Globally Inspired Breakfast: Two Tickets to Taste Temptation, Please.

Order of plantains with your pancakes? A little chutney on your egg sandwich? How about a nice curry kabob for the ride?

Yes, we’re talking breakfast here. And not in some far-off exotic vacation destination. But right here in the good ol’ USA. Because as today’s consumers’ love affair with everything breakfast has exploded, so has their desire for unique flavors, unexpected entrees and traditional foods with a twist. It’s all part of the global breakfast boom, and operators are scampering to add a variety of Instagram-worthy options to satisfy today’s increasingly adventurous eaters.

Edible Postcards

It’s all because the world is getting smaller, borders are opening up and countries worldwide are exporting amazing new tastes and applications for the breakfast table. South-of-the-border influences are hardly a morning surprise anymore with burritos and bowls being pretty much ubiquitous. But today’s welcome guests at the table include traditional flavors and favorites from Korea, such as gochujang paste and kimchi, Indian chutneys and curries, Eastern Mediterranean entrees like shakshouka and baba ghanoush, Scandanavian breakfast sandwiches and charcuteries, and the list goes on and on.

Traditional with a Twist

The global breakfast boom is helping create more interesting choices by starting with the classic breakfast fare that consumers are familiar with as a foundation. Adding spices or ethnically inspired preparations transforms them into more unusual and intriguing options. The trick to appealing to a wider circle of consumers with globally influenced choices is to make those choices unique and exotic, but just not too unique and exotic. Otherwise, many consumers may be intimidated and take their business elsewhere.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage.

Savvy marketers are already acting fast, with strategies that successfully appeal to today’s consumers’ cravings. Smithfield, the leading pork producer, recently partnered with Foodmix to develop an extensive program promoting the benefits of global breakfast following just those tactics. Explains Foodmix creative director, George Kusch, “Menuing Pajeon with Pork Carnitas may have limited appeal, but labeling it Savory Korean Scallion Pancakes still sounds adventurous, yet not off-putting to a majority of guests.”

As worldwide breakfast tastes expand their reach, operators are stamping their menus like passports, with as many head-turning and unusual items as they feel may appeal to adventurous breakfast lovers. The amazing race for a competitive breakfast advantage is on, and the operators who stretch the boundaries of the typical will come out the winners.

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