The Buffalo Chicken Wonton: Adds the Novel Asian Excitement to Ruby Tuesday’s Menu (1/2)

Menu innovation and simplicity are the two key factors that are constantly on the chef’s mind when it comes to menu development strategies. Innovation, or creating new menu items to bring pleasant surprises to diners has become a necessity for restaurants as Americans have become more and more adventuresome eaters since the last decade of the 20th century. Ethnic cuisine, once shunned, enjoys increasing popularity and the new foods introduced via that route add greatly to the variety of food choices. Simplicity, or balancing the degree of easy-to-prepare and taste, but also within cost restrains has become an increasingly greater challenge facing restaurant operators, especially in today’s market scene when they are not only fighting for customers but also qualified and motivated workers. It is reported that quick service establishments had the highest total turnover on average compared with other industries. Costs just to find, fill and train can place a heavy price tag to businesses. Thus, simplicity is necessary in order to ensure the food quality in an uncertain food labor market. That might explain why Ruby Tuesday, an 800-restaurant chain based in Maryville, Tenn. and known for its Hang off the Plate Ribs, steps out of its traditional culinary style to develop “The Buffalo Chicken Wonton” concept that married concept of Simplicity with that of Ethan in order to both satisfying the eaters’ appetites as well as boosting their revenues. An innovative Asian Menu Star The Buffalo Chicken Wonton is a highlight of Ruby Tuesday’s revamped menu. Actually, it is the sort of mélange that Wolfgang Puck, the fusion pioneer chef, might have invented, had he honed his craft in the American exurbs rather than Provence. The poultry-stuffed dumplings fuse not just two, but three distinct cuisines. The standard wonton, a staple of Chinese restaurants worldwide, was just the starting point. An early decision was made to replace the dumpling’s typical pork-and-chives filling with shredded chicken, so it’s a wonton with spicy Buffalo chicken wing flavor. Then it has an Italian marinara sauce, and it has mozzarella cheese on the inside. The development team of Ruby Tuesday also chose to super-size the wonton, so that four pieces can cover an entire plate. This “monstrous” wonton highlighted traditional casual-dining, which are pleasing to the eye as well as the stomach. "We call it the 'wow factor,' " Mr. Johnson said. "We like the sort of food that makes people say 'wow!' " Priority is Given to Simplicity Ruby Tuesday likes the sort of food that is both easy to prepare and inexpensive to manufacture. The development team examined each sample for evidence that it could be pulled from a freezer, tossed into a fryer basket and served within minutes, a process that Ruby Tuesday calls “finishing.” More important, restaurant managers reported short cooking times, with no inadvertently frozen middles or over-crisped edges. The true genius of the Buffalo Chicken Wonton is not is culinary range, but that you don’t have to be Wolfgang Puck to heat it up. Precisely controlling the chicken content was also crucial. "You want enough that you're getting a satisfying mouthful of chicken and cheese in each bite," Mr. Johnson said, "but not where it gets to be so much that we can't sell it for a reasonably good value." By early spring, the field had been winnowed to two finalists, which were presented to Ruby Tuesday's executive food committee, a small group that included the chief executive, Samuel E. Beall III, and other high-ranking officers. In a testing environment that Mr. Johnson compared to a wine tasting, the committee members ate a lot of wontons, comparing notes on flavor and what the industry calls "mouth feel." The new-born wonton was then tested in about 35 restaurants before receiving clearance for the chain-wide menu.