New Leadership, New Menu
Dig Inn, the fast-casual chain with more than 35 Northeast locations, has named Dylan Mendelsohn as Culinary Director and launched an eight-item fall menu now available chainwide through year-end. Mendelsohn, an alum of Eleven Madison Park and former Director of Culinary at Life Alive Cafe, marks his arrival with a produce-driven lineup built around Northeast harvest ingredients — a deliberate statement for a segment where scratch cooking remains a differentiator.
The appointment matters beyond a personnel change. Fast-casual operators have spent the past two years competing on culinary credibility as consumers pulled from full-service dining, and Dig Inn is doubling down on that positioning by installing a chef whose background leans heavily fine-dining. The move mirrors tactics seen at growth-stage fast-casual brands that have used high-profile culinary hires to anchor menu refresh cycles and sharpen catering revenue.
What's on the Menu
The eight new items include Autumn Farro with Butternut Squash (roasted butternut, citrus tahini, parsley, celery), Brussels & Cabbage with Sweet Chili Crisp (charred to order with Mr. Bing Chili Crisp), Crunchy Roasted Red Beets paired with quinoa and a housemade superseed crunch, and Delicata Squash with Maple Tahini. The lineup also adds Hudson Valley Apples with Chai Yogurt served Waldorf-style with dried cranberries and walnuts, a simply dressed Gotham Greens lettuce salad, a fiber-dense Lentil & Chickpea Salad with Feta, and Yukon Mashed Potatoes steamed and milled in-house daily with garlic and parmesan.
"The produce changes before the weather does, and this menu is our way of following its lead," Mendelsohn said. "Every dish is roasted, dressed and prepared the way you'd want it done if you were cooking it for family."
All proteins and vegetables are prepared daily in each restaurant — a back-of-house commitment that raises labor costs but supports the brand's scratch-made positioning, which has become a recurring theme in fast-casual foodservice program development over the past 18 months.
Catering and Off-Premise Play
Alongside the core menu, Dig Inn introduced two family meals and matching catering packages aimed at office and group occasions. The Fall Family Meal pairs herb chicken with the Brussels & Cabbage and Delicata Squash dishes, while the Steak & Mash Family Meal centers on char-grilled steak and the mashed potatoes. Both are available as packaged catering options, extending the brand's off-premise revenue into a workplace-delivery daypart that remains competitive among Northeast urban fast-casual operators.
Ordering is available in-restaurant, via the Dig Inn app, or at diginn.com for pickup and delivery. Transactions earn points through the Dig Inn Rewards loyalty program — an increasingly standard retention tool as fast-casual brands compete with convenience-store foodservice programs for the everyday lunch occasion.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
