How One High-Volume Chain Turned an Operational Headache into a Profit Center

Because of bacon’s broad appeal, it tends to draw attention on menus. Bacon that’s served fresh and delivers great plate appeal doesn’t go unnoticed—and memorable bacon can turn a single order into a repeat visit. Technomic’s Ignite Menu Q1 2024–Q1 2025 study found that adding bacon to a dish can increase interest, purchase intent and craveability ratings.

However, in the quick-service restaurant industry, cooking meat from raw while ensuring safety and quality standards across tens, hundreds, or even thousands of locations can be challenging. Sourcing a fully cooked bacon option is a solution operators increasingly turn to. However, not all fully cooked bacon is created equal.

On a daily basis, The Works Cafe, a 12-location New England fast-casual restaurant, felt the strain of cooking bacon from raw in its kitchens. “We cooked bacon from raw for 35 years,” says Richard French, founder and CEO of The Works Cafe. “It was messy, labor intensive, and honestly, kind of miserable.” From inconsistent cooking results to back-of-house slowdowns caused by equipment like grease traps requiring frequent cleaning, cooking raw bacon can create operational challenges for restaurants trying to streamline kitchen workflows while delivering a consistent guest experience.

However, when French needed a solution, finding a high-quality, fully cooked option that also met the brand’s clean-label standards was a challenge. “Most companies would tell you to pick from the catalog,” French says. “Hormel Foodservice said, ‘What do you need?’” From there, Hormel Foodservice partnered with French to develop a new product under the HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon Brand tailored to the restaurant’s needs.

French has now been using HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon across its menu for four years. Because of the ease of use and consistency this fully cooked product provides, The Works Cafe has been able to expand bacon to multiple offerings while saving on labor. “The hours we save are enormous,” French says. “It frees up the staff to focus on food quality and service.”

The product helps ensure every dish delivers the same guest experience, regardless of location or time of day. With fully cooked bacon ready to heat and serve, the kitchen team can deliver the same crisp texture and flavor across the menu. It has also enabled The Works Cafe to serve its fan-favorite Cajun-rubbed bacon in more applications and execute craveable “more bacon” campaigns—driving profitability.

Flavor, texture, and appearance will always contribute to the success of premium ingredients. Bacon especially has the power to improve any dish, and consumers notice when it’s flavorless or flimsy—whether it’s center-of-plate or in an application. Yet, when many operations seek out a fully cooked bacon product, they may not realize the product they bring in has artificial smoke flavor or is produced using a microwave cooking process—compromising the craveable flavor and texture consumers expect.

HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon is naturally hardwood smoked over a unique wood blend of cob, applewood, and more premium hardwoods, for up to 12x longer than the leading cooked competitor. For the best texture and mouthfeel, HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon is cooked with a patented method, resulting in the ideal crispy bite.

Hormel Foodservice helped The Works Cafe crack the bacon code: eliminating the operational strain of cooking bacon from raw while still allowing the restaurant to serve quality bacon-to-order with the consistency needed to scale across its 12 locations. “Hormel Foodservice, as a large company, was willing to innovate on our behalf,” French says. “It wasn’t about pushing SKUs, it was about solving for our goals.”

HORMEL® BACON 1™ Perfectly Cooked Bacon can help operators find a fully cooked solution that mimics cooked-from-raw quality without the inconsistency or labor. It also provides a premium cooked bacon alternative without the chewy texture associated with conventional, fully cooked bacon alternatives on the market. “We’re not charging crazy prices, and our profitability is through the roof,” French says. “That’s partly because we’re not wasting time and product.”