Breakfast
Successful breakfast menuing calls for an item to be hot, temperature wise. As shown on the left, 59% of breakfast menu listings are hot entrees or hot sandwiches.
Breakfast Items |
Menu Share % |
| Hot Entrees/Sandwiches | 59% |
| Beverages | 21% |
| Patries/Breads | 12% |
| Side Dishes/Other |
8% |
| Total: | 100% |
Growth in Hot Breakfast Items
Growth in hot breakfast menu items is coming mainly from breakfast sandwiches (up 2.0 share points) and egg entrees (up 0.8 points since 1997). Griddle/ cake entrees remains the largest category, with a greater share of menu listings (but, perhaps not, a greater share of volume).
Chain operators are offering pancakes, waffles and french toast on slightly fewer menu listings than six years ago (down 3.8 points) But this does not necessarily translate into a decline in volume.
Incidentally, the leading Breakfast Griddle Item in terms of menu share of listings is Pancakes (54% share of menu listings), followed by Waffles (22%), French Toast (22%) and Potato Pancakes (2%). Source: FlavorTrak® relational database of chain menus.
| Market Segment |
1997 | 2002 | Point Change |
| Griddle/Cake Entrees | 48.9% | 45.1% | (3.8) |
| Egg Entrees | 38.5% | 39.3% | +0.8 |
| Breakfast Sandwiches | 12.6% | 15.6% | +3.0 |
Hot Breakfast Preferences By Segment
Sit down segments/ concepts such as family dining and casual dining are more likely than other segments to menu egg entrees (57%/ 72%) and griddle/ cake entrees such as waffles/ pancakes/ french toast (39%/ 26%).
Coffee/ snack segments almost exclusively menu breakfast sandwiches to the exclusion of egg or griddle/ cake entrees.
Burger chains concentrate on sandwiches (54%), but also present options for egg entrees and griddle entrees. (see table below)
The average family dining chain menus 42 hot menu items including egg entrees, skillet entrees, griddle/ cake entrees and breakfast sandwiches---burger chains menu 12 hot items, casual dining chains 17 and coffee/ snack chains 3 items. (not cited on table below)
Segment |
Egg Entrees |
Griddle/Cake Entrees |
Sandwiches |
Total |
| Family Dining | 57% | 39% | 4% | 100% |
| Coffee/Snacks | <1% | <1% | 99% | 100% |
| Casual Dining | 72% | 26% | 2% | 100% |
| Burgers | 25% | 21% | 54% | 100% |
| Other (retail, chicken, mexican) | 17% | 17% | 66% | 100% |
| Base Hot Menued Items: | 1387 | 933 | 317 | 100% |
| Share of Hot: | 53% | 35% | 12% | 100% |
The FlavorTrak® relational database of chain menus reveals hundreds of flavor types and variations, however, these specific variations can be rolled up to generalized categories such as those shown below. In the opinion of researchers at Foodservice Research Institute, the relative menu listing shares shown below should approximate actual tonnage/volume within a few share points.
The FlavorTrak® database of chain menus contains menu information from 81 chains serving breakfast. The average chain in this group menus 2.0 regular or decaffeinated coffee beverages and 2.3 flavored or specialty coffee beverages. Chains in the coffee/ snack market segment generally list 6 flavored/ specialty coffees, or about two times as many as regular coffee beverages. Flavored/ specialty Coffees have a solid menu presence in all breakfast segments except burgers. Despite category growth, flavored/ specialty coffees account for a small portion of the almost 900 million pound foodservice coffee market. Source: The BEST™ Report
| Market Segment | # Chains |
Regular/Decaf Coffee | Flavored/Specialty Coffee |
| Family Dining | 34 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Coffee Snacks | 17 | 3.4 | 6.6 |
| Casual Dining | 7 | 1.3 | 1.9 |
| Burgers | 12 | 2.1 | 0.2 |
| Other Segments | 11 | 1.8 | 1.5 |
| Total: | 81 | 2.0 | 2.3 |
Signature Breakfast Entrees at Top Chains
| La Madeleine---Ham & Bacon with Swiss Quiche |
| Hof's Hut---Huevos Rancheros with hash browns---3 eggs, warm corn tortilla, ranchero sauce, melted jack, cheddar cheese, avocado, refried beans and hash browns |
| Il Fornaio---Manzo Salmistrato con Uova Affgate---Italian corned beef hash and poached eggs |
| Elmer's---Country Fried Steak---chicken fried steak, two ranch eggs, hash browns topped with country gravy |
| Taco Cabana---Eggs Mexicana---2 scrambled eggs with pico de gallo, queso, refried beans, 3 strips bacon and 2 tortillas |
| Polly's---Country Breakfast with Bacon---hot Polly's biscuits...smothered in seasoned sausage gravy...2 eggs...3 sausages and hash browns |
| Cracker Barrel---Hash Browns---Fried Apples---Biscuits (Toast or Muffin) |
| Le Peep---Down Home Sausage Pie---peasant potatoes...country sausage, green peppers, onions, light cream gravy and fine melted cheese |
| Le Petite Cafe---Apple Waffle with Fresh Apple and Cinnamon Topping |
| Village Inn---Stuffed French Toast---with orange marmalade and cream cheese |
| Original Pancake House---Potato Pancakes with Cinnamon Applesauce |
| Bob Evans---Sweet Cream Baked Belgium Waffles |
| Shari's---Corned Beef Skillet with Pancakes |
Menu Price Trends
QSR: "breakfast entrees bring in $1 more than breakfast sandwiches in QSR and $2.50 more in midscale" (see table below)
Midscale: "commands a $2 to $3 spread with QSR"
Price Change vs. 1997
Market Segment |
2002 |
? vs. '97 |
| QSR Chains | ||
| Breakfast Sandwiches | $1.95 | +23% |
| Breakfast Entrees | $3.05 | +33% |
| Midscale Chains | $3.49 | +27% |
| Breakfast Sandwiches | ||
| Breakfast Entrees | $5.99 | +21% |
| Casual Chains | ||
| Breakfast Sandwiches | $7.19 | +20% |
| Breakfast Entrees | $7.19 | +36% |
Note: median prices Source: FSRI MenuBook™
Breakfast Sausage
According to Brand Equity Share Trends™, the BEST Report™, foodservice operators are purchasing close to 400 million pounds annually of breakfast sausage, of which about one third is cooked and two thirds raw. This market is very competitive with the top three brands within one market share point of each other.
Flavored Coffees are gaining in importance.
| Leading Flavors | Menu Share % |
| Cafe Mocha | 23% |
| Cappuccino | 21% |
| Espresso | 15% |
| Cafe Latte | 9% |
| Other | 32% |
| Hot Breakfast Beverages | Menu Share |
| Flavored Coffee | 38% |
| Regular Coffee | 32% |
| Hot Chocolate/Cocoa | 16% |
| Tea | 14% |
Leading Breakfast Items
Leading Breakfast Meats |
Menu Share % |
| Bacon | 31% |
| Ham | 20% |
| Sausage Links |
16% |
| Sausage Patties |
10% |
| Beef Steaks |
6% |
| Corned Beef Hash |
3% |
| Sausage, Processed |
3% |
| Country Fried Steak |
3% |
| Chicken | 2% |
| Canadian Bacon |
2% |
| Beef, Processed |
2% |
| Turkey | 1% |
| Ethnic/Smoked Sausage |
1% |
| Total: | 100% |
Leading Hot Gravies & Sauces |
Menu Share % |
| Country Gravy |
24% |
| Sausage Gravy |
19% |
| Hollandaise Sauce | 16% |
| Cheese Sauce |
11% |
| Cream Gravy |
8% |
| Gravy, Unspecified |
22% |
| Total: | 100% |
Leading Red Sauces |
Menu Share % |
| Salsa | 37% |
| Ranchero Sauce |
29% |
| Picante Sauce |
19% |
| Pico de Gallo |
14% |
| Others | 1% |
| Total: | 100% |
Leading Sandwich Breads |
Menu Share % |
| Biscuit | 30% |
| Bagel | 27% |
| Tortilla | 15% |
| Toast | 11% |
| Croissant | 7% |
| Bun/Roll | 7% |
| Bread | 3% |
| Total: | 100% |
Leading Fruit Sauces |
Menu Share % |
| Apple | 77% |
| Strawberry | 9% |
| Fruit Topping, Unspecified |
8% |
| Blueberry | 4% |
| Blackberry | 1% |
| Peach | <1% |
| Pineapple | <1% |
| Total: | 100% |
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