Grain bowls have been on the to-do list at Mendocino Farms for some time. “We saw them as an opportunity to build dinner sales,” said Jeremy Bringardner, corporate chef for the 41-unit fast casual. “Plus, they’re healthy, hearty and very travel friendly.”
In September, three globally inspired bowls launched on the menu, creating a whole new category to round out the chain’s salad and sandwich lineup.
A worldly trio
Bringardner is given leeway to be more adventurous with flavors and ingredients, with the goal of differentiating Mendocino Farms’ menu from others in the fast-casual space. He also makes sure to impart the “Mendo twist” into every item, tapping his fine-dining background to elevate dishes with special touches, such as fresh herbs and savory jams.
“We look for the perfect blend of familiar and compelling. Grains are a blank canvas and can go in many directions,” he said. “We started testing different combinations during the pandemic and zeroed in on Argentinian, Mediterranean and Latin flavors.”
Argentinian chimichurri sauce and roasted shishito peppers are trending in fine dining but not so much in fast casual, Bringardner said, so the Chimichurri Steak & Shishito bowl combines those ingredients with roasted steak, caramelized onion jam, baby spinach, broccolini, tomatoes and red onions over ancient grains. The Mendo twist? A grilled lemon as a garnish.
Latin flavors have done very well at Mendocino Farms, said Bringander, so “I knew the Smoky Chicken Elote Bowl would be popular. Street corn is at the heart of it, but we flipped that into an entree.” The Oaxacan-inspired bowl combines al pastor chicken, smoky corn, guajillo broth, zucchini and shredded cabbage over ancient grains, topped with tortilla strips, crema, cotija cheese, pico de gallo, cilantro and fresh lime.
Mediterranean cuisine is compatible with Mendocino Farms’ healthy mindset, and the last of the trio—the Mediterranean Chicken Bowl—plays off that. It features roasted chicken over cracked whole-grain bulgur tossed with lemon-dill vinaigrette and tahini yogurt sauce. Rounding out the bowl are baby spinach and roasted vegetables—broccoli, tomatoes, yellow peppers and onions—all topped with pickled golden raisins and sumac.
Maximizing ingredients and equipment
With the fast casual’s focus on sandwiches and salads, the grain bowls required additional SKUs and training. The ancient grains, a blend of quinoa, black barley and brown rice, is an essential new SKU. “I felt the black barley added something a little different and provides more texture and bite,” said Bringardner. The grain blend is cooked in Mendocino Farms’ commissary and brought in already prepped.
“Most of the heavy lifting is done at the commissary to keep the line moving in the restaurants,” he said. That includes roasting the chicken and steak and making the sauces—the latter “the defining component of each bowl.” Fresh touches are added at the stores. “We only cook ahead when it doesn’t sacrifice the flavor or quality of the ingredient,” Bringardner added.
But the fresh vegetables are roasted to order at each location. “We cut them small and thin so they can roast quickly in our high-heat ovens,” said Bringardner. “They’re simply tossed in oil and seasonings before roasting.”
The chain added extra hot holding equipment to accommodate the increased volume from the bowls, particularly for the sauces and grains. Everything is assembled to order on the line—grains, vegetables, meat, sauces and garnishes. “We had to shuffle things a bit on the line to make sure the bowl assembly was contained in one area,” said Bringardner.
Tweaks and revamps
The bowls were initially tested in four markets in California and Texas. Customer feedback generated little tweaks in each.
“We originally launched the steak bowl with pesto instead of chimichurri,” said Bringardner. “We had very good feedback but a group of people said ‘this is too typical and boring with pesto.’ Customers expect Mendocino Farms to be more adventurous.”
Other bowls were tweaked slightly because of supply chain issues; if a component was more difficult to get a substitution was made.
The R&D team developed a couple of other bowls that didn’t make the cut for a fall launch. “We worked on a tuna poke bowl but it didn’t fit the season. It’s more of a summer item,” said Bringardner.
And a Korean-style Bibimbap bowl went back to the drawing board. “The one we developed was too literal. It was very close to the kind you would get in a Korean restaurant,” he said. “We are working on ‘Mendofying’ it.” Bringardner is thinking of adding roasted winter vegetables to the recipe to drive the Bibimbap in a seasonal direction.
Now that bowls are a permanent category on Mendocino Farms’ menu, Bringardner expects to grow the selection, perhaps expanding the choices to four and rotating others in. Response has been strong and there’s a world of global flavors out there.