Dive Brief:
- Portillo’s expanded its breakfast test to five more restaurants on Tuesday, the company wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive. The brand is serving food during the morning daypart in 10 Chicagoland locations.
- The chain also added a Maple Sausage & Egg Croissant to the menu. The croissant sandwich is made with scrambled eggs and a breakfast sausage drizzled with maple syrup. It costs $5.29 by itself or $7.99 as a combo with a small coffee and hashbrown bites.
- Portillo’s initially launched a five-store breakfast pilot on April 15, and the test will continue into the summer before the chain makes a decision on the path forward.
Dive Insight:
Portillo’s decided to test breakfast in Chicago due to strong consumer demand in the market, CEO Micahel Osanloo said during a May earnings call. During the Lenten season Portillo’s typically offers a pepper and egg sandwich that has strong demand, and customers have asked for this sandwich for breakfast, he said.
“We've got a big asset sitting there empty for four hours in the morning,” he said. “Obviously, the incrementality of breakfast can be fantastic, if it works.”
As of May, the chain hadn’t yet begun aggressive marketing, and instead worked to make sure that the test worked operationally. Digital menu boards included the test breakfast menu and the chain will install some signs advertising it, Osanloo said.
Social media and local media picked up the news, but Portillo’s breakfast offering has otherwise been in “stealth mode,” Osanloo said in May, adding that if it were expanded into the entire Chicagoland area, they would market it better.
“We want to make sure that the food works, that the operational execution is flawless. We also want to make sure that we're not negatively affecting lunch and the prep for lunch,” Osanloo said. “And so far, it's a test. There's a lot of positive feedback. There's some constructive feedback.”
Breakfast is being offered from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. daily for dine-in, drive-thru and takeout at the test locations.
