Fish the new frontier in fast food

Rising tide of seafood sandwiches latest in cut-throat fast food wars

VINCE TALOTTA / TORONTO STAR Order this photo

Anne Parks, McDonalds's , director of menu management holds up their new asian crispy McWrap in their test kitchen at their headquarters in Toronto on July 15, 2014 Vince Talotta/Toronto Star

By: Lisa Wright Business Reporter, Published on Fri Jul 18 2014

When Anne Parks was a teenager working at a Scarborough McDonald’s in the late 70s, chicken McNuggets didn’t exist yet and the Filet-O-Fish mostly sold on Fridays. And nobody thought of seafood as fast food. Today, as the menu innovations guru presiding over the 1,400-store McDonald’s Canada chain, she’s trying to reel in customers with seafood creations like the Asian Crispy Shrimp McWrap, which officially launches Monday across Canada.

With the success of the McLobster roll in Ontario last summer and the popularity of the fast food behemoth’s signature McWraps, Parks figured the timing was right to dovetail the two concepts.“I’d say we’re in the seafood business for sure,” says Parks in an interview while making the soft wrap in her 1,000-square foot test kitchen, which also serves as the cafeteria for the 300 employees at the McDonald’s Toronto headquarters. “It’s all part of the evolution of our menu. Shellfish is something people love and it’s what consumers are looking for now,” she notes.

The rising tide of fishy items and seasonal offers at fast food joints is the latest trend in the industry’s battle for market share while traffic growth remains flat and the giants tread water – and they’re all in the same boat trying to hook elusive customers.Currently, 45 per cent of the Canadian population visits a restaurant every day, which has dipped from 46.3 per cent a year ago. One bright light is that the number of fish sandwiches sold per serving in so-called ‘quick-serve’ restaurants has jumped by 34 per cent since 2008 compared to just seven per cent for all other menu items, according to NPD Crest research.

And the big fish are taking notice: Subway recently started offering Atlantic Canada lobster subs and salads, Harvey’s kept the Wild Atlantic Cod sandwich it promoted during Lent on its permanent menu and even roast beef house Arby’s and chicken chain Wendy’s promoted their fish fillet items earlier this year. McDonald’s Canada is now one of the largest single buyers of fish in the country and just announced the wild Alaskan Pollock it uses to make its square-shaped Filet-O-Fish patty is certified eco-friendly by the Marine Stewardship Council.

While its McLobster roll is a regular menu item in the Maritimes, it was so popular when it was offered in Ontario last summer that the iconic chain sold out of it about four weeks into its six-week run, Parks says. The Golden Arches’ new spicy shrimp wrap is also a limited time offer until Aug. 25. The ingredients are fairly simple: four breaded shrimp, grilled snow peas and bamboo shoots, a salad mix, homemade Thai sauce and a shot of mayo on a 10-inch whole wheat tortilla. But like all other menu items, it was nearly two years in the making, with Parks and her team of eight product developers fine-tuning various versions through vigorous market research and consumer testing.

Long gone are the days when franchisees invented McDonald’s menu items, as they did in the case of the Egg McMuffin, the Big Mac and the Filet-O-Fish – promoted in 1970s print ads by a cute cartoon mascot named Phil A. O’Fish. The original shrimp sandwich Mickey-D tested in Atlantic Canada in 2001 consisted of a tortilla shell holding a mixture of shrimp, chopped celery, shredded lettuce and salad dressing, but it tanked and never made it onto the permanent menu.

Parks, who has been director of menu management since 2006, wasn’t deterred by that or by the more recent flop of Fish McBites in the U.S. last year. “Canada is such a culturally diverse country, and as a result, our palates are more adventurous. We also have a higher tolerance for heat and spice compared to other countries,” she says, noting her team “fussed around” with the heat level of the shrimp wrap for some time.

Price point is another issue. The McLobster was $6.79 plus tax last year while the new shrimp McWrap costs $5.49. The price of shrimp on the world market has risen 60 per cent this year and caused headaches for the Red Lobster chain, which was sold last May by U.S. parent company Darden Restaurants to a private equity firm for $2.1 billion. “Lobster and shrimp are something that’s unaffordable for the average person, and McDonald’s makes it affordable so you don’t have to go to a full-service restaurant to get it,” notes Parks, who says the shrimp is sourced from Indonesia.

The chain’s wrap creations, including the veggie and chicken ones on the permanent menu, are a direct move to attract consumers that prefer fresher, healthier offerings, particularly millennials aged 18 to 32 — a group that the fast food chains are struggling to attract, says industry analyst Andy Brennan of IBISWorld Inc. in New York. “Per capita consumption of seafood is expected to continue growing due to both consumer preferences for healthier proteins and more sophisticated consumer palettes,” he says.

Despite the rising price of shrimp, “the chain will be banking on the fact that consumers will pay a premium for the health and novelty factors,” he says. Limited time offers are also increasing competition this summer in fast food, says Robert Carter, executive director of foodservice at the NPD Group. For instance, KFC just unveiled its non-alcoholic Mojitos, pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ bacon roller wrap and Burger King is offering buffalo chicken strips and frozen lemonade, and just followed the U.S. offering its burgers for breakfast. “They’re trying to get people through the door any way they can,” says Brennan.