Restaurant-chain powerhouses including McDonald’s and The Cheesecake Factory are jumping at the opportunity to make a dollar off the superfood trend. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, seeing how America can’t get enough of chain-restaurant salads, and that we’re freakishly obsessed with kale.
Starting in August, The Cheesecake Factory will add a “Superfoods” section to its menu, which will include dishes that feature salmon, blueberries, almonds, quinoa, and kale. Looks like the chain is trying to make customers feel a little less guilty about ordering a slice of cheesecake the size of a small toddler for dessert.
But will people take to the healthier menu, or continue ordering Cheesecake Factory’s 2,370-calorie Louisiana Chicken Pasta?
A photo posted by Jason (@smashpop) on
A photo posted by Jason (@smashpop) on
The new Superfood menu additions are an attempt for The Cheesecake Factory to market to Millennials, who have a growing interest in green juice and salads topped with hemp seeds.
“It’s our take on what guests want today and an innovative approach to continuing to drive relevance,” Cheesecake Factory CEO David Overton Overton tells Nation’s Restaurant News. “We believe it will resonate not only with Millennials, but have broad appeal across a wide demographic.”
The Cheesecake Factory already has a low-calorie ‘Skinnylicious’ menu, but we assume it just didn’t have enough kale or ancient grains on it for customers. Overton tells NRN that the Superfoods dishes will include “nutrient-rich, high quality, powerhouse ingredients,” and that those ingredients will also be “woven throughout the menu.”
TCF and McDonalds are not the first of its kind to join in on the leafy-green trend. Pizza Hut is an O.G. kale supporter, reigning as the largest buyer of the green five years ago. Although, this was before the kale trend reached its peak, so Pizza Hut used kale as a garnish for its salad bars and not as an actual food. How times have changed.
[via Nation’s Restaurant News]