I read the Momofuku cookbook last night, and strangely it got me thinking about chain restaurants.  David Chang tells the story about going from buying lo mien noodles to make ramen at Noodle Bar to learning to make them in house.  Is there an opportunity for chain restaurateurs from casual to QSR to differentiate better on this “in-house” dimension?

Of course, many chains already take advantage to some extent.  Krispy Kreme has the famous, and famously cool looking, in-store donut making machine.  At In-and-Out Burger, you see the whole potatoes being cut into fries (ironically, double frying from pre-cooked frozen probably makes best tasting fries, but from-fresh sure looks great).  Panda Express has built open kitchens and a see-through wall into their refrigerator to show their fresh vegetables.  Chevy’s made a name for themselves making tortillas fresh in “El Maquino”.  Panera and many bagel places visibly bake on site.  Subway famously brought that idea to a low-price QSR.

But there are many more ideas.  To brainstorm:

• Mexican:  combine the visibility of raw ingredients and cooking process of In-and-Out and Panda Express with the quality sourcing positioning of Chipotle and Baja Fresh
• Burgers:  show me the whole cuts of beef and grind it on-site, display high-quality buns and fresh toppings
• Sandwiches:  high-end salumi cabinets are popping up all over mid-priced urban restaurants.  Can someone bring this to fast casual?
• Ribs:  make the on-site smoker a design element, at least in casual dining (but hey, maybe even at BK!)
• Grilled foods:  bring an open kitchen design to the grill section, especially in casual dining
• Seafood:  a iPad based sourcing map showing where today’s fish came from
• Across the board:  information on ingredient sourcing and in-restaurant preparation, in an engaging and compelling visual format

(Have other ideas?  We’d love to hear about them in the comments!)

Of course, these ideas take capital and operational training.  Momofuku can spare no expense in making noodles.  They can charge more for it.  In the chain restaurant business, it is never clear in advance which of these ideas will actually work, driving substantial repeat business, and which won’t.

Uncertainty makes these ideas perfect for a Test & Learn approach.  Future innovators will create a pipeline with lots of these ideas, some big but most small.  Most will fail.  But you’ll find the one sometimes surprising idea in five that actually drives differential growth, like Subway’s fresh-baked bread.  Many restaurants take this approach today with new products, but few do it well with existing site capital investments.

As the movement towards locality, quality, and provenance in food grows, actually showing your customer that he or she is eating “real food” will become more critical than ever.  It also may be a good approach to combat mix shifts as nutritional labeling laws play out, as it plays to a different perception of food healthiness.  Leaders will use testing to position themselves ahead of this trend.