Wrap World

Remember when you first heard of wraps, back in the mid-1990s? They were spin-offs from the newly ubiquitous burrito, made with tortillas and filled with internationally inspired ingredients. World Wraps very well may have kicked off the trend, opening in San Francisco in 1995 after a year of research around multicultural healthful food. Wraps offered a nice alternative, and the world of sandwiches and other hand-held foods has never been the same since.

Fifteen years later, wraps continue to play key roles on menus. They span all dayparts and have locked in the snack category, thanks to the McDonald’s Snack Wrap launched in 2006. Today, consumers can spend a day eating nothing but wraps: an Egg and Cheese Wake-Up Wrap at Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast, Thai Peanut Chicken Wraps at Au Bon Pain at lunchtime, Southwest Mini Egg Rolls with Chile-Lime Ranch sauce at Arby’s for a snack, Duck Potstickers as an appetizer at Grand Lux Café followed by a fried Buffalo Chicken roll for dinner (or one of the other dozen or so wrapped items on the menu...). And what about the Wonton Sundae for dessert at Elephant Bar Restaurant?

GROWING APPEAL

“Today, wraps are so much more than sandwiches,” says Francis J. Wall, vice president of marketing, BelGioioso Cheese. He’s right. R&D and restaurant chefs are borrowing from breakfast omelets, classic salads, traditional sandwiches, savory entrées and especially global street food to create enticing wraps for consumers hungry for innovative meal options. In fact, the Wisconsin cheesemaker now offers a creative wrapper for foodservice: a sheet of fresh mozzarella that can be layered with ingredients (think basil, tomatoes and prosciutto), rolled up and sliced. It’s fresh, infinitely variable and even gluten-free.

Innovative flavors aren’t the only reasons so many diners go for wraps. The top-three reasons wraps are preferable for dinner are taste, hunger satisfaction and healthful qualities, according to the 2008 “Sandwich Consumer Trend Report” by Technomic. This combined package helps explains why 37% of consumers in a 2008 Technomic survey purchased wraps once a month, up from 28% in 2006. And according to Mintel, the sandwich, sub and wrap restaurant segment saw sales increase 50% between 2004 and 2008.