Klavon spices up grab-and-go sector with international flair

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 19, 2007  by Andy Battaglia

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How do you balance a focus on fresh foods with the promise of indulgence?

It's undoubtedly an element of what we do. The three big mega trends now are convenience, health and pleasure, and we focus on all three. Convenience is sort of a common denominator and doesn't really stand out on its own--it's part of our DNA. But health and pleasure are both areas we're branching into.

A lot of our sandwiches are available with light mayo, and we try to use herbs and spices to elevate flavor profiles. We're doing a lot of snacking items because we have an opportunity to leverage not only the idea of eating better but also more frequently and in smaller portions. We've done a lot of products based on fruits, vegetables, dips--smaller portions that people can mix and match.

What has surprised you most about your job?

The fact that there's a tremendous amount of complexity in delivering products that our consumer really wants and demands. We have so many different products that we have to do very thorough current-situation analysis and research to determine what the right products are to bring into our stores. In the restaurant industry you do a lot of market research, but I found it surprising because I thought the convenience store industry wouldn't be as sophisticated. The other thing that surprised me was the amount of fatigue that occurs because of the sheer frequency of our customer traffic. I hadn't really thought about that.

CHEF'S TIPS

* To soften an unripe avocado, puncture the skin to prevent it from bursting and place it in a microwave oven for around 45 seconds, turning it halfway through the process.

* When using skewers, prevent food from slipping off during cooking and turning by using two parallel skewers rather than a single one.

BIOGRAPHY

Title: senior director of research and development and category management for Fresh Foods/7-Eleven Inc., Dallas, Texas

Birth date: Oct. 6, 1963

Hometown: Karachi, Pakistan

Education: bachelor's degree in liberal arts and an MBA in marketing from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Career highlights: being selected to Nation's Restaurant News' NRN 50: R&D Culinarians in 2003; bringing to life the American Airlines Chefs' Conclave, a culinary council of top chefs including Paul Prudhomme, Wolfgang Puck and Alice Waters, among others

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