Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth With Cinnabon’s Minibons

Burger King and Cinnabon are teaming up to tame customer’s sweet tooth at breakfast.  By September, more than 7,000 restaurants will offer the Minibon, a tiny version of the famous Cinnabon cinnamon roll.  After several months of testing in New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Miami, and Charlotte, N.C., the new treat will be making a full scale debut.

 

2012 marks the 25^th year that Cinnabon has been producing the Minibon.  The new marketing opportunity will give devoted fans another spot to pick up their favorite sweet treat in a manageable package size.  The rolls will be priced between $1.79 and $1.99 per serving.

 

Cinnabon has not limited its efforts to Burger King.  Taco Bell introduced Cinnabon Delights, a trio of mini donuts filled with cream and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were added as part of Taco Bell’s new breakfast platform.  Cinnabon’s President, Kat Cole, reported that the company is investing in a strong growth strategy that will include both franchising and licensing.

 

Cinnabon outlets have been located inside Schlotzsky’s delis for quite some time.  Schlotzsky’s is also owned by Focus Brands, the company which owns Cinnabon.  Burger King selected the Minibon’s as a high quality addition to their newly expanded menu at breakfast and possibly an afternoon snack. With more than 12,500 restaurants worldwide, they certainly provide a large potential audience.

 

Burger King’s new menu is the largest expansion it has made to date.  Salads, wraps, strips, smoothies, and frappe drinks have all been added with an eye to keeping up with current eating trends. Many similar items are available at competitors’ stores and it is likely that Burger King is feeling pressure to regain ground after it was surpassed by Wendy’s CO in 2011.

 

Parent company 3G acquired the chain in October 2010, and has been redesigning numerous aspects of the business.

Fast Food Is Unhealthy and Kids Love It – But it Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

And in the realm of things we already know but can still try to pretend to feign some shock at, it turns out that kids’ fast food is still unhealthy and still popular. Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity released a report recently where they looked at a dozen different restaurant chains across the country and came to the shocking conclusion we mentioned above. They looked at 3,000 kids meals and found a mere dozen to actually be healthy choices.

Why We Don’t Offer Healthier Options

This is a blog aimed at the restaurant and food service community, so let’s be perfectly blunt – we’re not here to set public policy, we’re not here to try to make our world a better place. We’re here to try to earn a living while giving our patrons a good time when they come to eat in our establishments.

And like it or not, fast food, including French fries and greasy hamburgers taste good and kids love them, so we keep offering them to our patrons. That said, maybe there is a better way.

Healthy Food For Kids that Still Tastes Good

The report also mentioned, as we said, that there were twelve kids meals that did make the grade for being healthy options for fast food. One of them that we thought was interesting was Burger King’s macaroni and cheese meal. It comes with apple slices and fat free milk.

The total cost of the calories in the thing? 285 calories. Compare that to the 973 calories that Dairy Queen was offering their young patrons and it makes us wonder – isn’t there some way we can offer healthy options as well?

Yes, We’re Trying to Make a Living, But…

Okay, we know, you’re not in business to set public policy. You try to offer what your patrons want to eat. Then again, if those patrons are young, they are often going to come in with their parents. We image (we hope) that their parents will want their kids to make healthier choices. Why not at least make healthier choices an option on your menu?

Burger King Enters the Breakfast Fray

Well the breakfast craze that we’ve written about seems to still be picking up stream. The latest restaurant to announce a new menu specifically targeted to breakfast eaters is the number 2 burger chain in the country, Burger King.

Calling it the largest menu expansion in the history of the franchise, the company recently announced a number of brand new items that will be featured on their menus in an attempt to draw more diners for breakfast. The new menu will only be available until 10:30AM, unlike some other chains that offer breakfast all day.

What’s on the New Burger King Breakfast Menu

Amongst the new additions to the Burger King menu, one can find the BK Breakfast Ciabatta Club. This is a sandwich with eggs, tomatoes, ham, bacon, American cheese and what is described as a “smoky” tomato sauce. The sandwich is served up on a Ciabatta roll for $2.89.

The burger chain also introduced some new breakfast platters including the “The Ultimate Breakfast Platter.” This meal comes with scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns a biscuit and pancakes and will cost $4.29.

The company also has two cheaper options in the “Pancake and Sausage Platter” which will go for $2.89 and a platter with nothing but pancakes for $2.29.

Breakfast Value Menu & Seattle’s Best

In addition to the new sandwich and new breakfast platters, Burger King is introducing blueberry biscuits which will be served warm and covered in icing for $1. They will also be featuring coffee from the “Seattle’s Best Coffee” brand.

A company spokesman explained that the new push into breakfast menus was part of their strategy to expand into other markets, saying that while the company is known for their “superior burgers” they were hoping to get people in the door for other meals as well.

The announcement is one of several the chain has made in recent days, including an announcement of a plan to sell itself to private equity firm 3G capital for a reported price of $4 billion or $24 per share. This represents a premium of 46 percent over the asking price for the shares.