Wall Raising

The walls are up on the Habitat for Humanity House that our customers, employees and one generous eBay bidder helped fund. Check out pictures from the wall-raising ceremony:

Donation Breakfast

(Pictured left to right: E.J. Thomas, Sue Melnyk, Keith Wright, Steve Davis and Justin Cox)

Happy belated Pancake Day, everyone! We celebrated Pancake Day by having, what else, Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes with our friends from Habitat for Humanity Greater Columbus at our Bob Evans Restaurant on South Olentangy River Road. Our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Steve Davis presented E.J. Thomas and Sue Melnyk of Habitat for Humanity Greater Columbus with a check for $75,000 (don't worry we gave them one the bank would accept too). Our restaurant teams and customers did a great job raising money to help build a home for a deserving family. A big thank you to everyone who pitched in and to Bob Evans Area Director Justin Cox and General Manager for Keith Wright for hosting our breakfast!

Cape Coral, Fla.

Bob Evans Restaurants makes an effort to give back to every community where we operate. As a part of the opening-day festivities for each restaurant, we donate 50 cents per opening day customer to a local charity. Last week we opened a new restaurant in Cape Coral, Fla., and partnered with the Lee County Habitat for Humanity. And in addition to the opening-day donation, our new restaurant provided refreshments for a recent Habitat home dedication.

Trisha Keehn of Lee County Habitat was nice enough to share pictures with us from the dedication.

Congratulations, Jon Moorhead!

Congratulations, Jon Moorhead of Zanesville, Ohio!

Jon is the winner of our eBay auction for a 3-day trip to have breakfast with company founder Bob Evans and Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Steve Davis.

Nutritional Information

Several of you have asked for the nutritional facts for the Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes. Nutritional information for the Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes and all of our other menu items can be found here.

The History of Hotcakes

While we didn't flip the original hotcake, we'd like to think we've help them evolve into the cravable breakfast they are today.

Learn more about the history of hotcakes.

How We Built Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes

Interview Part II with Senior Development Chef Brian Murphy

Q: What was the process for creating Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes?
A: First we took our “blue-sky ideas” to the new products committee and from there we started to narrow down the product list. For the Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes we put 14 different types on the Internet and our marketing team asked for customers’ opinions through an online survey. With the help of 4,000 customers, we narrowed down the original 14 flavors to the five that we took into our test markets.

The first week of the test was focused on operations. We made sure that our grill cooks could produce it efficiently; kitchen prep could make it and follow the recipe easily and that it wouldn’t interrupt the servers’ work flow. We also looked at the food cost, food safety (how long we can keep the batter fresh/shelf life) and other technical issues that helped us make a better, fresher product. After that, we gathered the management team and employee feedback, corrected any recipe issues and then did a three-week consumer phase. In that phase, we surveyed our customers about what they liked, what they didn’t like, how frequently they dine with us, what they typically order, their age and their gender. All of the information we gathered not only helped us improve the product but also helped us build a customer profile (who will be ordering it).

Q: What improvements have been made since the test phase?
A: We worked on the food cost and the technical parts of the product so we can offer our customers a better tasting, fresher product at a lower cost.

Q: Who came up with the name for the hotcakes?
A: Mary, our senior vice president of marketing. She really thinks outside of the box and is willing to push the limits creatively. She’s a lot of fun to work with because she is so enthusiastic about the food.

Q: Why are the Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes a great fit for Bob Evans?
A: I truly believe we have the best hotcakes in the industry – they are definitely a signature dish, and the filling we use to “stuff” the hotcakes has been a great success for us. Our customers love it in our stuffed French toast and our crepes too.

Bob Evans is known for having a solid tradition in savory breakfasts and we want to expand our breakfast line for those with a sweet tooth who might want to indulge at breakfast or for breakfast at dinner.


Check back soon and send us your pictures of your own adventures with Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes! (Post them in your Flickr photo album with the tag "bobevans")

eBay auction update - we have a winner!

Congratulations, bidder #7 - the winner of the 3-day vacation and breakfast with company founder Mr. Bob Evans and CEO Steve Davis!

Less than 2 days left to bid on Breakfast with Mr. Bob Evans

Bid now!

Four Hotcakes of the Apocalypse

According to the NY Times, Bob Evans' entrance into the blogosphere may be a signal of the marketing apocalypse. Stuart, we definitely appreciate your humor - who would have thought that the company that started on a farm more than 50 years ago in southeastern Ohio would be joining the blogosphere?!? Saying that, step back and think about what a blog is - casual conversation enabled by open lines of honest communication and a responsive author - add a side of sausage gravy and some hotcakes and that definitely sounds like the type of conversation you'd have with one of our servers at the counter at Bob Evans. Think of our blog as an extension of that conversation - only you'll have to get your coffee to-go when you're headed to your computer .

We're very excited to open lines of communications with those who are passionate about our brand and our products. Join the conversation and tell about your Bob Evans stories (just about everyone we meet has one). Sit down, grab your cup of coffee and let's chat.

What's your favorite...

What's your favorite Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes flavor? (mine is the roasted apple caramel cream)

Click the comments link below this post to share your favorite Stacked and Stuffed flavor.

Interview #2 - Tips for Making Great Hotcakes

Part 2 of our Interview with Senior Development Chef Brian Murphy

Q: How long does it take to make the hotcakes?
A: Six to seven minutes

Q: How many hotcakes are there in one Stacked and Stuffed stack?
A: Two, and I guarantee you’ll be full when you’re done!

Q: How much does each stack usually weigh?
A: 23-26 oz. depending on the flavor.

Q: Do you have any tips for customers who make hotcakes at home?
A:

1. Use water 55 degrees or colder.
2. Don’t over-mix your batter. “Lumps are good.”
3. Don’t keep batter for longer than 24 hours.
4. Refrigerate batter in between use.
   
   All of these tips have to do with leavening. When you over-mix, add warm water or let the batter sit too long, you create heat in the batter that destroys the leavening and gives you a tough/chewy hotcake instead of a fluffy one. Also, when you flip your hotcake to cook the opposite side, don’t give it a “love tap.” That subconscious tap will “knock the love right out of it.”
   

Q: What completes the ultimate Stacked and Stuffed Hotcake?
A: Sausage links and coffee; don’t laugh! This is the gourmet coming out in me. The acidity of the coffee contrasts the sweetness and the savory taste and spice of the sausage is a nice complement for the sweet flavor too.

Pancake Video

Cool hotcake video.

If you want to see your Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes pictures or video on our blog, upload to Flickr or YouTube with the tag "bobevans."

5 days left for eBay auction!

If you haven't bid on the sweetest auction on eBay you still have 5 days left! Bid to win a 3-day vacation to have breakfast with company founder Bob Evans and CEO Steve Davis - 100% of the winning bid will go to our hometown affiliate of Habitat for Humanity!

Make your own Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes

Caramel Banana Pecan Pancakes






Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla pudding
2 cups cream cheese
Prepared pancake batter for two pancakes
2 tbsp. honey roasted pecans
1 banana sliced into 1/2" thick slices
Caramel sauce
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
Whipped topping

Directions:
For vanilla cream cheese mixture: combine vanilla pudding and room temperature cream cheese. Mix until well blended and creamy (no lumps). Refrigerate immediately. Covered vanilla cream cheese may be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Dispense batter for two hotcakes on a 350°F pan/griddle. Evenly distribute half of the pecans and four banana slices per hotcake immediately after dispensing batter on pan/griddle. Place four banana slices on the hotcake. Grill the hotcakes until they bubble and each hotcake is dry on edges. Flip hotcakes over. Grill until golden brown on both sides. Place first hotcake upside down on a plate. Using a tablespoon, place four spoons of vanilla cream cheese mixture on the upside down hotcake. Then place the second hotcake upside down on top of the vanilla cream cheese mixture. (Place the hotcake upside down so the bananas and pecans are visible.) Ladle caramel sauce on top of the hotcakes. Sprinkle hotcakes with powered sugar. Garnish with whipped topping.

Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes Cooking Video - our own Ranae McName on Channel 12 in Cincinnati.

And if you just can't get them right, head over to Bob Evans - we'll make them for you!

Interview #1 with the Mastermind

You’ll be able to finally get that inside look at expert hotcake-making, the perks of being Brian Murphy and much more!

Q: What’s it like to be a senior development chef at Bob Evans?
A: We work hand-in-hand with marketing, pick a category on the menu to improve upon or further develop. Then, they turn us lose! It’s really blue sky development. Once we have the direction I go into the kitchen thinking I’m going to play with hotcakes today.

I really love what I do. It’s like being a mad scientist – I get to create new things and that’s a lot of fun. People always ask where I get my inspiration – a lot of it comes from personal experiences, my mom and grandma’s food, T.V., customer feedback (or blogger feedback!), periodicals, the internet, of course, and sometimes the radio.


Q: What is the BEST part about working at Bob Evans?
A: I get to eat all day long! But seriously, the interaction I have with the other departments. It’s a great time to be in the department; there is a lot of energy and we’re really trying to stay true to our core but make sure we stretch ourselves to keep up with the competitive market for younger customers.


Q: Personally, what is your favorite flavor of hotcakes?
A: Hands down – the caramel banana pecan cream!


Q: When you make hotcakes with your son, Patrick, what is his favorite way to help in the kitchen?
A: Patrick really like to crack the eggs, measure the dry ingredients and sift them – he loves to use the sifter!

Thanks Brian! Keep checking up for updates and tips from Brian. Hopefully by now you've had a chance to try our new hotcakes - if so, let us know what you think!

(Be sure to check out the eBay auction that started this morning - 10 days and counting to win a 3-day trip to have breakfast with company founder Bob Evans)

Yum

Because we knew folks would be itching to snag the recipe for our new hotcakes line, we went straight to the mastermind behind the sweetness, Brian Murphy – the senior development chef who created the idea of Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes. (We'll post the recipe tomorrow - so check back)

In a series of interviews with Brian, you’ll learn how to make your own stack at home, how he created the hotcakes, what it's like to be a senior development chef at Bob Evans and tips for making great hotcakes.

(I tried all three flavors this morning, wow! They're good!)

eBay auction

Check back tomorrow at 8 a.m. for a link to our eBay auction where you can bid on a 3-day Vacation to have breakfast with company founder Mr. Bob Evans and CEO Steve Davis.

Sweet Details

We're excited to kick off our new hotcake line in the blogosphere and more excited to share the sweet details about our new hotcakes and the chef who created them. While we've been in business for more than 50 years, we're new to the blogosphere, and we'd love to hear your feedback and tips/criticisms on our style, topics, etc.

To start, my name is JC. I work on the communications team here, and I'll be your inside look at Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes and our partnership with our hometown affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. (We've heeded the warnings of Seth Godin, Peter Davidson, Shel Israel, Shel Holtz and many more about product blogs so I won't be ghost writing for our Roasted Caramel Apple Cream hotcake about its adventure through the magical grill line to the powdered sugar palace.)

A quick preview of what's to come: tips for making your own Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes, an at home, do-it yourself recipe for Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes, interviews with our Senior Development Chef Brian Murphy who created the product, updates on the eBay auction and our Habitat affiliate partnership and pics/video from you eating and talking about our Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes. Just post your pictures on Flickr and videos on YouTube with the tag "bobevans" (we'll find them and post them on the blog) or e-mail them to blog@bobevans.com. Check back, I'll post a few times a week with new info/pictures/videos.