FoodChain, Issue 188, September 2022

Wild by nature

Supply chain: There could be more disruption ahead for food and drink companies dealing with UK border controls

Sustainability: For caterers to be sustainable, they need to dispel the myths around recycling and look to other waste management solutions

Cheese: The cheese sector is adopting some modern approaches as it looks to build consumption of its fantastic, regional products

Belvoir Farm’s tantalizing flavors are creating a storm in the adult soft drink sector

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Editor’s Welcome

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A matter of taste

Hello and welcome to the September issue of FoodChain. In our feature on Cheese this month we gain the insights of Managing Director of Long Clawson Dairy, Bill Mathieson. He shared some details with our Content Editor Danielle Champ, about the challenges the Cheese sector is facing and how we, as consumers, can help contribute to ensuring that its future is long and prosperous. “If we can change our customers’ perception on the origin of cheese, and how we get it from the farms to the grocery stores, I sincerely believe that we will see a growing interest in the product,” he said. Speaking for myself, it’s never a struggle to eat a bit more cheese! I will be interested to see how an industry which creates such a traditional and well-known product embraces the most modern approaches in order to increase its consumer base.

Our cover story this month shares insights from Frank Fitzgibbons, Production Director at Belvoir Farm. The company’s products elevate natural ingredients into premium soft drinks that have taken the market by storm. From a humble beginning on a kitchen table, to an automated processing facility, the journey has taken them to gross sales of £27m in 2021. It’s a blend of dedication to traditional recipes and a willingness to embrace modernity – read more on page 36.

lhammond@finelight-media.com

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Contents

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Features

Sustainability

6

Recycling packaging may seem straightforward but is actually fraught with complexity for caterers – instead they could consider cutting down on the waste they create via reusables

Supply chain

8

For food and drink businesses importing from and exporting to Britain, there are more challenges ahead at the border to come, thanks to staff shortages and new regulations

Cheese

10

The dairy industry is facing challenges including farmers leaving the industry and energy prices, and it needs to raise consumer interest and demand for cheese

Digital transformation

12

The grocery industry has had a bumpy ride over the last few years, and as the popularity of online shopping continues to grow, retailers have to invest in the right solutions

Dark kitchens

14

Covid-19 brought havoc to the food and beverage sector, but some fast food restaurants managed to pivot successfully to increase takeaway offers, thanks to investments in dark kitchens

Hospitality

16

Can the hospitality sector play a role in changing consumer behaviour when it comes to single use packaging? Louise Palmer-Masterton thinks so, but also wants VAT changes

News 18

Up-to-date products and announcements from the food and beverage sector

Net Zero 20

We are at the beginning of a revolution in the way our food is produced. But it will require some difficult choices and some substantial changes

Meat sector 22

Cultured meat provides a solution to intensive, unsustainably industrialized farming by giving consumers a choice as to what is on their plate

Food waste

26

There is much more that can be done within grocery with regards to waste, and data and technology will be the driving forces behind this

Artificial intelligence

28

The food and beverage sector generates huge amounts of data and AI can help connect the dots and make the most of the insights

Patriot Pickle

Catering to the future

The pressure on caterers to achieve sustainable practice has grown in recent years with the increasing urgency of the climate crisis permeating mainstream media narratives and driving policies. The social responsibility is particularly relevant to businesses, both for relations with the public and

employees, with a recent study finding that 65 percent of people were more likely to work for a company with strong environmental policies.

Recycling often seems like the obvious first line of defense against climate change; supposedly being the simplest and most accessible. But how effective is recycling when trying to reach our green goals?

Recycling should be the last resort for managing packaging waste says Josephine Liang

What are the recycling myths?

Although recycling may seem straightforward, the various rules and misconceptions limit how effective it is in practice. According to a 2021 report, 55 percent of British households put more than one item in the general waste that could have been recycled. Additionally, 85 percent of British households admitted to putting at least one item (4.4 on average) in the recycling that is not accepted into recycling waste.

This stems from a mixture of factors, including customer confusion, carelessness, and difficulty navigating the disposal rules that vary from council to council.

Another key limitation in the recycling process is contamination of waste. Recycling regularly may make us feel as if we are doing our part in saving the planet, but laziness in cleaning items properly before disposing of them seriously compromises batches of recycled waste. In a fast paced, professional kitchen, it is understandable to want to clear and dispose of waste as quickly as possible, but at what cost? If our recycling bins are filled with food remnants and unclean containers, sustainable efforts are going to waste.

Although many of the problems with recycling are down to consumer efforts, there are efforts within the industry compromising its sustainability. Lots of materials that recycling instructions allow to be placed into recycling waste contain harmful toxins, meaning that they cannot be reused to make food-grade packaging.

Compostable packaging is another practice that is promoted to businesses to help them achieve sustainability goals. However, this type of packaging also has limitations, mostly due to the current waste management infrastructure not allowing the scaling of commercial composting. In order for this to be effective, caterers would need to adopt a specific waste stream, however this is not accessible to many due to expense and the labor linked to the transportation of compostable waste.

How caterers can be sustainable

For caterers trying to achieve sustainability, it can be difficult to know where to start. An obvious place is

reducing the amount of waste that you are actually producing. The continuous use of single-use plastics in on-site catering is surprising considering that it generates 11 billion pieces of waste annually.

Creating less waste

Using reusables as standard practice in catering organizations will hugely decrease the amount of waste being produced annually. Reusables are also cost effective for caterers. In contrast to single use packaging, which is created as cheaply as possible, reusables are designed to be durable enough to be used hundreds of times. The quality of the materials will also help protect produce. Investing in reusables means purchasing packaging on a less regular basis, reducing expense.

Adopting reusables will also make it much simpler for employees to form green habits. When sustainable practices are as simple and accessible as possible, the positive impact on the environment will be maximized. This in turn could encourage sustainable habits that employees will implement in their personal lives whether that be in food preparation or waste disposal. Adoption of reuse solutions that are tech-enabled and tracked also minimizes loss of assets, and allows businesses to tap into

accurate environmental impact data that can inform their Net-Zero efforts.

Promote changing habits

To really encourage employees and optimize uptake on sustainable actions, small rewards can be a good incentive.

Discounts on food and drinks, for example, can be really effective and influential in promoting sustainable practices, and as time goes on this will become the norm. Of course, we cannot simply stop producing waste altogether, so educating the workforce about how to dispose of different types of waste and clearly labelling waste disposal points will help prevent common mistakes.

Sustainable Ingredients

Attempting to incorporate more sustainable ingredients into your catering can also aid sustainable efforts. Trying to reduce the use of ingredients such as soybeans, beef, and certain kinds of fish that are particularly harmful to the environment in the way that they are harvested and produced, could really reduce your carbon footprint. Sourcing produce locally and seasonally will also help boost sustainability. There are many solutions on the market, especially around carbon labelling, that support caterers trying to create a greener menu.

Many of the limitations of recycling lie within the industry itself, and so are outside of consumer control. However, catering businesses can still maximize their sustainability efforts through proper education on effective waste disposal, and incorporating reusables into their day to day to help boost their green efforts.

D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

CauliBox

For further information, please visit: www.wearecauli.com

Josephine Liang

Josephine Liang is a sustainability expert and CEO of CauliBox, the award-winning, tech-enabled reusable food packaging solution for workplace dining that minimizes single-use food packaging waste. She has worked with corporations (including Unilever & Sainsbury’s), local authorities (Westminster City Council) and higher educational institutes (London School of Economics) as well as numerous food enterprises such as Costa and Gail’s Bakery in cutting food waste and advising on sustainable development. Josephine was awarded a special ‘Women in Food’ award by the Mayor of London in 2019 and was named on Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021.

Be prepared

At the Port of Dover alone, miles of queuing HGV traffic on the approach to the port have become the norm since the beginning of the year because of the new customs paperwork for goods being exported out of, or imported into, the UK. Lorries are now required to use the Goods Vehicle Movement System (GVMS) in order to move through customs, with any customs documentation needing to be completed before the vehicle boards the ferry. This is in contrast to the pre-Brexit system, which allowed for any accompanying paperwork to be submitted up to two months afterwards.

The situation was clearly not helped by the crashing of the new GVMS system on day one and the resulting teething problems such as drivers being denied permission to make a trip, following reference codes being rejected by the system or firms experiencing difficulties in uploading the necessary information.

Parr believes that the situation is only destined to deteriorate further, as currently imports from the EU are only subject to successful processing using the GVMS, but once the government

introduces planned additional measures at Border Inspection Posts –originally scheduled for 1st July 2022 –there will be further significant delays. The intended requirement for all inbound products from the EU – such as live animals, meat products and high-risk non animal foods to undergo a physical inspection will certainly put significant pressure on what is already a stretched resource.

Commenting Parr said: “There’s a lot worse to come and I don’t think anybody realizes this. Everything that we’ve predicted to date has come true. We warned there would be delays, which there have been. But I’m dreading the point at which EU products start to be examined, because right now there are already insufficient staff available. How are inspectors going to cope with the extra workload associated with examining every single meat, fish, dairy product from the EU on top of their existing responsibilities?”

Parr believes that the planned current infrastructure and staffing to support Dover and Folkestone is inadequate and will be unable to successfully process the extensive

Gridlocked roads, chaos and disastrous border delays continue to hit the UK headlines and according to Mike Parr, there is more disruption ahead

Mike Parr

volume of traffic. “The existing Inland Border facilities are not capable of handling the vast number of checks that are going to be required in the future, yet when we applied for our Kent transport and logistics hub to be considered to alleviate the strain, our submission was rejected. Private companies need to be allowed to operate in this sector if we are to prevent further disruption. Our government’s handling of imports and exports post Brexit has been shambolic, and there is a real sense within the industry that they really don’t understand the business and the consequences of their decisions. The constant change in deadlines is unacceptable and has major financial repercussions. We are not surprised by the news that British ports are contemplating taking legal action after investing millions of pounds to create post-Brexit border control facilities, which now remain unused in the wake of the UK government’s decision to defer the planned checks on European plant and animal produce. Equally, Border Force controls seem oblivious to the impact of delays on perishable freight. At the very least you would think that those in charge would fast track a perishable goods lorry over one carrying ambient goods. Surely that is just common sense? Instead, we are seeing delays which seriously erode the shelf life of products with the potential outcome that they will no longer be deemed fit for sale which is nothing short of a disaster for the food producer.”

Parr continues: “We should look at Holland which has a system in place whereby customs and port health are given a certain amount of time to come and examine the vehicle and if it is not completed within the allocated time frame, it is classed as cleared and the driver is free to continue his / her journey. Perhaps our government could contemplate a similar system – or failing that train a lot more staff.

“Regardless of the upcoming physical inspection protocol we anticipate significant problems in the run up to Christmas, as European hauliers are not prepared to see a repeat of last year’s chaos and are

Supply chain

simply refusing to return to the UK to avoid the risk of spending the festive period detained at Dover. And it’s not just the delays that they are choosing to shun, it’s the poor conditions that they have to work under in the UK. PML has long campaigned for improved facilities for drivers comparable to that experienced on the continent. Here, drivers are treated abysmally despite the major role they play in maintaining the supply chain. We’ve worked hard to raise awareness of this issue and we’ve also taken action. At our new Kent transport and logistics hub, we have invested in the provision of an HGV welfare unit where drivers can park up in a secure setting, rest safely, access clean and well serviced washroom facilities, grab a wholesome meal, refuel and even wash their lorry. Treating the drivers with the respect they deserve.”

The full impact of Brexit has yet to hit the industry. For those hailed as the ‘heroes’ of the pandemic as a

result of their proven commitment to working tirelessly to ensure that the supply of essential food and drink was not compromised, there’s clearly still a bumpy road ahead.

With the political landscape looking more precarious than ever before, we are concerned for the future. The government needs to acknowledge its role in playing with people’s livelihoods and accepting that the mistakes it has made created dire financial consequences for many. Supporting and guiding business, kickstarting the economy, providing a framework for growth: isn’t this what we should be expecting from those in power?

Instead, we are on the receiving end of chaotic thinking and ill-thoughtout strategies which not only cause disruption and discontent but also inflict financial hardship.

The sector that is the backbone to Britain’s future has been treated appallingly.

D

For further information, please visit: www.pml-ltd.com

Mike Parr is the managing director of PML Ltd, provider of world-class logistics and supply chain solutions and specialists in the movement of perishable goods. Mike has worked in the perishable freight industry for over 33 years.

Mike is also Vice President of the Fresh Produce Consortium.

PML Ltd

Cut to the cheese

Bill Mathieson

Avideo went viral on TikTok a few months ago that helped catapult cheese sales in the UK. It depicted a quick and easy recipe for an oven-baked dish that uses pasta, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese to make a delicious meal in less than 45 minutes. Taking into consideration the challenges that the pandemic has imposed on the global food economy, it is these sorts of innovative uses of the dairy ingredient that the industry needs to push sales forward. This will in turn help support the farmers working to keep cheese wellstocked in grocery store fridges across Britain.

To take a closer look at the current state of the UK’s dairy industry, we need to travel to the pastures of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, where

the farming community of Long Clawson Dairy (Clawson) works to create the best of British Stilton cheese. It is on this dairy where we will also find Bill Mathieson, the business’s Managing Director. Bill, who is a veteran in the food sector, began his career in 1993 and has held a number of senior roles at Nestlé, Coca Cola, Müller and Greenyard. Although he has only been with Clawson for a year, he shares his thoughts on the current state of the overall cheese market and the various ways in which we, as consumers, can help contribute to ensuring that its future is long and prosperous.

Britain’s cheesemaking industry rakes in a staggering £3 billion annually. According to Bill’s observations, this revenue is the result of the hard work farmers invest into the popular dairy product. “For the large businesses, SMEs

Managing Director of Long Clawson Dairy, Bill Mathieson, shares some of the challenges currently facing the dairy industry

Cheese sector

and farmers, there are some immediate short-term pressures, which are being caused by a number of factors, including dairy farmers leaving the sector, causing a shortage of milk, and hyperinflation caused by energy costs as a result of the war in Ukraine. It is also being further amplified by Russia being a large supplier of feed and fertilizers,” Bill begins.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has been combating a surging energy crisis, as well as product shortages. When it comes to feed and fertilizers used for farms across the continent, Russia accounts for 18 percent of international wheat exports, and, coupled with Ukraine, contributes to more than a quarter of the global supply. In addition, Russia is one of the world’s critical suppliers of fertilizers,

and, in 2021, it was the largest exporter of ammonium nitrate for the international economy.

“Because of the war, what we are seeing is that feed prices have gone up massively, and farmers are experiencing unprecedented increases in cost. Milk usually trades around 28p per liter, on which farmers struggle to make a living, and is now going to tip 50p a liter during this coming quarter.”

Interestingly, Bill believes that the farmers have been due a price increase, given the level of commitment they invest into their cheesemaking processes. Unfortunately, the fact that prices are only on the rise as a result of hyperinflation is going to prove difficult in the long-term, as farmers and cheesemakers try to balance making ends meet with the ability to offer an affordable product.

To top off these issues, while the country makes the most of the sunshine, farmers have been praying for rain, as the UK’s harsh summer heat and prolonged dry spells directly impact the growth of crops across the country.

“To bring this to life, some farmers in Leicestershire who operate on a grazing system would normally be getting 16kg of food per day for their cattle from grazing alone. The drought means the cattle are only getting in some instances around 2kg from grass. As a result, the farmers must now turn to winter feed which will be an added cost for the colder months,” he shares.

“While we must mitigate the shortterm issues, we’re optimistic for cheese consumption in the mid-term. The task in hand is to bring to life the great versatility of cheese; whether showcased

on an enticing cheese board, used as a key ingredient or taking center stage as a protein alternative to meat.” Bill believes that the key is to work closely with customers to keep in tune with the latest trends and recipes.

“The good news is that cheese is a staple in 91 percent of homes in the UK, and 67 percent of those will use cheese at least two or three times a week, which is fantastic. These numbers then improve according to the size of the family, affluence and personal preference, and this is where we see exciting opportunities.

“The opportunity for us is to bring recipes to the consumer in a way that’s easy to digest via Instagram, Tiktok and other platforms. Within this, using influencers, who bring expertise and credibility or just build awareness, can play a major role in building consumption. This can equally play a role in helping to communicate and bring to life the provenance, craft and care of the many fantastic regional British cheeses.”

Our discussion then comes to a close on the topic of provenance. Bill would like to see a greater awareness brought to the history of cheese, and how farmers are combining traditional practices with modern methods to encourage biodiversity on farms, and advocate for responsible practices.

“If we can change our customers’ perception on the origin of cheese, and how we get it from the farms to the grocery stores, I sincerely believe that we will see a growing interest in the product. This will then have a positive impact on its usage, and for me, that is where it gets exciting. These opportunities offer us greater scope to grow substantially. If we can just remain patient through the current challenges, and use them to our advantage, I think we’ll see the industry strengthen in the next few years.” D

Long Clawson Dairy

For further information, please visit: www.clawson.co.uk

Long Clawson Dairy is an award-winning dairy based in the Leicestershire countryside. One of only six dairies in the world registered to manufacture Stilton, it recently won Supreme Champion for its Shropshire Blue at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards.

Pick, pack,and deliver

The future of grocery retailing.

By Gaël Ramaen

Gaël Ramaen

The grocery industry has had a bumpy ride over the last few years. Whether it was empty shelves during the pandemic as customers scrambled to stock up on essentials, the impact of Brexit on the likes of legislation, import fees, and the time it takes to get goods across Europe, or the increased supply chain and labor costs currently being passed on to the customer; the price of standard grocery items has been adversely impacted significantly.

Research from McKinsey found the words grocery CEOs most commonly associate with their expectations for the market are ‘challenging,’ ‘uncertain,’ ‘price-focused,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘online’. When it comes to the UK grocery sector, these adjectives could not be more accurate. We anticipate the uncertainty will continue over the next few years as the industry and economy find their feet following the pandemic.

To survive, retailers need to navigate the tricky balance between increasing sales, managing costs and retaining customer loyalty, and now is not the time to make a mistake.

A change in habits

The same McKinsey research found that scaling their online grocery business featured in the top three priorities of 50 percent of CEOs. The drivers behind this are clear. The pandemic forced many consumers to purchase their groceries online. In March 2020, for example, at the very beginning of the pandemic, Tesco delivered 600,000 orders per week, while in March 2021, when the UK was still in a lockdown, it reached 1.3 million weekly deliveries.

Even as we settle into life after the pandemic, consumers continue to purchase their groceries online. And almost all grocery retailers in the UK have started to see this opportunity and

the necessity of online retailing. Asda’s CIO, Carl Dawson, recently claimed that “omnichannel is at the heart of our strategy and customer proposition, where we want to provide a great customer experience and a seamless user journey.”

Businesses must continue to invest in their eCommerce offering, but what areas should they invest in to capitalize on this opportunity and overcome many of the obstacles they’re currently facing?

Managing orders in the most effective way

An important area of investment should be an effective order management solution (OMS). Historically, retailers have struggled with order management systems due to the lack of real-time visibility to external events or disruptions, labor, and material shortages – problems with which today’s retailers will be all too familiar.

Digital transformation

Through the right technology and intelligent use of AI and machine learning, however, retailers can access and provide real-time insights that optimize the entire click-to-deliver journey, starting with an engaging customer experience through to efficient order fulfilment.

This will help retailers create customer-centric experiences that deliver the right product, through the right channel, with the speed and convenience that consumers expect. This type of technology will provide actionable insights to source, promise, and fulfil orders while delivering seamless shopping experiences to consumers.

Cost savings

In addition to this order management technology can also help to reduce operational costs across the supply chain. The use of AI and machine learning can be woven into OMS technology to help determine the most optimal fulfilment location to fulfil e-commerce orders.

Grocery retailers can identify the optimal way to fulfil each order, considering the customer and product locations, promised delivery dates, inventory levels, and merchandise costs. With cost-based optimization, retailers can balance their service levels with cost-to-serve to grow their e-commerce business profitably, even during the complex market conditions we find ourselves in.

Picking orders from the shelves

As online grocery orders continue to increase, retailers are also under pressure to keep up with the new demands of in-store fulfilment. An

effective order management solution can meet this challenge with an intuitive mobile user experience that seamlessly drives the receiving, prioritizing, picking, packing, and delivering consumer orders.

Store managers have complete visibility into their store’s fulfilment activities, with actionable dashboards and reports, while retail staff have workflows to pick, pack and fulfil orders. This helps increase the operational efficiencies of in-store fulfilment tasks to ensure work is completed in a timely, efficient manner that maximizes both service and employee productivity.

Make the most out of the opportunity presented by online orders

It sounds obvious, but online is here to stay, and consumers will continue to rely on these capabilities to order their groceries. Retailers should capitalize on this opportunity, but to do so must make sure they’re investing in the areas that will make the most difference.

New and effective OMS technology gives retailers the insights they need to optimize the entire click-todeliver journey, from the moment the customer logs on to make their order to their items being delivered at their door. By quickly implementing order management capabilities, grocery retailers can rapidly respond to customer demand and gain a competitive advantage and overcome many of the obstacles they’re currently facing.

The future is uncertain, but with the right technology, grocery retailers can make the most of each and every opportunity.

D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

For further information, please visit: www.blueyonder.com

Gaël Ramaen is Vice President, Commerce, EMEA at Blue Yonder. Blue Yonder is the world leader in digital supply chain and omni-channel commerce fulfillment. Its intelligent, end-to-end platform enables retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers to seamlessly predict, pivot and fulfill customer demand. With Blue Yonder, you can make more automated, profitable business decisions that deliver greater growth and re-imagined customer experiences. Blue Yonder - Fulfill your Potential™.

Blue Yonder

The dark side

Restaurants and pubs will look to recoup their losses this summer. As we know, the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn disproportionately hit the hospitality industry. There are more empty restaurants on high streets and consumer behavior has changed. We are still not eating out as much as pre-covid. The virus is still affecting the attendance of the food and beverage workforce, causing some restaurants and pubs to close their doors due to a lack of staff available to serve.

Last year just over half of UK small businesses pivoted in some way with five percent completely changing their business. For the majority of those

businesses, pivots included ways of enabling their customer base to continue to access their products or services from home. The ‘Stay Home - Save Lives’ message during lockdowns meant that if restaurants were to survive, they too had to pivot. Those that pivoted quickly into takeaways and deliveries, generally made it through. Consumers still had money to spend thanks to the furlough scheme at the time. Take away food sales increased dramatically. According to figures, 25 percent of us were eating takeaways a few times a week in 2020. Takeaway revenue in November 2021 was running at nearly double 2019 levels according to the CGA and Slerp hospitality tracker.

Peter Boolkah

Dark kitchen pivots are changing the fast food restaurant sector says Peter Boolkah

Dark kitchens

Larger food chains were also affected and many failed. However, some chains watched the success of some small restaurant takeaway pivots. Decision makers at the top of those large food chains started looking at how to tap into the change in consumer behavior. Dark kitchens, which are premises where food is prepared for the sole purpose of takeaway and deliveries, became a more attractive proposition for many of our householdnamed takeaway chains. Dark kitchens work alongside companies like Deliveroo and UberEats. They provide contactless food delivery. However dark kitchens were not born out of the pandemic. In 2017 Deliveroo launched ‘Editions’ which provided hubs or virtual kitchens to host collections of hand-picked restaurants, all specially designed for delivery. Largely these hubs were found in London although Deliveroo reports it now has 14 sites in the UK and 30 sites worldwide, facilitating 220 kitchens. Wagamama launched its first dark kitchen in 2018 and in 2019, Amazon invested 575 million pounds into Deliveroo. The knock on effect of this investment is that we are beginning to see more fast food preparation and delivery innovations in the UK.

In April 2021 arguably the world’s largest fast food franchise McDonald’s opened its first dark kitchen dedicated solely to UberEats deliveries in Hounslow. McDonald’s is an example of a business that continues to test the market and has tried innovative practices from the beginning. It watches the changing market behaviors and adapts. Indeed, more big name restaurants are pouring money into the delivery aspect of their business. Pizza Hut says they believe the increased demand for delivery is a trend that is here to stay. They have actively recruited delivery drivers and managers as opposed to service staff and are launching 125 new locations over the next three years to serve home delivery. Burger King says that increasing consumer demand towards digital services is showing no sign of slowing and therefore is an area on which they will also continue to focus.

However, there will always be a need for sit down restaurants and how well the delivery and sit down services perform in such close proximity will have a bearing on the roll out of more dark kitchens. Some smaller restaurants who pivoted to take away offerings from their public restricted restaurants during the pandemic are reporting now that there is often a tension between restaurant goers and those coming into collect takeaways. Kitchen staff also report that the two forms of food service are difficult to maintain to high standards. In the long term, offering such different ways of eating side by side may not be sustainable meaning more chains may turn to dark kitchens as the answer. Another change to consumer behavior to note is our lack of loyalty to one brand or one type of cuisine. With so much more global cuisine on offer, the 25 percent of us eating takeaways a

few times a week want different meals each time. We may want Chinese crispy duck one night and Mexican fajitas the next. Branded restaurants cannot accommodate this, however a dark kitchen can. They enable different restaurant’s to set up a small delivery kitchen out of a hub. Therefore, overheads are not affected and there is a wider choice for consumers.

The takeaway industry has been hugely buoyed by the pandemic and has certainly changed consumer behavior. The food and beverage sector at every level will be watching trends and adapting in order to supply those changes in demand. It will be interesting to see how many more restaurant chains adapt to the dark kitchen format and how popular it proves to be amongst consumers.

D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

For further information, please visit: https://boolkah.com

Peter Boolkah is an award-winning business coach, podcaster and speaker, helping highperforming business owners in all industries get the results they want. He was a senior executive in operations for McDonald’s for over 20 years.

Peter Boolkah

Significant shift

Ido believe that food tastes better off a plate. There is, in fact, countless research to back that up, and if you think about the gastronomic experience of eating off a plate rather than a half soggy take away container where you are actually eating bits of the container along with your food, I am sure you will agree there is some merit in that. So why do we all eat plastic or cardboard wrapped refrigerated take away food every single day? Convenience has trumped taste, and businesses have adopted the grab and go model as their core business model. From most of the better known lunch businesses in cities, you can’t actually get food or drink unless it is in take away packaging.

Our first London restaurant is near St Pauls, right in the old Square Mile. I’ve always been struck by the sheer volume

of people that head out for lunch in that small area every single day. Now obviously some of these people do find their way to a restaurant for lunch, but the overwhelming majority are heading to a store or take away to grab a lunch on the go.

Their take away lunch will undoubtedly utilise some kind of single use packaging, and with the ‘meal deals’ being an attractive proposition for people watching their budget, lunch could well involve three or more separate items of single use packaging.

Let’s do the maths on that - there are an estimated 32.5m employees in the UK. Statista reports that the average adult will eat in a restaurant two-tothree times a month. If we generously assume that one of those visits is a visit to a restaurant at lunch time, that leaves another potential eight billion other lunch opportunities.

Louise PalmerMasterton gives her take on the issue of single use packaging and how the hospitality sector can play a role in changing consumer behavior

Hospitality

Statista also tells us that 39 percent of working people will buy lunch out of home twice a week (I have a feeling in the aforementioned Square Mile this might in fact be five times a week), that is a whopping 1.3 billion lunches bought on the go in a year - or five million every single day.

If you take our meal deal example above, with three or more items of single use packaging in just one persons’ lunch - that is potentially 15 million bits of single use packaging discarded in one single lunch time. Just in the UK.

It’s really not the case that we are off the hook if we use biodegradable packaging, as sadly compostable is not the answer. Compostable containers are widely made from virgin materials, which increase the carbon footprint of the product, and do nothing to solve the issue of mass disposability. Consider the

sheer energy to create this packaging, just for one single use. Not to mention the fact that sadly most of it never does end up being recycled.

Research shows it’s moving away from single use anything that has the greatest carbon impact. The leap we all need to make is to start viewing everything on this planet as a valuable commodity.

Reusable cups and boxes do seem to offer a good solution to the single use issue, but with currently less than five percent of people taking up reusable coffee cups, and even less reusable lunch boxes, clearly a significant shift in mindset of both operators and customers is needed to move away from accepting ‘mass disposability’ as the norm. Businesses could make it easier for their customers to use reusable boxes and cups. You could introduce discounts and incentives that give a greater financial incentive to use reusable. Make your take away menu ‘lunch box’ friendly. Introduce your own box and cup swap schemes. Make these

schemes the norm, and don’t accept that people can’t change. With the right amount of energy and support we can help make mass disposability an occasional luxury rather than a day to day staple.

In my view though, the single most significant shift that would change this issue of packaging and mass disposability in the blink of an eye, would be to turn the VAT rules on their head.

If it became the VAT rule that dining in a restaurant off a plate were VAT exempt (instead of the 20 percent it is now), and single use packaging wrapped refrigerated grab and go food went to 20 percent VAT (instead of the zero per cent it is now) then it would no longer be a better business model to exploit this VAT rule. Businesses would accelerate their creativity in avoiding single use packaging, and with the significant positive consequences this would have for the environment in terms of packaging, it’s an absolute no brainer to me! D

For further information, please visit:

https://stemandglory.uk

Louise Palmer-Masterton

Louise Palmer-Masterton is founder of multiple award-winning, 100 percent crowd-funded and now certified net-zero UK restaurants Stem & Glory; hip and trendy but accessible plantbased restaurants, serving delicious gourmet vegan food from locally sourced ingredients, 100 percent made on site.

Stem & Glory

Fast food

Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, the award-winning fast-casual sandwich franchise, has announced that it has been recognized for the first time on Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 5000 list, the most-respected ranking of the nation’s fastestgrowing private companies.

“The last few years have been a time of incredible growth for our brand as we have expanded to more than 175 locations across

The stuff of myths

Innovative doughnut brand, Urban Legend, is partnering with Tesco in a bid to bring healthier food options to London shoppers.

Having launched its first range of doughnuts last year, Urban Legend is a fast-growing start-up which uses cutting-edge science to reformulate bakery products, dramatically reducing levels of sugar, salt, fat and calories.

Tesco will now stock Urban Legend doughnuts in stores across the capital after completing a successful trial at stores in Putney and North Greenwich over recent months. The agreement adds to Urban Legend’s own presence in London, with a store in Clapham Junction station.

The deal follows Tesco’s decision to continue with plans to remove volume-led promotions on foods High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) products from October 2022 after the government announcement that restrictions on multibuy deals for HFSS products are to be delayed for a year.

A fish finger refresh

Young’s Seafood, the UK’s leading fish and seafood company, has announced its biggest brand refresh in over 20 years, including a new logo featuring its founder, Elizabeth Young.

Demonstrating its more than 200 years’ history, the new look brings to life the true story of Elizabeth Young and her family, who first started selling whitebait on the banks of the River Thames in 1805.

To mark the occasion, Young’s, which is bought by one-in-three UK households, will be launching a brand-new, best-ever fish finger featuring 100 percent fillet which is bigger, tastes better and is entirely made in Britain.

Built around the inspirational story of Elizabeth Young as an entrepreneur, the new branding and packaging will feature an illustration of Elizabeth, to create a fresh and

the country with another 285 in development. This is testament to the strength of our business model and the dedication of our incredible team,” says David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer for Capriotti’s and Wing Zone. “It is a true honor and we look forward to seeing our brand continue to strengthen and expand through innovation, ingenuity and resilience.”

The presence of Urban Legend doughnuts in Tesco stores will help to promote ‘responsible indulgence,’ with its ring doughnuts each containing less than 150 calories and a 50 to 75 percent reduction in sugar, fat and saturated fat compared to rivals on the market, making the full range HFSS-compliant. They also contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

Anthony Fletcher, Founder and CEO of Urban Legend, comments: “Our partnership with Tesco is a successful step towards the shared goal of pioneering innovative solutions to tackling obesity and improving the nation’s

health. London contains some of the unhealthiest high streets in the UK so we hope that this will give consumers the option to indulge on something much lower in fat, sugar and salt than a typical doughnut or bakery product.”

contemporary look while retaining the instantly recognizable blue and red brand colors.

Developed after months of consumer research into creating the perfect fish finger, the new product will buck the shrinkflation trend by containing more fish and the optimum balance between 100 percent fillet and breadcrumb, offering great value for the consumer.

Paul Craft, Chief Commercial Officer for Young’s owner, Sofina Europe, says: “The story of Elizabeth Young is powerful, inspiring and unique to the Young’s brand; a female entrepreneur who started by selling whitebait and prawns from her hat, and who by the turn of the century had moved on to a whole fleet of Young’s family boats.

“We want to demonstrate that

the values that drove the business thenpassion, pride and progression - remain as our inspiration today and are a continuing legacy. Consumer research has shown us that Elizabeth’s story creates significant interest and intrigue, and our aim is to use this to attract incremental shoppers to the category. There’s no better product for us to do this with than the iconic British fish finger.”

Feed your mind

The third launch from parent company DTCX, following the release of Mind Lab Pro® in 2015 and Performance Lab® in 2018, Nu:tropic® is a range of nootropic snack bars designed to boost daily brainpower and long-range cognitive function.

Unlike traditional nootropic supplements - which tend to be capsules and dissolvable powders – Nu:tropic® comes in the form of ultraconvenient snack bar, and is made with premium Norwegian black oats and packed with the following essential brain nutrients - omega-3, phosphatidylserine, and choline. Plus, vitamins, minerals, and gut-healthy prebiotic fibre.

Each bar contains 150mg Omega DHA, is high in fibre, low in sugar and less than 200 calories – making it a healthy option for both the brain and body. What’s more, Nu:tropic® bars are 100 percent plant based and gluten-free.

Dave Wright, Founder of Nu:tropic® is keen to emphasise that the bars really are for everyone. “Supplements, drinks, and other forms of nootropic all come with their pros and cons. But being able to pick up a snack bar makes it easy to get the daily nutrition-hit our brain needs. Anywhere, anytime.

“Many people simply aren’t aware that they’re lacking nutrients in their diet which could help boost cognitive function. Which is why we want to help spread the word that Nu:tropic® is the world’s most user-friendly and best-tasting brain food!” www.nutropic.com

The Nu:tropic® bars come in four flavors and of the choices - Apple and Cinnamon, Raisin and Almond, Salted Caramel and Maple & Pecanthe team voted Maple & Pecan and Apple & Cinnamon as the winners. “Firstly I loved the idea of feeding my brain at work, and that gave me a really positive feeling that today was going to be a productive day!” said our tester. “The flapjack was moist, sweet and the size of the chopped pecans gave it a nice chewy texture, with a crunch. I loved it and want one in my lunch box every day.” Other comments included how filling the bars were, that they were less messy than some flapjacks can be, and that the fruity options were well packed with ingredients.

Part of the future

We have a problem. And it’s a big one. The latest report from the IPCC has told us that emissions must peak by 2025 for us to stand any chance of staying within 1.5 degrees of warming.

It’s a tall order, especially when you consider the context; food inflation, spiraling energy prices, and increases to employment costs such as the increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance. These significant headwinds are forcing attention to the more immediate imperative; to continue trading.

But, when you break it down to the simplest components, we need to sort two systems – (1) our reliance on fossil fuels and (2) our food production systems. In fact, over a third of UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from food and drink, and globally we waste around one third of all the food that’s produced.

The food and drink sector has a big role to play. A sustainable farming system will not only be low carbon, it will also respect and encourage biodiversity, won’t overdraw on water resources or pollute local water systems, and it won’t over-fish the oceans.

Progress to date

We’ve come a long way, but we’re still early in the journey. Yes, if we look back ten years, the number, scale and depth of sustainability programs was insignificant to what we can see today. But let’s not kid ourselves, we are still focused on the easy things, like cutting energy use, plastic use and food waste. Noble and worthy things, but nowhere near the level of ambition we need to reimagine our food systems.

Some changes have been more profound. Even five years ago, very few hospitality companies had completed a carbon footprint. Today, it’s a very different picture. Organizations large

Bob Gordon

The journey to net zero in food and drink. By Bob Gordon

and small are considering their net zero plans and undertaking carbon footprints to understand where they need to act. In May, the Zero Carbon Forum launched a carbon calculator – a free resource for businesses to undertake an assessment of their footprint. Small businesses and individual operators are using it. Such a scenario was unthinkable even as little as five years ago.

Our food systems remain the problem

The majority of hospitality sector emissions are in the supply chain (Scope 3). The hospitality sector roadmap suggests that scope 3 emissions are typically above 80 percent of pubs and restaurants, and over 60 percent for hotels.

A large proportion of these emissions come from purchased goods and services. The highest impacts are associated with food and drink production, particularly meat and dairy. And that’s where a lot of companies are starting to focus their effort.

But it’s not just the food we buy; Scope 1 & 2 emissions are also significant. For those companies that have not yet taken action, emissions associated with energy are around a quarter to a third of the total footprint. That said, those companies are now few and far between. Energy reductions initiatives are very common, with 90 percent of companies having taken action to improve their energy efficiency and around two thirds having made the switch to renewable energy.

Today’s focus

There’s a huge amount of work going on to electrify everything. Vehicles and kitchens are the major focus. That comes with its costs and challenges – and we need the power sector to continue to clean up its act – but these things are happening in parallel.

An increasing number of hospitality companies are working with their suppliers to reduce the impact of the food they serve. This activity comes in many shapes and forms, from reducing the impact of an existing product (for example Honest Burgers regenerative

beef project), introducing lower impact alternatives (such as plant based menus – Burger King recently converted its Leicester Square store to be entirely plant based) or removing an item altogether (Revolution Bars removed the passionfruit from their porn star martini, saving half a million passion fruit and 100 tons of transport related carbon emissions). The next phase of that evolution is collaborative projects that engage entire value chains to rethink production systems.

Sustainability values are emerging significantly; consumers are more aware there is an issue, better informed on what needs to be done, and their expectations are rising. Recent research shows that almost two thirds of consumers have tried to reduce their meat consumption in the last 12 months. Two in five choose where to eat based on whether the venue is reducing carbon. These numbers are steadily increasing year on year. It’s also reflected in the job market as people increasingly want to work for employers who have strong ethical and environmental credentials. And companies are changing as a result. Some companies are changing their menu, others are adding carbon labels. Sustainability is no longer niche and no longer optional.

Radical innovation

Imagine a food system that’s sustainable by design, resilient and delivers healthy nutrition. It’s coming. We are at the beginning of a revolution in the way our food is produced. But it will require some difficult choices and some substantial changes.

We’re seeing the emergence of some exciting radical innovations in our food systems, from insects to seaweed to labgrown meat. These kinds of innovations have the potential to disrupt our existing systems and deliver radical reductions to the impact of our food.

The fascinating thing about the food sector is that it has the opportunity to be part of the solution. The way we produce food in our land and our water has the potential to sequester significant amounts of carbon, improve biodiversity and improve the quality of the nutrition we consume.

The Zero Carbon Forum launched the hospitality sector roadmap in 2021 – committing the sector to eliminate operational emissions by 2030, then achieve net zero, including supply chains, by 2040. I firmly believe that’s well within our reach and we must do everything we can to achieve it. But we must be bold, and we must act now. D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor

For further information, please visit: https://zerocarbonforum.com

Bob Gordon is Director of the Zero Carbon Forum. The Zero Carbon Forum is a non-profit organization which builds on ten years of carbon reduction collaboration in the UK’s hospitality and brewing sector. It enables members to reach their decarbonization targets faster, more efficiently and more cost effectively than acting alone.

Zero Carbon Forum

A more cultured approach

Global demand for meat is growing - this is an opportunity for alternative proteins to prove their worth says Caroline Wilschut

People love eating meat and as large swathes of the world develop a middle class - which has a positive correlation with an increase in meat consumption - the sustainability issues associated with meat are only becoming more problematic, not less.

We know that animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation worldwide, contributing to 30 percent of terrestrial biodiversity loss and 14 percent of all greenhouse gases. This is part of the reason that we founded Meatable, a cultured meat company, to give consumers a way to enjoy meat on

their plates without hurting animals or the planet.

However, a recent report by food systems specialists at the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) has called out alternative proteins - saying they aren’t the silver bullet that companies like us

Meat sector

say they will be. We understand there are concerns about this nascent industry and it’s good to address them as we help to build a new food order.

Diversifying the value chain

Cultured meat will not immediately cure every problem associated with the meat

industry - we do recognize some of the points raised around environmental efficiency and protein value. Our view, however, is that the solutions proposed will take too long - catastrophic climate change will have occurred before these changes will create any positive impact.

As well, the report is analyzing a

work-in-progress, rather than a finished product. Cultured meat as a sector is barely in beta mode - we need to get to a point of scalability, taste and price efficiency before these arguments can be borne out.

Cultured meat is about diversifying the whole value chain. Providing a solution to intensive, unsustainably industrialized farming by giving consumers a choice as to what is on their plate - next to e.g. insect- and plant-based alternatives - thereby helping to reduce the overall environmental impact associated with meat. This will also help to diversify the entire agriculture value chain, from reducing soy and water consumption to methane levels.

If conventional meat didn’t create these issues - there wouldn’t have been a need for cultured meat in the first instance. And at the current trajectory, we’ll start to see a global agrarian shift in meat production methods - adding

cultured meat to the scale of available alternatives - by the mid-part of the decade.

The IPES report points to lowering meat demand as the ultimate solution to reducing the industry’s environmental impact and that there is currently too

much emphasis on meat as a protein source. But we can see from long term trends that meat consumption continually increased at 1.9 percent per year over the last decade, with continued growth forecast to be around 1.4 per cent a year over the next few years.

Decreasing the percentage of meat in people’s diets as well as an increase of people pursuing flexitarian and partly vegan or vegetarian diets would be beneficial to solving the current problems, but not enough to solve them. The fact is, people enjoy meat - they like the taste, it’s an accessible form of protein and it carries important cultural significance. This is why we founded Meatable to help provide real meat, with the same taste, texture, and experience, but without the animal harm and much lower impact on the planet.

The only way to solve the current problem is to diversify the offering to consumers, making it easy to access high-quality and tasty products with a

Telling people to eat less meat isn’t going to save the world

Our vision for a sustainable food future that includes cultured meat will see us contribute to a diversity of products, production technologies and process inputs, reducing the world’s dependence on industrial animal agriculture and its impact throughout the value chain

lower environmental impact. We envision a future where sustainably-farmed traditional products are on offer next to plant-based, insect-based and cultured alternatives. By tackling the problem on all these fronts, we have the best chance of overcoming the challenges and building a more sustainable food system.

Reducing the environmental impact of meat

Instead of telling people to reduce eating meat, finding other ways to provide it that don’t rely on unsustainable industrialized practices will be key. Yet the IPES is still critical of the proposed benefits cultured meat and plant-based alternatives will bring. It says that companies produce biased studies on the sustainability gains of cultured meat. As well, it said that the inputs often used for meat alternatives also come with their own detrimental environmental impacts and that there is a risk of power being consolidated into a few very large players.

The cultured meat industry is still nascent and data is limited, as every company in the field is evolving and improving every day. Though there are multiple independent studies out there that have tried to quantify the ‘end state’ effect of cultured meat, it is still only based on assumptions.

At Meatable, we haven’t contributed funding to any studies claiming the environmental or health benefits of cultured meat. Instead, we use thirdparty studies such as notable research by CE Delft, a not-for-profit research organization, which found that cultured meat can reduce the carbon footprint of conventional beef by up to 92 per cent for global warming and 95 per cent for land use. This highlights the potential benefits cultured meat could bring to the world.

Whilst cultured meat certainly requires energy and resources, the process itself is much more efficient than traditional farming. The technology we use at Meatable based on pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), provides a fast growth and maturation process that is stable to scale. We believe we can scale this process quickly and become costcompetitive with traditional meat, whilst

Meat sector

Meatable

requiring much fewer inputs including water, feed and energy, at the same time generating lower GHG emissions than conventional meat. As we develop our production process, we are concentrating on only providing energy and feed inputs that contribute to the end product. This means we can help to provide the protein source that people crave whilst putting much less pressure on the environment and without harming any animals.

The point about the sustainability concerns of plant inputs to alternative meat, such as plant-based protein products being overly reliant on chemical-intensive soy is a fair one. But companies in the industry are working to ensure this isn’t the case - for instance, plant-based meat companies are using sustainably-sourced soy from Europe which doesn’t cause deforestation for their products. In the longer term, a key part of Meatable’s strategy will be diversifying our supply chain to offer multiple feed source inputs to further reduce our impact on the planet.

Finally, this is a burgeoning industry and many different players

are addressing plant-based meat and cultured meat in unique ways. Monopolies can stifle innovation and sometimes put growth ahead of the mission. But we’re fostering a new way of working that advocates for collaboration over consolidation, such as with Cellular Agriculture Europe, paving the way for this new industry.

Paving the way for a sustainable future

Indeed, we cannot go on as we have so far. The world’s population is expected to grow to ten billion by 2050 and so we need to find a sustainable way to feed everyone. That’s why we’re genuinely on the cusp of a life-changing opportunity. Our vision for a sustainable food future that includes cultured meat will see us contribute to a diversity of products, production technologies and process inputs, reducing the world’s dependence on industrial animal agriculture and its impact throughout the value chain.

There’s a lot that the industry needs to do to realize this vision and demonstrate that cultured meat can be as sustainable and environmentally friendly as the studies profess. But we’re excited and determined that together we can offer a sustainable solution to the currently unsustainable one and find a way to satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming people, animals or the planet. D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

Meatable aims to produce cultivated meat, for which no animals are slaughtered, fewer GHG emissions are released, and significantly less land and water are required. And, unlike plantbased alternatives, the end-product will provide the full experience of eating actual meat, with the same texture, taste, and nutritional benefits.

For further information, please visit: https://meatable.com

Caroline Wilschut is Director of Commerce & Strategy at Meatable. Founded in 2018 by Krijn de Nood (CEO), Daan Luining (CTO) and Dr. Mark Kotter (principal inventor of opti-ox technology), Meatable has brought together a team of experts with unique knowledge in fields including molecular biology, chemistry, tissue engineering, bioprocess development, food safety and food science to create the new meat.

The race is on

By Tomas Granö

Concerns around the sheer volume of food waste produced every year are growing, and with over 89 million tons thrown out every year in Europe, the situation is expected to worsen if action isn’t taken now. Similarly, as natural resources continue to deplete, and with a growing population, the world is almost at breaking point when it comes to food waste. It has been recognized by the United Nations as a global issue, impacting both the planet and the economy.

If we look at the sector specific data, retail is responsible for 13 percent of global food waste, with grocery responsible for five percent because of perishable items. So, what is the solution for supermarkets looking to overcome the issue of surplus food? In this article,

Harnessing the power of data

Supermarkets are uniquely placed in terms of data collection, as they are one of few retailers who collect large amounts of data from their customers. Their data libraries span eCommerce, loyalty programs, vendors and in-store payments. However, more often than not, supermarkets are not adequately interpreting or harnessing the power of their customer data. In turn, this can result in them missing out on key intelligence that can contribute to business growth – but what does this mean for food waste? Well, if grocers

I explore the role that innovation and technology have to play in the drive to reduce food waste, as well as how optimizing operations can help combat this growing problem.

Why supermarkets need to act now to reduce food waste and how technology can help.

Food waste

combine their customer data with data analytics and forecasting tools, they can predict demand, spot patterns in food waste and ensure they order the exact amounts of food needed.

And we’re seeing examples of this across the world. Supermarket giant, Walmart, has been experimenting with data analytics and using it to inform inventory and product availability. The artificial intelligence (AI) solution has been designed to recognize which products are missing, differentiate between products and quantities, and determine if they are in high demand. As well as improving efficiency and customer experience, all of these insights are crucial in contributing to a reduction in food waste. If supermarkets can now anticipate what consumers want, they can prevent over-ordering items that are likely to go to waste.

Another simple way that supermarkets can reduce the amount of waste they produce is by embracing imperfect produce. Data from WWF International revealed that up to 15 percent of food produced is lost before it leaves the farm, because of the demand for goods to meet certain, often unrealistic aesthetic requirements and because grocers often ask farmers for more produce than needed to ensure that they can meet the agreed quantities.

In response, we’re seeing disruptive start-ups such as OddBox compete with traditional grocers by offering produce that is otherwise deemed imperfect by supermarkets. Not only does this help tackle the food waste issue, it’s also significantly cheaper for consumers.

Optimizing operational processes

Over the past couple of years, grocers have had to rethink their operations, in response to disruption caused by the pandemic and now, the costof-living crisis and labor shortages.

In fact, a recent study found that the biggest concern for 74 percent of grocery retailers is the tight labor market affecting their investment and operational decisions this year, and increasing competition from online-only retail services that target shoppers’ demand for convenience.

As we continue through 2022, we can expect to see additional pressure on supermarkets to modernize current infrastructure and optimize their operations. This optimization can support cost savings as well as waste reduction.

For example, from an eCommerce perspective, supermarkets can use technology to encourage consumers

to replace products in their basket with ones that are going out of date. Proactively pushing out products that will perish earlier, for a cheaper price, is not a complex nor difficult task on an eCommerce platform and may well be welcomed with open arms by shoppers worrying about the increasing cost of groceries.

With these changes, grocers can both safeguard their bottom line and pivot their focus towards increasing efficiency and reducing waste. Inventory management is another key area for supermarkets, not only because it ensures consumers aren’t adding products to their virtual baskets that are out of stock, but also to help efficiency within stores and prevent produce from going to waste. However, this is only possible with complete visibility into stock location and levels. By utilizing technologies that enable integrated, unified systems, grocers can ensure that products in their warehouse can be incorporated into the back-end of their website.

Whilst we have seen innovation within grocery fulfilment and last mile optimization, the grocery sector is lagging behind when it comes to innovation in areas other than delivery. With an end-to-end platform, grocers can improve operational efficiency across the entire supply chain, which will set them apart in today’s competitive landscape. Overall, there is much more that can be done within grocery, and data and technology will be the driving forces behind this - particularly when it comes to reducing food waste and optimizing operational processes. D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

For further information, please visit:

www.naveocommerce.com

Tomas Granö is Grocery expert and CRO at Naveo Commerce, an international end-to-end e-commerce, OMS and Fulfilment technology company helping retailers and wholesalers in all segments to manage and grow their business online. The company was founded in 2020 following the merger of Digital Goodie and Maginus, unifying cloud-based Headless Commerce expertise, Order Management Systems and Fulfilment solutions to establish one of the only companies globally to be able to offer entire end-to-end commerce support to retailers. The company is financially backed by Black Dragon Capital.

Naveo Commerce

Connecting the dots

Marcel Koks

The value of the market for artificial intelligence (AI) in the food and beverage sector is expected to reach a staggering $29.94 billion by 2026.

Already in use by pioneering businesses across the industry, it’s clear that AI is making its presence felt in more ways than one, impacting all aspects of the food supply chain, driving smarter, faster decisions and underpinning that allimportant competitive advantage.

Marcel Koks

Whilst many in the industry have heard of AI, there is still widespread uncertainty as to how AI technologies can be applied and just what benefits can be reaped. Put simply, AI has the potential to optimize all areas of food manufacturing, facilitating smart, industry-specific applications to improve every aspect of the supply chain, from farm to fork, building agile supply chains and driving revenue growth.

Many regard AI as the machinery and technologies used to carry out complex tasks that previously required human thought to complete, but it goes even further than that, enabling new approaches to data analysis that simply

are not possible to do manually. This is where AI comes into its own, with the ability to consider an inordinate number of data values, parameters, what-if scenarios and other contributing factors to produce accurate and timely recommendations for almost every aspect of the food supply chain. Ultimately, this provides a competitive advantage that it would be impossible to replicate without the application of AI technologies.

AI in the food industry comprises a number of technologies, from robotics to machine learning, so where are we seeing AI in action across the industry and what impact is it having?

Precision farming

AI technologies are being used to bring new depths of precision to farming. So, this might be analysis of past harvests in terms of both quantity and quality, in combination with weather forecasts to inform which fields need watering and when, or when to use fertilizer perhaps. In the aquaculture sector, there is a business that is using AI technology to ensure accurate doses of feed

looks at how food and beverage manufacturers are reaping the rewards of AI technologies right across the supply chain

are administered in shrimp farming, avoiding over and under-feeding. This serves to lower the feed conversion ratio and shortens the shrimp production cycle, doubling production without huge intensification.

Pricing strategy

Again, taking into account numerous factors, the application of AI technologies can inform a more effective pricing strategy. AI applications can quickly and effectively analyze all contributing variables, such as seasonality, competitor pricing, promotions, customer demand, etc., building up a clear picture of pricing history and trends, to inform recommendations regarding which products should be sold at which price to maximize revenues. There is already a leading European bakery ingredients business doing just this, implementing the right technology to achieve optimal pricing recommendations for its wide range of products.

Mitigate against unpredictability

Over the past two years in particular, the unpredictability of food supply chains has had a massive impact on food and beverage manufacturing. This is another area where AI can hold the key to unlocking new, better ways of working. For example, the right AI tools can predict sea vessel arrival times, helping manufacturers to more accurately forecast when their raw ingredients will be arriving. It is the level of detail that AI brings that makes all the difference. Not only can manufacturers secure a more accurate picture of when ingredients will arrive, but the technology can also factor in considerations such as how long deliveries will take to unload at the factory, instilling an even greater level of accuracy when it comes to scheduling production to optimize operations and maximize productivity.

This granularity of information is what makes AI the cornerstone of more accurate, agile, predictable supply chains, helping businesses to plan for all eventualities and delivering the actionable insight needed to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Artificial intelligence

Sustainability

The issue of sustainability is another area where AI is having a positive impact on food and beverage manufacturing. Businesses are able to use the insight generated by AI applications to minimize energy and water usage, ensuring the most energy-efficient production, alongside waste reduction at all potential touch points in the manufacturing process. In a similar vein, machine learning-based specification matching and stock allocation enables manufacturers to ask if they can optimize the use of existing stock and still meet customer specifications.

As well, innovative businesses are taking quality information, in combination with ingredient shelf-life data, using AI to determine dynamic best before dates. AI answers the question of ‘can we extend the shelf life safely considering the quality at hand?’, which ultimately prolongs the sellable life of a product, reducing waste and increasing revenue. At the same time, AI technologies can facilitate smart shelves in supermarkets, where prices are adjusted based on remaining shelf life and point of sales history, reducing waste and increasing profitability further still.

Maximize yield

The ability to maximize yield is yet another area where AI can make a world of difference. Internet of Things (IoT) devices in combination with machine learning are optimizing machine settings to maximize yield. For example, manufacturers can ask how to maximize yield considering the quality of ingredients and the process conditions. Taking into account an almost inordinate number of process parameters, it is possible for manufacturers to use AI to maximize the output of processes at every step of the way.

AI is all about connecting the dots, making the most of the huge amounts of data generated by the food and beverage sector, and using AI technologies to analyze this data and gain a better understanding of the many and complex variables at play within the industry. As more businesses invest in AI technologies, so suppliers can create more out-of-the box AI solutions. The learnings and experiences of food and beverage manufacturers inform AI templates that can then be applied to similar businesses, delivering the insight needed to maximize efficiencies and boost revenue.

To work, AI needs data. As long as there is data, it is possible to use AI technologies to recognize data trends and patterns, applying this learning and insight back to the business. It is this application of insight that is helping to create better, faster, more profitable operations at every stage of the supply chain, building a responsive and resilient food and beverage industry right across the world. D

For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.

For further information, please visit: www.infor.com/industries/food-beverage | www.infor.com

Marcel Koks is Industry & Solution Strategy Director at Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. It develops complete solutions for focus industries, including industrial manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, food & beverage, automotive, aerospace & defense, and high tech. Infor’s mission-critical enterprise applications and services are designed to deliver sustainable operational advantages with security and faster time-to-value.

Infor

Finding a solution for pollution

The unique answer to Earth’s plastic (and paper) straw problem is finally here – even the Superbowl agrees

As its name suggests, WinCup is in the business of winning –but not just in a commercial sense. It goes without saying, that the environment is in danger. Single-use plastics are littering oceans, and something has to be done about it.

Our recent interview with WinCup, a leading manufacturer of disposable polystyrene cups, bowls, containers, straws, and lids for the foodservice industry, proves that simply banning plastic – which is an incredibly broad term that includes myriad types of plastics – might not be the answer.

With eight manufacturing sites across the US – from Arizona in the west all the way over to New Jersey in the east – WinCup boasts a national footprint and broad market access in channels such as QSRs, retailers, convenience stores, and professional sports stadiums. Blue chip customers in these critical channels includes the likes of McDonald’s, Sam’s Club, Quick Trip and, NY Yankees. If you watched the Super bowl last year that took place in the LA Rams So-Fi stadium then you will have likely seen ebullient fans slurping from WinCup iconic sustainable blue straws.

Trusted by its customers since 1962, WinCup has never rested on its laurels or reputation. In fact, it has demonstrated a strong acquisition strategy to continue stimulating financial growth. In 2010, for instance, the company purchased Cardinal Straws, folding its assets into an already impressive portfolio. As mentioned, WinCup is in the business of winning; however, more recently, it has been creating wins for the environment. In 2016, the company launched Vio®, the world’s first

biodegradable foam to be used in the manufacturing of cups and food containers. In just four years, Vio® will biodegrade by 92 percent.

Pioneering plastics

That was just the start. In 2020, WinCup launched the world’s first meaningful sustainable straws and stirrers under the phade® brand name. These straws are made from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), which is certified as marine biodegradable, and home- and industrial-compostable. phade® looks and performs like regular plastic, but instead it will biodegrade in any environment containing bacteria.

Both Vio and phade® constitute a landmark shift in the production philosophy at WinCup, as the industry frontrunner shifts its operations towards a more ecological framework of manufacturing. In conversation with FoodChain and talking through this transition is company CEO, Brad Laporte.

“We have decided to differentiate ourselves in the eco-friendly space and move away from traditional kinds of food service,” he begins. “Instead, we want to concentrate on doing the right thing for the environment. We have some really good partners on the material side, and then we have our own internal research and development team; together, they form the perfect partnership to turn these ecological concepts into tangible products that our society so desperately needs.”

WinCup’s phade® line is exploding in popularity across the US. As of now, phade® products are being sent out by more than 300 distribution centers; the brand is used in more than 800 Dunkin’ stores, as well as First Watch restaurants, airports, stadiums, and other venues serving food and drink.

“People are much more in tune with environmental issues today than they were years ago,” comments Laporte. “They want a solution for pollution. The holy grail of plastics, so to speak.

Fortunately, it just so happens that is what we can deliver with phade®. It represents our biggest leap forward in terms of technology yet – and that is important because recycling is not as effective as people have been led to believe. In the US, just ten percent of all plastic is recycled; over 30 percent ends up in the environment through leakage.”

“In 2017, a video of a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose went viral,” he goes on. “Everyone saw it. At that point, society began to look unfavorably on plastics. Paper straws were in. However, paper has its own problems; chemical coatings, glues, and a tremendous number of natural resources used in the production process. Some of those glues, moreover, do not break down. Plus, they are terrible at the job they are meant to do!”

So, WinCup decided to do something about it. By collaborating with Danimer Scientific, a bioplastics pioneer,

the solution became clear - PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates). These are biopolymers created from the fermentation of canola oil.

Plastic fantastic

“phade® has been a giant success,” admits Laporte. “It is huge and the best part of it all is that it does not cut corners when it comes to performance. Nobody really likes paper straws, and now they do not have to. Traditional straws last hundreds of years in the environment. However, phade® breaks

down in a matter of months. As a result, we have received a magnificent response from the public.” Laporte continues, “We had a time lapse video created of what happens to our phade® straws should they end up in a Marine environment and it shows 100 percent biodegradation in just 58 days. Tens of millions of consumers around the world have seen this video on various social media sites, as well as the phade® website.

“Going forward, we intend to keep up that momentum,” he concludes.

“We are well on our way to doubling the size of the business in the next four years, and in doing so we will be able to continue investigating solutions to our pollution problem. Banning plastics is not the answer – better products like Vio and phade® are. Replacing traditional plastics with new technologies that are better for the environment and have a net zero life cycle is really, where the entire industry will eventually go. We will be there when it does, right on the frontline.” D

www.phadeproducts.com

Wild by nature

From kitchen table to multimillion pound business: how Belvoir Farm took the UK adult soft drinks market by storm

Nature is real. Nature is imperfect. Nature is beautiful. Belvoir Farm (Belvoir) holds these truths to be self-evident.

Tucked away alongside the wild hedgerows between Grantham and Nottingham in the Vale of Belvoir, there is a 2000-plus acre farm and familyowned business that is currently taking the adult soft drinks market by storm. But, first, a lesson in pronunciation.

Following the Battle of Hastings in 1066, so the story goes, a Frenchman stood atop a hill in what we now know as the Vale of Belvoir and said the following: Quelle belle voir! Or: What a beautiful view! However, over the next hundred years, French names were anglicized to reinstate English authority.

As a result, Belvoir is now (technically) pronounced beaver – just like the animal. Either way, though, the curious part of all this is that nature is inextricably bound up in the meaning of the word. And that is something crucial

to the brand that bears its name. Proud to include no artificial preservatives, flavourings, colourings, or sweeteners across its impressive range of cordials, sparkling juices, and botanical sodas, Belvoir is family-owned and run – and it is quickly approaching its 40th anniversary.

Established as only a mildly successful fruit farm by Lord and Lady John Manners in 1984, it was soon clear that something had to change to keep the business viable. Therefore, when harvest season came around, the Manners decided to press any unsold

fruit into juice and make some cordials with it – all by themselves. And it tasted good. Really good.

As Frank Fitzgibbons, Production Director at Belvoir, tells FoodChain, that is the basis for everything customers now know and love about the brand. Perhaps most famous for its elderflower cordial, Belvoir has upscaled its operations dramatically to meet growing demand.

Originally taking place on the Manners’ kitchen table, says Frank, Belvoir soon moved into an upgraded but still relatively small facility. It was very labour intensive and manual, often

‘

We are currently in the process of putting together a new three-year business plan that takes into account the current economic climate and global situation. So, the goal is to continue doing what we are good at; producing quality adult soft drinks with integrity while also introducing new ideas to the market

relying on the local public to come and pick the elderflower at harvest time. “The business sold just over 1000 bottles to local food stores and farm shops in its first year,” he explains. “By the time I joined in 2003, production had grown to two million bottles every year, and that has just skyrocketed over the years. Last year, for instance, gross sales rose to £27 million. We are now producing 22 million bottles annually.

“We have a very well-automated site and are constantly investing in the business,” Frank goes on. “In 2015, we established a new, purpose-built factory to create capacity and enable us to meet the increasing demand for our products. Since then, we have invested heavily in modern filling and capping machinery, packing equipment, and processing kit for our juices and elderflower infusions. Back in 2008, we really had to start investing – and quickly. The business was starting to grow exponentially in terms of distribution, and thus we had to begin integrating sophisticated technology into our processes. We continue to do so today. One example of that is our sixty-head filler machine, which was purchased in 2019 and has improved our line speed and throughput by 40 percent.”

Nature at its source

Despite the monumental surge in production demands, little has changed in terms of the recipe. To this day, Belvoir still follows the original one used by the Manners in 1984. As the saying goes: if it is not broken…

“Even with that continuity, we have still increased our range of products alongside company growth,” reveals Frank. “Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) have increased steadily since we started, and while we are still very much an elderflower-based business, we do also sell other juice-based products in tandem. Several years ago, for example, we created a sparkling raspberry lemonade, and that has proved very popular. We also love ginger! We produce delicious ginger cordials and ginger beer, and also often look towards the seasons. That means summer punch or citrus drinks when

it is warm, and winter cordials or berry punch mixes when it is cold.

“Above all, though, we pride ourselves on quality,” he adds. “We source real, natural ingredients. We do not cut back on them. It is all about

what we source, how we source it, and then, of course, how we produce it. Though our bottling processes are now automated and upscaled to meet volume demands, we make the liquid using very simple techniques to

maintain the integrity of our ingredients and keep them as natural as we can. The elderflower, for instance, is made with fresh flowers picked that day in the local community and from our own 60-acre organic plantations, and we do very little with it apart from infuse it with water, sugar, citric acid and lemon juice and let nature’s magic take its course.”

Award-winning flavor

For this decidedly simple approach to crafting adult soft drinks, Belvoir has garnered a lot of attention from the critics. Earlier this year, for instance, the company was named 2022 Soft Drinks Brand of the Year by The Grocer Gold Awards. Moreover, in the last ten years alone, Belvoir has received 21 Great Taste awards and another 4 this year.

Yet all that recognition and plaudits has not made the Leicestershirebased company complacent. “New product development is very important to us,” asserts Frank. “Recently, we

launched a range of botanicals, which was spearheaded by our in-house innovation team. In terms of size, the team is relatively small. However, as a unit, it works incredibly hard to find and source new and exciting ingredients. As a result, we have been able to continue our success outside of elderflower cordials, and we are seeing strong interest in these new botanicals. In fact, we have gained some key distribution contracts and awards recognition based on their flavour alone!

“We are very adept at launching new items, such as sparkling juices or botanical creations, and are proficient in getting them to market quickly,” he continues. “We pride ourselves on the transition from initial concept to end product; we are able to act quickly and maintain high standards throughout. Saying that, though, if we do not have it right then we will not rush it – again, quality and taste come above all else.”

As a brand, Belvoir is also insistent

that it maintains standards for ethics and sustainability. For Frank, the fact that Belvoir’s roots are as a farming business, and therefore bound to the environment around it, must inform decisions the brand makes when it comes to its place in relation to the living world.

“Over our 2000-plus acres of arable land, we have planted thousands of trees and new hedgerows, installed bird boxes, we grow land just for winter bird feed and we set up beehives,” he reflects. “It is all about being genuine and caring for the environment. To that end, we joined forces with Certified Sustainable and Carbon Quota. Together, they measure our activities with regards to sustainability, and how we interact with the local environment.”

Since 2018, Belvoir has reduced its carbon emissions by 36 percent – a figure that has been independently validated by Carbon Quota. More recently, the company was awarded

a top tier Gold Award from Certified Sustainable, demonstrating that the soft drinks producer has practiced good waste management.

“For a company of our size, we think that is terrific, and it motivates us to work even harder towards our ambition of becoming carbon neutral by 2030,” details Frank. “We are now zero waste to landfill too, and have been for more than a year. Other initiatives helping us on our environmental mission include the installation of solar panels across our main site and the planting of 28 acres of wildflower and 10,000 trees through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.”

Recently, Belvoir has been exploring the value of television advertising, leading a campaign to show its commitment to everything we have talked about thus far; from high-quality ingredients to sustainable production methods, the company intends to expand and amplify its ethical framework going forward.

“We are currently in the process of putting together a new three-year business plan that takes into account the current economic climate and global situation,” notes Frank. “So, the goal is to continue doing what we are good at; producing quality adult soft drinks with integrity while also introducing new ideas to the market.

“We want to become a leader in our field – not a follower,” he concludes.

“We are very proud of what we do, and we are hoping to keep that momentum going in difficult times. The headwinds are challenging. However, we have a steady crew and the ship is sailing in the right direction.” D

www.belvoirfarm.co.uk

Elevating a classic experience

Having recently celebrated its 33rd anniversary, Silver Diner is keen to hit the road with its fresh take on a US cultural classic

The American diner has come unstuck in time. There is something about that small meeting and eating joint. Humble and comforting. Open (all hours) and honest. Familiar and welcoming. The diner is, arguably, the place where US culture converges; from its central role in films like Grease and Pulp Fiction to television shows such as Happy Days and Twin Peaks, the coffee-and-pie pit stop has become a true American icon.

“Diners are a beacon in the night,” begins John Huddle, IT Director at Silver Diner, a 20-strong chain of classic American diners that has been updated to reflect today’s myriad lifestyles. “They are also – and this is key –egalitarian spaces; historically, diners would be visited by someone in dirty overalls who has just finished a night shift at the local factory and someone in a tuxedo or hat and tails that has been at the opera all evening.

“The diner is for everyone, at all meal times, for all uses,” he reflects. “Indeed, the space is also incredibly diverse and often driven by immigrants: souvlaki, blintzes, and matzah ball soup, as well as sausage, gravy, and biscuits – all of this and more comingles at the diner and transcends borders. Right there, in the heart of the American diner, boundaries disappear. It is a central part of the local community; it is a place where people can have a cup of coffee and connect.”

The artist Edward Hopper thought as much, capturing the late-night anonymity and ambience of the diner in his painting, ‘Nighthawks.’ Nostalgic tabletop jukeboxes, warm service, and fresh coffee – the diner often feels like a home away from home.

All over the world, that popular slice of Americana is recreated and served anew: checkerboard floor tiles, red leather booths, juicy burgers, golden fries, and milkshakes thick as can be. Among these certainties is a distinct 1950s aesthetic that is as much a part of the American diner as the food and drink served there.

Silver

But it has come unstuck in time. One quick glance at Silver Diner’s menu attests to such: seasonal selections include Carolina catfish fingers with succotash slaw, honey mustard, and remoulade, as well as watermelon and shrimp salad with kalamata olives, quinoa, feta, mint, and pomegranate; breakfast features classics, of course, but also acai Icelandic yoghurt parfait and avocado toast; appetizers like Beyond Meat vegan tacos and shrimp quesadillas buck the trend; and mains range from reimagined burgers to hummus-laden Greek salads.

Not quite the fare we would typically associate with a greasy spoon diner, then; in fact, it almost sounds anachronistic. Yet that is most certainly on purpose.

As John goes on to explain, Silver Diner was conceived by cofounders Bob Giaimo and chef Ype Von Hengst as a gathering place for the American public that does not compromise on the quality of its food. Born and formally trained as a chef in Europe, Ype’s influence on the ever-evolving menu, which serves up American favorites with a contemporary twist to reflect modern lifestyles, cannot be overstated.

Before establishing Silver Diner, Bob and Ype visited more than 500 diners across the US – from southern California to Portland, Maine. Though the design of the restaurant they planned to open would emulate those which they had seen and eaten at on the road, there was work to be done: healthier ingredients, flexitarian options, and more sustainable sourcing – to name a few.

Elevated eating

By housing these progressive notions within a food space that has been lifted from another time entirely, Silver Diner is unsticking the concept of the American diner – and the people are here for it.

“Our expanding footprint covers Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and New Jersey,” John details. “In many ways, we are what you would consider a classic diner. We serve breakfast all day long, and we have five core periods: breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and late-night; and we serve a classic diner menu – but elevated. By promoting sustainable sourcing and partnering with more than 15 local farms, our customers can see the range of produce available and truly taste the difference. We often like to say, ‘The answer is yes, and the question is up to you,’ when we talk about how we envision our food menu. Ype is the driving force behind that; he often recalls growing up in Holland, loafing through fields with his grandparents and picking fresh vegetables to cook later at dinner. He remains true to that farm-totable philosophy.

“Our bread is locally sourced and specially baked for Silver Diner by Uptown Bakers,” he goes on. “In 2008, the disastrous economy forced us to redefine how we understood value: it was not price; it was what you could get for the dollar you spent. Therefore, we launched our ‘Eat Well, Do Well’ program and philosophy, which suggests that, if you eat well, then you are more likely to do well in life. To offer that assurance to our customers, we source not only the best ingredients but also the freshest.

“By partnering with local farms, growers, and producers, we are able to

do just that. For this, though, we must also embrace seasonality; we cannot, for instance, pick fresh strawberries in the heart of Washington, D.C. because it is freezing for most of the year. But we can in the summer. Again, it is about elevating the classic diner experience: locally produced cheese and dairy, quinoa flour, oat milk pancakes, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats, and so on. We look at the value, taste, and overall experience of each item while considering traditional and best practices of the industry when designing our menus,” he adds.

Another facet of the ‘Eat Well, Do Well’ initiative is fundraising for local schools. By scanning a loyalty card when eating at a Silver Diner, customers can donate five percent of their bill to a partner school located less than five miles away from the restaurant.

Funds will then be designated to various nutrition and fitness programs for local students. It is a small way to give back and make a big difference in the lives of children.

“I think it all goes back to Ype’s experience over the years,” John notes. “He really cares about people and the community. Plus, childhood obesity is an epidemic in the US and across most of the developed world. It does not take a genius to figure out that the food we eat – and how processed those foods are – plays a big part in that.”

As he explains, these concerns about the health and wellness of children led Silver Diner to make a bold decision. In 2012, the company removed French fries, home fries, and soda from its kids’ menus, while also adding healthier sides and drinks with every kid’s meal.

According to an independent study carried out by the ChildObesity180 team at Tuft’s University and the Friedman School of Nutrition, the changes that Silver Diner has since implemented through its children’s menus encourages young people to eat healthier. “We do not get a lot of parents in our diners asking for fries to be on the menu,” admits John. “We were one of the first in the country do this, and we encourage others to follow. Some people ask, and we gladly serve them; however, in reality, the response has been incredibly

Bob Giaimo and Ype Von Hengst

positive – and not just from the press.

“Parents have praised our decision, and children are voting with their tastebuds,” he continues. “They are not opting for sodas; they are not opting for fries. We are not entirely sure if that is because they do not want them or because they cannot see them on the menu – but that is beside the point. The main thing is this: children are eating healthier; and the results speak volumes. Observations like this continue to drive innovation; we have, for example, recently added six vegan

Toast

entrées to our menu to cater for the growing demand around all things plant-based.”

Like its food, Silver Diner’s pipeline for the future looks equally healthy. “We are opening a store on Half Street – right across from Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., which hosts the Washington Nationals MLB team,” notes John. “Understandably, that is a major focus for us in the short-term. We are also rolling out a new Point of Sale (POS) system with Toast, which will mean new handheld machines and pay-at-the-table

software; a format which is just starting to gain traction in the US.

“Next year, we have two stores on the books and, looking ahead, we will continue to innovate our menu when we feel the need arise,” he concludes. “For 2024, we already have three stores in negotiation, and in the next five years we are planning the opening of ten additional stores, thus broadening our footprint and bringing a classic-butelevated diner experience to many new markets.” D

www.silverdiner.com

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Master of the craft (beer)

Beer is made from four simple ingredients: malt, hops, yeast, and water. Malt is grain that has been specifically prepared for brewing, and it contributes sugar which is later converted into alcohol. Hops, which grow on a vine, are flowers or cones that offer flavor, keep the beer fresher for longer, while also adding an aromatic head of foam for easy olfactory pleasures. Yeast is the living element of a brew; the microorganism is responsible for fermentation and thus

President & Founder Ben Caya

helps produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Water tops everything off and plays a large role in the final taste profile of the beer.

Simple ingredients, then, but a complicated process? “Not at all,” counters Ben Caya, Founder & President at Spike Brewing (Spike), a company that engineers and manufactures stainless steel home brewing equipment. “I was about 20

Spike Brewing

when I started my business - and I did it from my basement with three stainless steel kegs. It’s easy to overcomplicate brewing, and because of that many people find it difficult. We want to show that it’s actually pretty easy.

“Beer is the result of four ingredients and a five-step process; it’s not difficult - unless you want it to be,” he

concludes. It’s kind of like playing chess. I can play chess, but I’m not good at it. It takes a lifetime to master; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy playing it. Brewing beer is a lifelong pursuit, but it’s also an amazing hobby. You can make really good, drinkable beer from day one, and then perfect your craft over time.

“Our mission is to simplify the Brew Day, while also providing high-quality equipment to make it all possible,” he adds. “If you take one wrong step it’s not the end of the world, you’re just making beer. Worst case scenario; it tastes like Busch Light, and you just drink it when you’re four drinks deep!”

Rapid growth

The story behind Spike is one worth telling. As mentioned, Ben began the business while studying engineering at school. He began selling stainless steel kegs on Craigslist, and people responded – lots of them. What started off as a side hustle soon transformed into a business. Ironically, however, Ben did not initially know what his newly established customer base was using the kegs for.

So, he asked. The answer? People were cutting off the top of the kegs and installing valves and thermometers, and then using that do-it-yourself contraption to make beer. “It was during the recession here in the US, so I think in hindsight people were looking for a less expensive way to brew beer,” reflects Ben. “I put posters up all over campus, and eventually the demand outgrew the supply. After sourcing a supplier of big chili pots, I moved into my parents’ basement to save money and devoted myself to the business full-time.”

The basement was not enough. But neither was the modest 1500-squarefoot facility the company soon moved into. Just four years later, Spike entered a new, 14,000-square-foot industrial space (which it has now expanded to 25,000 square feet). From there, Spike

has established itself as one of the most premier manufacturers of high-quality home brewing equipment and accessories, winning the Reader’s Choice Homebrew Brand of the Year Award in 2021.

As the craft beer market continues to boom with hazy IPAs and inventive small-batch sours, Spike has seen a keen uptake of interest in specialist brewing equipment – including brew kettles, custom kettles, fermenters, and brewing systems –across the US and Canada.

Anticipated launch

In fact, business is so good that 25,000 square feet is still not enough. Spike recently announced that it will be building a new $9 million 73,000-square-foot facility, which will include a test brewery, engineering lab, and even more office space.

“The additional space is going to be a gamechanger for us,” says Ben. “We’re still in the planning stages, and I hope to have everything finalized by spring next year. Though the space totals 75,000 square feet, we’ll only occupy about 40,000 of it initially. We’ll rent the rest out, and then slowly take it back over as we continue to grow our operations.

“I doubt it will be our forever home,” he continues. “In ten years, I hope to be in a facility ten times the size of this one! But, for now, it will allow us to open a couple of new production lines. Currently, we produce a one-barrel brewing system, but we’re looking to potentially manufacture a two- or three-barrel system, and that will require much more space.

“With this planned move, we’ll be able to bring some previously outsourced manufacturing inhouse and have a dedicated electrical lab, bringing us closer to being a full-stack manufacturer – to borrow a term from the software industry,” he adds.

With all that, you might expect Spike to take it easy with new product development. After all, it has a tried-and-tested range of lines that sell very well. But that is simply not the case. “It has been an incredibly busy year for Spike in terms of new products,” explains Ben. “We have either launched or are due to launch five completely new pieces of equipment; for instance, we just released a new All-In-One Pressure Release Valve (PRV) and are soon going to launch a new brew pump and oxygenation kit.

“Perhaps the most innovative and much anticipated launch is the new Spike Tank!” He elaborates: “The Tank is a bottom drain kettle that’s completely new to the home brewing scene. It has never been done before. We adapted it from our commercial Nano line, which costs around $16,000 and is our most expensive product, in recognition of the demand for innovative, time-

From left to right: Callie Kiesow, Scott Matyas, Jordan Gimm, Chad Williams & Ryan Oxton

saving accessories for brewing that we were hearing from our customers.

“We have seen a lot of enthusiasm around it, which is impressive in and of itself as there is only so much you can do with a stainless-steel kettle,” he chuckles. “I can say, however, that this has been one of the biggest innovations that our industry space has seen for a long time.”

As Taylor Patton, Marketing Manager at Spike, points out: “The growing anticipation around that product is a testament to Ben and his engineering team; they really listen to what the customers are asking for. A lot of competitors will bring something to the space that they deem necessary.

Whereas Spike listens first, and that is why there is so much clamoring about the brand right now; we’re giving the people what they want!”

Undoubtedly, Spike is making waves in the craft beer and home brewing

scene – and a slowly shifting customer demographic highlights that. While Ben quips that the average Spike home brewer customer is a slightly overweight, middleaged man, he also sees that times are changing. More recently, for instance, Spike has worked with an all-womenowned brewery based in Oklahoma, which utilizes the Nano series to brew

Spike Brewing

exciting new craft beers. There are also many popular younger home brewers on Instagram and TikTok, which he sees as the next generation of brewers.

“We have a mindset at Spike: Simplify the Brew Day,” says Ben. “Currently, brewing may be pictured as this niche, underground hobby that your goofy uncle does in his basement. But we are trying to change that. Our goal is to make brewing mainstream in the same way that Trager turned a niche hobby – smoking meat –into a cultural phenomenon. That is our long-term plan. Brewing isn’t just another hobby that takes away from family time like golf.

“It can be the thing you do with family and friends on a weekend. It can be about that first sip of beer after a long day at work. It can be your way to escape the world.” He concludes: “Whatever it is that’s bringing you to home brewing, we’d just like to say: It’s Brew Day!” D

www.spikebrewing.com

Chasing f irst place

Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell to Earth; however, as the name – Sun Holdings – chosen by its founder for his first company many years ago ironically intimates, Guillermo Perales intends to do much more than fly close to greatness –he is on a mission to become the number one franchise holder in the US

Asmall store and a big dream – that is how Guillermo Perales began his journey into the world of franchise ownership. The small store was Golden Corral, an all-you-can-eat buffet and grill, and with some luck, plenty of hard work, and an SBA loan, Perales’ constant quest to expand under the name Sun Holdings, Inc. (Sun Holdings) was off to a strong start.

Fast forward to today, and Perales’

portfolio of companies is almost unrecognizable when compared to those humble beginnings because of –curiously enough – the recognizability of its immense portfolio of brands.

Now ranked as the second largest franchisee in the US by Mega 99, Perales’ companies operate over 1130 restaurant locations in 25 different

states and are responsible for creating more than 33,000 jobs. These myriad locations include 212 Arby’s, 141 Burger Kings, 170 Popeyes, 36 IHOPs, 72 McAlister’s, 210 Papa John’s, 131 Applebee’s, 150 Taco Buenos, six Golden Corrals, and full-service restaurants at the Dallas Fort Worth and Atlanta International Airports.

However, growth and expansion has not been strictly limited to investments of the food kind, but also includes over 560 T-Mobile stores and 55 GNC nutrition locations.

Recently, for instance, GP Mobile, LLC, one of the many companies within the portfolio, announced the expansion of its GP Mobile footprint, acquiring new T-Mobile stores across 25 states. Following this development, GP Mobile, which is run by CEO Adriana Perales,

now employs almost 6000 people, and is the second largest T-Mobile partner in the US.

All these investments, however, fund the same mission: to create great locations and facilities, enabling each unit to run at its maximum output and thereby achieve its boundless potential for success, while also continuing to satisfy the ever-evolving needs of customers and exceed their expectations for the products and services that each brand proudly puts on offer.

A key to the companies’ success has been a relentless pursuit of operational efficiencies to maintain and improve profit margins. This singular focus is driven by a keen sense of balance between the guest experience and the bottom-line.

Though that might sound extensive, Perales’ vision is a decidedly simple one – albeit blown up in a spectacular, large typeface and written across the future of the US restaurant and commercial franchising scene. Indeed, under Perales’ leadership, he and his great team aim to become the number one franchise holder in the US.

That is no small feat. But that is not to say it cannot be achieved. As mentioned earlier, the company name almost implies that Icarus did not dream big enough.

Rock star recognition

In fact, since its founding in 1997, Perales’ diversified family of companies has experienced an annual growth rate of 50 percent and the businesses now generate over one billion dollars in revenue each year. That has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this year, Sun Holdings – the moniker used to describe Perales’ fast-growing portfolio of numerous companies – was named as one of 1851 Franchise’s Top 125 Global Franchise Influencers for 2022. It is also a previous recipient of the MUFSO Golden Chain Award and has been

Guillermo Perales

featured on Nation’s Restaurant News’ Top 10 Power List.

The enterprise plans on securing that preeminent position as the number one franchise holder in the country by expanding the business and maintaining customer happiness through the cultivation of a hardworking, observant, and goal-oriented employee base. For Sun Holdings’ Founder and CEO, that is essential.

Perales’ tremendous success in restaurant operations, real estate, and general management are all rooted in his commitment to education. He graduated with high honors from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey as a CPA before moving to the United States and earning his MBA from Texas A&M University. The meteoric growth that seemed to follow for Perales often has industry peers and colleagues calling him a “rock star” in the franchise

realm. Yet, Perales remains deeply grounded and passionate about the importance of sharing his leadership and experience with new generations of entrepreneurs, especially those in the Latino business community.

Attesting to this extraordinary success and commercial growth, Perales has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by both Ernst & Young and IFA, Dealmaker of the Year and Latino Executive of the Year by CEO Magazine, and Nation’s Restaurant News’ Most Influential CEO for 2021. For several consecutive years, moreover, he has appeared on Latino Leaders Magazine’s list of the 101 Most Influential Latinos.

In the last three years alone, Perales has overseen the acquisition of greenfield development of over 300 new restaurants and the completion of 200-plus site remodels across the plethora of brands operating under his increasingly wide banner.

A particularly important brand to the portfolio is Taco Bueno. In 2019, Perales became a franchisor for the first time through the acquisition of the Taco Bueno brand. Perales’ proven track record of successfully growing brands in the industry has been critical in reinvigorating Taco Bueno with new food offerings and streamlined marketing initiatives to strengthen

Sun Holdings, Inc.

its competitive position in the quickservice restaurant sector.

Taco terrific

Taco Bueno was founded in 1967 in Abilene, Texas. Through the years, Taco Bueno has remained true to its roots by delivering great-tasting meals to its customers in an inviting and comfortable environment. In fact, the

ECOLAB

quality and innovation embedded in the Taco Bueno brand and culture were traits that convinced Perales to make the acquisition. This year, the brand celebrates 55 years and to mark this important milestone, Taco Bueno has partnered with the Dallas Cowboys and has been named the official Taco of America’s most valuable sports franchise.

2022 has been very prolific for Taco Bueno as it continues to expand the brand’s footprint. In August 2022, a sixth Taco Bueno location was opened this year in Rosenberg, Texas. The restaurant has been styled with authenticity in mind; vibrant colors, which reflect the fresh and exciting

ingredients of Tex-Mex cuisine, are lit by new energy-efficient lights, demonstrating the 55-year-old brand’s commitment to sustainability.

To add to guest appeal and improve ordering efficiencies, moreover, the location features high-top bar seating with outlets for media devices, catchy promotional signage, and digital menu boards.

“The contemporary Tex-Mex flavors, ingredients, and items offered by modernized restaurants and frequent menu changes will continue to drive growth for Taco Bueno in 2022,” states Perales in a recent press release announcing the new site. “While other chains in the category are looking to cut

A partnership with Ecolab features innovations that are serving up powerful efficiencies in foodservice, while advancing safety and quality. From smart, simple sanitizers to digital training that identifies risks and corrective actions, we deliver practical solutions and strategies to help streamline procedures, minimize rework, accelerate training, and elevate restaurant operations. Reach out to learn more about how these innovative programs, proven expertise and actionable insights can help power critical outcomes that drive your financial performance.

food cost with processed foods, we’ve stayed true to our roots by crafting authentic recipes in each of our kitchens.

“We do things the Bueno way, and you are sure to taste the difference,” he continues. “Taco Bueno is reinvesting in exciting new limited time offers with top-grade proteins, such as freshnever-frozen ground beef, grilled chicken, and brisket, as well as salsas, guacamole, and beans made fresh, from scratch, in-house daily.”

Though Perales has orchestrated a sensational rise to the fore of the franchise market, especially when we remind ourselves of the humble

CONSTRUCTO GROUP, LLC

origins, community service has remained an essential aspect of his personal and business philosophy. For example, the 131 Applebee’s restaurants acquired in late 2021 serve over 25,000 complimentary meals to heroes on Veteran’s Day each year and more recently, those restaurants have raised nearly $130,000 to fight Childhood Cancer through their partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Stand fundraising efforts.

Soaring into the sun

Similarly, Perales’ Burger King restaurants are committed to practicing

CONSTRUCTO GROUP, LLC is a Texas-based full-service construction company that manages the entire commercial and residential construction process as well as industrial and multifamily, from start to finish. It offers remodels, conversions, restorations, and new construction. The company provides design-related services, management of permitting processes, material selection, material sourcing, and labor for installation/building. The company’s main objectives center on fulfilling clients’ requirements in the most professional manner, as well as implementing continuous improvement across all of its business operations.

good corporate social responsibility through their support of Burger King’s McLamore Foundation. Established in 2005, the non-profit and charitable arm of the fast-food titan funds two key initiatives: the Scholars Program and the Family Fund.

The former assists employees, their families, and high school seniors across the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada in continuing their education. So far, the initiative is responsible for the provision of scholarships worth over $35 million, which have been passed on to more than 33,000 students.

In the last 12 months, annual donation figures reached an impressive $3.7 million and helped out nearly 3500 deserving students. Perales’ different companies have themselves given out 180 scholarships, ranging from $1000 to $10,000 each and totaling a value of $300,000, to local students in need of financial support to

further their education.

All of this generosity follows from the company that started it all for Guillermo Perales, Sun Holdings. The many individual brands, restaurants, employees, students in receipt of generous scholarships, and Perales himself – are set for an exciting future. This much has been made clear by the recent success, expansions, and endeavors it has made (and continues to make).

These companies are always exploring the spark of entrepreneurship and all the promising prospects that come with that. Currently, it is considering the potential of shopping centers as an investment.

In the next six months, moreover, Taco Bueno intends to build at least 30 new Taco Bueno stores. Muy bueno, indeed. D www.sunholdings.net

Bite me!

Flipping burgers via Instagram to building a fierce vegan food and lifestyle brand that has collaborated with Steve Madden –the story of how Slutty Vegan is changing the plant-based game for good

What’s in a name? Jason Crain, President at Slutty Vegan, a plant-based, fast-food burger chain taking the US by storm, breaks it down

for FoodChain. “When we speak about Slutty Vegan, you have to understand where the legend comes from,” he begins. “Our founder, Pinky Cole, struggled to find food late at night

as a newly turned vegan. There were very limited options, and not much to choose from: salads, maybe; at a push, French fries. So, the origin of Slutty Vegan is about having access to vegan

Jason Crain, President at Slutty Vegan

food, which tastes great, no matter what time it is. We are open until one in the morning, and offer incredible late-night options for those following a vegan lifestyle.”

Slutty Vegan

As Jason goes on to explain, the name – as Shakespeare once suggested – is an arbitrary label. The proof is in the proverbial pudding – or burger, for that matter. “In our book, being a slut is

not about sex,” he notes. “It is not about being promiscuous or anything like that; rather, it is about choosing to indulge in things that are positive, feel-good, and good for you. If you have experienced

our food, then you will realize that these big, sloppy burgers are about recognizing you can indulge in good food while still sticking to your plantbased philosophies and ideals. We were intent on building a vegan brand with some vibes; something very opposite from the typical grass and greenery. We built an experience that feels more like an amusement park than a vegan restaurant with food that’s fun to eat, flavour-filled, and 100 percent plantbased. That’s the Slutty Vegan way.

“From those origins, we have curated a menu that is a little edgy but still tasteful,” Jason details. “In that, I mean we use names people will immediately recognize; however, because of that, we can then change

the narrative. For instance, we call all our customers sluts when they walk in. We might ask you to dance before you get your food. We might give you a birthday chant, or shout out which city you are from, we might even ask you if you are a Slutty Vegan virgin, and if so encourage you to get #SLUTTIFIED! At Slutty Vegan, being a slut isn’t sexual, it is about being part of a community that understands that even plants can taste good and you can have fun eating them! We are truly a family-friendly establishment.”

In order to prove that, Slutty Vegan recently launched a kids menu, including the ‘Eat Plants Kids Cheeseburger’ and ‘Chik’n Tenders’, and it is proving incredibly popular

already. Originally established in Atlanta, Georgia, Slutty Vegan is rolling with the (good) times, and growing with them, too. What started in a home kitchen and the back of a food truck has since snowballed.

With its attention-grabbing name, engaging marketing, and innovative menu, the fast-food chain now has six different restaurants across Georgia and Alabama. It has also recently opened a landmark store in Brooklyn, New York, and a further location in Columbus, Georgia.

Indulgent alternatives

No meat? No problem. Partnering with Impossible, a frontrunner in the meat-free alternatives market, the chain offers over a dozen different burger and hot dog options. For example, the Ménage á Trois is a plantbased patty loaded with vegan bacon, shrimp, and cheese, plus caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, and a healthy serving of the brand’s signature Slut Sauce – all topped with a vegan Hawaiian bun. Other options include the Big Dawg, a plant-based bratwurst with toppings of sauerkraut and sauce in a pretzel bun; and the innovative PLT: several sweet jerk plantains complemented with lettuce, tomato, and Slut Sauce. All of which come with golden crunchyfluffy fries.

“We try and make an ordinary burger have some life and become more vibrant,” Jason reveals. “A big part of that is our secret sauce and seasoning: Slut Sauce and Slut Dust. Together, they bring everything up to a whole new level. Additionally, we serve food like vegan banana pudding, coleslaw, and sweet potato pie. It all tastes incredible and people recognize that, though they are vegan, they can still indulge in the nostalgia of traditional foods because we are offering a meat- and dairy-free alternative.

“Everything we do leads with taste,” he goes on. “If it does not taste good, then it will not reach the menu – let alone our customers. We operate between two pillars: food that tastes great because it is cooked with love and seasoned well; and a unique experience that makes our customers want to come again and again. People walk in our doors and they are instantly met with energy, love, and a plate of food that will turn a bad day into a good one. That is what really brings people back. We also cater to a variety of customers: we launched a non-soy burger and gluten-free option for those with intolerances, and we continue to push limited-time offers to keep things fresh and exciting.”

Slutty Vegan

With a background in technology, Jason is also keen to point towards the importance of data and analytics for any growing business. For Slutty Vegan, technology has been at the core since it was first launched and initially sold its burgers via Instagram. Today, things are slightly different; people no longer need convincing that plant-based alternatives are a viable option.

As Jason explains: “The plantbased market in Atlanta is very vibrant. There are tons of entrepreneurs and restaurateurs that have opened successful vegan and vegetarian places in the city. One of the reasons we chose our initial opening site was because it is in the heart of the west end in downtown Atlanta, which is home to some of the city’s most popular vegan places. We wanted to build on top of that, adding more options for the plantbased community by freshly mixing the old with the new.

“Undoubtedly, the vegan market is growing, and we consider ourselves a leader in that space,” he asserts. “We recently launched a retail division in partnership with Costco to bring our brand from the streets into the family home, bringing us closer to being a household name. The range is doing really well, and includes Pinky’s special dips: spinach and artichoke, hotlanta cheese, and buffalo cheese. We have just launched the range in about 250 Target stores across the South and New York. This is just the start; in the future, we envisage ourselves as a brand that can bring a host of high-quality vegan products like bacon and our signature Slut Dust to grocery stores nationwide.”

Things are certainly looking up. Slutty Vegan expects at least three new openings before the close of 2022, and is planning a further ten along the East Coast next year. Founder and CEO, Pinky, is also releasing her much-anticipated cookbook in November, which will be widely available

across the US. “It is a busy time!” laughs Jason. “But that is what makes it so exciting. Going forward, we intend to become a more familiar brand that offers plant-based foods across the country, whether that means in a restaurant or a grocery store.

“In the next few years, we are also excited to see the rise of Bar Vegan, our upscale cocktail lounge, which will be popping up in additional cities across the country,” he concludes. “Another brand of ours, Dinkies, is leading the way with its vegan cheese steaks and tater tots, and consumers can expect to see more of that name in a range of settings like commercial airports. But we are also keen to continue building ourselves as a lifestyle brand outside of the food space; recent collaborations with Steve Madden and The Lip Bar attest to that. Put simply, you will be seeing, hearing, and tasting a lot more from us in the future!” D

www.sluttyveganatl.com

Taste of home

Local flavors with a global reach: how Midfield Concession

has

For Nader Hachem, Midfield Concession Enterprise Inc (MCE) Vice President, managing a business for 20 years in the restaurant industry is a testament to his parents’ hard work. “It didn’t really hit me until a few months ago when we were talking about how we started in 2002, and I couldn’t believe how quickly time had gone by. Although it’s been two decades, it’s only the beginning for us, and I believe we are quickly moving into bigger categories, which is exciting,” Nader begins.

MCE began as a family endeavour at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport when Nader’s parents opened their first original concept, Mediterranean Grill, which is an ode to his father’s Lebanese heritage. “That unit has always been my mum and dad’s pride and joy. They spent every day operating it, making sure everything ran smoothly and I remember when I was a kid, I used to go in to help them with closing, and ensure that the inventory was well stocked for the next day. Sometimes, we would leave around 11 in the evening.”

When airports look to fill retail and hospitality space, packages are put on offer for the type of stores and restaurants needed across the terminals. Nader

shares that this is where MCE comes in. “Whether it’s a local Italian eatery, or a national brand, as a company, we then go out and find a partner that we think will fit best in that collaborative unit.

“We attend conferences, reach out to brands, and forge strong relationships with a variety of names that we want to help grow across different airports. We then work closely with those teams to expand their name, and that’s what I

love about my work and this industry,” Nader shares.

Throughout his lifetime, Nader has witnessed the company expand its presence across several different airports. In doing so, he has learnt the importance of working alongside the MCE team, regardless of what the job requires, to keep each restaurant running smoothly. “I was taught to fill in wherever I am needed, which means that I’m happy to be on a register working with staff, or doing a deep clean across the unit, because that is what my parents did. Although they are less involved now, they have maintained the mentality of working alongside each member, rather than simply overseeing staff and operations, which has helped us excel in this field, and won us some excellent contracts,” he expresses.

Another aspect of his job that Nader thoroughly enjoys is flying out to other cities to meet team members, and to encourage a sense of unity across the business. He explains that keeping behind each restaurant is a dedicated team that is eager to welcome travelers visiting their airports, especially as the industry recovers from the consequences of the pandemic. “We have a very strong management base

‘

My goal, as we continue to recover, is to make sure all our units are back to running at 100 percent, and then we can work on expansion. Right now, we are projecting between 60 and 70 million dollars for this year. Prior to the pandemic, we were around 80. So, we are looking to get past that goal and the Newark development is going to make a massive contribution

that has been with us for about 17 years. We relied on them to make sure those units were open and operating. But our upper management is more than that, it’s like a family. We are used to operating with huge menus, and when Covid-19 hit, we had to limit our offering in line with staffing levels, so we reduced our menus to make it easier for our kitchens. Our back of house has been with us all the way through, helping us implement the necessary restrictions, and I’m proud of the efforts that they have all put in to see us through the last two years.”

Now that the travel industry is coming back to life, we go on to discuss the variety of restaurants on offer under the MCE name. “When we first presented our food, customers loved it because it was exactly like our signature restaurant and the dining experience afforded by the Mediterranean Grill.”

The concept of creating the original experience was then replicated to other units like Sora, a sushi restaurant that was first opened in Detroit. “We now have two locations, and we are opening a third in Newark as well. Sora has done exceptionally well, and has won awards for the best sushi concept at airports.”

The Newark development to which Nader refers is a 20-milliondollar project for a new terminal that, according to him, is ‘going to blow folks away’. “It is beautiful. We have nine units going in there; three full-service, which includes 1911 Smokehouse, and Guy Fieri’s Flavor Town, which is going to be an awesome addition that overlooks the New York skyline. I’m excited about that concept.

“Then, we have a food court located beneath the security check points right at the base of the escalators. We have two locations in that area; one is Sora, and the other is Playa Bowl, which is similar to an acai bowl and smoothie concept,” he shares. The last addition Nader discusses is WB Law; a Newark local coffee brand. Each of these restaurants such as 1911 Smokehouse, Jersey Mike and WB Law are all local to the area.

As exciting as the Newark terminal development sounds, it has not been without its challenges, and the Covid-19

Midfield Concession Enterprise Inc

pandemic has been one of the most turbulent. “The project was in the works prior to 2020, and had to be subsequently put on hold, but that has been the case across all our locations.

My goal, as we continue to recover, is to make sure all our units are back to running at 100 percent, and then we can work on expansion. Right now, we are projecting between 60 and 70 million dollars for this year. Prior to the pandemic, we were around 80. So, we are looking to get past that goal and the Newark development is going to make a massive contribution. I told my parents that I am going to focus on making sure that this exactly how we operate, and this can be a showcase for the future of MCE, and what our brand represents,” he says.

When Nader thinks about what the business will look like five years from now, his vision takes him along the west coast. “I believe there is great potential in that region for our brands to do

exceptionally well. I want to get our name out there and expand into areas like Arizona or California.

“We have a lot of employees who currently work for us in the Mid-West that ask whether we have anything in the warmer states, but we offer that availability. If an employee wants to move, we want to have those locations as an option. It’s a fantastic opportunity for them, and it’s great for the company.”

Nader then brings our discussion to a close on a note of gratitude. As he shared the journey that has brought MCE 20 years of success, it became clear that the journey would not have been possible without the support and dedication of his parents. “This opportunity that my parents have presented to me has been a wild ride, but I am very thankful for it. I am excited to see what the future holds for us, as we move on and grow our business.”

D

www.midfieldconcession.com

A true dill-light

How putting people first can lead to success - the story of Patriot Pickle

The journey of Patriot Pickle is a coincidental one. Bill McEntee, the company’s President, began his career in the restaurant industry, and saw an opportunity to expand into pickles. “I should note that we had never made

pickles before,” he begins. “We saw a gap in the supply chain for restaurants needing the condiment, so we started to make our own.” This initiative received promising responses from customers and distributors, and continued to evolve with the help of Bill’s industry

intuition. “We then leased a small warehouse building to start making them. Our customer base grew rapidly. We did over a million dollars in sales the first year we were in business. We then bought a 28,000-square-foot building, and our customers have kept coming.”

Patriot Pickle

Patriot Pickle then purchased an additional 54,000-square-foot building next door to keep up with the increase in demand. Today, he is proud to share that Patriot Pickle is the largest producer of refrigerated pickles on the east coast. “Our customer base is a

combination of food service distributors and retail. Through the food service channel, our products are then delivered to restaurants and diners. Then, Patriot Pickle provides private label retail products distributed throughout the country,” he explains.

Relishing relationships

Expanding on the topic of the company’s product range, Bill is happy to announce the launch of two new products, including a tasty and convenient graband-go pouch, known as Crisp. “It’s one of the latest that customers can find at their closest convenience stores. There is no brine solution in it, and it is a healthy snack that you can eat at your leisure,” shares Bill. He goes on to explain that the product comes in four different flavors that range from the more savory, like sweet horse radish, the original dill, and a regular or spicy hot, to the bread and butter, which hosts a sweeter taste.

“The second item is called Pickleade, which is the brine solution that we use to cure pickles. We offer that anywhere from a three-ounce bottle to a 55-gallondrum. It is a hydration drink for athletes, packed with electrolytes that restore salt balance. On the larger packs, it’s used in some distilleries as a flavoring component for different mixtures that are distilled and cured in alcohol. It can also

be used as a marinade for chicken and meat proteins,” shares Bill.

When asked about the company’s secrets to creating a fun and nutritious ingredient, Bill iterates that communication has been the top priority to ensure a smooth operation process. This, combined with his industry know-how, has powered the business forward. “From my experience working in the restaurant industry, we know what restaurant operators are looking for. We looked very closely at ways to solve on-time delivery issues, communication disruptions, and customer needs,” he says.

This approach of advocating for communication is then reflected across the company’s supply chain network. “We deal directly with cucumber growers, so we need to keep in touch with that process; that is critical. Then, whether its packaging, costs, vegetables, buckets or our salt and vinegar

suppliers, each vendor serves a crucial role to our business, and we value that.”

He then continues to discuss one additional contributor to the company’s success; one of which Bill is particularly proud. “My father used to remind us to treat people the way we want to be treated, and we carry that across our business. We actively value keeping everyone involved and motivated, and I believe that the best way to do that is by sharing the growth and celebrating every milestone.”

He shares that this ethos led Patriot Pickle to introduce a rewards scheme, which not only takes the form of monetary incentives, but prioritizes its team spending time together. “We will pick an employee each week, and tell them to take their family out to dinner, send us the receipt, and we will gladly reimburse them. From my perspective, this job means that we take our people away from their families, so as a little

reward back, we want to reinvest that time for them,” he expresses.

Crunch time

With these pillars in place to help keep the company robust against market volatility, we go on to discuss some of the challenges that Bill and his team face, following the impact of the pandemic.

“None of us has been immune to the supply chain disruptions, and from my perspective, recruitment seems to be the biggest challenge at the moment. Both are affecting businesses in so many ways. To mitigate these obstacles, we are doing our best to ensure we are well-stocked. In terms of our supply chain issues, we don’t rely on one source of supply; in some instances, we triple source, which I think has worked well for our entire network.”

Tying in with the strategies in place to maintain the business’s success, Bill dives deeper into the ways Patriot Pickle is refining its company culture. He takes

a moment to share that the business is also passionate about supporting work dedicated to helping those diagnosed with ALS, a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. “We promote and we give back to ALS annually. This company believes in contributing to something meaningful, and the fight against ALS is a cause we hold very dear.”

Now, Bill looks towards the remainder of 2022 with a clear plan that he believes will only push the company’s growth further. “We are on a strong trajectory, and there are also some new projects in development for the last quarter that will lead into 2023. The plan is to maintain our growth, which has been very rapid over the last few years. We are also concentrating on customer support, employees and our vendor relationships, which will give us an even greater advantage.”

Jokey

Patriot Pickle

When Bill considers the future of the business five years from now, he envisions the company remaining true to its core values. This, he believes, will ensure it remains dedicated to the people and causes that lie at the heart of Patriot Pickle’s success. “We never want to lose sight of being the highest quality producer out there. However, the quality and culture of our business is really the most important aspect that we need to maintain. I know that growth will be a result of this, and that can only continue to strengthen as we progress.”

D

www.patriotpickle.com

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F ueling life through freshness

When Sweetfin opened its first restaurant in 2015, few had heard of poke – and even fewer had tasted it. Now the Hawaiian concept has taken the US by storm, and at the front of that charge is Sweetfin: the place where its mainstream popularity arguably originates

For those unaware, poke – which means to cut into chunks or pieces in Hawaiian – is a fresh, healthy appetizer or main course historically served throughout Hawaii. It is a staple dish within the national cuisine and consists of skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with seaweed and candlenut. Though seemingly ubiquitous across the US today, the now readily available dish was not always so popular.

As Seth Cohen, President and CoFounder at Sweetfin, attests: “We opened our first location in Santa Monica, Los Angeles in early 2015. But, for a year and a half prior to that first restaurant, we were in the middle of an incredibly busy research and development period, trying different flavors and foods to find our concept. Through that process, the idea of a fast-casual chain came to fruition. Curiously, however, when we first started, the idea of having a standalone poke concept just did not exist. For investors, it was confusing because no one really knew what poke was and, while a staple in Hawaii, the average US consumer was unlikely to have tried it before.”

Fast forward to today, and poke is everywhere – not just in the US but all over the world. “A part of that

mainstream popularity goes back to what we were doing in 2013,” asserts Seth. “It was really innovative, and our head chef at the time, Dakota Weiss, helped to spearhead the development of the concept. She had just finished filming Top Chef and joined us as a corporate partner; we told her about our poke fusion idea, and she thought it was excellent. In that period, there was this kind of renaissance in the fast-casual restaurant movement – and poke seemed perfect for that category. It was fresh, healthy, customizable, and there was a discernible market opportunity to build upon.”

Needless to say, Sweetfin’s Californiainspired poke was a resounding hit.

As Seth informs us, for the first few months, queues of ebullient customers lined the block. Locals were obsessed.

Why would they not be? Sweetfin uses local produce, sustainable fish, and innovative ingredients; it focuses on fresh and powerful flavors, and pays homage to a variety of national cuisines to establish fast-casual fare that tastes truly unique.

Poke pioneer

Neatly summarized by its pithy ‘Pole to Bowl’ mantra, the company operates under a philosophy of responsibility; in sourcing its fish, for instance, Sweetfin endeavors to use high-quality, sustainable proteins, while maintaining a reasonable price point for its customers.

It has, therefore, cultivated a menu that is 100 percent gluten free and caters to both vegetarian and vegan diets. “We always wanted to build a business that was truly scalable,” says Seth. “Being based in Los Angeles, we knew there was already a strong Japanese demographic and culture surrounding sushi. That meant people would understand our product once they had tasted it. In Hawaii, poke has been around for generations; however, we wanted to bring that dish to Los Angeles, translating it in the process and putting our own spin on things rather than simply copying traditional means. We let it evolve, infusing it with local Californian produce and drawing on Japanese cuisine. The result was innovative and completely new; no one had ever seen anything like it.”

As with any restaurant – from fast-casual to high-end – the proof is ultimately in the pudding (or poke). A concept can be imaginative, creative, and meticulously thought out; however, if the food does not taste good, then people will not eat it.

Sweetfin knows this: a choice of protein is buoyed by a bed of local and international ingredients, tantalizing even the most seasoned of taste buds with bold new flavors. Gochujang salmon, mango albacore, shiitake chili tofu, sweet potato ponzu lime, yuzu salmon, miso eggplant and mushroom; spicy cucumber, citrus kale, kelp

‘

Our end mission is to fuel life through freshness. There are 94 million different ways you can build a Sweetfin bowl; the possibilities are endless, so you can keep on fueling up. Put simply, we feel there need to be more Sweetfin stores and less McDonald’s in the world – and we intend to make that a reality

noodle slaw, chili ginger noodles, wakame salad. The range and depth offered by Sweetfin is self-evident.

“We took the familiar flavors of Japanese sushi and combined them to create an easy-to-eat bowl,” details Seth. “As a result, we utilize ingredients that you would never find in the fastcasual world. For example, we offer yuzu kosho sauce, a Japanese chili paste that we specially import and which, therefore, you really only find in high-end sushi places; Hijiki, a type of Japanese seaweed; togarashi, a chili powder; and kelp noodles, a staple in Korean cuisine but rarely found in the US. On top of that we use shimeji and shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, Persian cucumber, as well as fresh oranges, pineapple, and mango.”

So, in short: a hybrid blend of unique ingredients combined with fresh Californian produce. To infuse its dishes with that special quality

which transcends the power of words as accurate descriptors, the poke pioneer often partners with professional, industry-leading chefs to build innovative new meals.

Chef-driven approach

Former collaborators include Susan Feniger, Antonia Lofaso, Burt Bakman, and the Michelin-starred Philip Frankland Lee. More recently, Sweetfin joined forces with Tway Nguyen, a popular chef and online content creator, to cultivate the Tway Bowl: an exclusive and herbaceous meal inspired by Tway’s Vietnamese heritage.

The dish features a base of vermicelli rice noodles and is topped with housemade pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cilantro, crispy shallots and cucumbers, scallions, sesame seeds, and a crispy rice cracker. Alongside a choice of protein – from line-caught Albacore tuna imported from the Fijian islands

to plant-based options like tofu – eager foodies are treated to sesame crackers and a classic Vietnamese dipping sauce.

As Seth notes, the dish is a prime example of the company’s willingness to remain innovative and embrace different cultures. “Part of that innovation comes down to procurement,” reveals Seth. “We have always been very transparent in how we source our proteins. To that end, if someone walks into Sweetfin, they will be presented with both a menu and a fact card for all our fish, explaining how and where they were caught, as well as displaying their sustainability ratings.

“As such, we have made it impossible to not make a good choice at Sweetfin,” he continues. “All our produce comes in daily, and our toppings are prepared in-house from scratch. We take a chef-driven approach to how we operate our Sweetfin kitchens and that quality of preparation and produce sets us apart from competitors. Guests can tell the difference, too.”

Digital offering

Following the incredible success of its first Santa Monica location, Sweetfin swiftly opened a second restaurant in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Within 18 months, the company had managed to carve out a strong reputation in its hometown, and had thus attracted enough funding to open a further eight locations.

Since then, things have not slowed down. Currently, Sweetfin operates with a total of 16 fast-casual outlets – 13 restaurants; three to-go kitchens – across Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, where the company continues to build itself as an established brand.

Another way Sweetfin has remained innovative is through its robust investments in cutting-edge technology. In 2015, the vast majority of Sweetfin orders were taken in-store by a cashier; yet, over the last few years, that ratio has shifted as guests increasingly gravitate towards digital ordering.

Having recognized that shift, Sweetfin now operates with smart self-ordering kiosks, which use, for instance, face-recognition software to remember regular customers and have their order ready for them. “Technology such as this will prove pivotal in our future, as we look to aggressively expand in the coming years,” concludes Seth.

“Our end mission is to fuel life through freshness. There are 94 million different ways you can build a Sweetfin bowl; the possibilities are endless, so you can keep on fueling up. Put simply, we feel there need to be more Sweetfin stores and less McDonald’s in the world – and we intend to make that a reality.” D

www.sweetfin.com

It’s already proving to be a busy year for Bay Drinks Group (BDG). As the company announced in March, it would no longer be trading under the name of Morecambe Bay Wines, which was established in 1984.

The Cross family, who own and operate the company from its headquarters in the UK seaside

town of Morecambe, Lancashire, has completely overhauled the brand following an impressive increase in turnover to £24 million. Now operating as Bay Drinks Group (BDG), the business is stretching its wings; the recent acquisition of a specialist craft beer producer, Funky Brands Drinks Company, suggests it’s ready for flight. It appears a toast is in order.

Following a recent rebranding and relaunch, Bay Drinks Group is proudly raising a glass to an exciting and prosperous future

Refreshing the brand

Inviting us behind-the-scenes of this spectacular transition is Loic Cross, Managing Director at Bay Drinks Group. “The business was originally set up by my father, focusing predominantly on the wine and spirits market,” he begins. “However, it quite quickly became more of a composite drinks business, selling a wide range of products, including soft drinks,

sprits, beers (bottled, keg, cask, and craft), wine, and more. The company grew year-on-year, and we acquired our first purpose built commercial unit in 1989. Soon after that, we decided to construct two more purpose-built units, which we operate out of now. More recently, we acquired another building on site, future-proofing our rapidly growing brand by generating

a further 8000 square feet of commercial space.”

As a wholesaler, BDG is proud to partner with hospitality businesses, helping customers to access and achieve commercial success through the perfect blend of products, services, expertise, and industry insights underpinned by exceptional customer service and support. Put together,

‘

We can offer everything that any bar, pub, or restaurant will ever need and at times things they didn’t know they needed – whether that means high-end champagnes or bottles of Budweiser. We’re a one-stop shop; however, we intend to go beyond that definition. We make sure our teams have the necessary skills to provide industry-leading support to our customers, including specialist Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) training

the offering becomes a resoundingly holistic one – every facet of the business is covered, from what stock to procure to how it should be presented to the end user.

As well as an exceptional sales and account management team BDG also has its own mobile application and online ordering system, making it easier than ever to stock up on a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. BDG’s ‘phygital’ approach offers its customers tailored product recommendations, data insights on trending topics, and the way individual items should be marketed at any time of year in whichever way the customer chooses to interact.

“While the pandemic certainly challenged our company and the wider industry, it also gave us an opportunity to evaluate our business and put growth plans in place,” says Loic. “To

support our vision, we’ve just brought in a new COO, Andrea Georgiou which is a big move for us, so that’s certainly going to turn our attention to the operations side of the business and challenge the current operating model – looking at how we use technology to work even smarter, recruit even better, and strengthen our leadership in this dynamic sector. Where we’re at now and where we want to be are two very different things – but the journey is the exciting part!”

Driven by a decidedly simple but effective ethos, BDG’s team of knowledgeable and friendly industry professionals aim to continually improve the businesses of its customers through high-quality service and bespoke solutions – seven days a week. Whether traditional drinks from well-established brands or innovative products from artisan producers are required, BDG prides

Bay Drinks Group

itself on always being able to quickly source the best products at the most competitive prices.

As it stands, three unique brands operate under the wider BDG banner: Vinify Wines, Funky Brands Drinks Company, and Cross Bay Brewery. Let’s dive into each of them to get under the skin of BDG’s offering.

Bear & Star – Kingsland Drinks

BDG offers a deeply varied core range of wines designed to satisfy traditionalists and modernists alike. From light and fruity rosés that ought to be gracefully sipped under the late afternoon sun to full bodied and robust reds that lend themselves to the warming quality of a log fire in the middle of winter, the Morecambe-based

We are proud to have supplied Bay Drinks Group over many years, sharing our passion and extensive knowledge on the wine industry.

Kingsland Drinks is an employee owned, expert led business, making wine since 1955 and offering complete category solutions. Our on-trade exclusive brand Bear & Star with roots in California, was born in 2019 from the winemaker’s desire to create high quality, good value wines for everyone to enjoy. The range has expanded since its launch to ensure we’re providing delicious, easy drinking wines from the high-demand regions across the world.

Our range has it all covered, with an appealing design and six popular varietals available in convenient serves of 187ml or 75cl. Our bestselling Melot from Chile offers ripe damson and black cherry flavours with a touch of dark chocolate and vanilla on the palate. And with Rose on the up in the on-trade, our White Zinfandel can offer a fresh, quality serve to your wine range with delicious strawberry, cherry and watermelon flavours.

Stock up now on Bear & Star at Bay Drinks Group.

Range available in 187ml & 75cl: Sauvignon Blanc, Chile. Pinot Grigio, Moldova. Chardonnay, Australia. White Zinfandel Rose, USA. Merlot, Chile. Shiraz, Australia.

wholesaler can provide the goods. For those who want something special, BDG also offers award-winning wines featured in the renowned UK Sommelier Competition.

The company plans to stay at the front of the rapidly evolving market by studying the latest trends and newest developments, treating wine connoisseurs to the best offerings that are currently available. For many years, it has worked with leading UK partners to secure exclusive lines from all over the world: the UK, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and so on.

However, BDG doesn’t just stop there. Vinify, its very own specialist, in-house wine merchant, offers a comprehensive service. Beginning with bespoke wine list curation, handpicked orders, the company then supports its customers in all aspects of selling – from advertising to pricing and promotional events.

“We’re heavily focused on our service, and that truly sets us apart from the competition,” says Loic. “We can offer everything that any bar, pub, or restaurant will ever need and at times things they didn’t know they needed – whether that means high-end champagnes or bottles of Budweiser. We’re a one-stop shop; however, we intend to go beyond that definition. We make sure our teams have the necessary skills to provide industry-leading support to our customers, including specialist Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) training. In simple terms, that means we go into a wine bar or a restaurant and train their teams through sophisticated tasting sessions, with notes on flavors, as well as how to market and sell wine.”

Indeed, BDG intends to capitalize on the exciting boom of the UK wine industry; holidaymakers are increasingly turning to local and regional wine producers as they opt for more environmentally-friendly buying decisions alongside staycations and less trips abroad. Industry data indicates that over 700 UK-based vineyards have planted nearly 2000 hectares of vines within the last five years alone. That’s a lot of wine!

When it comes to beer, BDG really excels. As German specialty lagers become ever more desirable, the business has capitalized on the trend. With Funky Brands Drinks Company, customers can expect innovative craft beers that break new ground on traditional flavors. “Through our sister company, Funky Brands, we have the exclusive UK rights to the German brewery Dinkelacker, which produces a wide range of craft beers – all refreshing, full of flavor, and brewed by the family-owned business with care and attention,” explains Loic. “That gives us a strong USP, and it’s one reason why we decided to transition to Bay Drinks Group putting all our brands and offerings under one umbrella, making it easy for our customers to do business with us and giving us an edge in this competitive and exciting market.”

Bottled beers, craft cans, cask ales, and kings of the keg – the vast range presented by BDG covers all bases, and the group boasts a plethora of longstanding relationships with both established and up-and-coming brands. However, the group also operates its own award-winning brewery.

Producing fine, handcrafted ales under the expert eye of head brewer Nick Taylor, Cross Bay Brewery utilizes the best hops available as well as tried and tested artisan processes that don’t rely on modern machines. As Loic points out, it recently won the World Gold Beer Award for its Cross Bay Sunset beer and remains the only brewery to operate out of Morecambe, Lancashire.

In addition, BDG provides a comprehensive range of soft drinks and confectionary from leading brands like Mars, Cadbury, Walkers, Coca-Cola, Lucozade, and Tango. Sales across all these various ranges have increased in recent times, and as a result the firm has recruited an additional 32 people.

As the company eyes up the future of the drinks and hospitality sector, BDG will further grow the team to cater for its growth. “The pandemic made us to do a lot of thinking about the future,” Loic notes. “Initially, everyone was unsure about what was going to happen. Yet our biggest concern was for the

Bay Drinks Group

security and wellbeing of our team. We made the executive decision to absorb losses and retain the team. To mitigate that loss, we turned to online sales: beermonster.com, which has become a go-to site for home beer machines, really took off. With our partners, we developed that brand and released our own products mid-pandemic. In that sense, Covid-19 forced us to pivot to different revenue streams to further optimize and diversify the business.

“We’re excited and optimistic about

the future,” he concludes. “With the recent investment into the company and in developing the group, we’re very confident of achieving greater success. In some respects, it’s a bittersweet moment in replacing the Morecambe Bay Wines brand, which has got us to where we are now, but with the establishment of the group, it enables us to access a wider range of products that will also help our leisure and hospitality clients build their businesses in the future, too.”

Nothing lessthan fresh

Fourth-generation

F or over 80 years, Sirna & Sons has brought the finest local vegetables and dairy products to restaurateurs and business owners across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The family owned and operated business has strong ties to its local community, and a widespread reputation for freshness. As it continues to deliver the very best service and produce, Sirna & Sons welcomes its fourth generation into the business, and looks forward to continued organic growth.

“Sirna & Sons Produce is a family-owned wholesale foodservice distributor. While our largest emphasis is on produce, we also have extensive lines of dairy and specialty products that we sell to our customers.

We started out as a small, one aisle grocery store in Chicago, IL, but when the great depression hit, we relocated to Cleveland, OH, in order to find more work opportunities.

“Over the course of the next 80 years, we evolved through the retail sector into the wholesale industry, which we began servicing in 1989. In 2019, we added over 100,000 square feet of warehouse space to our headquarters in Ravenna, OH, to accommodate growing sales. The business is currently run by third-generation family members, Vince

Sirna & Sons

Sirna, Serena Sirna Wagner, and myself. Fourth-generation family members Anthony Sirna and Allie Sirna Worley also work in the company, joining in 2013 and 2019, respectively,” begins President, Tom Sirna.

Complete service

Throughout the course of its long history, Sirna & Sons has developed a dedicated network of farmers and suppliers, as Tom reveals: “Over 84 years in the industry, we have established numerous longstanding relationships with growers, across the US and internationally. In addition to this, we work with several large purchasing groups that have participation from over 50 other foodservice distributors, which provides group buying power and negotiated pricing. In return, we can pass these savings down to our valued customers.

“Whilst we do buy most of our products through growers across the US, we take advantage of local produce whenever possible. Being based in Ohio, we are fortunate to have plenty of excellent local vendors available to us between the months of May and September. Supporting local farmers helps local economies thrive, which is really important to us.

“In addition to the monetary value of supporting our surrounding communities, the quality and pricing of local products can’t be beaten when they are in season. There is nothing like Ohio sweetcorn in July, or berries in the height of summer. We have found many of our customers also actively

search for these opportunities in the local season, in order to provide their consumers with the same quality and freshness. It makes us feel very proud when we walk by a local restaurant and see some of our items on their seasonal menus,” continues Tom.

Providing a complete service has always been important to Sirna & Sons – that’s why the company founded Christine’s Cuts, a specialist vegetable processing operation, in 2016. “We opened Christine’s Cuts in order to fulfil the large demand for specialty cut fruits and vegetables. We have found success in making specific cuts that chefs in our market can’t get from anywhere else. Over time, we have also seen the demand for these items increase due to the most recent labor shortage - we make it easier on our customer’s back-of-house operations by taking the processing out of their day-to-day responsibilities. We operate six days a week and process daily to ensure optimal freshness on each product line.

“Technology continues to be a huge driver in our workspace - while you will never fully eliminate the need for manual labor in our industry, we continue to look for ways to improve our infrastructure with technology-backed solutions, ultimately increasing efficiency while maintaining the highest possible level of quality and service,” Tom explains.

Alongside its fruit and vegetable offering, Sirna & Sons also supplies a range of dairy products, baked goods, herbs, spices and purees to customers in the hospitality sector. The company maintains partnerships with restaurants,

hotels and even schools all across Ohio, Central Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia through a strong focus on customer support. As Tom confirms: “We were founded on the ability to provide a quality service, and to this day that is what we pride ourselves on the most.

“Being a family-owned company, it is our foundational belief that the customer is always right. We will do whatever we can to make sure they are taken care of the way they expect to be, every single day, and if we don’t, we will always find a way to make it right.”

Core values

These strong connections, forged by Sirna & Sons’ dedicated team, helped the company survive the challenges of a global pandemic. As Tom discusses: “Covid-19 pushed our boundaries and caused us to take a hard look at our operations. It meant that we had to make necessary changes, which we’d never considered before.

“Thankfully, we were quick on our feet and implemented a curbside grocery pickup program, which helped sell a lot of our inventory to local communities and also allowed us to help those in need. Additionally, we participated in the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program, where we provided over 445,668 food boxes to food insecure communities. These two projects alone helped to stabilize our business until restaurants, bars, and other wholesale customers were able to reopen.

“We have learned that you can never truly plan for bumps that may be down the road. Nobody would have ever expected our business to drop 75 percent due to a virus, but it happened, and we have learned from it and ultimately became stronger because of it.”

Despite the adversity Sirna & Sons has faced in recent years, it has always remained dedicated to its core values of service, quality and sustainability. As Tom enthuses: “Environmental consciousness and social responsibility are important parts of our culture. Sirna & Sons Produce recognizes that businesses can have a negative impact

on the environment and the importance of reducing our carbon footprint.

“In 2019, when we did our major expansion to the Ravenna warehouse, we incorporated a 453-kW solar system, which provides close to 35 percent of our annual electricity. The use of solar helps to reduce consumption of fossil fuels by lowering greenhouse gases and pollution, whilst also reducing our operating costs. All the lighting throughout our new warehouse space is LED, operating on motion sensors to conserve energy and be most efficient.

“Additionally, our building siding is a blend of real maple and TruGrain composite siding; this material is comprised of rice husks, agricultural by-product and synthetic plastics. TruGrain is 100 percent recyclable, with a longer life span than regular wood. Our refrigeration needs are accomplished through eco-friendly

Sirna & Sons

gas production, and we also use a carboard baler to recycle cardboard and paper within each facility, all of which helps reduce our carbon emissions. We have also invested

in a new fleet of trucks that will be operational within the next year – it will incorporate some electric vehicles, a direction we hope to continue to take in the future,” reveals Tom.

Today, Sirna & Sons continues to thrive. With an ever-growing range of local specialties, dedicated grower base, and strong, family-led community, the company looks forward to a bright future. As Tom concludes: “Our plans for the future are all about consistency, stability, and continual growth. There are a lot of factors changing within the industry right now, and our goal is to remain a steady partner to current and prospective customers.

“In the long-term, our end goal will always be expansion. In the next three to five years, we are aiming for continued double digit growth year over year, while meeting the demands of an ever-changing industry.” D

www.sirnaandsonsproduce.com

A true Texas staple

Coming off the back of a hot and productive spring, Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants has shown an impressive rate of growth over the last few months, opening 17 new locations in the US, Canada, and Japan – and, in the next five years, anticipates opening 300 more locations

The story behind Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants (Dickey’s) and its famed Barbecue Pit dates back to

1941. That year, a World War I veteran named Travis Dickey decided to open his very first barbecue restaurant in the heart of Dallas, Texas.

To this day, that address – 4610 North Central Expressway – remains a central, flagship restaurant among the company’s some 550 global locations.

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants

Though Dickey’s would eventually become the largest barbecue restaurant company in the world, there’s still much story left to tell.

The phase of rapid growth that brought Dickey’s to where it is now can be traced back to 1994. Prior to that date, the Dallas-based restaurant

company existed as a small, family-run operation with nine locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth region. But change was on the horizon.

In 1994, Dickey’s began a franchising program with the aim of serving up classic and authentic Texan barbecue to the entire nation. Needless

to say, the program succeeded, catapulting the business up into the upper echelons of the national restaurant space. In fact, the first two franchisees to join the brand still operate multiple Dickey’s restaurants today, attesting to the robustness and longevity of the company.

Unique experiences

Fast forward to 2010, and Dickey’s had been named the largest barbecue franchise in the US. Five years later, the brand secured its place at the fore of its market niche by opening its 500th location.

“Dickey’s has served legitimate Texan barbecue for over eight decades and across three generations of family,” begins Laura Rea Dickey, CEO at Dickey’s, who has overseen the addition of international locations like Abu Dhabi and Dubai to the brand. “Over the years, we’ve remained incredibly thankful for our amazing guests. Barbecue is passionate food; we love making memories with meats, smoke, and great folks.

“Though we aim to stay true to our roots, we also want to evolve with the times,” she continues. “As a result, we’ve experienced tremendous growth. But we’ve also made sure those warm and intimate feelings conjured by our original Barbecue Pit haven’t been lost.

‘

...When guests sit down at any of our restaurants, they find an experience unique to Dickey’s. Our authentic Texan barbecue fare, coupled with genuine and passionate service, is a winning formula – and it ensures that customers will return to us time and time again

When guests sit down at any of our restaurants, they find an experience unique to Dickey’s. Our authentic Texan barbecue fare, coupled with genuine and passionate service, is a winning formula – and it ensures that customers will return to us time and time again.”

This brand loyalty has come to define Dickey’s, and it continues to guide every undertaking for the Dallas-based restaurant giant. One example of such is Dickey’s wider expansion to include several sister companies that all work together to enhance the barbecue experience for customers. Those are: Barbecue At Home by Dickey’s, Wycliff Douglas Provisions, Spark Hospitality Technology, Wing Boss, Big Deal Burger, and Trailer Birds.

Earlier this year, Dickey’s also expanded its Barbecue Pit retail line with the addition of its renowned Beef Brisket Rub and Rib Rub, which have been added to 134 Giant Carlisle

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants

locations across the US. In all, the retail line, which also includes canned beans, sauces, and meats, is available at over 5500 outlets.

In terms of restaurants, business has also been booming with an unprecedented speed. For instance, six new Barbecue Pit locations were

footprint further overseas.

There’s no mistaking that the brand has come a long way since Mr. Dickey opened the original Dickey’s in Dallas 81 years ago. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is how the familyrun company chooses to smoke its signature meats and serve up its Southern sides.

“Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is an American success story, and a true Texas staple,” asserts Laura. “In our restaurants, we slow-smoke all our meats the same way we did in 1941, and we remain committed to source the very best, responsibly-raised meats. Our menu is based around the hickory wood pits that give our food its distinct, smoky taste; while we will continue to optimize our offerings, we will always serve a core range of barbecue meats to provide customers with a taste of authentic Texan cuisine.

“No matter the meat, everything is always pit-smoked,” she adds. “Upon entering Dickey’s, guests will be greeted by a pit master hand-chopping freshly barbecued meats; they will smell the hickory burning, they will hear country music, and they will find

a game on the television. However, that all works to amplify the main event: food! Combo plates of pork and kielbasa, beef brisket, St. Louis-style ribs, spicy cheddar sausage, smoked turkey, marinated buffalo chicken, and an abundance of homestyle sides, such as jalapeño beans, green onions, creamy spinach, macaroni and cheese, waffle fries, and fried okra, all await eager guests. As always, kids eat free on Sunday.”

Robust planning

Recently, Dickey’s kicked off its summer celebrations, launching additional items that are bound to make mouths water. The limited-edition menu features the return of a fan favorite: the premium King’s Hawaiian Spicy Chicken and Cheddar Sandwich, which is made with Dickey’s signature pit-smoked marinated chicken breast, cheddar, jalapeños, and spicy barbecue sauce – all encased by a soft and pillowy King’s Hawaiian Bun.

Like many other businesses, however, Dickey’s has had to operate differently over the past few years. When the pandemic hit, for instance, the barbecue restaurant chain was forced to adapt, shifting its strategy to

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants

focus on digital sales and highlighting the availability of to-go, delivery, and catering options for its customers.

Yet the whirlwind arrival of Covid-19 and the marketing shift that Dickey’s was pushed into making has since

resulted in several new virtual brands being established, working to bolster the company and its various commercial interests. “Throughout the pandemic, we had to overcome supply chain constraints, labor shortages, and guest anxiety,” admits Laura.

“Fortunately, however, we came up with a robust business plan. For example, we cut royalties for 14 weeks to support our franchise operators and implemented tamper-proof packaging to ensure quality standards were maintained during delivery. To lighten the load for our guests, we also applied our beloved kids-eat-free offer to online orders every Sunday.

Enduring relationships

“Our people make Dickey’s what it is, and we want to support them,” she notes. “We’re passionate about training and education for all our staff – from certified pit masters to our executive team – and therefore we offer them the necessary resources to fulfil their set objectives. As a result, our team is engaged, prepared, and successful. We have high standards governed by a culture of meritocracy; in that way, we celebrate our individual wins together. Our employees receive better than average pay, paid time off (PTO) days, and numerous other benefits. We bring lunch to our home office team every day and happy hour beverages on Friday afternoons to our Dallas home office team. Once a month, we close the office early to celebrate our successes and Barbecue University graduates. Naturally, our suppliers are partners within the wider business. When we succeed, our partners do, too; through that symbiotic relationship, we’ve created a mutually beneficial commercial landscape to work in. Reflecting on our long history, we truly value those enduring relationships that have stood the test of time, including Dr. Pepper (81 years), Coca-Cola (15 years), and Reser’s Fine Foods (14 years).”

As a centenary of business draws closer, Dickey’s shows no signs of faltering; instead, the barbecue giant boasts a fully-stocked expansion

pipeline, and is currently busy promoting Behind the BBQ, an award-winning cookbook, as well as new menu items like handcut fries. “Now is the time to stay tuned,” explains Laura. “We’re in the process of opening more Dickey’s locations overseas and will continue to facilitate our rapid expansion in the US, while also developing our emerging brand concepts. Going forward, we will be further merging barbecue and technology, measuring guest sentiment through data analysis; for example, we’ve already found that customers value high quality barbecue, which can be ordered online or through our mobile application, and loyalty rewards they will actually use. To that end, loyalty members are now able to earn more points through Dickey’s Big Yellow Cup Rewards program with our new in-app QR code.

Ambitions for the future

“In the next five years, we want to add 300 more Dickey’s Barbecue Pit locations across the US and double the size of our emerging brands like Barbecue At Home (bbqathome. com), which offers our guests the chance to smoke and prepare the food they love in the comfort of their very own home,” she concludes. “Moreover, we will aim to increase the market presence of our retail line by adding Dickey’s signature ribs to nationwide grocery stores. From a social responsibility standpoint, we’re also intent on doubling the size of our Dickey’s Foundation donations, thereby continuing to support first responders in the communities in which we do business. To date, the Dickey’s Foundation has donated more than $400,000 worth of safety, protection, and rescue equipment through financial grants. Put simply, we want to keep providing the best, mouthwatering Texas-style barbecue to fans across the world and support the communities where we work and live. Needless to say, there’s a lot more in store for the company!” D www.dickeys.com

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants

Taking the biscuit beyond ordinary

When Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken began business nearly ten years ago, biscuits were thought to be a distinct product of the South. Now, however, their appeal is becoming widespread, and the company bearing their name intends to capitalize on that ubiquity

Ken Priest and Brian Wiles

Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken

What started as a simple concept - great fastcasual food made with premium ingredients by people who care - has transformed into something much larger. By pushing boundaries with ostensibly ordinary ingredients and innovating familiar Southern flavors, Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken (Rise) has outgrown its humble origins. From its original, flagship store in Durham, North Carolina, the brand has stretched its wings and expanded into full-blown flight,

now holding multiple locations across its home state, as well as numerous others in Kansas, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

For nearly ten years, Rise has served up the finest biscuits – or scones, if you live outside of the US – and chicken, garnering many accolades and a loyal following in the process. Yet, unquestionably, the chief driver of that recognition is its humble-turnedgourmet biscuit.

using just five ingredients, including real butter and soft wheat flour locallysourced from Renwood Mills in Newton, North Carolina. But that doesn’t mean its flavors have to be. Popular dishes on the menu include Rise’s classic Southern biscuit paired with its famous, righteous chicken – by which it means: tenderized, antibiotic-free meat, brined in buttermilk before being fried until crispy and golden-brown – and the so-called Sweet Country Blues: a glazed blueberry biscuit encasing an all-natural, clean-label pork sausage.

Customers can also expect Southern staples like crunchy fried okra, cheese grits, cheddar tots, as well as pimento cheese, and Nashville hot sauce.

For vegetarians, Rise offers a range of meat-free dishes such as avocado toast, a favorite of their customers, as well as vegetarian sausages made with a variety of country spices, and a fried green tomato and pimento cheese biscuit. “We look revise our menu once a year and have an ongoing conversation with our store managers, taking into account all the information they share,” says Brian Wiles, COO at Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken. “While we have fan favorites, which come back every now and then, we’re always looking for fresh ideas and new flavors.

Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken

“One thing that doesn’t change, however, is the quality,” he continues. “We don’t use shortening in our biscuits. We use real butter and make them inhouse every day. Sometimes we will add berries or cinnamon, glazing them into the biscuit dough and putting them in the fryer, before then lightly dusting them in powdered sugar. By finding new ways to dress our signature item, we keep things exciting. We aim to push the boundary of expectation, and that makes us really proud, but it also means people keep coming back for more.”

Springer Mountain Farms

Making a difference

Indeed, in November, Rise will celebrate ten years in business. The brand has come a long way in the last decade – and, for company CFO Ken Priest, the reasons behind that are quite simple. “Our business model is based on taking care of people,” he explains.

“Whether that means our customers or our employees, we always try to make a difference. One way we’re currently doing that is through the integration of technology, future-proofing ourselves and the wider food and restaurant industry, which will then allow us to keep caring for people in many years to come.”

Springer Mountain Farms is a proud partner of Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken. Producing Righteous Chicken is no easy task, and demands top quality chicken. Springer Mountain Farms is able to meet Rise’s strict requirements by providing our chickens with a quality life and healthy diet. We take extra steps to ensure the health and welfare of our chicken, which is why our practices are American Humane Certified™ and verified by a third-party for extra peace of mind. Additionally, our chicken is raised on an all vegetarian diet that never includes animal by-products, and are never administered antibiotics, hormones or steroids.

Creating the best tasting, top quality chicken is no easy task. Springer Mountain Farms has spent the last 25 years perfecting our practices with the industry’s best minds and technology.

That is why Rise trusts Springer Mountain Farms to be their exclusive Righteous Chicken supplier.

Successful commercial relationships abound, and Rise has developed a strong network of award-winning local producers and nationwide food distributors. These include, as mentioned previously, Renwood Mills, but also the Durham-based roaster Counter Culture Coffee, as well as Cooper River Farms, Springer Mountains, Goodnight Brothers Country Ham, and US Foods.

“Sometimes these partnerships just fall into your lap,” explains Brian. “If you’ve been around long enough and are known for creating a high-quality product, then sooner or later people will start knocking at your door – and our door is always open. By taking the time to create an open dialogue with these companies, we can make sure that they not only understand us but are aligned with our core values.

“We need to be headed in the same direction,” he says. “We personally visit our suppliers, touring their facilities to better understand how they work and to show our gratitude since, without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. With Renwood Mills, for instance, we’ve met the individual farmers there and seen the fields they grow their wheat in.

It’s incredible to then go back and see our signature Southern biscuits being served in-store, knowing exactly where each of their stories began.”

Yet those fresh, soft, and warmbuttered biscuits weren’t always the core focus of the brand. The popular fast-casual chain has been through an evolutionary arc since its inception, originally trading under the name Rise Biscuits and Donuts. However, several years later, Tom Ferguson, the late CEO and Founder of Rise, decided to transition away from the original breakfast-based concept to allow the business to scale.

As Brian makes clear, having biscuits and donuts baked in-house every single day was too much of a burden on staff. “In the beginning, we did everything by scratch,” he remembers. “We were making donuts and biscuits from base ingredients every day, which requires a tremendous amount of labor and

employees to come in the night before. We made the bold decision to swap fresh-baked donuts for frozen ones, and instead channel our focus into predominantly biscuits and chicken.”

Biscuits and people

Prior to the rebrand, Ken points out, Rise felt like two distinct companies

operating under one roof. “Initially, changing to frozen donuts was very strange because we had always made everything fresh. However, it enabled us to elevate our biscuits and chicken, which people were wanting more than anything else on the menu. The biscuit is the backbone of this company and always has been. For a little while,

customers began to think of Rise as a donut place, and that bothered Tom because he founded this company with a vision to make interesting, highquality sandwiches from scratch and turn the humble biscuit into something extraordinary.

“Biscuits were once a discernibly regional food,” he adds. “Yet, with the popularity of food television and the openness of internet discussions, the boundaries of regionality have since loosened. In fact, we’re currently preparing to open a new location in California, which we wouldn’t have ever

Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken

“When Covid-19 dramatically changed the food industry, it was really only a simple switch for us,” explains Brian. “We had already begun to move away from cashiers, establishing a simple kiosk system across all our stores, and we had integrated thirdparty delivery companies into our online ordering system. Following on from that, we ran our sites with a locker function – customers could place orders online and have their food stored in heated lockers, ready for contactless collection at a designated time. By linking this system with external delivery firms, we could also offer a safe and timely dropoff service that customers and drivers alike valued highly. It’s not that Covid-19 wasn’t a struggle, but because of the infrastructure that we already had in place, we weren’t hit as hard as others.”

“Years before the pandemic, when we were reading the tealeaves of what restaurants would look like in

the future, we were seeing trends that suggested every restaurant would become smaller and have less people working in them,” reveals Ken. “In the end, we built something that could survive an unprecedented global health emergency. While our competitors lagged behind, we stayed ahead of the curve. As we move forward, we intend to remain there, investigating the efficacy of robotics within kitchens.

“Things are moving fast,” he concludes. “We have numerous franchise agreements underway, and we intend to open between 25 and 50 new locations within the next ten years, with more of a focus on corporate sites going forward. At the end of the day, we’re a biscuit company, but we’re also a people company, and we want to grow. That way, we can continue elevating our people, offering them a bright path forward.”

D

www.risebiscuitschicken.com

thought possible ten years ago. It’s been an incredibly rewarding journey. Of course, we’ve made mistakes. But we refuse to beat ourselves up over them. We learn, we improve, and we move forward.”

Taking this evolutionary approach ensured that Rise could successfully pivot and adapt its operations when the pandemic eventually hit. Indeed, by 2019, it had already built a convenient and easy-to-use online store, allowing customers to browse menus and order food directly to their door with the click of a button.

The superfood experience

Established in 2016, everbowl’s bright and delicious superfood bowls are set to reshape our approach to healthy living

everbowl®

In 2016, Jeff Fenster, a serial entrepreneur, was looking for a new challenge and sought a project that would combine his passion for health and fitness with an unrelenting drive to succeed. Identifying an opportunity in a key market trend and leveraging his ability to apply transformative business practices to any industry, Fenster set his sights on the quick-serve restaurant (QSR) niche. Though he had never worked in the food industry, he was confident his management, organization and leadership skills would serve him well.

He launched everbowl® to fundamentally change the way people eat and the way restaurants interact with their communities.

At its core, everbowl’s proposition is simple: give people the nutrition they need to fuel their active lifestyles with superfood bowls and smoothies that are not only healthy but also delicious. By bringing consciously wholesome meals and snacks to every community that wants to take charge of their bodies’ performance, everbowl empowers everyone to become their “best selves,” Fenster explains.

Crisp

Everbowl starts with flavorful, nutrient-rich ingredients that provide numerous health benefits such as maintaining good heart health, boosting immunity, regulating metabolism, boosting energy levels and reducing the effects of aging. Everbowl has created several favorite menu items based on these superfoods – acai, pitaya (dragon fruit), matcha and other “stuff that’s been around forever®,” as the company’s tagline says.

The açai base, created from a purple drupe fruit native to the eastern Amazon Basin, is one of many flavor

Crisp is an enterprise restaurant management system, built for franchises and growing brands. It addresses needs at every level of your organization, from scheduling tools for managers, deep and broad reporting for store operators, administrative tools to calculate and collect royalties, and much more. The company’s approach is to reduce touch-points for franchisees, making new location setup and activation efficient and easy, even for new owners who are opening their first restaurant operation. It takes pride in meeting the needs of high growth brands due to easy-to-use software, hardware selection and install assistance, and a streamlined onboarding process for every store.

Crisp also prides itself on its in-store capabilities. With flexible kitchen options to support multiple KDS and Expo configurations that include the option for label printers. Crisp has also been stress-tested in some of the highest volume drive-thru’s out there, its upstream ordering options have proven to be up to the challenge.

Crisp delivers a full customer experience suite standard with its services. With gift cards (physical and digital), flexible loyalty programs, mobile app, online ordering, and automated drip campaigns, Crisp helps brands engage and build lasting relationships with their customers.

Last, but certainly not least of all, the company has built tools to make life simple for franchisors operating multi-owner environments. It has leveraged Adyen’s powerful payment platform to build franchisor tools like automatic royalty transfers and inter-location payables and receivables for gift card pooling.

Software Consolidation

With Crisp, you can handle your loyalty, online ordering, POS, reporting, payroll, scheduling, and more - all in one place. Our customers usually replace at least 4 major services when switching.

make QSR management a breeze.

Next-level

and transfer

all within your Crisp dashboard. Built on Adyen's powerful payment platform, all it takes is a click.

packed superfood offerings on the everbowl menu. Others include ‘Pitaya’ (known in English as ‘dragon fruit’), which delivers a tropical flavor reminiscent of mango or pineapple. The luxurious ‘Cacao Wow’, meanwhile, combines the taste of chocolate with a rich source of antioxidants. Customers can choose tried-and-true Local Favorite bowls or smoothies from everbowl’s set menu. Popular selections include the classic everbowl acai bowl topped with banana, strawberry and blueberry, and the Blue Lagoon, featuring pitaya, blue majic and coco love bases topped with fresh strawberry, pineapple and shaved coconut. Or, they can let their imaginations take over by concocting their own customizable Whatever Bowl® with the superfood bases of their choice and unlimited toppings.

Market expansion

A unique concept, everbowl’s growth is nevertheless indicative of a broader trend. The global superfoods market reached a value of $152.71bn in 2021, and is predicted to increase yet further, hitting an estimated $214.95bn by 2027. A growing health consciousness among consumers and increased awareness of the benefits superfoods deliver are the primary factors driving the change.

Even for everbowl, with its relatively short history, the changes taking place within the sector are palpable. “When we started out, only about 30 percent of people could tell you with certainty what an açai bowl was,” Jeff recalls. “About 50 percent had heard of the concept but weren’t sure exactly. The remaining 20 percent thought I was speaking a foreign language.”

There’s little doubt that such figures have improved in the years since, but regardless, everbowl continues to dedicate significant resources towards broadening its market. In April, the company took the next step in its ongoing product development strategy, launching a new range of superfood smoothies. Packed with high-quality ingredients, the smoothies are available in four varieties, including ‘Matcha Magic’, a twist on Asian

green tea, coupled with bananas and almond milk and ‘NanaBerry Bliss’, which resembles a classic strawberry and banana. Another product line extension, everbowl’s açai-infused ‘Superfuel’ coffee, rewrites the rules on the traditional morning pick-me-up.

Like its superfood bowls, everbowl’s latest product offerings speak to the company’s broader belief in clean, back-to-basics living. It’s a vision encapsulated in a single word: unevolve®. “As modern technology has advanced, we’ve increasingly found ourselves introducing products that lack vital nutrients,” Fenster notes. “In a world where working, playing and eating can be done without leaving your seat, we run the risk of becoming too sedentary.”

With that in mind, everbowl has aligned itself with a number of activities promoting exercise and active lifestyles, from youth sports to jogathons and distance running. Through competitions and fruit-bowl giveaways, the company hopes to emphasize the importance of superfood as ‘fuel for movement’.

“Our idea is to get people to move their bodies and become more active,” Fenster explains. “We need to transform how we perceive healthy eating, making it not a thing that’s exotic or pretentious, but something fun and exciting. We want to help people be the best versions of themselves.”

Reaching the customer

In its attempt to revitalize the American palate, everbowl is tackling a familiar set of problems. As Jeff puts it, the vast majority of so-called health food products on the market “lack flavor, don’t fill you up, cost too much or are simply not available.” It’s a trend that everbowl is hoping to buck. Açai, pitaya and blue majic are delicious, high-quality ingredients, yet everbowl’s products remain reasonably priced. Buying through the company’s website or app, a standard small classic everbowl costs about the same as a Big Mac meal, at $7.99. Hungrier customers can size-up their portions, but even the large option, weighing in at an impressive 24 ounces, is priced at just $12.99. There’s value in regular

visits, too: purchases are rewarded with loyalty points, which can be exchanged for discounts and exclusive offers.

Armed with a flavorful, filling and affordable product, the current focus for everbowl is on accessibility. COVID-19 has shifted consumer behavior away from brick-and-mortar stores and towards online retail platforms. It’s a phenomenon that has provided everbowl with direct access to its key clientele.

“More than ever, we’re able to bring information directly to the consumer,” Jeff remarks. “Everyone has a smart phone in their hands, through which they can learn what they should eat, and they can look at what’s available around them. For us, it means that we can put health and wellness in front of the consumer, precisely when they want it.”

But everbowl isn’t content with a share of the digital shelf. As normality stakes a comeback in the postpandemic world, stores across the US are seeing renewed foot traffic. To meet that demand, the company has been hard at work, rolling out an aggressive franchise expansion plan. At the time of our interview, Jeff had just inaugurated

the opening a new franchise in Nevada – everbowl’s 54th store opening nationwide, the most recent addition to a footprint that spans 11 states from coast-to-coast.

As part of this expansion, everbowl is also experimenting with innovative ways to reach out to customers. In March, the company launched its first-ever food truck in Texas. Its semi-permanent home in a suburban Houston food truck park includes picnic tables and wooden deck seating, along with a playground, beer and wine bar and live entertainment.

In its ongoing quest to empower positive food decisions, everbowl is already planning ventures into more states, with an additional 250+ franchises due to open within the next four years, with up to a fifth of those due to arrive before the end of 2022.

“Beyond that, we’ve set our sights on reaching 100 stores,” Jeff concludes. “At the same time, we’ll continue to introduce new markets to our product range, we’ll keep looking for new ways to connect with our customers, and we’ll continue our drive to introduce

Health in mind

By sourcing quality ingredients, Mindful Chef has carved out a strong reputation in the increasingly crowded recipe box market – now the company intends on solidifying that reputation with its new ready-to-go range

Mindful

Set up in 2015 by three school friends, Mindful Chef was founded to fulfil a decidedly simple mission statement: make healthy eating easy. “We thought it was something lots of people struggled with – and there wasn’t a clear solution available,” explains Robert Grieg-Gran, one of those three school friends and now COO at Mindful Chef. “We sought to provide one. Making healthy eating easy has always been central to the company. It’s our North Star, so to speak; it leads us to sell the products that we do.”

For Mindful Chef, healthy eating begins with great ingredients. By positioning itself at the premium end of the recipe box market, the UK-based company has garnered a reputation for quality. “We set out to source the absolute best ingredients available,” says Robert. “That’s where the mindful

part of Mindful Chef comes in; we’ve always, for example, used free-range chicken and grass-fed British beef in our recipes. Our customers eat wild Alaskan sockeye salmon and line-caught cod. Whereas, with a competitor, they could be eating frozen Tilapia farmed in Thailand.

“All our food is gluten- and dairyfree, offering more options to those with dietary requirements,” he adds. “We’re also now 100 percent accredited by LEAF Marque (Linking Environment and Farming) across all our fresh produce lines, rewarding farmers for their stewardship of land and their support of the company’s vision.”

Though it initially focused solely on recipe boxes, Mindful Chef has since developed a wide-ranging collection of products, including a ready-to-go range consisting of ready meals, smoothies, soups, broths, and cereals. In doing so, the company wants to further establish

itself as a leading player in the online groceries market. It’s already come a long way in a short space of time.

Mindful Chef completed two rounds of crowdfunding in 2016 and 2017, with its first (and only) private equity investment coming in 2018. By 2019, the company was turning over £16 million with a total staff of about 30. However, as Robert explains, since the pandemic, sales have skyrocketed.

“Covid-19 was an incredibly challenging time,” he says. “Mindful Chef experienced a period of enormous growth between February and April of 2020 jumping from 30,000 meals per week to over 100,000 across a period of a few weeks. Instead of closing our doors, like all major online grocery retailers did, we made the decision to keep accepting new customers. It was the right thing to do. We were honest with our existing customer base that their service would likely suffer as a

Mindful Chef

result of that decision, but we knew that a significant proportion of customers, new and old, would be relying on our services.

“To facilitate that commitment, we extended lead times by 24 hours and cut our range dramatically, removing items that were proving troublesome for suppliers,” elaborates Robert. “We had to explain to our customers that there would inevitably be lots of substitutions. Yet we’re still seeing that same customer base stick with us now, remaining highly engaged and loyal to the brand post-Covid. At the same time, we wanted to offer a 30 percent discount for NHS staff, which has now cost the business over £1m to date, but for us it was simply the right thing to do. Throughout the pandemic, our volume has remained high. Last year, we turned over £74 million, increased our staff to over 100, and offered a larger array of products than we

Gazebo Fine Foods Ltd

Gazebo Fine Foods Ltd (Gazebo) is a proudly independent, London-based food business that specialises in home-style cooking. Its focus is to create truly authentic recipes from around the globe using only the finest ingredients. The business started its partnership with Mindful Chef in July 2018. Since then, the relationship has grown significantly, and it is now Mindful Chef’s key frozen food supplier. Gazebo has more than doubled its product range, and has nearly 30 premium products in the boxes. Gazebo has some exciting plans to develop some more innovative and tasty products, so watch this space!

‘

We’ve collected recipe feedback over the past seven years, and from that vast database we’ve been able to observe both recipe appeal when customers choose and the reviews after they’ve prepared and eaten it. Those two points provide us with a metric for gauging how desirable a dish is to our customers – both initially, via our website, and then later, when we find out if we’ve delivered on our taste promise

ever had before.” Mindful Chef won Specialty Online Retailer of the Year at this year’s Grocer Gold Awards for the third time – the only brand to ever do so.

To ensure maximum customer satisfaction, Mindful Chef constantly tweaks its dishes through an in-house team of chefs. “We employ six chefs to develop our 60 weekly recipes,” Robert reveals. “About 50 of those will be drawn from our recipe library, having previously been developed by our team. The best recipes will be featured approximately four times a year, and the ones that aren’t such a hit will be

Bombay Halwa Ltd

quickly retired. Our chefs are intent on continuous improvement, whether that means adjusting a recipe to make it more seasonal or responding to customer feedback and are constantly on the lookout for new ingredients to bring excitement to the weekly menu.

“Data drives our decision-making process,” he continues. “We’ve collected recipe feedback over the past seven years, and from that vast database we’ve been able to observe both recipe appeal when customers choose and the reviews after they’ve prepared and eaten it. Those two points provide us with a metric for

Our partnership with Mindful Chef has been both an exciting and rewarding journey. Working with the Mindful Chef team has allowed us to contribute to their growth as a valued supplier, and we all get to eat healthier along the way! The diverse capabilities at Bombay Halwa Ltd make us a great fit for a company like Mindful chef. We are a family-owned company, with Zeenat Noon Harnal, the daughter of late Lord Noon, as our Chairperson. It is Zeenat’s indistinguishable passion and ethos, instilled in her by her father, that drives the business forward to make affordable quality products using the finest ingredients.

gauging how desirable a dish is to our customers – both initially, via our website, and then later, when we find out if we’ve delivered on our taste promise. Doing this means we can finetune recipes accordingly.”

Successful partnerships

Recently, Mindful Chef has fostered numerous successful partnerships with familiar names such as Waitrose, Vitality, and David Lloyd Clubs.

“Partnerships have always been key to our business and part of our core strategy,” says Tim Lee, who joined Mindful Chef as CEO in 2018 following myriad successes in the food and beverage industry. “From the beginning, we’ve had high profile investors, including Sir Andy Murray, which offers us both publicity and a presence.

“We’ve since evolved that from a branding perspective, with Fearne

Cotton and Ben Fogle joining as Mindful Chef ambassadors,” he explains. “These are people that we believe exist in the same likeminded space as our customers. Furthermore, we also proudly sponsor the English Institute of Sport and are partnered with the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes.co.uk and Vitality. By fostering successful partnerships with organizations such as these, we not only gain credibility within the health space, but also provide a platform for ideologically compatible brands to achieve their own goals. All in all, partnerships drive awareness and access in the wider health space, making it easier for people to make informed and beneficial lifestyle choices.”

Empowering customers

Mindful Chef has also cultivated a key partnership with Soil Heroes, a carbon offsetting organization that works with companies to support regenerative agriculture and other climate positive activities. “We’re a carbon neutral business, offsetting carbon levels one and two,” notes Robert. “Though we don’t yet offset our food, that’s something we are looking to achieve

soon. Right now, we’re working with Soil Heroes, improving sustainability throughout our supply chain. Instead of offsetting our carbon around the world, we’re doing it right here in the UK with our own suppliers.

“We’re approaching them with Soil Heroes and saying, ‘The root vegetables you’re growing are quite carbon intensive, maybe we can add a year of fallow in between crops to create a net carbon deficit and offer you some incentivization.’ We’ve got offset money to spend, so we want to spend it with

our own suppliers, making it not only more economically viable for them but also driving change that improves the environment. It’s really a win-win for us,” he adds.

As Tim makes clear, that’s an industry first. “Other companies use Soil Heroes to offset carbon, but not within their own supply chain,” he reveals. “We were the first to do it because we believe it’s the future way of doing things. Another aspect of reducing our carbon footprint that we considered to be important

was the empowerment it offers to our customers. Indeed, we’re the first recipe box company to offer a low carbon range of meals. We went through all our recipes and measured how carbon intensive they were and signposted this on our website for customers. Nearly half of our recipes are vegan, meaning they’re naturally less carbon intensive than alternative recipes, so customers can make the choice themselves and improve their own individual carbon footprints.

Culinary journey

“As a B Corp, we pledged several years ago that for every meal sold, we will donate a school meal to a child living in poverty – and we’ve just passed the 13 million meal mark on that. Our customers often talk about the fantastic quality of our produce, but the fact that they are buying from a mindful company that cares about the community and the planet is also a key selling point.”

In terms of the future, Mindful Chef is building a more expansive and personalized range of products to remain relevant across multiple meal occasions throughout the week. “To make healthy eating even easier, we’re looking more closely at the personalization of our weekly deliveries,” Robert says. “For some people, healthy eating means

Below: Myles, Rob and Giles

Mindful

losing weight; but for others, it means lowering cholesterol, or managing diabetes, or reducing salt, or improving gut health. By adding this element of personalization to our services, we will be better positioned to take our customers on their own healthy eating culinary journey.

“That’s a unique selling point, and it’s really exciting for us,” he concludes. “In fact, that’s the type of business we can see having international appeal, one which we could expand into the US, Australia, or any of the other major health-focused territories out there.” D www.mindfulchef.com

Barfoots

Cultivating excellence

Our story began in 1976, when Peter Barfoot started growing a single crop in the unique micro-climate of the Hampshire Basin. Today, we’re still a family-owned business, but we grow, process and pack a range of vegetables at farms and facilities around the world. Our philosophy has not changed since our first farm: look after the land as if you want to farm forever. We’re as dedicated as ever to nurturing the land and the communities of which we’re a part. This commitment is at the heart of what we do, and we’re proud to partner with Mindful Chef. Website: www.barfoots.com | Insta: @barfootsuk

Aofcenturysuccess

Since we last featured Nathel & Nathel (Nathel), a popular New York Citybased produce wholesaler, the pandemic has come and –ostensibly – gone. In its wake, it has left a dramatically different food and beverage market.

Ira Nathel, Owner and President of Nathel & Nathel, sat down with us to catch up, revealing how the company, which was established in 1922 by his great-grandfather, has fared since we last spoke.

“Nathel has changed a lot,” he begins. “We’ve moved forward aggressively, growing year-on-year

across all our business units. But we can’t talk about our recent history without talking about the pandemic. Covid-19 was a challenging time for us; however, it was also rewarding in the sense that we could take care of our customers in a truly fulfilling way. We felt that it was our call to duty; we stepped up and became a key supplier, maintaining some kind of continuity for our customer base in such turbulent times. At the center of that response was our employees; they rose to the challenge each and every day, despite the worsening situation rapidly unfolding around them. We’re really proud of their response to the

As it celebrates 100 years in business, Nathel & Nathel is poised to grow further following the launch of its own online ordering system and a mammoth $140m investment in its terminal market

pandemic. Beyond that, we never quit; it was full-steam ahead, and that brings us to where we are now.

“Recently, the shape and scope of the business has changed,” he continues. “We’ve rethought our company vision, including the direction we want it to go in and how we want the various business units to operate. That’s also meant we’ve been able to bring on some produce labels and suppliers that we’ve not worked with before; they fit what the company is and what we want it to be in the future. Produce is increasingly about having labels that add value to the product you’re selling; many customers have

very strong feelings of brand loyalty, so we’re leaning into that more than ever, investigating which commodities are worth pursuing and which shipping companies can add value on top of that. We also recently received our SQS certification, forming part of our vision: to always provide better produce and a higher level of service to our customers.”

Top quality

Nathel knows its market. For 100 years, it has put quality first and served New York’s tri-state area with the finest fresh produce available. From apples to persimmons and bok choy to zucchinis,

the range of fruit and vegetables offered by Nathel is truly extensive.

The list of household brands available is just as long: Sunkist, Del Monte, Halos, Farmers Best, OzBlu, OceanMist, Rainier, Little Leaf, Limoneira, and so on. “For the last century, we’ve been carrying and selling the highest quality fruit and vegetables that money can buy,” says Ira. “We pride ourselves on partnerships with these familiar and much-loved labels, and the bottom line is that most consumers see these names as a mark of value. Therefore, by carrying these labels, we are always going to be on top in terms of quality. That’s part of our future vision for the

Nathel & Nathel

company: continuing to stay at the fore of the market and ahead of the game.

“We’ve been doing business with many of our suppliers for decades,” he reveals. “In fact, one of our longest standing relationships is with Turlock Fruit, a Californian melon grower led by Dom Smith. As it’s so expensive to grow a crop like melons in California, they’re truly one of the last of their kind – and we’ve been working with them for in excess of 60 years. It’s been a remarkable journey. Beyond that, we turnover stock very quickly: if we receive 200,000 packages on a Sunday, for instance, then the produce, which would’ve been picked just several days prior, will have left the warehouse within the next few days. So, in short: by

sourcing the freshest produce from the best quality suppliers, and then using the finest shipping companies to deliver that produce, we firmly set ourselves apart from the competition.”

New systems

More recently, Nathel released its own online ordering application for retail. Customers can enjoy a complete experience: the easy-to-use app has been bolstered by a sales support team, available to offer their advice on everything from seasonal displays to current market trends; daily and weekly cost updates provide suggestions for retail pricing; delivery services, carried out by a fleet of 40-plus trucks, will get things from A-to-B in a dash;

and produce is kept fresh at Nathel’s whopping 100,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse space, featuring eight different climate zones to ensure optimal storage. Put simply, there’s lots going on behind-the-scenes – and all of it stands to benefit Nathel customers.

“We supply an array of retail stores,” Ira explains. “Some of the managers are very traditional; they’ve been in the industry for 30-plus years. That means they have more produce knowledge than I could ever have, but it also means they might not be as up-to-date with the latest and best practices when it comes to ordering. Before the digital revolution, customers would call us and we would have sales people sitting on the phone with them for half an

Limoneira

Limoneira Company, a 129-year-old international agribusiness headquartered in Santa Paula, California, has grown to become one of the premier integrated agribusinesses in the world. Limoneira is a dedicated sustainability company with 15,400 acres of rich agricultural lands, real estate properties, and water rights in California, Arizona, Chile and Argentina. The company is a leading producer of lemons, avocados, oranges, specialty citrus and other crops that are enjoyed throughout the world. Limoneira has made significant investments to ensure that our customers receive a consistent supply of high-quality citrus year-round, as part of our One World of Citrus™ model. With global operations, we are able to offer citrus from our trees directly to our buyers every day of the year. We are vertically integrated and have extensive food safety and traceability protocols around the globe. Limoneira has positioned itself as a premier name in the industry, and one that values service and quality to provide you with the best possible product on the market.

like, how many, and so on. That might work, but it’s extremely inefficient. We have hundreds of customers to take

care of each day, and having a long conversation with them, talking about how the Yankees did last night, isn’t going to be optimize efficiency.

without having to bring in additional sales people,” he continues. “The answer was a simple mobile app that offers customers our range of produce with prices per pound or per unit and the functionality to customize orders. In turn, that information is sent to our own ERP software, which we designed to be more accessible to young produce managers and seasoned veterans alike. It’s been tremendously successful so far. We can take on orders from 30 or 40 stores, have our sales team to choose lots for each, and then have them processed in as little as ten minutes. It’s as simple as that.”

Nathel also works closely with multiple charitable organizations, including the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Mariano Rivera Foundation, partnering with the latter to raise funds for a new learning center in New Rochelle, NY. “Working closely with organizations such as these is a very important aspect of the company,” says Ira. “As a family, we’re culturally Jewish, and the Star of David is in our logo. So, naturally, faith plays a significant role in Nathel’s legacy. Food security is a problem in the Bronx, which is unbelievable in a prosperous city like New York. We shouldn’t have that issue but it’s there. In an attempt to overcome it, the Little Sisters of the Poor come to us every single day and

Nathel

we donate produce to them. If we’re able to serve our community and those can’t access fresh food, then we’re going to continue to do that.

“We’re also currently trying to improve the sustainability of Hunts Point Produce Market, which we operate out of,” he adds. “The terminal market was built in the 1950s and is currently at 150 percent capacity, meaning we have to have nearly 100 overflow trailers connected to a separate warehouse facility. For us, that’s an issue: those trailers are running on diesel engines 24-hours-aday, and that will naturally emit a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. So, we are currently in talks with the city to add solar panels to these trailers, replacing the diesel ones and lowering the overall carbon footprint of the company and the market as a whole.”

It’s an exciting time at Hunts Point Produce Market, one of the biggest

Nathel

investment, Ira is keen to point out that

hard to get more money to upgrade and modernize the outdated infrastructure,” he says. “The core foundations of the

building are great, and it works just fine. But it certainly needs expanding and updating, so we’re eagerly anticipating the next three-to-five years. Like many others at the market, we’re ready to grow – we just need the opportunity to do so.

“Until then, we will continue to serve our customers, offering them the best produce at a reasonable price with the highest quality of service,” he concludes. “Frankly, no one knows what the future is going to hold – especially in these turbulent times. In the longterm, though, we want to build Nathel as a brand so that we’re not just known within the small terminal market base, but within the larger New York City community. To do so, we will continue to foster successful relationships with suppliers and customers alike, forging robust commercial bonds that will last another 100 years.” D

https://nnproduce.com

Where passion meets vision

With more than 150 years of operational experience throughout its portfolio, restaurant operator Mexican Restaurants, Inc. is now looking to grow its presence across the US sunbelt

Walk into any one of the nine Monterey’s Little Mexico restaurants located throughout Texas and Oklahoma, and you’ll be greeted with a familiar sight. The cantina walls, daubed in vibrant turquoise, burning red, and soothing yellow, sit harmoniously along the painted wooden tabletops. Sombreros are dotted high around the room, hung above the archways that lead through to the kitchen, where the busy, smiling staff are hard at work, cooking up all manner of Mexican homefare: quesadillas, flowing with molten Monterey Jack; enchiladas stacked with grilled chicken, and bathed in Monterey’s signature cilantro cream sauce; or TexMex, available six ways.

Founded in 1955, the authentic Mexican chain is the oldest brand of the five that comprise the portfolio of Mexican Restaurants, Inc. (MRI), a Houstonbased restaurant operator. Boasting a total of 38 locations across four states, MRI prides itself on a diverse range of fresh, authentic food, and a strong passion for hospitality. It’s an approach that has helped MRI’s restaurants build a broad-based appeal.

“Combined, our brands represent over 150 years of operational experience,” explains Pete Pascuzzi, CEO of MRI. “We dedicate ourselves passionately to providing our guests with a great experience – one that begins with fresh, quality food and extends to friendly employees and a fun, often uniquely different atmosphere.”

The remainder of MRI’s brands have much in common with Monterey’s Little Mexico. It was a former employee of that chain who, in 1973, founded Casa Olé. Bringing its twist on true Tex-Mex to customers throughout Texas and Louisiana, it’s a brand founded on fresh, quality ingredients, from the avocado that tops the ‘Tilapia Cancún’ to the flourish of lime topping off its range of margaritas, available from the inhouse bar. A third brand, Crazy Jose’s, is a full-service restaurant located in Lumberton, Texas, recognized for its distinct Santa Fe-style appetizers, combo platters, and burgers, chickenfried steak, and chicken dinners, served against a backdrop of live music. Tortuga Mexican Kitchen, meanwhile, fuses traditional cuisine with Caribbean and Cajun-style seafood in dishes such

as ‘Shrimp, Crawfish & Spinach Dip’, ‘Blackened Tuna Salad’, and the ‘Del Mar Extreme Fajitas’.

Überrito Fresh Mex (Überrito) is the most recent addition to MRI’s portfolio. Formerly known as Mission Burrito, the company was rebranded in 2014 as a departure and evolution from other fast-casual concepts. As Pete says: “Since day one, we’ve honored our commitment to quality, fresh, fast, and flavorful food that pays tribute to traditional Mexican cooking, while also going above and beyond the burrito.

Created in our own kitchens, these tastes include fresh, house-made salsas and chips, guacamole, our own special marinades for meats, and more tortilla, protein, vegetable, and topping options than our competitors, including shrimp and fish options.

“From Cuban to Cajun, Mexican to American, we have something to satisfy every appetite or portion size, whether you’re a meat lover or a vegan,” Pete continues. “Überrito has now established a faithful following in Houston, and is positioned as an aggressive brick-and-mortar growth vehicle.”

MRI’s restaurants have firmly established themselves among some of the best available throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and South Carolina. But Pete isn’t content with the status quo. In May 2022, MRI announced the launch of a new Überrito restaurant in Huntsville, Texas, in a move that represents the company’s ongoing mission to provide its guests with innovative dining opportunities.

“At each Überrito restaurant, our line and open kitchen are crucial design elements that allow guests to easily see menu options and order as they move toward final payment,” Pete tells us. “Since the prep area is at the center of our restaurants, it is one of the most important design elements for both guests and team members.”

New and exciting products

The launch of the Huntsville site is testament to MRI’s continued efforts to refine its operational efficiency and costeffectively operate a restaurant – from guest flows to the positioning of grills, coolers, prep tables, steamers, and storage bins. In doing so, the company is reacting to what has been one of the most significant legacies from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As guest preferences change to include more take-out and delivery, Überrito is working to operate its restaurants within a smaller footprint to generate stronger average sales per square foot,” Pete corroborates. “This, combined with hyperefficient operations, is enabling Überrito to enter new territories that were previously untouched. Furthermore, these smaller and more efficient restaurants lower the barrier to entry, yet still give franchisees the experience, purchasing power, training, and support that Überrito offers.”

It’s with these trends in mind that MRI rolled out its new Überrito food truck. Designed to test out new items and track performance, it’s planned that the truck will help to create buzz for new franchise openings, serving as a catalyst to drive the brand’s market growth. As Pete points out, it’s a unique concept, allowing guests to “walk the line” as they build their burrito or bowl.

“We’re never afraid to try new things,” Pete reiterates, reflecting on

Mexican Restaurants, Inc.

MRI’s experimental approach to food service. “Because appetites evolve, we continually seek innovative twists on traditional standards, embracing and adapting those things that have proven successful. Our restaurant concepts have inspired generations of intensely loyal guests. They rave and reminisce about us in blogs and on social media. They share their experiences with friends and family. And they keep coming back.

“Across all our brands, we’re also going to continue introducing new and exciting products,” Pete says. “Some of our most recent launches include ‘Manchego & Carnitas Fundido’, ‘Molcajete for Two’, ‘Three Layer Enchiladas’, ‘Shrimp Sopes’, and our ‘Chocolate Tres Leches Cheesecake’.

At Überrito, we’re currently promoting ‘Surf & Turf’ (shrimp and fajita steak) as options for building burritos and bowls. Additionally, every Monday, guests at

Überrito can enjoy a chicken or veggie burrito or bowl for just five dollars.”

At the time of writing, MRI holds firm plans to grow its footprint throughout the Houston and Texas area, with long term ambitions to add a further 15-20 Überrito franchises each year. Formalized in the company’s franchise-operated growth program, the company is focused on identifying franchisees whose vision and passion for the industry provide a strong match with MRI’s own emphasis on authentic dining, and exceptional customer service.

“First and foremost, we plan to continue to provide great food to each of our guests during their visit to our restaurants, and to deliver a great environment in which to work for all of our team members,” Pete concludes. “With that in place, we’re always looking for new opportunities to grow our footprint, our team, and meet new guests.” D

www.mexicanrestaurantsinc.com

All about community

For more than 35 years, Vallarta Supermarkets has been on a decidedly simple mission: to bring families and friends together over fresh, authentic, and nutritious food

There’s no mistaking that Vallarta Supermarkets (Vallarta) has indeed become a success. The popular supermarket chain, which caters to local Latin populations by focusing on an authentic range of Mexican food and beverages, now boasts 53 full-service stores across

Yet, the story behind the recognizable brand begins in a different location entirely: the tiny town of Jalostotitlán, to be exact, itself found in the northeast corner of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Raised on a small farm there, Enrique Gonzalez Sr., who would later go on to establish the food-selling giant, and his four brothers learned the importance of

from a very young age.

When the opportunity arose to immigrate in the 1960s, the Gonzalez family was thankful to stake their claim in the US, a place they saw as a land of opportunity and prospects. Almost immediately, the five Gonzalez brothers began to work in restaurants, either as short-order cooks or waiting on tables.

In 1985, after working in the hospitality sector from the bottom rung up, Enrique decided to boldly enter the grocery business. In a 1000-squarefoot market store located in Van Nuys, California, he opened Carnicería Vallarta. The butcher shop was an immediate hit.

Affordable and authentic

Enrique soon expanded the business to a second location and brought his four brothers into the burgeoning company. From there the adventure truly began, and a humble carnicería in Van Nuys quickly turned into a fully-fledged supermarket chain.

The family worked together as a close-knit team to build Vallarta’s

brothers believed that the key to the chain’s success would be in providing affordable but authentic Mexican products for the growing local Hispanic community, whose needs were not being addressed by larger chain stores.

Their belief turned into a reality. By serving Hispanic families with authentic, traditional foods, and fresh produce, Vallarta continued to grow. Since its inception, the grocery business separated itself from stiff competition by offering fresh and traditional Mexican fare, as well as foods from Central and South America.

“From these humble origins, Vallarta has grown to 53 full-service grocery stores,” explains Andrew Lewis, Vice President of Marketing at Vallarta. “The last decade has seen a lot of new product offerings, store formats, and innovations across the board. A few highlights include our new store décor, which works to emphasize our fresh offerings, as well as a branding refresh, a new self-checkout, and a bigger range of organic produce. All these changes are focused on providing our customers with a great shopping experience.”

Passion for produce

While other stores might overlook Latin-style meats (including ranchera, diesmillo, and lomo de res), beautiful spices, and fresh pan dulce, Vallarta has always remained true to its cultural heritage. More recently, the chain has expanded its already extensive range of offerings to now include a juice and aguas frescas bar, tortilleria, bakery (or panadería), and pescadería.

“At Vallarta’s core will always be authentic Latin foods,” says Andrew. “Our customer base now stretches over multiple generations that have come to America but still appreciate the authentic, fresh products we provide. Also, as general market consumers become more adventurous in their eating and cooking, our ability to deliver authentic items has become attractive to a broader range

Vallarta Supermarkets

of customers. After all, no matter what ethnicity you identify with, nothing beats a great carne asada – and that’s what we are known for.”

You can see and feel the original intentions and founding principles of the Gonzalez family in every Vallarta Supermarket. These include building integrity and trust between Vallarta and its customers, and a non-negotiable sense of respect shown to all.

For Andrew, that sense of respect was incredibly important during the

Covid-19 pandemic. “The safety of our team members, customers, and suppliers was paramount. So, naturally, we enhanced our cleaning and sanitizing procedures, had special shopping hours for the most vulnerable members of our communities, set and communicated masking and social distancing requirements, installed plexiglass partitions for our clerks, and made many more adjustments to be as safe as possible. Furthermore, we launched e-commerce services for our

customers, who began asking for online shopping, indicating how we’ve worked to satisfy their needs. We’re proud of the fact that we’re able to continue serving customers and vendors, many of whom have been with us from the beginning, with integrity.”

With 53 stores dotted throughout California, you might think that attempting to maintain a sense of thematic cohesion across the board would be a fool’s errand. However, regardless of the store one visits, Vallarta always makes sure there is a

name. It’s the reason why Vallarta has come to be known as the home of the original carne asada. When visiting the carnicería, you can almost guarantee it will be busy, bustling with activity, and stocked with rare and hard-to-find cuts

of meat like ranchera, a thinly sliced flank steak available unseasoned or marinated in a secret spice blend.

Vallarta’s passion for produce doesn’t stop there. In terms of fresh fruit and vegetables, the supermarket chain

Vallarta Supermarkets

intends on making its mark by sourcing only the freshest produce from a list of local growers across the US, as well as its wider network of suppliers in Mexico, Chile, Canada, Peru, Guatemala, and New Zealand.

Green efforts

Expect the best of the season, including Latin favorites like mamey, chayote, mango, dragon fruit, and chilli peppers. With its extensive stock of Mexican fare, Vallarta is recognized as the onestop-shop for authentic Latin produce. “Our made-to-order guacamole is incredibly popular,” Andrew notes. “We use 100 per cent Hass avocadoes and make the guacamole in-store and to the customer’s taste. Therefore, if you like it with a bit more spice, we have you covered. We also create beautiful fresh juices and agua frescas in a variety of new seasonal flavors.”

Vallarta is also serious about sustainability. Frankly, it needs to be. When transporting food and other produce all over the globe, it’s no secret that there’s an added environmental cost. Fortunately, over the last few years, the supermarket chain has taken part in an energy efficiency program, leading to a 15 percent reduction in electricity usage across most of its stores.

Eager to continue its green efforts, Vallarta has begun a company-wide, zero-waste program with the goal of diverting a third of its waste to composting and recycling sites. The program has, thus far, saved over 4,800 tons of waste from going to landfill. While perusing the shelves, shoppers are likely to spot some of Vallarta’s sustainability initiatives, including LED lighting and more heatefficient windows and doors.

Customer focus

However, many more exist that aren’t readily seen. For instance, Vallarta has introduced a range of smart technologies to control kitchen exhaust fans, interior and exterior lighting, and heating and cooling systems, lowering the amount of power they use. Energyefficient EC motors drive these new technologies, further reducing their

impact on the environment. “New equipment and technology have made us more efficient, but they have also allowed us to serve our customers better,” adds Steve Netherton, CIO at Vallarta. “Technology has been a major focus recently and we’ve implemented mobile technology such as a recipe management application, enabling us to offer more personal services to our customers.”

More recently, Vallarta has announced the opening of a new store in a familiar location: Van Nuys. Harkening back to its humble roots, the Latin-owned supermarket will open just a few miles from its original 1985 carnicería. “We’re really excited to be back in Van Nuys,” states Andrew. “This is the neighborhood where Enrique Gonzalez founded Vallarta, and therefore being back here 37 years later, with all our latest enhancements, is very special.

“Of course, we’ll have our incredible carnicería, abundant fresh fruits and vegetables, and an instore tortilleria and panadería,” he adds. “Also, we’ll be including our newest offerings such as a fresh-cut fruit station, handmade juices and wellness shots, and a made-to-order guacamole station.”

Putting all of this together, there’s no doubt that Vallarta will change your mind about what a grocery market should be. With its impeccably clean stores, friendly staff, and long list of Latin American staples all under one roof, it’s surely the real deal. “Whether we’re thinking five or 15 years ahead, Vallarta will continue to focus on our customers,” Andrew concludes. “This approach has served us well so far, and it will continue to do so as we constantly grow and innovate. Exciting times are ahead!” D

www.vallartasupermarkets.com

Passion, pride, performance

If you live in, or you’ve ever visited the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, the chances are that you’ve dined at a Local Favorite restaurant. First launched in 1918, Local Favorite owns and operates a distinctive collection of popular restaurant concepts across the cities and their surrounds; from legendary brands El Fenix Mexican Restaurant and Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar to original creations, Meso Maya, Taqueria La Ventana, and Tulum. A set of home-grown neighborhood originals, including Village Burger Bar, Jalisco Norte, and Twisted Root, complete the Local Favorite line-up.

Today, Local Favorite boasts a total of more than 50 locations. But across its various brands, what gives each site the Local Favorite signature is a commitment to the company’s core values; passion, pride, and performance. The first of these encompasses the company’s mission to provide genuine hospitality with a smile, thanks to its high-energy, engaging team members. For the second, Local Favorite commits to embracing and sharing its love of the company’s brands; presenting ‘camera-ready’ food to every guest, every time. Finally, ‘performance’ captures the company’s emphasis on providing an unmatched ‘wow’ experience at exceptional value, realized through a target-driven and solutionsoriented approach. Through all these, the company seeks to give its guests a best-in-class service, and ensure that the Local Favorite brands do indeed retain their position as local favorites.

The most historic brand within the Local Favorite portfolio is El Fenix. The name, of course, is Spanish for ‘the phoenix;’ the legendary bird which, according to mythology, arose from its own ashes. It’s an apt name, too. Founded over a century ago, the brand has more than proved its staying power. The creative force behind the brand was Mike Martinez, a Mexican immigrant.

Local Favorite

Through El Fenix, he is credited as the originator of what has come to be called Tex-Mex cuisine, a fact that emphasizes the restaurant’s iconic role within US food culture. Accordingly, the brand was designated as an ‘All American Icon’ by Nation’s Restaurant News, and a must-see dining destination for visitors to North Texas. Acquired by Local Favorite Restaurants in 2008, El Fenix was refurbished with freshened interiors and a revamped menu, while maintaining its signature authentic elements.

Another iconic name within the Local Favorite umbrella is Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar. A North Texas institution since 1978, the first Snuffer’s opened in the Lower Greenville area of Dallas, from where it steadily built a reputation based on a signature menu of legendary burgers and famous cheddar fries – so famous, in fact, that they even have their own national holiday. Snuffer’s prides itself on fresh, scratch-made products, with all of its burgers made fresh and cooked to order. Over the years, menu offerings have grown to include full dinner platters featuring hand-battered black angus chicken-fried steak, grilled chicken, chicken-fried chicken, specialty sandwiches, wraps, entrée salads, and a full drinks menu. Imaginative new burgers are introduced monthly, keeping product offerings as fresh as the ingredients used in-house.

The remainder of Local Favorite’s brands offer numerous food choices spanning a range of cuisines. Village Burger Bar serves superior quality burgers, salads and paninis in a modern and warm setting, with each restaurant featuring multiple taps for local craft beers. Twisted Root, meanwhile, offers high-quality made-to-order burgers, a ‘come as you are’ environment, and an unusual reverence for Chuck Norris. A precursor of the ‘gourmet burger’ trend, Twisted Root is a brand built around half-pound, freshly ground burgers, and a customizable menu that allows

Meet Local Favorite, the company behind Texas’ most iconic restaurant brands, including El-Fenix, Snuffer’s, and Meso Maya

Local Favorite

customers to bring their own crazy and inventive creations to life.

Another of Local Favorite’s Mexican brands is Taqueria La Ventana, an authentic Mexico City taqueria designed with eclectic, funky interiors, and fused with a modern Texas sensibility. The menu features handmade Mexican street tacos along with gourmet burritos, salads, churros, beers and margaritas. The fast-casual concept transports guests south of the border on a distinctive cultural and culinary journey. Meso Maya, meanwhile, promises an adventure into the fresh, bold and earthy flavors of interior Mexico. Named ‘Best Regional Mexican’ and ‘Best Chef’ (Nico Sanchez) by D Magazine’s Reader Choice awards, it boasts a delicious menu of Mexican and Mayan dishes, showcasing the fresh ingredients, rich spices and authentic scratch-cooking techniques of Mexico. Similarly, TorTaco is a chef-inspired mezcaleria, specializing in tortas, tacos,

hand-crafted cocktails, and more than 90 mezcals. ‘Inspired by metal, enveloped by music, and resurrected by art,’ the brand presents itself as a safe haven from the weight of society’s expectations, and is winning over an ever-growing set of fans with its fusion of Europe, Asia, and Latin American cuisines.

Wok Star Chinese is the last of Local Favorite’s brands, and perhaps its most international. Billed as the combination of passion, talent, and steadfast commitment to quality and service, with the utmost respect for the art of Chinese cuisine, it’s a modern American-style concept with deep Chinese roots. Wok Star offers a unique take on a culinary classic, complete with flavorful dishes, on-point service, a colorful atmosphere, and a make-you-want-to-move playlist. But even this doesn’t quite encompass the full extent of Local Favorite’s reach. Sitting outside the

company’s series of restaurant chains is Sunrise Mexican Foods, a producer of high-quality Mexican food products. Based out of its 35,000-squarefoot, modern production facility in Dallas, Texas, the company’s range of proprietary recipes includes fresh-made chips, tortillas, flautas, and tamales. These are packed under any label, and distributed to an impressive list of retail and food service operators whose locations run from coast-to-coast.

Despite a nationwide reach, however, Local Favorite remains at heart a local company – and nowhere is that more evident than in its support for local charities. The North Texas Food Bank is just one beneficiary of the company’s commitment to giving back, which emphasizes the important role that local communities have to play in the success of Local Favorite’s restaurants.

Likewise, the Local Favorite team dedicates its own time and labor through Habitat for Humanity. More broadly, the company also supports Water, an international organization focused on bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries, with 100 percent of its donations going directly to building clean water projects worldwide.

Together, Local Favorite has helped raise more than $100,000 to build sustainable, community-owned water projects around the world – improving health, increasing access to food, growing local economies, and helping kids spend more time in school.

The high regard in which Local Favorite holds its local communities is also true of its people. Celebrating professionalism and diversity, Local Favorite is committed to its people, and remains open to any bright minds with a passion for guest service, fairness, leadership, and honesty. In return, the company prides itself on restaurant and foodservice concepts that offer vibrant, engaging long-term career opportunities in a dynamic, fast-growing community of professionals. Ultimately, it’s thanks to these people that the company hopes to maintain its place as one of the foremost group of brands in the US in the years to come.

D

www.localfavorite.com

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