“Although the breakfast daypart has been an area of growth for restaurants … for the past few years, consumer data shows that the market is not yet saturated and there are still ample opportunities within this category. Consumers increasingly trade at-home breakfast occasions for away-from-home purchases. Eighteen percent of consumers indicate they are purchasing breakfast away from home more often now than they were one year ago. This increase is clearly driven by the need for convenience as fast-food restaurants have seen the most dramatic increase in breakfast patronage: 46% of today’s consumers say they patronize fast-food concepts for weekday breakfasts, compared to just 33% in 2009. Amid heightened competition and pressures on consumers’ disposable income, opportunities exist for operators and suppliers to capitalize on consumers’ needs at breakfast. “

Following are highlights of additional menu insights that were derived from the Technomic 2011 Breakfast Report:

• Breakfast is a growth category for the limited-service segment, in which seven chains have started serving breakfast since 2009.
• Limited-service restaurants (LSRs) have added 45 breakfast sandwich items since 2009.
• Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches are the leading variety of breakfast sandwich at limited-service restaurants.
• Sandwiches have been central to driving the growth of the breakfast daypart within the limited-service segment.
• Biscuits are the top bread for breakfast sandwiches at leading LSRs (28.1%).
• Sausage and bacon outpace other breakfast proteins for breakfast sandwiches by a clear margin (not including eggs).
• The top cheese varieties unsurprisingly veer toward traditional options like Cheddar and American.

Source: Technomic, Inc. 2011, The Breakfast Consumer Trend Report

The following Breakfast and Brunch trends were highlighted in the National Restaurant Association online survey of 1,791 members of the American Culinary Federation in October-November 2011. Consider these trends when planning breakfast menu items for the upcoming year.

1. Ethnic-inspired breakfast items (e.g. Asian-flavored syrups, chorizo, scrambled eggs, coconut milk pancakes)
2. Traditional ethnic breakfast items (e.g. huevos rancheros, shakshuka, ashta, Japanese)
3. Fresh fruit breakfast items
4. Prix fixe brunches
5. French toast/stuffed French toast
6. Chicken and waffles
7. Egg dishes

Egg dishes were also identified as a Perennial Favorite by 56% of the respondents to this survey.

Source: National Restaurant Association, Chef Survey: What’s Hot in 2012.

Gobbling down sugary, empty-calorie carbohydrates might be some people’s idea of breakfast, but it should be important to start the day off with good nutrition. Part of that is satisfying the need for protein. Eating high-quality protein foods, like eggs, for breakfast can help a person to feel more energized and satisfied throughout the day as compared with eating more protein at lunch or dinner.

Most people admit they don’t take the time to cook breakfast, unless you count preparing a toaster pastry, so they increasingly choose to pick up something on the way to work or school. Breakfast sandwiches with eggs are a component of a large majority of all breakfasts at quick-service restaurants. In fact, a 2011 Datassential study found that 80 percent of hot breakfast sandwiches at quick-service restaurants include eggs, says Alice Heinze, R.D., director of foodservice for the American Egg Board.

Increasingly, the public is aware of the nutrition benefits of eggs . Eggs are nutrient-dense, containing lots of nutrition in relation to their calorie count. Heinze says the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also suggest Americans “eat a nutrient-dense breakfast.”

“The amount of protein in one large egg is 6 grams or 12 percent of the Recommended Daily Value and the protein in eggs is the highest-quality protein found in any food,” Heinze says. Eggs also are an excellent source of choline and selenium and a good source of vitamin D, phosphorous and riboflavin.

In addition, recent studies have shown that eggs have less cholesterol than ever before. The USDA recently found the average amount of cholesterol in a Grade A large egg is 185 milligrams, 14 percent lower than the 212 mg previously recorded. More than 40 years of research have demonstrated that most healthy adults can enjoy eggs without significantly raising their risk of heart disease, Heinze says.

Most restaurants approach breakfast as a “double barbell’ strategy, says Steve Solomon, national account director for the American Egg Board. The challenge is to balance value against premium and health against indulgence. At breakfast, guests choose the value and health perception of simple breakfast sandwiches containing eggs while others choose to increase that protein by adding premium bacon, ham, sausage, or specialty cheeses as part of a more indulgent offering.

“Items such as applewood-smoked bacon, higher-quality hams such as Black Forest and Rosemary, and cheeses such as artisan cheeses built around eggs can increase the premium aspect of these breakfast items,” Solomon says. “Competitors are raising the bar, and quality is ramping up everywhere.”

Nearly all quick-service chains have their own proprietary version of the breakfast sandwich built around eggs, but many are increasing the flavor and quality profile.

Dunkin’ Donuts Big N’ Toasty sandwich is a good example, featuring two fried eggs, cherrywood-smoked bacon, and American cheese on Texas toast. The item augments Dunkin’ Donuts’ already popular egg white flatbreads. Subway offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches featuring Black Forest ham, bacon, and steak, with eggs and cheese on flatbread or rolls. Starbucks’ Veggie & Monterey Breakfast Sandwich has vegetables, an egg, and Monterey jack cheese on an artisan roll. Its Bacon & Gouda Artisan Breakfast Sandwich has bacon, Parmesan frittata, and aged Gouda cheese on an artisan roll. Both of these sandwiches are 350 calories. McDonald’s maintains its dominance with the Egg McMuffin, featuring an egg, cheese, and Canadian bacon on an English muffin. McDonald’s also serves the McGriddle, with bacon, egg, and cheese on a pancake.

Source: QSR magazine, November 2011.

Consumers who purchase breakfast away from home during the week are most likely to choose breakfast sandwiches for these occasions. However, traditional options such as eggs, bacon and hash browns or potatoes top the list of breakfast foods for weekend occasions.

Three-fifths of consumers purchase coffee or specialty coffee for breakfast away from home during the week, more than half order orange juice and about a third purchase bottled water. Consumers are more likely to purchase these beverages for breakfast away from home on weekdays than on weekends.

Two in five consumers who purchase breakfast at limited-service restaurants say they are more likely to visit these locations for breakfast if breakfast sandwiches, wraps or burritos are on the menu. This is up from a third of consumers polled in 2009, signaling the increased ability for breakfast sandwiches to drive traffic. Consumers’ most preferred breakfast-sandwich build includes bacon, American cheese and egg on a biscuit.

Operators who do not already do so should consider offering egg substitutions on the menu to accommodate guests who want to order what they perceive are healthful breakfasts. Although more than nine out of 10 consumers would order regular eggs at a restaurant or retail store, more than a fifth of today’s consumers, compared to just a sixth of those polled in 2009, say they would consider purchasing Egg Beaters or egg whites only.

Source: Technomic, Inc., 2011, The Breakfast Consumer Trend Report

A report from The NPD Group finds that 31 million Americans skip the morning meal, presenting opportunities for restaurants.

Restaurants could expand business by engaging the 31 million consumers who currently skip breakfast, according to a new report from The NPD Group.

Ten percent of Americans skip breakfast every day, the Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research firm’s “Morning MealScape 2011” report found.

“With 31 million people skipping breakfast each day, there is a significant opportunity for food and beverage marketers to reach these consumers,” Dori Hickey, NPD’s director of product management and the report’s author, said. “Marketing messages emphasizing the importance of having a morning meal should be age- and gender-specific in order to increase their effectiveness.”

For instance, Hickey said, an advertising campaign aimed at boosting breakfast sales among teenagers should including marketing materials and commercials aimed at the teens, as well as their parents. In other demographic groups, the rates of skipping breakfast vary widely.

For consumers ages 18 to 34 years old, 28 percent of men and 18 percent of women skip breakfast. Eighteen percent of men 35 to 54 years old and 13 percent of women in that age group go without a morning meal. Older consumers are the least likely to skip breakfast, with 11 percent of men 55 and older and 10 percent of women in that age group going without.

Among the most common reasons for consumers to report not eating or drinking anything before 11 a.m. was not feeling hungry or thirsty, NPD’s research found. Other reasons, cited more often by women, included not having enough time in the morning and being too busy.

For the majority of Americans who do eat breakfast, NPD found that nearly three-fourths of them typically do so at home, while 14 percent of survey respondents said they typically eat breakfast at restaurants. Nearly one in five respondents reported having breakfast items both at home and at restaurants.

The report considered data from 27,179 participants.

Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.

One of our missions at American Egg Board is to inform and educate our readers about the latest research on Quick Serve Restaurants (QSR) and breakfast.  Our association with Mintel has provided us with extremely beneficial information about consumers’ buying habits, their need states, and the qualities they look for from QSRs.

Following you will find some information designed to pique your interest and hopefully provide some insights into the breakfast daypart.  Let us know if you like this approach and we’ll look to communicate more information in future blogs.

Still the most important meal of the day

•  Nutritionists insist that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and Mintel finds that American have bought into that thinking.

QSR breakfast has as many visitors as dinner

•  Mintel finds that almost as many consumers visited a QSR for breakfast (63%) as did for dinner (65%) in the past month. Lunch remains the busiest daypart (72%).

Who doesn’t like breakfast all day?

•  All-day breakfast leads the list of items respondents would like to see more of on QSR menus (39%) up from 36% in last year’s survey. Women (41%) and those aged 18-24 (51%) would most like to see all-day breakfast.

The breakfast sandwich is the most popular breakfast item

•  Breakfast sandwiches are the fourth-most-commonly ordered QSR menu item, Mintel finds, indicating how important they have become for many quick-service chains.

•  Looking at the top dishes on QSR menus, breakfast sandwiches remain the leader and have increased 10% in the past 10 years.

• Breakfast sandwiches have become QSR staples. They are regularly ordered by 25% of men and 27% of women.

QSRs have additional opportunities to build breakfast sales

•  Wendy’s will join the ranks of QSRs serving breakfast next year. In an Aug.11, 2011, quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, Wendy’s president-CEO Roland Smith said that “breakfast is a growing daypart in the QSR business that we have not participated in, and that’s a big opportunity for us. And also, as we get into breakfast, it expands the ability for us to get into other dayparts like 24 hours, which some of our competitors have done.”

•  More than one third (36%) would like to see a greater number of healthier menu options, something they are likely to see as QSRs adjust menus in preparation for upcoming calorie disclosure laws.

•  Mintel has forecast a 4.1% increase in restaurant breakfast sales this year.

Source: Mintel, Quick Service Restaurants – US; September 2011

Egg sandwiches have a long history. McDonald’s launched the Egg McMuffin nationally in1975 and now offers egg meals on biscuits, pancakes and burritos. Burger King, which added breakfast in 1979, also expanded its breakfast lineup over the years. Some of the newer items include the BK Breakfast Ciabatta Club Sandwich, which features eggs, fresh tomatoes, ham, bacon, American cheese and smoky tomato sauce on a toasted whole grain Ciabatta bun, for $2.89. There’s also the BK Breakfast Value Menu, which includes the BK Breakfast Muffin Sandwich of sausage, a fluffy egg and melted cheese in an English muffin, for $1.00.

Subway also offers a fluffy egg on its Egg & Cheese sandwich, an omelet with American and Monterey Jack cheeses, and a choice of veggies and sauces, on a toasted bun. The chain also offers other egg sandwiches such as Black Forest Ham, Egg and Cheese, an omelet with Black Forest ham, American and Monterey Cheddar cheeses, toasted and topped with veggies and sauces. It’s also available with an Egg White Omelet.

Other chains also have egg white sandwiches. Einstein Bros. Bagels offers Egg White Bagel Thin Breakfast Sandwiches and new Egg White Bagel Thin Breakfast Panini. Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee offers the Egg White Turkey and Bacon Daybreaker, which is turkey bacon, egg whites, Swiss cheese and spinach Florentine spread on a toasted whole wheat brioche roll.

The egg white offerings may satisfy consumers’ desire for better-for-you foods. According to Chicago-based research firm Mintel, 66% of restaurant-goers say they are interested in healthier breakfast options.

Scott Davis, executive vice president and chief concept officer for Panera Bread, says the bakery-cafe started offering egg sandwiches in 2008. The company developed a way to cook a fresh cracked egg on a small countertop grill. That didn’t add much in labor costs, because the bakery cafes are open for lunch, too. “Most of the labor is already there. They were doing other things, getting the lunch line ready, “Davis says.

The first wave of Panera’s egg sandwiches had Ciabatta bread, bacon and Vermont White Cheddar. The next wave was the bagel sandwiches; the newest among those is the Steak & Egg, seared top sirloin, all-natural egg, Vermont white Cheddar on a sweet onion and poppy seed bagel. The sandwiches start at around $3.50. The nearly 1,500-unit chain is testing a Mediterranean Egg White sandwich.

Eggfast, a quick service eatery in Columbus, Ohio, offers several egg sandwiches. “When it comes to breakfast fare, consumers are seeking value and a varied menu,” says Pete Nowak, Eggfast’s founder and chief executive officer. “We sell a few varieties of egg white flatbreads that incorporate fresh pico de gallo salsa as well as options for turkey sausage and ham.” He adds that one of Eggfast’s top sellers is the Twelfth Avenue, an eggs, cheese and bacon sandwich on maple French toast.

Other restaurant companies are looking at adding egg sandwiches. Jim Burke, president of Jimmy’s Egg, with 27 locations in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, says egg sandwiches are in his research and development pipeline. “My 24-year-old son, who is involved in the business, told me, ‘Hey, everybody my age eats breakfast sandwiches,”‘ Burke says. “We definitely feel like we’ve got to have a couple on the menu.”

Source: Nation’s Restaurant News, August 2011

Here’s some good news for breakfast concepts: unlike other commodities, egg prices have remained steady. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, egg prices decreased 0.2% in March 2011, the third consecutive monthly decline, so egg prices remained just 1% above the March 2010 level.

That might help to explain why many bakeries, bagel shops, coffee chains and other concepts are adding egg-related menu items. Not only are food costs low, but eggs – especially egg sandwiches and other portable items – are always popular for breakfast.

“We’re seeing very strong growth in our egg sandwiches,” says Scott Colwell, chief marketing officer for Burlington, VT-based Bruegger’s. “They are up 20% over where they were a year ago.“

He adds that customers of the 300-unit bagel chain want more than just an egg in a bagel. They want flavor, value and healthful food. This spring, Bruegger’s launched the Skinny Zesty Egg White Sandwich, which consists of an egg white patty on a skinny sesame bagel, with turkey sausage, Swiss cheese and sundried tomato spread. A skinny bagel is one that Bruegger’s cuts using a patented knife that removes approximately one-third of the bagel’s center. The 4l0-calorie item has a price point of $3.99.

Other chains also have seen success in egg sandwiches. “We consider portability a major factor in our ability to connect with consumers,“ says James O’Reilly, chief concept officer with Lakewood, CO-based Einstein Noah Restaurant Group. “A high percentage of our customers are on the go – on the way to work, to a meeting, etc. We have grown our business by opening our restaurants in locations – transportation hubs, food courts, main intersections and along major foot traffic routes – where we’re a natural stop in their morning routine.“

Einstein Bros. Bagels offers 10 different egg sandwiches, ranging from the Spinach and Bacon Egg Bagel Panini to the Southwest Turkey Sausage Egg Sandwich.

Eric Newman, executive vice president and general counsel for Bojangles’ Restaurants Inc., agrees that portability is important. “Breakfast is 40% of our business and the ability to hold breakfast in one hand, its portability, is key,” he says. Sixty per cent of our business is done through our drive-thru windows, and another 20% is ordered inside to be consumed off the premises.” Bojangles’ egg sandwiches, which include Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits, and others, are priced from approximately $1.49 to $2.05.

Source: Nation’s Restaurant News, August 2011

The American Egg Board recently conducted a survey of more than 1,000 moms and teachers investigating the role of breakfast at home and in the classroom. The results emphasized the critical role breakfast – and, in particular, eggs – play on the most important mornings.

Key findings include:

The Best Way to Start Important Days: More than four out of five moms (83 percent) and teachers (79 percent) agree that a high-quality protein breakfast of eggs is the best way to start important days.

So what is an Important Day, Anyway?

Here are the top six days or events that moms and teachers consider to be important days  (defined as a day that requires extra preparation, extra effort, etc.): test days (83 percent), first day of school (82 percent), project/speech presentation (66 percent), math competition (55 percent), sporting events/practices (49 percent) and band concert/musical performance (45 percent).

Eggs Beat Other Breakfast Foods: More than half of all moms and teachers (57 percent) think eggs are “the best breakfast for important days,” making eggs more than twice as popular as other breakfast items, such as oatmeal (22 percent), cold cereal (4 percent) and waffles (2 percent), combined.

Less is Not More When it Comes to a Breakfast of Eggs: More than four out of five moms (83 percent) and three out of four teachers (74 percent) agree that more kids should start their day with eggs.

Eggs Help Kids Rise and Keep Shining: More than 1 in 3 moms and teachers notice that, when their kids or students eat eggs for breakfast, they feel more energetic, are more mentally alert and they don’t feel hungry until lunch.

Convenience Already in the Kitchen: Despite the fact that microwaves can be an incredible time-saver during hectic mornings, two-thirds of moms (66 percent) say they never use a microwave to cook eggs.

New Entrants and Broader Menus Fuel Growth Prospects

With high margins and the opportunity to build a new or underdeveloped daypart, breakfast competition is heating up in foodservice and this is a boon to suppliers. Not only is there a fit for more varied products and ingredients, but the potential customer base has grown with new and potential entrants in many segments. New announcements of breakfast intentions continue, with Mrs. Fields and possibly Chipotle being recent examples. Others have moved from a highly specialized breakfast orientation into larger menus and later dayparts that incorporate elements of their breakfast roots. Consider Einstein Bros. It started with bagels and “shmears” of traditional and flavored cream cheese but now has bagel sandwiches, bagel pizzas and even hot dogs with a bagel wrap.

More Variety The Strategy in Beyond Restaurants

Menu expansion is also evident among beyond restaurant operators. For hotels, free breakfast is an important aspect of the overall value orientation for midscale properties but success breeds heightened demands. Though many feature both hot and cold items, major chains now want to offer broader variety so that frequent guests have more choices and also portable options for those who want to take advantage but “to go.” Breakfast is also part of the growing retail meal solutions market, particularly for C-stores. Many have followed the lead of QSRs with better coffee, breakfast sandwiches, more baked goods and hand-held selections for dashboard dining (e.g., hash browns, taquitos, even make-your-own toast with peanut butter or other toppings). Some supermarkets also have morning menus at the deli counter or buffet-style food bars with egg dishes, breakfast tacos, and oatmeal, granola and yogurt with various topping choices.

What’s Next?

When you think about it, it’s rather extraordinary what has been accomplished within the constraints of traditional notions of breakfast, but now more innovation and fewer me-too offerings will be required to grow the market. Though differentiation does occur, there are similarities throughout the breakfast marketplace and substantial room for other choices that entice consumers further outside the box of their breakfast habits or potentially appeal to those who skip it altogether. Some examples:

As more operators recognize a possible fit and growth prospects for breakfast within their concept, suppliers need to take a more expansive view of both the potential customer base and the relevant product opportunities. Even if your specialty lies beyond the expected categories, breakfast may warrant closer examination. It is often described as the “most important meal of the day” and while the reference usually comes from a health and nutrition perspective, this can also apply to an innovation focus for both foodservice and retail.

Source: The Technomic Viewpoint, August 2011