Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger Fry

By George Anderson

The old Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi working a lunch-counter, offering consumers anything they want as long as it is a cheeseburger, might have a slightly different
script if done today because of a new finger-shaped appetizer developed by the National Cattleman’s Beef Association’s R&D Ranch — the Cheeseburger Fry.

As you might expect, the cheeseburger fry combines ground beef with cheese inside a coating of bread. The product is deep-fried before it is served.

A number of factors led to the development of the Cheeseburger Fry. The R&D Ranch wanted to address the consumer demand for hand-held food, take advantage of the continued
popularity of the burger in America and give foodservice operators a new reason to add a beef appetizer to their menu. Only 2.4 percent of appetizer menus include a beef product,
according to the R&D Ranch.

The Cheeseburger Fry is being manufactured by Advance Brands out of Oklahoma City, Okla. for both foodservice and retail sale.

Rob McLaughlin, vice president of product management, Advance Food Co. told Stagnito’s New Product News, “What makes the Cheeseburger Fry so unique is that it is a beef-based
appetizer, and you just don’t see beef appetizers. There are buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, but a beef and cheese product that is all breaded is very unique.”

Rob McLaughlin told New Product News that the Cheeseburger Fry tasted so good that they thought it had the potential to rivals chicken tenders in popularity.

Moderator’s Comment: Will the Cheeseburger Fry be a winner? What will need to happen for the product to succeed in foodservice and retail?

One of the first questions we had was, “Does that come in a low-carb version?” If the Cheeseburger Fry can be developed with a low-carb coating, Advance
Brands (a joint venture of Advance Food Co. and Excel Corp.) will be able to tap into one more growing market opportunity. [George
Anderson – Moderator]