SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -- In order to make it past research and development, new foodservice programs must inevitably manage culture change for many retail channels, according to panelists for the Success Stories: Managing Successful Foodservice Programs session at CSP's 2009 Foodservice at Retail Expo (FARE), with time being an important ingredient.
Joining York, Pa.-based Rutter's Farm Stores 12 years ago, Jerry Weiner, vice president of food service, told the estimated 75 attendees present for the seminar that moving quality assurance tasks from his department to operations [image-nocss] took time and wasn't something he could have sold at the start.
"A company is visually thinking one way," Weiner said. "The hardest thing is to create [a new mindset] within another, [established one]."
As an example of change, he said he eventually began hiring people with restaurant management backgrounds to handle the delis in their expanding foodservice program. Similarly, Daniel Leto, product development department executive for Kings Super Markets Inc., said bringing in a foodservice development team from the culinary world changed the culture of his companya chain of upscale grocery stores based in Parsippany, N.J.
"They brought leadership and accountability," Leto said. "They changed the way we do everything."
Leto said the development of unique recipes and offers became a focus, with the creative process involving numerous individuals throughout the 26-store chain. Among the innovations are a $7 box lunch, multiple offers for Thanksgiving dinner that differ depending if an entire family is coming to the table or if it's just two empty nesters, and a chicken parmesan sandwich that turned ingredients that would have been tossed out into a sandwich that in some areas can sell for $4.99 while in others, $8.99.
Panel moderator Bill Reilly, F & B Marketing Solutions, Greensville, S.C. told attendees that strategic development can run aground when faced with the challenge of managing the "multiple voices on your team."
Everyone from stockholders to executives, information technology to human resources, must be orchestrated, with a wide gap standing between the initial vision to execution. "The trick to finding success is by balancing the voices," Reilly said.
Bringing a successful new program into a company's repertoire can mean sustainability for any company. For Yvonne Macon, senior manager, HDH procurement and contracts for the University of California at San Diego, one of their newest projects is developing open-all-night stores to sit alongside their commissaries. She said students are often studying into the late-night hours, but are also savvy about what they want to eat, are connected to the environment and understand how to better cope with conditions like allergies.
But as with the other panelists, change was an important consideration. As Weiner of Rutter's noted, "[Change] will not be achieved overnight. It takes a considerable investment in time and money."
[Pictured (left to right): Jerry Weiner, Daniel Leto, Yvonne Macon.]
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