Dunkin' Donuts has launched its new DDSMART menu featuring a surprising new menu item for a quick-serve restaurant, the Egg White Flatbread Sandwich.
Conceived to respond to customer's requests for better-for-you fare, while also bringing the concept's successful flatbread platform onto the breakfast menu, the sandwich has been well received, said Dunkin' Brands executive chef Stan Frankenthaler.
The egg-white sandwiches come in two varieties, Turkey Sausage and Veggie, both under 300 calories.
The DDSMART menu has a distinctive new logo to highlight menu items that meet at least one of the following criteria: 25 percent fewer calories; 25 percent less sugar, fat, saturated fat or sodium than comparable fare; and/or contain ingredients that are nutritionally beneficial.
As the culinary staff was faced with developing the DDSMART menu's lighter fare, they wanted to build on the success of Dunkin's flatbread sandwich on its lunch menu, Frankenthaler said.
"We cooked a lot, we tasted a lot, we looked at a lot of breakfast in all sorts of restaurant offerings, meaning all categories of restaurants," Frankenthaler said.
Creating an egg-white omelet was the logical next step, not only as the best platform for egg whites but also as a way to bring a food item normally seen on finer dining menus to everyday breakfast, he said.
"Omelets are something that you tend to think of as the weekend, or . . . sitting down at a white-tablecloth or a casual dining restaurant," Frankenthaler said.
Preparing the egg whites as an omelet solved the texture problem since the whites are aerated, preventing any tough or rubbery texture.
The staff then looked at ingredients and chose reduced fat cheeses, vegetables and turkey sausage.
"What we come out with then is a sandwich that is very flavorful, loaded with good values and is going to avoid those three pitfalls, if you will, of taste, texture, or plainness," Frankenthaler said.
The two sandwiches — spinach and turkey sausage with reduced-fat mozzarella cheese and a vegetable omelet with different colored peppers, scallions and reduced-fat cheddar cheese — are served on a multi-grain flatbread, while the lunch varieties are on traditional flatbread.
Frankenthaler said sales have been good and customer response has been positive as the sandwich sparks conversation in the stores.
"We're really excited; my team's been very excited that we met some real innovation challenges," Frankenthaler said.
