GRAPEVINE, Texas -- As Winsight’s FARE Conference burst with big ideas, CSP’s editors distilled the best down to easy-to-digest nuggets, from embracing innovation to sexing up your foodservice offer.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the conference in Dallas …
Insights With Impact
Three insights from the Women With Impact: Driving Growth in the Industry general-session panel:
- "The hardest work in any business is the one that works closest to the customer.” – Wendy Davidson, president, U.S. specialty channels, Kellogg North America
- "As a mother of four boys, I’m proud to say I don’t have to sacrifice being an awesome mom to be an awesome executive.” – Rachel Phillips-Luther, chief marketing officer, Zoes Kitchen
- Companies need to “recognize which women [employees] are rising to the challenge and set the process in motion to help them progress and succeed.” – Catherine Kayser, vice president, corporate social responsibility, Sysco Corp.
Learning From the Best
In building the U.S. Navy’s Region Southwest Dining Services, Steve Hammel, regional dining services manager, researched some of the most successful restaurant and hospitality companies to find out what makes them successful. These things included having a mission statement, focusing on the customer and an emphasis on marketing/branding. He also looked at some restaurant and hospitality companies that are no longer successful and found they had some things in common, too: stopped innovating, stopped investing in hiring quality people and focused on cutting costs. These conclusions led Hammel to focus on the customer, service, quality and innovation. The increased revenues were enough to justify building an ordering and payment app and adding new delivery vehicles with hot and cold holding.
Brand Stand
Three brand-building thoughts from Kat Cole, group president, FOCUS Brands Inc., Atlanta, and COO of Cinnabon:
- Not doing anything is a greater brand risk than trying something new.
- The biggest risk is not taking care of people or standing up for the right things in the marketplace.
- Be honest, proud and grateful for what you stand for. If you can do that, you can command value.
Salad Days
A fresh-salad entrepreneur recently impressed food researcher June Jo Lee of The Hartman Group, Bellevue, Wash. She said he's got his supply chain so tight that his vending-machine salads stack up to the ones in Whole Foods. He even has a machine located in a convenience store.
Reducing Waste
Have you ever found yourself with a dozen doughnuts left over at the end of the day? Instead of tossing them and contributing to the 40% of food that is lost or wasted in the United States, you could give away your surplus food to local charities, food banks and pantries, said Justin Davis, senior manager, insights and strategy, Tyson Foodservice Insights & Innovation. Mobile applications, such as Food Cowboy, help make the process easier by connecting food and retail food companies with food banks, pantries and charities and allowing them to alert these organizations of any surplus food.
Reducing Waste More
The farm-to-table movement is evolving into food-to-landfill. Eighty percent of Americans recognize food waste as an issue, which is driving programs such as “Save the Uglies” and menu specials that use what would otherwise be considered “waste” such as carrot tops and vegetable peels. Consumers will look to food providers to pioneer ways to reduce waste.
Be Authentic
According to Technomic data, 63% of operators see strong consumer demand for authenticity when it comes to food and beverage. But what does authenticity really mean? Whether its Mexican, Italian, American, Chinese or Japanese fare, consumers define authentic foods as being made with authentic flavors and ingredients, and prepared using traditional methods specific to the respective country. The United States is becoming more diverse, so authenticity will become more and more important to consumers, said Diego Rondon, senior director, multicultural, Sysco Corp.
Early Adoption
With adoption cycles for new foods and ingredients going from 12 years to six, Jack Li, a researcher with Datassential, Chicago, said the big challenge is to start migrating menu innovation closer to the point of inception. "Think about how far left you can go before it starts to hurt, and move a few inches more," he said.
Sex it Up
“Love, sex and happiness beat fiber and vitamin D every time”: Sam Kass, senior food analyst for NBC News and former White House chef and senior White House policy adviser for nutrition policy, on how the foodservice industry needs to better market better-for-you foods.
On the Grow
The National Restaurant Association expects retail segments to increase their foodservice sales by 5.8% in 2016—on par with expectations of limited-service restaurants at 5.9%. Where are the biggest gains expected? Snack and nonalcohol beverage-bar concepts (think Starbucks, Pinkberry or Dunkin’ Donuts) at 6.8% growth.
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