USA TODAY International Edition
CHEESE, PLEASE!
RESTAURANT CHAINS HEART QUESO
Spicy, gooey goodness is easy to make, drives up sales — and, oh yeah, it tastes good
For those who like food that oozes, spicy melted cheese is a hot trend among fast- food and fast- casual restaurants.
Queso, long a Tex- Mex favorite, is bringing gooey goodness to chains across the USA.
Chipotle devotees, puzzled by the dish’s absence from the company’s menu, cheered last week when the chain announced it was testing queso at its public test kitchen in New York.
Last week, Wendy’s unveiled its new Bacon Queso Burger, Bacon Queso Chicken Sandwich and Bacon Queso Fries, which will be on the menu until mid- August.
And in November, Taco Bell made its queso known by trying it out with a Steakhouse Burrito and Steakhouse Nachos for a limited time.
“It’s fairly easy to execute. It’s melted cheese. It’s a higher ( profit) margin item,” said Howard Penney, managing director of Hedgeye Risk Management.
Chipotle’s queso debut was long in coming because the chain, known for embracing natural ingredients, didn’t want to use additives to keep the cheese stable. Instead, it’s using potato starch and tapioca starch, which makes the queso a bit grittier. If the experiment in New York is a success, it’ll roll out more broadly, Chief Marketing Officer Mark Crumpacker says.
“Queso is something that’s been requested from us for many, many years. Pretty much since we started,” he said last week.
Queso has been a staple on the Qdoba Mexican Eats and Moe’s Southwest Grill menus. Wendy’s added it even though it isn’t known for its Mexican fare.
“Wendy’s knows how passionate people have become about queso. In fact, this passion often turns into obsession. Good news for those folks, Wendy’s is also obsessed!” the company said in its July 11 announcement.
If Wendy’s queso trio is a hit, queso could become firmly entrenched in the larger quick- service world, according to Penney.
“There’s no intellectual property associated with queso sauce. If someone is successful by them having queso sauce, you can be guaranteed they’ll do it,” he said. “If a Burger King customer is going to go to Wendy’s to get queso sauce, they’re going to ( introduce) queso sauce.”
Other chains may come to embrace queso because it is an item that drives up ticket prices and is easy to prepare in centralized locations and replicate without having to re- engineer kitchens, said Aaron Allen, founder of an Orlando- based eponymous global restaurant consulting firm. And, people like the taste. “We’re seeing an overall migration toward bolder flavors,” he said. “There’s a certain approachability to it. It’s easy to say. Americans can read it. It gets you authenticity. It gets you cheese. It gets you flavor. And it still makes sense in a fast- food or fast- casual menu environment.”