Slideshow: ‘Spring’ing into seasonal menu innovations

KANSAS CITY — Restaurant operators are aiming to capture consumer attention with spring seasonal menu launches.

Peet’s Coffee, a subsidiary of JDE Peet’s, debuted several limited-time offerings featuring trending and floral flavors. The menu includes an iced ube matcha latte with a cream top, an iced vanilla latte with a cream top, a lavender vanilla latte and a lavender vanilla matcha latte.

“This spring, we’re bringing together ube, matcha and lavender in ways that feel both innovative and unmistakably Peet’s,” said Kristina Roach, senior director of marketing at Peet’s Coffee. 

Sweetgreen unveiled a citrus-focused innovation with a chicken sesame crunch salad. The offering features chicken, cabbage slaw, shredded cabbage, shredded kale, chopped romaine lettuce, carrots, noodles, sesame crunch and citrus sesame vinaigrette. Each serving contains 35 grams of protein.

“Chicken sesame crunch brings together bold citrus flavor, satisfying crunch and real, thoughtfully sourced ingredients,” said Zipporah Allen, chief commercial officer at Sweetgreen.

Krispy Kreme rolled out its spring donut collection featuring two new donut varieties: the Hershey’s double chocolate donut and the strawberries and “kreme” donut. The former combines a glazed donut with Hershey’s milk chocolate icing and chocolate-flavored buttercreme. The latter features an unglazed donut with strawberry and kreme filling that is dipped in strawberry icing and finished with vanilla-flavored icing swirls.