Let’s be totally clucking honest here – chicken has a bland reputation. This poultry is the most basic of the birds, but when chicken is done right, it has a lot of potential to drive purchase intent. With 50% of operators planning to include more chicken dishes on their menus and 15% finding it a challenge to get their customers excited about new poultry offerings, there’s a clear and present need for chicken innovation in the market. So, when a major QSR approached one of their protein suppliers about elevating their chicken, they hit a flavorless wall… and Rubix Foods broke it down.
This QSR’s protein supplier, who happens to be a customer of ours, developed a potential solution using a dry seasoning, and it was, well, dry. To deliver the premium, juicy, savory profile they were striving for, they needed a flavor system that fell outside of their core capabilities but was well within ours. The Rubix Foods research and development team got to work developing a custom marination glaze – a bold and cost-effective marination technology that infuses and enriches the flavor of center-of plate proteins.
Our marination glaze is a simple fix to diversifying an existing meat program because it can be developed into ANY on-trend flavor. Plus, it’s resistant to the volatility of protein market pricing. This solution was love at first bite. Our customer had no revisions to the formula, and when they presented it to the QSR’s R&D team, we got the green light to proceed with all gas and no breaks.
Developing this marination glaze was the first piece of a complex puzzle. The QSR this product was created for has over 8,000 locations across the U.S., and they sell a lot of chicken. While our original customer is the primary chicken supplier, two more protein suppliers were brought in to help manage the massive volume of this product launch. That means the Rubix Foods team had to work closely with all three suppliers to ensure our marination glaze delivered a consistent performance and taste despite the varying production methods and cooking processes. But for our quality connoisseurs, supply chain savants, and commercialization brainiacs, that’s no problem. From adhering to stringent documentation requirements to ensuring all raw materials arrived on time to attending scale-up runs and completing shelf-life studies, they did the dang thing, and this new line of chicken landed on a menu near you.
Marination glaze was the wind beneath these chickens’ wings. While this new line of chicken was intended to be an LTO, an 8-week test in 50 test markets had a different idea. These test markets were so successful that the QSR decided before the end of the 8 weeks to make the new line of chicken part of their core menu. Today, Rubix Food’s marination glaze is on 17 core menu items and 9 LTOs as part of a new promotion. Behind the scenes, we’re working on marination glaze formulas for other types of protein with even more suppliers. Bring it on.
This QSR reported that 25% of all orders in 2024 contained at least 1 menu item featuring this new line of chicken and our marination glaze.
Not only does marination glaze deliver a savory, customizable, juicy flavor, it enhances consistency, preserves moisture, and protects the protein from freezer burn.
The chicken featuring Rubix Foods’ marination glaze is used in 17 core menu items and 9 LTO menu items, with additional use cases in the works.
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