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Toppers president relays 4 lessons learned in R&D

December 5, 2018

By Scott Gittrich/ Toppers Pizza founder and president
One of the biggest challenges that QSR brands face today is maintaining consistency in menu offerings, while still keeping things fresh and innovative. Menu items should never feel completely out of place, but the menu also shouldn't be 10 variations of essentially the same thing. 

Building an authentic menu, while keeping things profitable for the operator is extremely important for the success of any restaurant concept. So, how can brands build both an authentic and profitable menu? Here are some lessons I've learned:

1.    Be true to the brand

First ask, "Is this item worthy of my restaurant?" When we, at Toppers, venture into a new food category or start looking into specific items, we always consider whether it's worthy of our restaurant and brand promise. 

We ask, "Will customers order this, but feel like the item is out of place? Or will they believe it's authentic to the brand we've worked hard to create?"

It's fine for a pizza concept to venture into pasta, but would a youthful, energetic, smack-talkin' brand sell a fancy pasta? Not quite. That's why at Toppers, we landed on a baked mac 'n cheese when expanding into that category. But, for other brands a fancier pasta might make more sense.

"Throughout the research and development process, you definitely have to keep track of trends beyond your restaurant's walls, and even outside of your segment. "

2.    Maintain your value proposition

Once we define that a particular item is worthy of the brand, we put our focus on the value. Our supply chain team works together with the R&D team to create a product that works within our platform, but can also be sold at a price point that works for our loyal customers. 

Next, we take the new item to our customer base and ask for honest opinions. We ask them to give us a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" in response to the question, "Would you order this?"

If it's a thumbs-down, we may tweak it or even kill it at this stage. Most of our new menu items have been live-tested in restaurants with our customers. Some new items are extensions of existing categories, but others take us into completely new territory.  

"Your research and development should also tell you what menu items should stay and what should go. In my view, making these choices is 80 percent science and 20 percent art. "

3.    Look beyond the brand and even the pizza restaurant sector

Throughout the research and development process, you definitely have to keep track of trends beyond your restaurant's walls, and even outside of your segment. Let's use chicken wings as an example. Every competitor in the pizza space sells wings, so taking them off the menu would be to our detriment. But 20 years ago, that was not the case. Rather, once the wing boom happened and more pizza brands added wings, pizza consumers became conditioned to expect the two together. 

Today, any pizza restaurant brand would likely stab itself in the back by dropping wings. But this is not simply about adopting what works elsewhere. You have to take what competitors are doing and make it your own. 

For instance, pasta is becoming increasingly common at QSR pizza concepts, but not so much for Mac 'n Cheese. So don't be afraid to get into other segments that are trending with consumers, but stay cognizant of the fact that you have to make the trend your own. If you do too many things or get too far from your core, you'll just confuse your customer and that's a problem that's tough to recover from.  

4.    Use science and art to determine menu mix

Your research and development should also tell you what menu items should stay and what should go. In my view, making these choices is 80 percent science and 20 percent art. 

For instance, at Toppers an analyst provides data on how certain items are selling, and then we look at what the customers are telling us through social media. Now when I said that this selection process is "20 percent art," I meant you have to take all that data and apply it to see how it plays in your bigger brand picture. 

Customers who are fans of any of your services or products will always voice concerns when you eliminate them from your menu, but your brand must maintain a certain discipline to take things off the menu so you can add new things. It's just the fun "yin and yang" that all restaurateurs work within every day to move their brands forward.  

Photo: iStock