Barbecue dishes heat up spring and summer

The past two years have been a period of unprecedented change for the noncommercial foodservice industry, but operators can count on some things remaining the same.

Customers will always love wings and other finger foods they can dunk in their favorite portion-controlled barbecue dipping cups from Sweet Baby Ray’s.

With their warm, smokey and sweet flavors, barbecue sauces make a variety of dishes more exciting and attractive to customers year-round.

Ignite menu data shows that barbecue appears on 56% of all restaurant menus. It is growing most quickly in chicken value meals, where it is commonly offered as a dipping option for items such as fried tenders. Penetration of chicken value meals is up 133% over last year. It is also showing growth of 2.5% as an add-on option—another great way to showcase dipping cups is for items such as burgers, fries and sandwiches, as well as chicken wings, nuggets and tenders.

Sweet Baby Ray’s offers nine different dipping cups varieties to help operators with portion control. Each cup contains either 1.5 or 2 ounces of dipping sauce, perfect for dipping hand-held foods or for customers to pour atop a burger.

With the increasing popularity of off-premises consumption and ongoing concerns about safety, portion-controlled dipping cups from Sweet Baby Ray’s provide a perfect solution as an accompaniment to a wide variety of dishes. In noncommercial foodservice settings, they also provide a labor-saving solution in self-service, grab-and-go displays.

In addition, the ongoing year-round popularity of chicken wings, tenders, fries and other hand-held foods lends itself to menu items that allow customers to select from among a variety of dipping sauces. Prepackaged barbecue sauces such as Sweet Baby’s Ray’s allow operators to offer customers safe, portion-controlled options that also minimize labor.

Barbecue dishes are a customer favorite year-round. With quality products and convenient packaging, operators can satisfy their diners’ cravings no matter what the temperature is. From bulk sauces to individually portioned options, products from Sweet Baby Ray’s make it easier than ever to deliver the smoky, sweet taste diners clamor for.