• by Lisa Bertagnoli , October 3, 2006

The hot word in fast-food marketing used to be "toast." Quiznos revolutionized the sandwich segment by touting its subs as toasted. Subway soon followed.

Now, there's another bread revolution going on--one that pulls inspiration from all over the globe.

Panini, the grilled sandwiches that hail from Italy, are a menu staple at Chicago-based Corner Bakery. Wendy's uses focaccia, the spongy Italian herbed bread, as the base for its Frescata sandwiches: a club, roasted turkey and Swiss, ham and Swiss, and turkey and pesto. The Columbus, Ohio-based chain initially rolled out four varieties; a fifth, the Frescata Italiana, joined the menu this past summer.

Flatbread--a thin, seasoned bread with Middle Eastern roots--is cropping up on more menus as well. Quiznos, the Denver-based sub chain, offers four flatbread-garnished salads: antipasto, classic Cobb, chicken Caesar, and roasted chicken with honey mustard.

Bear Rock Café, a Cary, N.C.-sandwich chain with about 40 locations, mostly in the Southeast, features five flatbread-wrapped sandwiches: barbecue chicken, turkey, tuna, French dip and Southwest-style chicken. In late August, Bear Rock began offering the flatbread as a base for five personal-size pizzas called pizzetas: barbecue chicken, chicken poblano, roasted vegetable, Greek chicken, and pepperoni.

Along similar lines, O'Naturals, a four-unit Boston-based chain with organic, health-focused menus, builds nine sandwiches (ranging from bison meatloaf to grilled cheese) and pizza on flatbread.

Chains have historically used bread as a come-on for customers, noted Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., the Chicago-based restaurant research firm. Bagels and bagel sandwiches were popular in the 1990s, followed by wraps. Now, "even grilling bread adds value," Paul said.

Breads "give (the menu) a little bit of cachet," he added. "People are looking for something different."