Flavor Trailblazer: Erin Hess

Some trends flash across social media while others help reshape menus for years. The challenge for restaurant brands is knowing the difference—and understanding what each one reveals about changing consumer tastes. At Snooze A.M. Eatery, that balancing act is especially important. The nearly 70-unit breakfast-and-lunch concept strives to stand apart in one of foodservice’s most competitive dayparts without sacrificing the approachable, craveable dishes that define the Snooze experience. As diners become more selective about their restaurant visits, they’re looking for meals that deliver on protein, value and flavor. From exploring global influences through a breakfast lens to rethinking the role of LTOs, Erin Hess, culinary research & development manager, shares how Snooze filters trends, balances bold creativity with operational realities and develops menu items designed to endure.

Katie Ayoub: You’ve been with Snooze for nearly a decade. What does your role look like today?
Erin Hess: Menu innovation sits at the center of everything I do, but it’s much bigger than creating recipes. We work with sourcing partners, vendors, operations, training and marketing to make sure an idea can actually become a successful menu item. It’s about developing food that guests love—and that our teams can execute consistently in almost 70 restaurants.

KA: When it comes to menu innovation, what is the biggest challenge right now?
EH: The hardest part is balancing innovation with reality. Trends move incredibly fast, but menu development does not. By the time you’ve sourced ingredients, tested recipes, trained teams and rolled something out systemwide, the trend may already be fading. We have to ask ourselves whether it really fits Snooze, whether guests are ready for it, whether our teams can execute it consistently and whether it’s something that’s going to last rather than being a flash in the pan. Too early and guests aren’t ready. Too late and the moment has passed. Our job is to find that sweet spot. We also want to make it our own—not simply copy what everyone else is doing.

KA: Value is top of mind across foodservice. How does Snooze approach it?
EH: Value isn’t just about price. Of course, the food has to be craveable, but it’s also about hospitality. Our servers are not order takers—they’re guides. We want guests to feel welcomed, discover something they’ll love and leave feeling like they had an experience worth coming back for. Sometimes that experience is as simple as buying someone a pancake because they’re having a bad day.

KA: Which trends are inspiring you most right now?
EH: Sweet heat continues to be incredibly exciting because there are so many ways to balance sweetness, acidity and spice. Protein isn’t really a trend anymore—it’s become an expectation. And global flavors continue to provide endless inspiration. Breakfast is an amazing platform for exploring Mexican, Mediterranean, Korean and so many other cuisines.

KA: Where do you think there’s still untapped opportunity?
EH: I’d love to explore more Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors. Consumers already know ingredients like tahini, za’atar, preserved lemon and fresh herbs. The opportunity is making those flavors approachable in breakfast rather than trying to recreate traditional dishes exactly as they exist elsewhere.

KA: Snooze has experimented with dirty sodas. What attracted you to the trend?
EH: We started with dirty sodas as a secret menu item before bringing them onto the printed menu. They’re fun and nostalgic. We top them with our housemade vanilla cream—the same one we use on our Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes. Our dirty sodas are definitely resonating with younger guests, especially the ones who are already embracing drinks with texture, like boba.

KA: Snooze’s thinking around LTOs has evolved. What’s changed?
EH: We’ve traditionally changed our menu four times a year, but it’s not always through an LTO promotion. Sometimes items simply stay, and sometimes we reevaluate the menu and decide something is ready to come off—not because we dictated that it would only be a limited-time offer. We believe that we need to give new items enough time on the menu to understand if they have staying power and if guests really want them. If we stick with four menu cycles a year, that’s only three months for a menu item to prove itself. That amount of time doesn’t give us a whole lot of data to make an informed decision on its place on our menu.

QUICKFIRE

Source of inspiration:
Travel is huge for me—not just the food you try in other countries, but how it makes you feel, the whole experience. I also get tremendous inspiration from our restaurant teams. We recently held an “Iron Chef”-style culinary competition among our chefs and GMs, and what they created completely blew me away. They’re constantly making our food—and our ideas—better.

Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
Dijonnaise! Somehow, I only discovered it recently, and now I put it on everything!

Best bite you’ve had recently:
The jasmine cream dessert at Uchi—with honey crumble, jasmine cream, pineapple and cilantro granita. The combination of flavors and textures was unforgettable.

Cuisine you’re excited about:
Anything Asian. I can spend hours wandering my neighborhood Asian market looking for new ingredients to experiment with.

Go-to late-night snack:
Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food. It’s the best.