Applebee’s introduced three upgraded chicken sandwiches Monday, showcasing new prep techniques, specs and flavor profiles.
Chicken sandwiches are not new to Applebee’s menu, but “we were driven by the fact that we knew there was room for improvement and a need for differentiation,” said Shannon Johnson, VP of Culinary at the Glendale, California-based casual-dining chain. “Plus, it’s important for us to grow the sandwich category to expand our value platform.”
To begin, Chef Johnson changed the chicken spec. Previously, Applebee’s purchased freezer-to-fryer boneless chicken, but he switched to fresh, seven-ounce chicken breasts—a 20% increase in size and a boost in quality.
The breading was the next enhancement. “We worked with our purchasing co-op and several suppliers to develop and source new, proprietary breading,” said Johnson, not revealing the composition of the final product.
But for the chef and his team, it’s the breading process that’s the crucial improvement. The chicken is now hand-breaded in the back-of-house—a step that required “the most intensive training we’ve ever done,” he said. “We see it as more of a capability than a product.”
While the training was intense, no new equipment was necessary and the hand breading didn’t even require the setup of breading stations. “The training team and ops did the work rather than the equipment,” said Johnson. “It was the lowest capital investment.”
Borrowing from the burger side
Burgers perform really well at Applebee’s, he added. To create the newest chicken sandwich build, he borrowed a sauce from a recent limited-time burger that launched across the brand’s more than 1,600 locations.
“The Whole Lotta Bacon Burger is topped with what is a cross between a bacon sauce and bacon jam,” said Johnson. “It’s made in-house with applewood-smoked bacon, tomato and vinegar to drive a tangy flavor. I’m always looking for synergies and this was a good way to exploit the pantry and use the bacon sauce on another platform.”
The build for the new Bacon Cheddar Crispy Chicken Sandwich features a hand-breaded, crispy chicken breast topped with two slices of cheddar cheese, two strips of applewood-smoked bacon and the house-made tangy bacon sauce, finished with lettuce, tomato and pickles on a brioche bun. It’s selling for $13.99 for a limited time with a choice of side.
The Bacon Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich (foreground) and Sweet & Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich are existing sandwiches that have been upgraded with a larger chicken breast and hand breading.
The other two upgraded chicken sandwiches previously existed on Applebee’s permanent menu, but now “get a boost from hand breading and the larger chicken breast,” said Johnson. The Bacon Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich is topped with two slices of applewood-smoked bacon and a house-made ranch drizzle, served on a brioche bun with pickles and shredded lettuce, while the Sweet & Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich is smothered in sweet Asian chile sauce and layered with Applebee’s signature coleslaw on a brioche bun.
Crafting a menu development strategy
Chef Johnson came to Applebee’s less than a year ago, approaching menu development with a three-pronged strategy. He describes it as “innovation by bringing brand-new menu items to Applebee’s; enhancing the recipes we already have; and creating new capabilities” for the back-of-house teams, he said.
That first capability is hand breading, which he plans to extend to other platforms. But he also intends to test the full pantry and bring forward the best. For Johnson, menu development starts with a wide funnel that is narrowed down through testing both internally and with franchisees. “I want to make sure the pipeline is always full,” he said.