FALL/WINTER 2016 FALL/WINTER Fall/Winter 2016 –2017 – 17 Cooking Up Comfort Familiar cold weather fare warms the soul p. 13 Fig & ham flatbread + more great recipes p. 55 CHEFCONNEXION.CA Menu expert offers profitable advice p. 25 THIS ISSUE Fully Cooked Roasted Chicken Supreme DEPARTMENTS 2 President’s Letter upscale your menu 8 Great Advice 10 Staying Ahead Features & Benefits: 36 Taste Nation • Crisp and juicy, roasted chicken supreme, irresistible mouth-watering flavour 55 Recipe Central • Will help reduce labour cost and preparation time FEATURES • Minimize food safety risks with fully cooked food products 13 IN SEASONS Fall into Comfort Foods 19 WHAT’S UP? Fast! Easy! True Stories about Brand Points PLUS 25 OPEN MENU Menu Engineering 101 30 MARKETING 101 Plan for Success 41 COST CHECK Save Energy, Boost Profits 47 GOOD BUSINESS Survey Says Maple Leaf Foods Product # 25146 Look for Brand Points PLUS qualifying products throughout 13 the magazine! 17753RZ Business Unit ML FS Inks & Varnishes Match Colours App/Ver CS5.5 Description Chicken Supreme 4 Colour Process PMS Created At 100% Prints 4/0 Chef Connexion Ad Flat Size 0” x 0” Finished Size 8.5” x 11” PMS PMS PMS Requestor Dieline NO DESIGNER Darcy Ring Watch these corporate Dieline Dies & Notes PMS PMS Rita Zietsma Production NA Printer NA colours for accuracy. Colours (Do Not Print) Bleed YES 905-285-1991 Carefully check all copy and dielines. Once approved, the fi nal artwork will be proceeding to print. It is the requestor’s responsibility [email protected] Version1 Job# 17753RZ_a Date Feb 2, 2016 NOTE for any errors either in these materials or those resulting from their use. LowRes PDFs may not be actual size. Actual size is noted above. Maple Leaf Foods Inc. 6897 Financial Dr Mississauga, ON, Canada L5N 0A8 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Decisions, Decisions Every restaurant operator understands the power of decisions. The restaurant business is a constant round of big, important choices and smaller, less significant ones. But the decision-making process never stops—which can be both exciting and intimidating. For context, let us look at a few of the decisions touted in the news recently here in Canada, by some of the big players. Starbucks is introducing a wine, beer and tapas menu at night. A&W is revamping, too, with a new “hip nostalgia” store design in hopes of attracting millennials. And the trend continues for food and retail to team up: For example, Montreal’s Place Vertu mall is a testing ground for MTY Food Group to try new formats and new brands, such as Kim Chi Korean Delight and Vie&Nam. Helping you make wise decisions is one of our most important goals as your OUR MISSION: To become the leading distributor, and it is a major reason we publish Chef Connexion. We want to food distributor throughout western Canada assist you in being efficient, profitable and happy in your restaurant operation. by delivering High Quality Athletic This issue of the magazine brings you tips from Menu Engineering expert Customer Centric performance in Kevin Chipman, who has helped dozens of operators optimize their menus. In any food service operation, there are certain core areas that need to run everything we do. You will find other success-building ideas inside, too: including information on creating a marketing plan, surveying customers, and saving energy. You smoothly to ensure profitability for the owner/operator. In many cases, it is will also meet two operators who have taken advantage of Brand Points PLUS. beneficial to partner with Pratts Systems Department Specialists and Technicians who are dedicated to providing service and equipment that are essential to the Last but not least, do you have suggestions for topics you’d like to see in owner/operator. Pratts Systems can be described as food service categories where Chef Connexion, or any other suggestions? Simply email [email protected] Pratts Food Service will provide and maintain essential equipment and products with your feedback. We’d also like to find out more about your operation. Is there in the categories of: Beverage; Warewash, Hygiene and Laundry; Common Area a recent decision you made that you are especially pleased with, or one that Paper; and Concession Foods and Equipment. Equipment provided is either on taught you a valuable lesson? We would like to hear about it. loan, rent or “Free to a Good Home.” As always, we appreciate that you have chosen to partner with us in running The Advantage? Pratts-employed, factory-trained Specialists and Technicians your business. We strive to validate your trust in us, each and every day, in who are focused on servicing Pratts Food Service customers and supplying everything we do. premium equipment and products such as Cielo Coffee, Bevolution Juice, Finest Call Cocktail Mix, Zep Chemicals, Cascades towels, tissue & wipes, and We want your decision to continue relying on our products and our services concessions products from Royale, Top Pop, Gold Medal, Stoelting, Twirlies, to be one of the easiest, most valuable decisions you can make. English Bay Cookies and Chapman’s Ice Cream. Sincerely, Pratts Food Service is the only major food service and retail supplier capable Jason Baranyk of supplying a full range of food concession items, equipment and takeout food President and beverage packaging to meet any requirement our customers may have. Pratts Food Service Pratts System Specialists have the expert advice and purchasing guides you [email protected] need to ensure smooth operation and profitability. Pratts “Free to a Good Home” 291196 Wagon Wheel Rd. promotions make it possible to realize instant profits on popcorn, ice cream, RockyView Alberta T4A 0E2 cookies, slush beverages, and hard and soft ice cream. 403-567-5479 pratts.ca 2 FALL/WINTER 2016 -17 CHEFCONNEXION.CA 3 PRATTS FOOD SERVICE CAPITAL FOODSERVICE The Perfect Hamburger The Perfect Hamburger Begins With... Smith’s Quality Meats Is Bringing The Production Of Gourmet Burgers To A Whole New Level. From start to fi nish, every step of our Burger forming used to be about process has been perfected so that as stamping out a standard product a customer you can expect as fast as possible. As a a consistently higher processor Smith’s Quality quality, better eating Meats recognized the gourmet burger. need for diff erentiation in the market place The Vemag FM250 and took on the task of Burger Former uses a exploring the various gentle, low-pressure system options available to to form burgers that look processors. After extensive homemade and have a tender bite that research Smith’s made the assessment to no other machine can produce. Meat fi bres are go with the very best equipment available, the Vemag not crushed or destroyed on the FM250 – instead they FM250 by Reiser. Customers want gourmet burgers that retain their natural alignment so that the fi nished burger eat and look homemade, and we are confi dent we can has the superior bite, texture and eating quality of a meet your needs. handmade product. Smith’s Gourmet Burgers • Chuck Burger - 81% lean ground with sea salt, cracked pepper & no added gluten • Seasoned Burger - 81% lean ground beef • Sirloin Burger - with salt, pepper, onion & no added gluten • Prime Rib Burger - with Smith’s Signature Seasoning Sizes available: 1.5 oz slider & 3 oz - 9 oz burger 4 FALL/WINTER 2016 -17 CHEFCONNEXION.CA 5 PRATTS FOOD SERVICE FIND YOURSELF IN GOOD COMPANY Elm Bend Farms, The Charlton Family, Brantford, Ontario WE’RE KNOWN BY THE COMPANY WE KEEP At Pratts, our goal is to be a consistent supplier of high quality fresh fruits and vegetables. We are committed to buying from growers whose produce meets our high food safety and quality standards. Farmers don’t take shortcuts when it comes to quality. Neither do we. Because we’re a dairy that happens to be owned by dairy farmers. GAY LEA. BORN ON THE FARM. 6 FALL/WINTER 2016 -17 Visit GayLea.com/Foodservice. To place an order call your Gay Lea representative or distributor today. 1-888-4GAYLEA (1-888-442-9532)CHEFCONNEXION.CA 7 GL-1110_MB2-2015.indd 1 2015-01-27 12:38 PM CLIENT: Gay Lea Foods TRIM: 8.5" x 11" COLOURS: C M Y K 1910 Yonge St., Toronto, ON JOB #: GL-1110 LIVE: 8" x 10.5" PUBLICATION: food service T: 416 484-1959 DESCRIPTION: FP 4C-Eng BLEED: 8.75" x 11.25" INSERTION DATE: ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: CREATIVE DIRECTOR: WRITER STUDIO MANAGER: APPROVALS: APPROVED GREAT ADVICE GREAT ADVICE take-out Testing & Travelling Not every menu item is worthy of takeaway or catering. Anything that arrives looking sad or soggy should be off the list. And a Takeaway and catering are important to most foodservice operators. Want to get started? too-large menu can be off-putting: arrange outstanding your choices with subcategories to help Wish you could do it better? Let’s look at a few ideas. people order in a hurry. If you want catering to become a large part of your business, a Selling Points Manage Expectations separate sales manager and staff team may be required. There are basically three types Looks matter! An attractive menu for takeaway. A great Even for takeaway, you’ll want customers to understand of off-premise catering: 1) drop-off, 2) set flyer and enticing website for catering. They’ll help clinch what they’re getting and when. Are you delivering? You up and retrieve, and 3) full service. Each the deal! Then there’s the food itself. Have you chosen the may want to upcharge outside of a certain area.