Industry articles | Foodservice Marketing

Step Up To The Plate?

On 01.15.06, In Industry articles, Manufacturers', by Tiger

Step Up to the Plate, a new program for K-12 Schools, falls short…

Pity poor ConAgra whose earnings fell 32% and has now made a bad investement in a proprietary loyalty program for K-12.

While I’m not pleased by the shot they take at Foodservice Rewards (see image) I am pleased with the program’s flaws:

Their data collection method is distributor velocity reports – but as Evan Carlson of Schwan’s Foodservice points out “how many distributors are happy to supply velocity reports by individual customer every month just for this program and just for those participating?”
And, as they themselves point out, “it’s understandable that some distributors just don’t have the capability to duplicate velocity reports. So, in that case, all you need to do is copy your monthly records verifying your purchases and forward them to Step Up to the Plate.”
Furthermore, how many schools are purchasing from just one distributor? So how many reports does one need to gather?
As Theresa Harrell of Conroe ISD points out “I like the peel-off reward codes and being able to enter them at my leisure. Unlike invoice copies, they don’t get lost while we wait to send them in.”
Unlike Foodservice Rewards, whose points never expire, their points expire each school year. Nice for ConAgra, bad for the participant.
Only 14 merchandise awards? vs. over 2,000 awards + an awards auction?
“You will receive awards between 6-8 weeks from the date you’ve redeemed points” vs. 96% which ship within 48 hours from FSR.
By pulling out of Cool School Cafe as that program’s largest sponsor, they weaken a good program and create a third competitor in the K-12 school segment.
Misleadingly, they try to make SUTTP look like a multi-manufacturer program, when the 6 brands participating are ConAgra’s (vs. 65+ and thousands of products for FSR.) But “there are more sponsors and brands coming every day.”
We’ll see.

USF to increase focus on private brands

On 11.30.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

US Foodservice “has targeted an increase in its private brands penetration of 700 basis points, from the current 26 per cent to at least 33 per cent of broadline net sales in 2008…

“The company has targeted an increase in its private brands penetration of 700 basis points, from the current 26 per cent to at least 33 per cent of broadline net sales in 2008. The company believes that continued growth of private brands beyond 2008 represents a significant opportunity for additional profitable growth,” reports the Financial Times.

The “broadline” business represents about 85 per cent of US Foodservice’s net sales, which the company said had been the main engine of profitable growth.

Franklin Foodservice Newsletter

On 11.24.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

Franklin Foodservice Solutions has published an insightful review of Foodservice Rewards’ key benefits to manufacturers. To read previous issues or subscribe, click here.

Member Attributes

On 11.01.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

Ever wonder what’s important to Foodservice Rewards members? So do we. That’s why we commissioned the following study by Caroline Perkins’ Foodservice Content Company when setting up next year’s editorial calendar for the re-designed newsletter.

What is the role of Price in Behavior Change?

On 10.03.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

Rebates cause your salespeople to lead with price…

Salespeople (particularly brokers) will tell you that discounts are what customers want in order to try new products – and you can’t fault them for thinking it’s true. When asked “Which do you prefer? Cash or merchandise?” respondents overwhelmingly choose “cash.” However, when studied, actions speak louder than words.

This authoritative article documents why cash incentives fail to change behavior. In addition to the behavioral implications:

1) Rebates cause your salespeople to lead with price
2) DSR’s fill out rebate forms rather than introduce new products
3) Rebates teach your customers to wait for “sale prices”

Making Retention Work

On 10.01.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

Excellent article by Carl Chapman, Vice President of the Food Service Division with the Dunwoody Group in Restaurant ProfitAbility Magazine called Making Retention Work. “Employees are among the most valuable assets that any business has. As it becomes more difficult to find and retain good workers, it’s vital to know how to be competitive in [...]

Excellent article by Carl Chapman, Vice President of the Food Service Division with the Dunwoody Group in Restaurant ProfitAbility Magazine called Making Retention Work.

“Employees are among the most valuable assets that any business has. As it becomes more difficult to find and retain good workers, it’s vital to know how to be competitive in this area by keeping retention issues on the front burner.” Click here to see how Foodservice Rewards helps their customers retain staff.

Hiring and retention has replaced food prices as the top worry for restauranteurs

On 09.15.05, In DSR incentive, Industry articles, by Tiger

Tired of customers grinding down your food prices? Don’t reduce your margins; instead help operators reduce their labor costs…

Tired of customers grinding down your food prices? Don’t reduce your margins; instead help operators reduce their labor costs.

According to the 2005 Datassential Operator Survey, when “decoding the profit and loss puzzle for your restaurant customers, it’s important to keep in mind that labor is nearly as large an expense as the food itself.”In fact, hiring and retention has replaced food prices as the top worry for restauranteurs”, says Hudson Riehle, Senior Researcher at the National Restaurant Association.

Operators want help managing the cost of their human assets, but few suppliers offer it. Introduce your customers to Foodservice Rewards – it earns them free gifts to recognize and reward staff and reduce the cost of running their operations.

Usability study results

On 09.07.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

This article contains the tabulated results from our recent usability study including 15 face-to-face interviews, 10 observed usability sessions, extensive online surveys….

As you may know, we are upgrading the Foodservice Rewards website. Despite having successfully processed more than 12,000,000 reward codes from over 50,000 operators - that’s over 1,000 codes per hour on many days of the week – we can still improve its ease of use and relevance.

Here are the tabulated results from the Phase One usability study (15 face-to-face interviews, 10 observed usability sessions, extensive online surveys.) Note this is a big file – 70+ slides, so only download if you are really interested :-)

FSR Makes Top-10 Web Sites

On 08.17.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

In a recent Food Management magazine study, Foodservice Rewards was rated the 8th most frequented web site by operators. View the top 20 web sites and more at the survey.

In a recent Food Management magazine study, Foodservice Rewards was rated the 8th most frequented web site by operators. View the top 20 web sites and more at the survey.

Fishking acquires King & Prince

On 07.19.05, In Industry articles, by Tiger

Congratulations to Fishking Processors (Mrs. Friday’s)! Learned during an account review today of their acquisition of King & Prince Seafood – which significantly expands their foodservice presence in chain accounts, improves their geographic coverage, and broadens their shrimp offerings.

Foodservice Marketing