Ethnic bowl shakes up breakfast

Wildflower Bread Company rotates the menu five times a year to allow it to take some chances. To get inspiration for these menus, the brand travels and dines out as a group. It was a stop in Seattle that motivated Product Development Manager Lacey Hudgins to add a North Africa-inspired shakshuka bowl—a tomato-based sauce topped with eggs, feta and cilantro—at breakfast. Wildflower kept the authentic name to foster “a little curiosity … and create conversation,” says Hudgins. Now, it sells about 100 on weekdays and up to 150 each day on weekends, outperforming its other breakfast bowl 1.5 to 1. 

Compared to a traditional shakshuka recipe, Wildflower’s version slightly tones down the spiciness “to hit the broad palate,” according to founder Louis Basile. The recipe, he says, aims to fall between 6 and 8 on a 1-to-10 heat scale.

Other changes to the classic recipe are labor-saving. In place of baked eggs, the chain opts for a sunnyside up prep to speed service time. And the sauce—which is made from a recipe developed in-house—is produced for scale by a local vendor “to control both consistency and to potentially help with price,” says Basile. 

With every new menu launch, staff are trained three weeks prior to rollout. A Bread-ucate Yourself pamphlet educates front-of-the-house employees on the new dish, advising on its correct pronunciation (“shahk-SHOO-kah”), origination and ingredients. In addition, Wildflower prepares flash cards for the front and back of the house with assembly and plating-standard cheat sheets.

Because of the shakshuka’s success, Wildflower plans to add a new breakfast bowl this winter with sweet potatoes and kale. The chain is also exploring other global ingredients to potentially add to bowls the future, including kimchi, udon noodles and a take on Korean bibimbap.