When Abbey Riker joined Bojangles’ Culinary Innovation Team in early 2023, she quickly learned that innovation was not just a trendy part of her team’s title. Instead, she immediately saw how innovative ideas were welcomed and the beginning of a new vision for Bojangles - a brand built on legendary Southern flavors that was ready to broaden its menu and geographic horizons.
As a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, fresh ideas were on the top of Abbey’s mind, and her new perspective of Bo’s menu came at a pivotal time of menu development. Her background as a pastry chef and her Gen Z intuition helped develop and finesse many of the LTO menu items featured during the past year. Reserving icing on Bo-Berry cookies as a customer-requested option is a prime example of her valuable input –a decision that ultimately made the cookies more appealing and potentially saved the company supplies and time.
Bo Bites, Bird Dogs, peach cobbler, wings, Sausage Bo-Berry Biscuits, Bo-Berry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies and so much more have been realized this past year through the Culinary Innovation Team’s efforts. “When we come up with new ideas, the team gets together and tries to fill gaps in the menu,” Abbey states. The gaps in question are not problems within the current menu, but rather opportunities to seize upon social media trends and menu hacks to grab the attention of new generations while giving long-time fans new ways to enjoy traditional flavors.
To connect with the latest social media trends and stay ahead of the curve, the Culinary Innovation Team works closely with Marketing to keep a pulse on the latest and greatest ideas from customers and competitors. Again, this is where Abbey’s Gen Z presence has been influential and beneficial - even extending to her working with Bo’s social media team to create videos and other content to share for younger audiences.
As exciting as innovative menu items, trends and menu hacks can be for the team, Abbey says they always keep a few things in mind. "Once we have determined the ideas, we reach out to suppliers and vendors to help make the process as smooth as possible for our restaurants to create new menu items. We always want new items that can be made efficiently and easily in any Bojangles restaurant."
Preparation for the launch of the Bo-Berry Cobbler is a perfect example of why the operational details matter. Abbey recently worked with the supplier of the Bo-Berry Cobbler compote to ensure its texture quality matched what she and the culinary team had tested and approved in earlier trials.
Abbey’s dedication to ensuring a high-quality launch of Bo-Berry Cobbler has been recognized and praised by her team members. As Bojangles continues to expand its national footprint, she is excited to continue introducing new ideas while ensuring they are operationally successful. The Culinary Innovation Team has already completed the 2025 menu and is working on 2026 and 2027 menus. With any luck, Abbey will see her fresh perspective, dedication to quality and youthful influence sprinkled throughout Bojangles’ menus across the nation very soon.