Menu innovation shouldn’t require a complete kitchen overhaul, yet too often, restaurant operators believe they must choose between sticking with the status quo and risking menu fatigue, or coping with ballooning ingredient costs and back-of-house complexity.
The solution may be simpler than many operators realize. As a December 2025 Menu Trends Report from Technomic shared, “Sauce innovation is an easy way to add flavor or draw to classics consumers know and love.” No surprise, then, the global sauces, dressings, and condiments market size is projected to grow at a 5.65 percent CAGR between 2026 and 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence
That’s where Girard’s Food Service Dressings, a leader in foodservice products and customization, can come alongside operators looking to push boundaries without disruption. “Our goal is to be strategic rather than transactional,” says Mike Dean, national accounts and culinary manager for HACO Culinary, who has 13 years of experience as an embedded chef in foodservice.
In an industry where consumer palates shift rapidly and vary significantly by region, restaurants are always aiming to stay ahead of flavor trends. Dean finds restaurants appreciate how Girard’s extensive portfolio can be transformed in on-trend ways to surprise and delight today’s consumers. For example, he says consumers continue to seek options that are “familiar with a twist” or feature added heat, with “swicy” maintaining its reign.
Girard’s Food Service Dressings aims to stay ahead of the taste game by treating trend intelligence as a core competency. “Our culinary development team keeps on top of the latest menu ideas through constant research using various industry tools, smart experimentation, and partnerships with renowned chefs to ensure we develop new recipes to stay at the forefront of trends and satisfy evolving taste preferences for operators,” Dean says.
This includes understanding the science behind flavor. The brand organizes its culinary dressings into five distinct categories: BOLD, TANGY, ZESTY, SAVORY, and ACIDIC. This framework allows the company to provide insights into how dressings balance with other dishes, helping operators think more strategically about their builds.
Trend awareness translates directly into product creation. As part of a recent collaboration with Yellowbird, Girard’s Food Service Dressings has developed three new products which capture the zeitgeist of high-end, flavor-forward dressings guests, especially younger demographics, are seeking: Serrano Caesar Dressing with Yellowbird Serrano Hot Sauce, Sweet & Spicy Vinaigrette with Yellowbird Jalapeño Hot Sauce, and Habanero Ranch Dressing with Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce.
Operators looking to spice up their menu often turn to LTOs as a way to create buzz, drive traffic, and test new menu ideas. Technomic research from August 2024 found more than half of global consumers say on-trend menu items are important when choosing a limited-service restaurant to visit. Even more compelling, first-time guests are twice as likely to order restaurant LTOs according to an August 2025 Technomic report.
Yet LTOs present a paradox. While a crucial business driver, they can also overcomplicate operations if not executed thoughtfully. Dean cites the three guardrails most operators face: avoiding multiple one-off SKUs, managing the cost of final builds, and keeping back-of-house operations simplified.
“Chances are operators are going to have to pull in at least one SKU, but three is a no-no,” Dean says, pointing to dressings and sauces as an effective vehicle to upgrade an LTO from existing core menu items.
“Operators can create something special with just slight modifications to current make table ingredients, like combining various ratios and forms of existing builds as a low-risk way to differentiate a menu,” he says. And he adds, they typically appeal to a separate customer base, so restaurants can provide something fresh without cannibalizing existing menu items.
He cites some of the biggest growth opportunities in upscale aiolis, such as Garlic Parmesan, Thai Basil, and French Onion for chicken sandwiches, burgers, and wraps.
When it comes to alleviating the pressures of a busy kitchen, versatility can be one of a restaurant’s most valuable assets. Girard’s points to the strategy of “dressing across menus” to allow operators to reduce SKUs while still delivering variety and premium appeal.
“We can expand the use of dressings far beyond salad applications and help elevate the menu across dayparts, particularly on high-volume items like burgers, chicken, and sandwiches,” Dean says, noting the nature of adaptable ingredients helps ease processes and complexities, all while enhancing creativity.
Dean recalls one smaller franchisee who viewed LTOs as a disruptor to their existing operations, before Dean conducted a gap analysis of their menu, showing them how to cross-pollinate what they were already doing rather than introducing entirely new elements.
The advantages of multi-use ingredients are significant: They reduce the amount of inventory to purchase and manage; they maximize limited back-of-house storage; they simplify training for new kitchen hires (and even for experienced staff who are learning the newest LTOs); and they allow chefs to easily add flair to existing menu staples.
What truly sets Girard’s Food Service Dressings apart is its commitment to functioning as a strategic partner rather than simply a product supplier. The company’s experienced R&D and culinary resources team can help with formulation tailored to operator menus.
An operator’s “signature sauce” may be the one thing differentiating their burger or chicken sandwich from a competitor’s, and Girard’s excels at helping brands create their own proprietary blend. Its approach streamlines what would otherwise be a laborious process, delivering scalable, mass-produced dressings and sauces that ensure consistent quality in every container across all locations.
Dean has participated in several “culinary councils” across various brands, collaborating with different supplier chefs. “We brainstorm and write concepts from an operator’s briefs, filter them through online screening, come together in the kitchen to create Gold Standards, and then take them back to our R&D team to match,” Dean says.
A recent success story involved helping an operator develop a signature sauce. This involved a dine around of 15 different food industry locations, which in turn yielded five possibilities, with a mango habanero emerging as the winner—a choice aligning with two trends Technomic identified in its “2027 Menu Predictions.” While heat stays hot, it is also forecasted “fruity sauces and condiments” will enjoy significant operator penetration growth in the coming years.
“Our ability to plug and play with the flavor profiles in our portfolio gives us a great tool kit to build proprietary items for operators with more ease than they ever had before,” Dean says.
Girard’s Food Service Dressings is ideally suited to help brands develop their signature items, offering small-batch-size development and low minimum order quantities (MOQs). The company offers various sizes and packaging options, including a recently introduced a four-one gallon size for operators accustomed to working with the format.
“Our key wins don’t come from one-off executions,” he says. “They come from being strategically collaborative, understanding sustainable success is built on genuine partnership.”
Discover the differentiation that Girard’s dressings and sauces make on your menu at girardsdressings.com.
By Cathie Ericson
