As operators are looking to reinvigorate curbside menus, the American Egg Board (AEB) debuts the next chapter of the Incredible Egg Trends: “Sandwiches,” featuring New York City restauranteur Chef Nick Korbee.

Datassential research supports this trend, showing sandwiches score above the 93^rd percentile across all age groups and 72% of U.S. menus feature sandwiches. Operators can use sandwiches as a vehicle to deliver flavor trends of the moment to consumers. Datassential predicts this trend to hold steady over the next four years and shows eggs are the fastest-growing protein option on sandwiches—a 13% increase in the past four years.

Serve egg sandwiches all day long

“Our next Incredible Egg Trends (IET) is designed to help operators modernize their handheld menu for today. With egg sandwiches growing in popularity, this trend features Nick Korbee, who is known for his innovative eggcentric menu,” said Phaedra Ruffalo, senior director, market development at the AEB. “As breakfast breaks into other dayparts and off-premise dining becomes the new normal, this collection is a natural fit for operators reimagining their menu to meet the moment with portable comfort food.”

According to Datassential, almost two-thirds of consumers are avoiding restaurant dining rooms right now, which is causing many operators to innovate their curbside and delivery options. Datassential also reports 11 percent of restaurants are adding more “comfort food” type menu items.

Chef Korbee’s path to the Egg Shop

From developing the menu at New York’s tiniest cocktail bar to redesigning the offerings for a modern Caribbean neighborhood restaurant, Chef Nick Korbee’s career has been marked by creativity and resourcefulness with limited space or ingredients. In 2014, he co-founded the Egg Shop with husband/wife team Sarah Schneider and Demetri Makoulis. Centered on the versatility of the egg sandwich, this concept started in the Soho neighborhood of New York City, and three years later, the team adds a second larger location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 2017, chef Korbee debuted Egg Shop: The Cookbook to bring more than 100 egg-centric recipes to consumer homes.

"The trend of sandwiches, particularly egg sandwiches, means a lot to me. It’s a big part of what I do every day at Egg Shop. I can’t think of another one that I’d care to dance with,” said Chef Nick Korbee. “Egg sandwiches can be all sorts of things. Mine is epic but refined.”

View additional sandwich recipes and concepts

In addition to Korbee’s take on egg sandwiches, the new IET chronicle includes five other recipes developed for restauranteurs: Crunchy Egg Wrap, Creamy Hollandaise Cheese Steak, Egg Bao, Chorizo Egg Sandwich and Big Egg Sandwich.

Operators can find these six recipes and five menu concepts from other restaurants along with Chef Korbee’s video, as well as research and tips related to the all-day sandwich trend at: aeb.org/incredible-egg-trends.