GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Day two of Winsight’s FARE Conference had the collected audience breaking a world record, considering the menu at the White House and competing for culinary dominance (see photo).
Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the retail foodservice conference in Dallas ...
Presidential Precedent
As the personal chef for the Obama family in the White House, Sam Kass had some influence in the creation of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, which encourages children to eat healthy and exercise. During a general session at FARE 2016, Kass encouraged foodservice businesses to take “little steps” where they could to make it easier for consumers to make good decisions, pointing out that change doesn’t need to happen all at once. “Look at the products you’re manufacturing, the menu you present,” he said. “Consider portion size. Where could you use whole grains? Can you add another serving of vegetables [to a meal]? … Each step should be: What can I do to move this in the right direction?”
Scanners
Kass, currently senior food analyst for NBC News, predicts that in five or 10 years, smartphone technology will be able to scan food to instantly discover its nutritional profile, where it came from, how old it is, when it will go bad and how it will taste. “Those kinds of technologies are coming,” he said.
How to Win at Snacking
Forty percent of snacks bought by millennials are prepared foods, which indicates there is potential in the foodservice space for capturing snacking sales. To win at snacking, incorporate ethnic inspirations, customization and better-for-you options. Snacking is no longer just about indulgence, said Abbie Westra, retail group director of Winsight Media.
Widespread Congratulations
FARE and its attendees made it into the record books—the Guinness World Records, to be specific—on June 21 for making more than 39,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help feed the needy through Which Wich’s Project PB&J. Congratulations to everyone involved!
$20 by 2020?
That's what keeps Matt Walker, the National Restaurant Association’s vice president of government relations, up at night: a $20 minimum hourly wage by 2020. His other fear is the move toward indexing, which means once a new national minimum wage is set, increases would be tied to the country’s annual cost of living.
Watching the Detectives
“We’re in a new era of food safety in the United States,” said Jay Ellingson, director of food safety and quality assurance for Kwik Trip convenience stores, during a breakout session titled “Strengthening the Foodservice Supply Chain.” He cited one small evolution by his former employer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as an example: “They’ve changed the title of their employees from ‘food inspectors’ to ‘food investigators.’ This means foodservice is about to become a lot more serious than it is even today.”
Watching the Directives
Food-safety expert Tara Paster, president of Paster Training Inc., offered an in-depth analysis of how the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) might affect retailers. She offered four steps to help retailers get their teams up to speed:
- Know what aspects of FSMA apply to each of your facilities (stores, restaurants, commissaries, etc.).
- Have team members attend training.
- Have a comprehensive food-safety control plan developed and in place by the appropriate deadline.
- Make sure your team is trained on your organization’s food-safety control plan.
Elbow Room
When it comes to foodservice dining areas, everyone wants space. Spacious seating arrangements allow groups to move freely around your store and and also offer a sense of privacy to the diner eating alone, said Donna Hood Crecca, associate principal for Technomic, during an educational forum titled “Food Forward C-Store Design.”
Coffee’s Command
Which channels of foodservice/restaurants are growing the fastest? According to National Restaurant Association estimates for 2016, cafés have the advantage:
| Channel | Est. 2016 sales | Growth over 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Table service | $259 billion | 4.9% |
| Limited service | $223 billion | 5.9% |
| Retail foodservice (grocery, convenience stores) | $43.1 billion | 5.8% |
| Snack & nonalcohol beverages bars (includes Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, etc.) | $38.3 billion | 6.1% |
| Health care | $33.3 billion | 2.5% |
| Colleges & universities | $25.0 billion | 3.8% |
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.