New at NACS 2015: Foodservice (Slideshow)

Always a reflection of fun flavor trends, f’real foods was sampling its latest limited-time offer: Glazed Donut Milkshake. 

In one of the most thought-provoking messages seen at NACS, Anheuser-Busch partnered with Tyson to create marketing and merchandising strategies to sell more beer during peak foodservice hours, and vice versa. The two categories’ biggest sales opportunities are conveniently inversely related. 

Touch-screen ordering continues to become more readily available to c-store operators—both in the store and at the pump. Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s option was on display in the Cool New Products room.

The latest Merrychef oven, debuting at the show, offers a 12-inch cavity in a 14-inch footprint, with various colors and merchandising options such as merchandising racks and a consumer-facing video screen.

This unit not only shows off Servend’s new craft soda station, but also its undercounter ice-machine system, which frees up eye-level real estate for more aesthetic design. The LPX Beverage Dispenser can also be used with up to two traditional 14-flavor soda towers.

Bold and spicy foods continue their prominent position on the c-store menu, with item rollouts such as a sweet and spicy Thai chicken Roller Bites from Home Market Foods, a horseradish and roast beef sandwich from Deli Express, and McCain’s chipotle white cheddar cubes and pepper jack chorizo wedges.

Orders Up from Inteladata hopes to integrate c-store foodservice programs into existing POS systems by printing bar-code labels for both made-to-order and grab-and-go items. Sales are then captured, stored, tracked and analyzed in real time in the cloud.

Hot foodservice snacks are a growing opportunity for c-store sales, and the Bosco’s cheddar pretzel sticks from Tyson were an unbiased editorial favorite.

Customization continues at the coffee bar with Whitewave’s toppings offerings. The upside: When items such as whipped cream are self-serve and free of charge, they are exempt from calorie-count requirements.