Ground Round

Veggie burger beefs up chain’s variety of offerings

Every successful sports team has role players — unsung heroes who often add the final piece to a winning puzzle. On The Ground Round menu, the black bean and salsa veggie burger is a key niche player, according to Warren Hutchins.

“Like most products in a niche group, the veggie burger is not a heavy hitter sales wise, but it continues our commitment to offering variety and balance on the menu,” says Hutchins, who is senior vice president of product and supply management for the 128-unit casual-dining chain.

The veggie burger is Ground Round’s healthful-choice successor to the Portobello mushroom sandwich. And following it is the newly introduced roasted vegetable wrap.

“These products provide options and maintain our commitment to meatless products,” Hutchins says. The veggie burger, he explains, hit the menu with little hoopla, just a splashy, “new” icon next to it.

According to Rob D’Orsi, the chain’s product development manager, “The veggie burger offered different textures and flavors, which we felt added a good quality to our specialty sandwich category.”

A graduate of Johnson & Wales University, D’Orsi is no stranger to the Ground Round menu and kitchen, having worked his way through college as a cook in the chain’s Walpole, Mass., branch.

A central member of the team that created the veggie burger, he recalls that “we had at least 12 or 14 different nonmeat burgers spread out on the table at one time. This version provided the most flavor in a soy-oat-nonmeat burger.”

D’Orsi adds that the veggie burger has developed a regular customer following and is holding its own as a consistent performer in its sandwich category.

Thomas Russo, chairman and chief executive of American Hospitality Concepts, parent company of The Ground Round, says: “I see everything in our test kitchen and remember the veggie burger very well. It’s an excellent product that’s holding its place on the menu.”

Hutchins, speaking from his office at Ground Round’s headquarters in Braintree, Mass., adds, “We’re a concept that’s known for being strong in red meats and charbroiling, so our customers like to see new and interesting products on the menu.”

As for Hutchins, he enjoys product development and menu engineering. “I define menu engineering as the art and science of presenting your customers with products that they will enjoy and buy again, that the restaurant can be proud of, and that will produce a gross profit,” he says.

In Hutchins’ view the “artful” aspect of doing the veggie burger was in producing something that would appeal to customers who wanted a meatless product yet would stay true to the chain’s tenet, to offer superior flavor and appearance.

“The neat thing about this product,” he pointed out, “is that it can be cooked on our char broilers so there’s no loss to the store or quality degradation for the guest.”

The veggie burger is prepared from the bottom up. Cooks start with the bottom bun and add romaine lettuce, ancho-lime dressing and pickle chips. On top of those ingredients goes the black-bean-and-salsa burger itself. It’s topped with four Roma tomato slices and a scoop of guacamole, and the sandwich is served with French fries.

In listening to Hutchins explain the construction of the veggie burger, it becomes obvious that he enjoys teaching. So it’s not surprising that he’s a frequent guest lecturer at Johnson & Wales University and Southern New Hampshire University.

“I try to focus on things the students may not be aware of in foodservice, such as supply-chain management, product development, the integration of marketing, and the art and science of menu development,” he says.

After 35 years in the industry, he is a strong advocate of foodservice as a career. “I try to make students aware of the size and scope of this industry, including the fact that there are many positions out there in addition to being a chef,” he says.

After graduating from Nasson College in Springvale, Maine, serving in Vietnam and then receiving a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Maine in Orono, Hutchins joined HP Hood, a large dairy products company. He advanced to director of procurement before moving on to Commodore Foods, a large seafood-processing company.

In 1982 the Howard Johnson Co. hired him to work with the Ground Round concept. He stayed with it after Howard Johnson’s was acquired and continued with the chain after it became part of American Hospitality Concepts in 1997.

Hutchins originally was hired 20 years ago at Howard Johnson’s by Russo, who subsequently left that organization. When American Hospitality came into the picture in 1997, Hutchins found himself reunited with Russo, the 2001 Nation’s Restaurant News Operator of the Year.

“He was a good hire 20 years ago and still is today,” Russo remarks. Hutchins is senior food officer for all American Hospitality’s concepts, which include the six-unit Berkshire Grill chain and 11-unit Tin Alley Grill.

An active member of the Produce Marketing Association, Hutchins was elected its chairman in 1995, becoming the first restaurant operator to head up the international organization. In that role he got an up-close view of foodservice as a career. He recalls “the excitement of my own kids when I took them through the exhibit hall and showed them the size, scope and professionalism of our industry.”