There are foodies with an obsession for Texas-style smoked meats or Southern fried chicken. They’ll wait in the lines; they buy the merch; they know the preparation techniques like the back of their hand. Me? I’m a side fan.
West Creek Refrigerated Cold SaladsSure, the main events are great; but it all turns into protein overload without flavor-rich sides to pull the plate together — the crisp crunch of coleslaw, the creamy tang of potato salad, the Mediterranean zest of pasta salad.
Heck, set the sides aside: Give me a BBQ sandwich or protein bowl topper or even the taste-bud tingle of a light spring entrée. With the right combination of ingredients, your side quest can be transformed into the main event.
Prep School
Value is dominating consumer considerations. In fact, restaurant guests are on the lookout for deals at the highest rate in 50 years*.
So, it makes sense to package mains with value-added sides that give patrons more bang for their buck. And yet, we know there’s never enough time, staff, or kitchen capacity to make an entire menu from scratch — that’s where prepared shows its worth.
It does a restaurant no good to be iffy on guesswork or inconsistency from batch-to-batch. Crafted in advance, ready-to-serve anytime solutions, like West Creek® Prepared Cold Salads, give guests the bites they crave, without sacrificing quality or flavor.
Spring Obsessions
This slow-smoked brisket is incredible, but after a few forkfuls, I need a fresh-tasting palate cleanser.
That’s where the snap of fresh cabbage, colorful carrots, and green peppers comes into play. West Creek Dixie-Style Chopped Coleslaw features a creamy dressing specially calibrated by experts in Southern cuisine, for a refreshing twist on a comfort classic. And it’s oh-so versatile — picture slaw coating Reuben or Cuban sandwiches, topping Cajun fish tacos, or slathered over Buffalo chicken nachos.
We all know if it’s a sandwich or BBQ to-go, one of the best options is pota-to, particularly potato salad, with its delicious varieties. Like a West Creek Red Skin Potato Salad, blending German-influenced red-skin potatoes and onions with a mildly zippy sauce. Or a West Creek Mustard Potato Salad — another Southern favorite — employing mustard, fresh celery, red bell peppers, sweet relish, and a pop of celery seed to elevate diced russet potatoes.
Plus, entering the spring, I can’t get enough light Mediterranean-style bites, even as a main entrée bowl. Spiral-shaped rotini pasta always does the trick, with playful green, white, and orange colors lifting me out of the winter doldrums. West Creek Tri-Color Rotini Pasta Salad shakes up red bell pepper strips, sliced celery, and black olives with a zesty herb and Parmesan cheese sauce. A feast for the eyes as well as the palate!
Flavor On-the-Go
Quality-made prepared salads are able to check all the right boxes: fast, flexible, and flavorful. While West Creek Cold Salads work very well on any kind of plate, from BBQ joint to bar & grill, seafood to deli, they offer exceptional value on-the-go.
More and more consumers require balanced, satisfying meals in a pinch — in-between kid activities, on a work lunchbreak — so cold prepared salads enhance combo meals or make it easier to go-with-the-flow by embracing grab-and-go. Solutions, like West Creek Prepared Cold Salads, offer a boost to boxed lunches or catering menus, and they are fantastic add-ons for convenience programs, such as Perfectly Southern® Fried Chicken or Tru-Q BBQ®. Now you’re serving restaurant-quality food, made-to-order!
Whatever your concept, there’s a role for prepared salads. Jump into the warmer seasons with a spring in your step, serving up tasty bites that will keep a side man like me coming back for more.
*Nation’s Restaurant News