The aspect of the foodservice industry that’s most consistent now is inconsistency. Consumers’ comfort level with the coronavirus varies, as do the rules and regulations from one region to another.
Regardless of their origins, disruptive forces share one common trait: they come into an industry with little to no notice, do their thing and change the course of business as usual forever.
How to rebuild trust with customers in a global pandemic.
From all of us here at Zoomba Group, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone whose lives have been directly impacted by the COVID-19 virus.
From launching a 100% plant-based food truck to moving retail foodservice to the point where 50% of sales come from self-order devices, Zia Ahmed continues to keep The Ohio State University on the forefront of the trendline.
Consolidation, e-commerce, mergers, acquisitions and a continually changing array of unpredicted disruptive forces — welcome to today’s foodservice world. As a result, operators continue to evolve into much more elusive players, facing more financial pressures and with increasingly sophisticated needs. Product knowledge is simply no longer enough for the supply chain to serve today’s operator. To meet the demands of these operators, each of us in the foodservice supply chain must shift to a needs-based, consultative selling approach.
As the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to watch a grand experiment unfold with a patchwork of varied responses based on class, economics and politics. Opinions about where this will all lead are as varied as the number of opinion-makers out there, and individual responses seem to be mostly based on the sources of information that people are choosing to rely on.
Kelly Roddy joined fast-casual chain Saladworks in August 2019 after 12 years of leading Schlotzsky’s, a sandwich fast-casual. He’s now positioning Saladworks to take full advantage of its niche as an established good-for-you brand despite so many others joining the party. The chain has established an ambitious goal — to double the number of Saladworks units by taking advantage of some underused nontraditional markets.
This is an era of market consolidation, where small companies can increase their size and value with the goal of being acquired by a larger entity — and large companies can increase sales by branching out into more categories.
The pervasive nature of digital payment methods, mobile apps and third-party delivery companies continue to shape the way customers consume food prepared outside the home. These developments also show the wide-ranging impact digital systems have on almost every step that consumers take when eating food prepared away from home.
Well, it is good to know that the appeal of cat videos and quarantine parodies has its limits as many industry professionals refocus at least some of their attention to the post-pandemic foodservice landscape.
There’s lots of sober news surrounding COVID-19 and its impact on individuals, communities and even businesses. Few businesses have taken as direct a hit from COVID-19 as the foodservice industry.
Few people grow up wanting to be a foodservice technician, but after stumbling on to this career path, many are hooked for life. Such is the case with Joan Albert, who, as a teenager, wanted to be a veterinarian.
As the coronavirus crisis evolves on a market by market basis, consumer sentiment toward restaurants and other forms of food prepared outside of the home continues to shift. In doing so, the short-term challenges the industry faces continue to come into sharper focus.
Normally, in May, we are gearing up for the annual FE&S Dealer of the Year and All Industry Awards Gala in Chicago. This year, that event is the furthest thing from our minds.
Menu drives all. A bold statement?
Without question, just about every type of business feels the effects from COVID-19 but for various reasons restaurants remain front and center in this conversation. Maybe it’s because most of us would like to go to the corner bar to drown our sorrows over the new coronavirus with a drink. Or perhaps it’s because people often use restaurants as a gathering place to bring friends and family together to share a meal and a laugh during challenging times like these. Right now, that’s not an option.
A large, out-of-the-blue tornado hit downtown Nashville in early March, leaving casualties and demolished buildings. It was the type of natural disaster where, if power outages were the only thing that people experienced, it seemed like a reprieve.
Stacey Guerin jumped into foodservice equipment supplies sales in 2011 when the former owner of R.M. Flagg Restaurant Equipment approached her husband, who was an employee there at the time, about buying the business. It was an opportunity the couple had always wanted — to own their own business. The shift from teacher and stay-at-home mom was a good fit for Guerin, who has always been fond of the food and hospitality industry. The equipment dealer now supplies thousands of clients in Maine, from restaurants to schools, nursing facilities, c-stores and more.