An increasing number of U.S. businesses are concerned with managing their ecological footprint, and in recent years this dedication to going green has trickled down to the U.S. coffee market. In particular, to have a competitive foodservice coffee platform, being environmentally and socially responsible is increasingly important, according to Coffee and Ready-to-Drink Coffee in the U.S.: Retail and Foodservice, 8th Edition , a recent report by Packaged Facts. To illustrate this point, consider...
July 16, 2014Consumers are looking for foods that provide health and wellness benefits and contain ingredients that address illness mitigation. Packaged Facts data from a January-February 2014 survey notes that 57% of consumers are looking for foods with nutrients that address health concerns. Among the nutrients consumers are keying in on is protein. Protein provides many benefits, including its support of weight management and proper growth, immune, heart and respiratory function. According to Packaged F...
July 9, 2014Our hat is off to coffee innovation, which continues to help a very mature market grow new usage occasions and higher price points. Threading this needle translates to continuing to push the variety envelope while leveraging hot coffee’s dominant position. In the end, it’s largely about raising the price of coffee-or at least getting more money per ounce. Across restaurant menus, flavors that have universal appeal, such as mocha, chocolate, vanilla, and caramel, have the strongest penetration....
May 14, 2014Old news: Breakfast is a big opportunity for foodservice The real scoop: Breakfast consumer decisions are fluid and the space is highly competitive, so act now The quick-service breakfast game is getting a lot of conversation in the media currently. There is renewed interest in capturing business during a very rushed part of the day. Breakfast as a business has untapped opportunities. While 10% of consumers were reported by research firm NPD to skip breakfast back in 2011, today 63% of Ame...
April 25, 2014There are many trends that are set by larger restaurants and retailers, and there are certainly just as many opportunities that are identified by those who have the resources to splurge ahead first. But that’s not always the case, however: Early last year, after talking up a big game, Wendy’s, with more than 6,000 restaurants globally, pulled out of testing and expanding its breakfast program. The chain had talked up a big game of attack. At the onset, there were visions of breakfast paninis a...
February 10, 2014With coffee and tea getting so much attention among foodservice players, other stalwart beverage sales drivers such as juice may be getting overlooked. But Packaged Facts’ proprietary June 2013 consumer survey results published in Foodservice Breakfast Trends in the U.S., 2nd Edition suggest that foodservice juice purchases are alive and well, thank you: the last time foodservice breakfast users (who had gotten breakfast/breakfast snacks in the past 30 days) got breakfast or a breakfast snack fr...
November 8, 2013As a sign of the ever more competitive environment in the food industry, the supermarket and fast food industries are increasingly border crossing in search of sales growth. A recent example, as reported in the Wall Street Journal (October 30, 2013): McDonald’s teaming up with Kraft to test market McCafe packaged coffee in k-cups for retail grocery sales. This new partnership involves a “the competitor of my competitor is my friend” dynamic. A tough quickservice restaurant environment had ea...
November 1, 2013Food from Italy, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Turkey and other countries that border the Mediterranean Sea have long been popular in the U.S., but today’s curious eaters are digging deeper to find new dishes and turning to new outlets for fresh and healthful meals. At the National Restaurant Association Show in 2013, the popularity of this fare was on display in everything from tapas-centric heat-n-serve foods, flatbreads and wraps, to Mediterranean-inspired stuffed meat and cheese items. Newly p...
October 16, 2013