HDS Services

By Paul King

Dishes: Trendolis, including Sesame Oriental, Mediterranean and Chicken Caesar
Price: base price $4.50
Rollout: Sept. 24, 2003
Company: HDS Services, Farmington Hills, Mich.
Units: 200
Description: 2 inches high; 3 to 6 ounces; dough, mozzarella cheese, fresh spinach, assorted fillings and dressings
Developer: Bruce Kane, culinary specialist

In late 2002 Bruce Kane, culinary specialist for HDS Services, took a research-and-development training course offered by a food manufacturer so that he could "get recharged."

Apparently, it worked, because less than a year later Kane had introduced a product that has found universal appeal among HDS Services' 200 accounts, which include corporations, schools, hospitals, long-term-care providers and retirement communities. Moreover, HDS Services was named winner of Nation's Restaurant News' 2004 MenuMasters Best On-site Operator Menu Award.

The "Trendoli," as Kane dubbed it, is a simple culinary retelling of the Italian stromboli, or calzone. Pizza dough is stuffed with spinach, mozzarella cheese and a choice of other items to create twists on the typical ham, pepperoni and cheese varieties found in pizza shops.

"After the training classes I got some thoughts on what we might be able to do with sheeted dough," Kane explains. "I went back to our test kitchen and started playing around with ingredients we had in house, including some new dressings. We wanted something that could be used in all of our markets."

The first creation was a Sesame Oriental Trendoli, in which julienned chicken breast, Asian vegetables and a toasted-sesame dressing were added to the spinach and mozzarella and wrapped in the dough. That variety was followed by the Mediterranean Trendoli, with pepperoni, roasted red and green peppers, onions and Italian dressing, and then the spinach Caesar, which is a simple stromboli with a Caesar dressing added.

After two months of experimentation, HDS tested the items in several select accounts. "Everywhere we tested them they were a big hit," Kane says.

Larry Ball, associate director of field cafe operations for Borders Books and Music, says that was certainly true at the Borders corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. Trendolis were tested there last summer.

"I remember Bruce Kane coming to a special luncheon we did that was advertised as a 'zany chef' event," explains Ball, who is Borders' corporate liaison with HDS. "Bruce came out and did an on-display presentation, mixed with a lot of humor, in which he demonstrated the Trendolis. People liked them right off because they were very different and very versatile."

He adds that HDS' manager at Borders, Shirley Boore, has rotated several varieties of Trendolis through the cafe menu regularly ever since.

Trendolis' official coming-out party was last September, at an HDS management seminar, after which managers began introducing them at a variety of accounts. Kane says that, at present, about 160 HDS units offer Trendolis.

"We've found that it has a universal appeal to all ages," Kane explains. "It is also very versatile, made in sizes from 3 to 6 ounces. So it can be a hand-held or a center-of-the-plate item. We do offer it with a side dish in some accounts."

He adds that thus far corporate and long-term-care accounts seem to be the markets where Trendolis are most popular.

"But our biggest surprise has been catering," he notes. "It has been a very popular item at catered events. We can set up display stations, adding another dimension to the idea of a carving station. They can be cut and served as hors d'oeuvre."

Trendolis also have been a hit with HDS employees, according to Alan Fink, regional vice president of operations for HDS' Midwest accounts.

"People really enjoy making them," Fink says. "They're a fun product to play around with, using the dough and the various fillings. Employees can get really creative with them, making spinach and chicken or vegetarian or steak Trendolis.

"As for our clients, they appreciate the versatility of the product," he adds. "Clients also want us to come up with new ideas for our customers, and with Trendolis they believe we have really succeeded."

Trendoli creator Kane is a lifelong on-site operator who has a penchant for comedy that he uses to good effect in his menu presentations. He started his career with the Saga Corp., Menlo Park, Calif., and later worked for the Swanson Corp., a regional on-site operator based in Omaha, Neb., before coming to HDS nearly six years ago.

He notes that he fully embraces his role as Food Is Fashion And Fun Culinary Specialist, which is as much a company philosophy as it is a title.

"Even as a kid, I've been funny," he says about his humorous presentations he makes at HDS accounts. "And from my visits to various accounts, I've found that people want to be entertained as well as to eat."

And that led to Kane's next project, which he says is still in the conceptual stage.

"It will be kind of a food theater," he notes. "I really can't say more than that right now, but it's way out there."