Supermarket Chefs Offering Up Breakfast-To-Go for the Morning Rush

By: Dagmar Farr, Senior Vice President, Member Services, Food Marketing Institute

Busy mornings result in many families eating on the run or not at all. Supermarkets have taken notice. Not only are more grocery stores adding to their on-the-go breakfast offerings, they see this as another meal for which consumers are seeking a quick and healthy solution.

2015 Supermarket Chef Showdown Breakfast-To-Go category finalists, Greg Retz, BiLo Holdings; Amy Gleason, Hy-Vee; and Kirsten Shabaz, Valley Natural Foods have all witnessed changing breakfast and prepared food trends in their stores. Chef Retz of BiLo notes, “Customers now want quick options for all meal occasions, but at the same time don’t want to sacrifice quality and value.”

All three chefs have witnessed the explosion in popularity and demand for local products, healthier options, and nutrient-dense portable foods that customers can feel good about eating and feeding to their children. Each chef also notes receiving frequent customer requests for fresh, local, organic foods and meals with fewer ingredients. “We consider taste, simplicity, and cleaner, more natural ingredients to fuel a customer and keep them feeling fuller longer,” Gleason states as criteria when developing grab-and-go items, like breakfast-to-go. Shabaz comments, “People are putting aside grain-focused foods for breakfast and looking for protein-based [breakfast] options to sustain them through the day.” Shabaz comments further that today’s consumers want to know where their food comes from, and are increasingly focused on foods that promote good health.

As for the upcoming competition, all three chefs turned to 2015 Supermarket Chef Showdown sponsor ingredients to create their original recipes. Shabaz’s recipe for Eggs in a Jar calls for Pictsweet frozen broccoli, Hillshire Farm ham, and McCormick paprika. Gleason’s Cinnamon Scented Farro Breakfast Parfaits calls for McCormick’s cinnamon sticks and Orchard’s Finest Northwest Triple Berry Preserves from Smucker’s. Last, but not least, Retz’s Fried Green Tomato Biscuit with Orange Bacon Marmalade & Fried Egg calls for an assortment of McCormick spices and Smucker’s orange marmalade.

Chef Retz, Chef Gleason and Chef Shabaz will highlight their on-trend breakfast-to-go recipes on June 10^th in Chicago, Illinois as they battle it out in a live cook-off event on the FMI Connect expo floor. To learn more about FMI’s Supermarket Chef Showdown, please visit us at www.supermarketchefshowdown.com and join FMI’s growing culinary community of supermarket chefs.

The FMI Supermarket Chef Showdown is made possible by sponsors, including McCormick & Company, Campbell Soup Company, The Hershey Company, Hillshire Brands Company, The J.M. Smucker Company, Mondelez International, and The Pictsweet Company. Kitchenware products for this year’s cook off are being donated by Good Cook. Ingredients for this year’s cook off are being donated by Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc.