Six ideas for a menu that isn’t yours.

Birchwood makes the food. Somebody else’s name goes on it.

That is a hard place to sell from. You can talk about your plants and your formulation processes, or you can walk in with six things Taco Bell could put on its menu next quarter and let the work make the argument for you.

We did the second one.

A chalkboard-bound showcase, one spread per idea.

Each concept gets its name, two alternate names, the build drawn out ingredient by ingredient, and a facing page arguing why it belongs on the menu right now. Meatballs were having a moment. Food-truck cooking was going national. Breakfast was still up for grabs.

I named the products, wrote every page, and art directed the piece.

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Cover. Chalkboard, hand-lettered, spiral-bound.

Read it full size

Every concept carries a primary name and two alternates, so the client has something to react to instead of something to approve. Six concepts, eighteen names, one book.

Concept, naming, copy, and art direction. Presented to the client. Whether any of it reached a menu isn’t something I’d ever know.

Every idea carried a primary name, two alternates, a build, and the reason it earned a slot.

The names are the part clients react to fastest, so each concept shipped with three: one to recommend and two to argue with. Eighteen names, six builds, one book.

1. Meatball Griller

   Alternates: Mexican Meatball Griller · Mexi Meatball Griller

   Starts with a flour tortilla

   • Mexican-flavored spicy meatballs in red sauce
   • Crispy jalapeño strips
   • Provolone cheese

   Unique, craveable taste Meatballs were mid-renaissance. Specialists like The Meatball Shop in New York had moved them from family-dinner staple to menu must-have.

2. Cuban Rib Griller

   Alternates: Cubano BBQ Griller · Costillitas Griller

   Starts with a flour tortilla

   • Mexican BBQ-flavored pork rib patty
   • BBQ mustard sauce
   • Crispy onions
   • Sliced pickles
   • Provolone cheese

   Foodie revolution An American love affair with pork ribs, long overdue for a quick-service version. Its popularity with chefs around the country was the evidence.

3. Sonora Taco

   Alternates: Beef & Bacon Taco · Nuevo Gordita

   Starts with a gordita shell

   • Sweet, spicy, savory beef
   • Crispy bacon
   • Refried beans
   • Diced onions and tomatoes
   • Sour cream

   Unique, craveable taste Food-truck cooking was going national, and the Sonora Dog was carrying a regional favorite well past the Southwest.

4. Double Double Burrito

   Alternates: Double Up Burrito · Double Time Loaded Burrito

   Starts with a large flour tortilla

   • Double sweet, spicy, savory beef
   • Double cheddar cheese
   • Special sauce
   • Lettuce and tomato

   Big eats Built for the perpetually hungry twenty-something, on the same logic that made the In-N-Out double a fixture: more of the thing people already came for.

5. Chicken Sombrero

   Alternates: Pollo Sombrero · Loaded Pollo Sombrero

   Starts with a crispy four-inch corn tortilla

   • Mango chicken tinga
   • White cheese sauce
   • Pico de gallo
   • Provolone cheese

   Beverage and snacking A decade of small-plate dining had trained people to order a comfortable fill instead of a full meal. This was the snack, the mini meal and the thing you share.

6. Breakfast Flatbread

   Alternates: Daybreak Flatbread · Morning Medley Flatbread

   Starts with grilled flatbread and a melted cheese blend

   • Diced Mexican sausage
   • Scrambled egg
   • Crema Mexicana
   • White cheese sauce
   • Pico de gallo

   First-meal daypart Breakfast was already on the menu. The opening was portability: protein-packed, grab-and-go, no cutlery.