In the last year, CEO John Rivers raised menu prices twice at the 17 locations of his fast-casual concept, 4 Rivers Smokehouse.
“The price of brisket increased 101% year over year,” said Rivers, whose signature house-smoked Angus brisket is menued in sandwiches, platters, tacos and more. “Food costs went up by double digits, and every projection going forward was bleak. But if we raised menu prices again, we would outprice our customer. We couldn’t charge $20 for a brisket sandwich.”
Pork, another menu mainstay, is now 15% higher.
So Rivers and his team came up with an outside-the-box idea: Why don’t we lower prices and serve larger portions?
If that sounds like a formula for failure, think again.
The team came up with 50 menu items, since whittled down to 12, that could run on a limited-time menu, a few at a time. All are culinary-inspired and nothing is priced above $9.99.
Several names were thrown around by the marketing team to identify this new menu section, but Rivers said, “let’s call it what it is, an ‘inflation menu,’ and that’s what we went with.”
The menu launched in January with the intent to fill the inflation gap until the supply chain loosens up and costs start coming down. The strategy—serve slightly smaller meat portions, rounding them out with trend-forward complementary ingredients, many of which are house-made.
The Barbacoa Bowl in the current lineup illustrates this strategy. It comes with a choice of a protein (smoked brisket, pulled pork or chicken) or layered vegetables, along with shredded lettuce, rice, black beans, cilantro-lime creme fraiche, guasacaca (avocado sauce), cilantro- onion salsa and queso fresco. It shares the menu with the Buffalo Chicken Mac Attack—chicken tossed with buffalo sauce, french fries, mac and cheese, jalapenos, queso fresco and cilantro and served with a side of ranch or blue cheese.
“The goal was to use what we had on hand, since every time you add a new ingredient, food costs go up,” said Rivers.
He will rotate new items onto the Inflation Menu every 45 days or so, continuing to offer great value to customers while keeping food costs in check. Since its inception, “we reduced food costs by 40% and guests get more volume of food,” he said.
As with many restaurants, supply challenges have also impacted 4 Rivers’ menu. When wing concepts proliferated, Rivers pulled wings from his menu because of short supply and high prices. Another item came off because it wasn’t selling.
“We offered roasted cauliflower in buffalo sauce as a healthier option for our bowls,” said Rivers, “but people don’t come to a barbecue restaurant to eat cauliflower.”
Several items are in the works to rotate onto the Inflation Menu next, including a burrito and a pork torta. 4 Rivers is also looking at seafood items to add, perhaps smoking fish for another protein option.
“We’re having a lot of fun with this menu,” said Rivers.
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