As many consumers in Britain and elsewhere are increasingly watching their wallets and eating out less these days, when they are dining away from home the expectation is for greater experiences to enjoy. It is thus crucial that foodservice operators meet this demand, while maximizing margin. This is where their supply partners can help.
“Our dedicated quality and technical specialist team members are on hand to provide expert support to customers from product technicalities to on-site performance insights, so catering operators can be confident in every portion served. These relationships between supplier and operator are crucial in delivering success,” said Ash Liles, trade marketing manager at Lamb Weston in the United Kingdom. “The advice we’d give to operators is to leverage insight and support from your suppliers. Deliver a special experience for your consumer, push the boundaries of product activation, offer more twists, more taste and more profit.”
Speaking of twists, Liles suggests that caterers can elevate their offering with a “twist” on the norm by serving Lamb Weston’s Twisters. Including a secondary potato shape on menus will increase variety and liven things up without adding any effort in the kitchen – and Twisters yield more portions too.
This appealing product – which launched in 1983 when Lamb Weston invented and a patented a knife to create the curly shape – is positioned to increase variety, add playfulness and hark back to nostalgic times. Cut from whole potatoes and never reformed, Twisters yield 15% more portions per kilogram – equivalent to 3,000 extra portions per year. And the shorter cooking time required results in less energy consumption.
Liles added: “Consumers are increasingly seeking affordable, comforting and nostalgic food experiences that soothe the soul and there’s an ongoing evolution of nostalgia-driven comfort food innovators. In foodservice, a new wave of comfort-centric restaurants and pop-ups is gathering momentum across the UK as demand for creatively ‘grown-up’ spins on comforting classics grows, with trend-setters boldly elevating time-honored dishes, from fried chicken to potato smileys, and subtle nods to generation-specific childhoods. Classics from our youth, with ‘grown-up’ elements, directly appeal to those nostalgia-seeking diners, with pioneers taking old-school originals far beyond in terms of overall techniques and ingredients, yet still delivering the same comforting tastes and textures, according to food experts.”
