Traditional Mexican flavors used in
breakfast preparations for complimentary
breakfast buffets, restaurants, and room
service can give guests reason to try something
different. Breakfast burritos and sandwiches
with Mexican ingredients are finding a wider
audience across the country, and many fast
food restaurants are responding with menu
promotions and new products. Texas-based
Whataburger recently discounted its signature
breakfast taquitos to drive awareness of the
product. The taquitos are made with scrambled
eggs and a choice of bacon, sausage, or potatoes
inside a flour tortilla.
Baker’s Drive-Thru in Southern California
offers breakfast items with ingredients such as
chorizo, seasoned shredded beef, and salsa.
The restaurant’s newer additions include
sandwiches and tacos made with scrambled
eggs, Monterey Jack cheese, and roasted
peppers. Chorizo also stars in a new breakfast
burrito from Jack in the Box. The burrito
features crumbled chorizo, hash-brown sticks,
scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese sauce in a
flour tortilla, with fire-roasted salsa on the side.
Starbucks’ newest morning option is a huevos
rancheros breakfast wrap, available at stores
nationwide. It consists of scrambled eggs, black
beans, cheese, peppers, and roasted tomatoes
rolled inside a wheat tortilla.
Mexican flavors are finding more space
on menus at full-service concepts, too. Shari’s
Restaurants added a chicken fajita omelet to the
breakfast lineup. It features fajita-style chicken,
peppers, onions, and pepper Jack cheese topped
with diced tomato, green onions, sour cream,
and salsa. Elmer’s recently offered a seasonal
Walla Walla sweet onion and sausage breakfast
burrito with scrambled egg, cheddar cheese,
sautéed onions, and grilled pork sausage in a
flour tortilla, topped with salsa, avocado, and
sour cream. Denny’s has added dishes with
Mexican influences in recent months, including
a bacon avocado burrito with scrambled egg
and a smoky cheese blend and a Southwestern
steak burrito with scrambled egg, a smoky
cheese blend, and hash browns. Both burritos
are finished with pico de gallo and are grilled in
a large flour tortilla.
Mexican-inspired items such as these can
help create fresh excitement for the breakfast
daypart. The bold flavors of chorizo, peppers,
salsa, avocado, roasted peppers, and other
south-of-the-border add-ins can turn familiar
egg dishes into something new and unexpected,
yet as pleasing as any morning comfort
food. And breakfast dishes with Mexican
flavors can often be menued at low to moderate
prices for diners still struggling in the
down economy. Hotel F&B directors and
restaurant managers should consider offering
customers a new dining experience with the
unexpected flavor combinations offered in
Mexican-influenced breakfast items.
David Henkes is a VP at Technomic, a Chicago-based consultancy
focused on away-from-home eating
and drinking. For more insights into
the foodservice industry, contact
him at 312-506-3927 or at dhenkes@
technomic.com. You can also follow
him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/davidhenkes.
