has wonderful health properties," she said. "It's red, it's light, it has a very crisp flavor profile, it blends well with other ingredients, and the color is spectacular. It makes a wonderful ingredient in holiday recipes."