Lane Cardwell

Variety is the Spice of Life

“Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.”
      William Cowper, English Poet, 1731-1800

The subject of menu variety came up the other day. Specifically, what constitutes variety in the eyes of the customer? I have read lots of research from the folks at NPD/CREST. I have seen tons of proprietary research over the years that ask customers to rate different brands on menu variety. I have digested lots of articles that refer to variety on a menu. I have read countless restaurant reviews over time where the reviewer made mention of the variety, or lack of, on the menu. After all this it makes me wonder whether we are speaking the same language when we comment on menu variety to each other.

I was describing the menu of Phil Romano’s new Nick & Sam’s Grill recently to someone who had not been, but was curious what they offered. “Well, they have some salads, some sandwiches, an omelet, spaghetti, meatloaf, a pork chop, BBQ ribs, three sizes of New York strip steak, four different fish, a burger, a BBQ sandwich, and a couple of other items that I can’t remember right now.” “Wow”, they said, “That’s a lot of variety!”

I remember thinking the same thing when I saw the menu. Not very many items on it, maybe 20 entrees at the most, but a lot of variety. And it made me think about variety in a different light. I used to think of variety being restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory, with their 200 item menu and 50 cheesecakes and desserts.

The friend who commented on Nick & Sam’s Grill having a lot of variety was commenting on the menu breadth. They have everything from an omelet to a steak! Never mind that there really wasn’t a lot of depth of choices. What impressed them was the ability to order very different foods, cooked in very different ways. Over time I have found myself happy with breadth of menu variety, without the depth, as long as the items that made up the breadth were good. One good chicken breast, one good steak, one good pasta, etc

 I have seen menus with as many as 80-90 items on them with a lot of choices, but not a lot of true variety. Casual dining has been a big offender over the years of offering a big menu, but not a lot of breadth of choices. Or, as a jazz musician might say, they have variations on a theme. Lots of different ways of offering a chicken breast, or a burger, or chicken tenders, or wings, or ribs, or a type of fish, but not a lot of real breadth of choices or cooking styles.

The masters of breadth, not depth, are the various restaurants under the Hillstone Restaurant Group umbrella: Houston’s, Bandera, Café R & D, and Gulfstream. They range from 15-20 entrees on each menu, but there is something for whatever mood you are in. And something that I have come to appreciate more and more is that it is easy to find something good when the choices are limited to things that are good.

How about in an Italian restaurant? Is it the number of pasta sauces, noodle varieties, and protein variations that are combined to make the dish that contribute to variety? Or is it the fact that they offer noodle dishes, grilled meats, layered or stuffed pastas, sautéed meats, fish of different varieties, etc. that makes up variety? Even if they only offer one or two of each?

And is variety really the end game anyway? How about specialists like In-N-Out Burger, Five Guys, and Raising Cane’s that do one thing, but do it really well? They may not score high on variety but they are probably off the charts on product quality. In the end, variety may be the spice of life, but focus can bring life to foods.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on March 27, 2009 | Comments (3)