Food Management Magazine: Southern Inspired Salads Solve a Problem April 4th, 2013
[Food Management, Feb. 27, 2013] — Cooper’s Creek, a Southern food concept at Oregon State University’s Market West dining hall, had been doing Southern food right for a few months after opening last year. Students and faculty could belly up to barbecue, blackened catfish, fried chicken, jambalaya, beef brisket, shrimp and grits, ribs, gumbo and more.
The Southern food was selling great at dinnertime—but at lunch? Not so much.
“We just weren’t pulling the numbers at lunch,” says Jay Perry, chef de cuisine at Oregon State University. Clearly, a new strategy was needed.
The solution came in the form of salads. Not just any salads, though: Salads that make use of those great Southern proteins and flavors. There was some risk involved, too: the salads were to be hand tossed, to order.
A tasting panel helped narrow down the selection of the Southern salads and their house-made dressings. Currently, customers can choose: Grape and Goat Cheese, Harvest Salad (dark green kale, orange winter squash, beets, with acai dressing), Shrimp Louis, Grilled Vegetable, Southern Cobb or Blackened Chicken (with zesty spices, oranges and spinach).
The salads are packed with local produce that’s rich in nutrients and antioxidants. That message is conveyed through marketing, and it seems like it hits the exact right lunchtime note.
“I thought they would do pretty well, but it’s just been amazing. Lunch sales for this concept increased 55 percent,” Perry says.
To keep things moving, no substitutions are allowed (except for dressings). However, customers can ask to leave ingredients out. …
Read the full article by Tara Fitzpatrick.
