Outback Steakhouse concluded its Thanks for Giving program with a presentation of a $1 million donation to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization providing everyday and emergency support for active troops, veterans and their families.  The check was presented by OSI Restaurant Partners CEO Liz Smith and Outback Steakhouse President Jeff Smith to Jim Knotts, President/CEO and Amy Palmer, COO of Operation Homefront.  

Today’s event began with the Presentation of the Colors by The Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE) Color Guard, MacDill Air Force Base, in the front of the original Outback Steakhouse, established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida.  United States dignitaries on hand included Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill, Army Command Sgt. Maj. Ron Pflieger, retired Army Maj. Gen. Richard Griffitts, and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Arthur “Chip” Diehl III.

The Thanks for Giving program was launched in March when diners where invited to assist Outback in its efforts to support the troops by ordering from a special Red, White and Bloomin’ menu.

The company-wide initiative garnered national attention, including the endorsement of country music legend and fellow military supporter, Tim McGraw; retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. Central Command Commander; and retired Army Brig. Gen. John Howard.

“The sacrifices that our troops and their families make so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have in the United States is something Outback employees have recognized and appreciated since we opened our doors 22 years ago,” said Liz Smith. “As we express our sincere appreciation to those serving our country, we would also like to  thank the countless Americans who rallied behind our Thanks for Giving program.”

Today’s donation to Operation Homefront is the most recent in a long history of Outback’s support of the troops.  In June 2002, OSI launched Operation Feeding Freedom, sending a team of 15 Outbackers to Afghanistan to feed American troops stationed there.  Since that trip, over 100 members of the OSI team have made another six trips serving troops in Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and aboard the USS Nimitz in Bahrain.  Overall, 137,000 troops have been served at numerous bases and forward command locations. 

“Our troops, veterans and their families need support now more than ever,” Knotts said. “Outback’s generous donation will help these dedicated individuals and wounded warriors carry on with life’s essential needs as well as emergency situations.”

Menus around the US are in the process of getting a makeover. The new health care bill will require all restaurants, with 20 or more locations, to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and drive-thrus.

More than 60% of restaurant-goers think restaurants should post nutritional information on menus, and two in five (44%) think federal or local governments should facilitate such actions, according to Mintel, a global supplier of consumer, product and media intelligence.

“Menu transparency will allow consumers to have control over their food decisions with a complete understanding of what they’re eating,” notes Eric Giandelone, director of foodservice research at Mintel. “However, getting people to eat healthier requires more than just posting calories or adding healthy options to the menu…the food also has to taste good.”

When going out for dinner, nearly 60% of survey respondents say they want something that tastes great and 23% claim to want to eat a healthy meal. Only 14% of diners say they are never interested in ordering a healthy restaurant meal. This insight shows that restaurant patrons are attracted to healthful meals, as long as they’re full of flavor.

Nearly half of survey respondents report eating healthier in restaurants in the past year and people have different methods for doing so. Reducing fat (67%) leads the way in strategies for adopting healthier eating habits at restaurants, followed by eating more fruits and vegetables (52%). Meanwhile, 49% of patrons are cutting calories by simply ordering less food.

“From a restaurant’s perspective, there is a concern that healthy menu items may not sell, but there is also a danger to having a calorie-laden menu when the calorie count law starts taking effect,” adds Eric Giandelone. “There may be some initial consumer shock at the calorie counts and chains may have to start listing lower-calorie options or smaller portion sizes to help diffuse this unpleasant surprise.”

Chick-fil-A fans across the country have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the restaurant chain’s new Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Beginning today, the sandwich is available at Chick-fil-A restaurants nationwide. It is the first new sandwich to hit menu boards since its Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich was introduced in 1989.

Building on the heritage of the chain’s namesake sandwich, the new Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich is hand-breaded, seasoned with a fiery blend of several peppers, pressure-cooked in 100 percent refined peanut oil and served on a toasted buttered bun with dill pickle chips. The Spicy Chicken Sandwich starts at $2.99 and is also offered in a “deluxe” version that includes lettuce, tomato and Pepper Jack cheese for $3.59.

“Our Spicy Chicken Sandwich offers a unique, well-balanced and ‘cravable’ spicy flavor that is perfect for our growing customer constituency that enjoys spicy food. Most spicy chicken sandwiches available today just heat up your mouth and do not boast a distinctive flavor. We wanted to focus on providing customers with a memorable spicy taste experience that you could only enjoy from Chick-fil-A,” said William F. “Woody” Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand strategy and design, who is responsible for the chain’s menu strategy. “As for the heat level, well, we offer a wide choice of beverages to cool things down! The sandwich will definitely wake up your taste buds – so much so that we’re printing a lighthearted message on the packaging warning customers that the sandwich ‘may start mouth fires’.”

Faulk also noted that there are various ways for customers to temper or enhance the spicy flavor of the sandwich. “One of the delicate aspects of developing this recipe was finding the right spice level to suit the majority of our customers. While we believe we found the happy medium as far as the ‘kick level’ is concerned, there are ways to cool down or even heat up the sandwich. Adding ranch dressing or lettuce and tomato help lower the temperature, but we also offer Pepper Jack cheese or Buffalo sauce for those who can’t get enough spicy flavor.”

The Spicy Chicken Sandwich was given free to more than one million customers across the country last week during a special Premiere Week event at the chain’s stand-alone and mall restaurants. Customers were able to reserve a time to try the sandwich at a local restaurant through a special website, www.getspicychicken.com. In addition, the chain market-tested the sandwich in Jacksonville, Fla. and Baltimore, Md., and then expanded the test to include its restaurants in California last spring. Customers gave the sandwich a 4.4 out of 5 rating on overall taste, and the Spicy Chicken Sandwich continues to account for at least six percent of overall sales at the test restaurants more than a year later. This figure is similar to the percentage of sales garnered by Chick-fil-A Kid’s Meals.

Considering the capital investment and marketing expenses required to introduce a totally new sandwich, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich rollout is Chick-fil-A’s largest product introduction in 20 years. The rollout requires a number of kitchen equipment additions, including the installation of new pressure cookers and ventilation systems at most restaurants in order to prevent the spicy recipe from crossing over to other menu items. Chick-fil-A is also in the midst of one of its most aggressive marketing campaigns in chain history to support the sandwich rollout. In addition to the online, reservation-based Spicy Premiere Week sampling effort, Chick-fil-A has purchased rare television and radio ad buys in key markets across the country, and is using online marketing campaigns to promote the sandwich.

“We are extremely fortunate to be in a position to make these multi-million dollar investments during tough economic times,” said Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A’s senior vice president of marketing. “Much of our competition is hesitant to make new product investments these days and instead have chosen to focus on dollar menus and product discounts to drive traffic. However, Chick-fil-A is focused on adding value to the restaurant experience through well-developed product introductions and the continued value placed on our second mile service. We firmly believe our business will continue to grow as long as we take deliberate measures to ensure the quality of our products and our customer service standards remain at the highest level.”  

Robinson added that “Chick-fil-A has the utmost confidence at this time in our move to add this totally new Spicy Chicken Sandwich and we believe the product will help sustain the positive sales momentum we have sustained during the unstable economy.”  

Coming off a record-breaking $3.2 billion sales year in 2009, the chain is already enjoying a positive start to 2010 with a 3.6 percent same-store sales gain and a 9.3 percent overall sales increase through April. “Based on the performance of the Spicy Chicken Sandwich during the test and Premiere Week, we are anticipating that this product will help attract new customers for our restaurant Operators throughout the country and will also encourage more frequent visits from our current customers. We have no doubt that our Spicy Chicken Sandwich will become an industry leader before too long and a new favorite among our customers,” said Robinson.

The Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich complements the other spicy entrées currently offered by the chain, including the Spicy Chicken Cool Wrap and Southwest Chargrilled Salad. Based on the general popularity of the spicy category, Chick-fil-A also plans to expand its line of spicy offerings by adding a Spicy Chicken Biscuit to its “made-from-scratch,” hand-rolled biscuit-based breakfast menu in January 2011.

Today is National Donut Day, and Dunkin’ Donuts, America’s all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, is celebrating by announcing the winning donut in the company’s second-annual “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest while also giving people the sweet offer of a free donut.

The grand prize winning donut is “Monkey-see Monkey-donut,” a bananas foster-filled donut with chocolate icing, topped with Reese’s® Peanut Butter shavings, created by donut devotee Rachel Davis of Sharon, Massachusetts. Rachel wins $12,000 and her donut will be sold in participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants nationwide beginning this fall.

To commemorate National Donut Day and the announcement of the grand prize winning donut, today participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the country will offer guests a free donut of choice with the purchase of any beverage, limited one per customer while supplies last. National Donut Day, held the first Friday of June each year, was founded by the Chicago Salvation Army more than 70 years ago.

According to Rachel, creating her winning donut didn’t require much monkeying around. “In my opinion there is no better treat than a frozen chocolate covered banana, so why not bring that delicious taste to Dunkin’ Donuts?” she said. “I think everyone will enjoy this perfect combination!”

Rachel was selected as one of 12 contest finalists from nearly 90,000 donut contest creations submitted online. As a finalist, she received $1,200 and traveled to Dunkin’ Donuts’ University in Braintree, Massachusetts last month to compete in a bake-off competition before Dunkin’ Donuts’ culinary team and company leaders. The winning donut was selected based on the vote of the bake-off judging panel, as well as America’s online vote.

     In collaboration with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and as a precautionary measure, McDonald’s USA today issued a voluntary recall of its four Shrek Forever After™ glassware recently offered in its U.S. restaurants.  Customers should stop using the glasses and visit www.mcdonalds.com/glasses beginning June 8 for instructions on how to return them and get a refund.

McDonald’s safety standards are among the highest in the industry and the company has a strong track record.  To be clear, the glassware was evaluated by an independent third-party laboratory which is accredited by the CPSC, and determined to be in compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements at the time of manufacture and distribution.  However, in light of the CPSC’s evolving assessment of standards for cadmium in consumer products, McDonald’s determined in an abundance of caution that a voluntary recall of the Shrek Forever After glasses is appropriate.  

“When the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approached McDonald’s about cadmium in their current movie-themed drinking glasses, the company responded quickly, agreed to cooperate fully and acted on the side of caution,” said Scott Wolfson, Director of the Office of Information and Public Affairs, CPSC.  ”The glasses have far less cadmium than the children’s metal jewelry that CPSC has previously recalled.”

McDonald’s has a longstanding, cooperative relationship with the CPSC, and continues to follow their lead as testing protocols and new scientific information becomes available.

The Shrek Forever After glassware was offered in four glass designs at McDonald’s restaurants beginning May 21.  The four designs include Puss n’ Boots, Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey.  Customers can get instructions to return the glassware and request a refund by visiting www.mcdonalds.com/glasses beginning June 8.  Customers can also call McDonald’s toll-free number at 1-800-244-6227.  Previous McDonald’s promotional glassware is not involved in the recall.

Outback Steakhouse, a longtime supporter of U.S. military troops, today announced its commitment to donate $1 million to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization that provides emergency and morale support for active troops, veterans and their families.

• Outback Steakhouse Gift Card

“The sacrifices that our troops and their families make so we can enjoy the freedoms we have in the United States is something Outback employees have recognized and appreciated since we opened our doors 22 years ago,” said Liz Smith, CEO of OSI Restaurant Partners, parent company of Outback Steakhouse. “Our commitment to donate $1 million to Operation Homefront reflects our appreciation to those who give so much.”

Also starting today, Outback is holding a month-long “Thanks for Giving” effort in participating restaurant locations in the U.S. and Hawaii. Restaurant-goers are invited to express their appreciation to our country’s dedicated servicemen and women by visiting Outback restaurants this month and ordering from the “Red, White and Bloomin’” menu. Proceeds from menu sales during the month of March will help to meet the $1 million commitment to Operation Homefront. The menu will be available through March 31.

“As a retired member of the U.S. military and on behalf of our troops serving in locations far and wide, I’d like to thank Outback Steakhouse for its support over the years,” said General Tommy Franks (Ret.). “This support, coupled with the current effort to help our active and retired servicemen, women and their families, is greatly appreciated.”

To further raise awareness about this important cause, Outback has partnered with country music superstar Tim McGraw on his Southern Voice concert tour, scheduled to visit more than 60 U.S. cities this spring and summer. Proceeds from a Southern Voice commemorative t-shirt will also be donated to Operation Homefront.

“When I learned about Outback’s commitment to the troops and history of helping our local communities, it really felt like the perfect fit to partner with them in their efforts,” said McGraw. “Together with Outback, our shared goal is to help raise awareness and funds to help our selfless servicemen and women.”

For more information about the program, please visit Outback.com.

About Outback Steakhouse

Outback Steakhouse has been an innovator in casual dining for 22 years. During that time, it has perfected the art of serving great-tasting steaks. In fact, Outback was recently voted #1 Best Steak in the 2009 Zagat Survey of National Full-Service Restaurant Chains. Outback is not only known for the “Best Steak” award, but also serves fresh, “made from scratch” appetizers, salads, entrees, sides and desserts that use only the highest-quality ingredients available. Outback’s menu of new choices, classic favorites and “down under prices,” offers something for everyone. Outback promises delicious, affordable food, spirited service, and an energetic atmosphere that will make casual nights out the most enjoyable available. Please visit www.Outback.com for more information.

About Operation Homefront

Operation Homefront’s mission is to provide emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind, and for wounded warriors when they return home. A nonprofit 501(c)(3), Operation Homefront leads more than 4,500 volunteers in 30 chapters nationwide and has met more than 105,000 needs of military families. Operation Homefront also hosts the Web community, Operation Homefront Online, at www.HomefrontOnline.com.

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