Focus on Foodservice
Wednesday’s second Super Session focused on strategies for building foodservice sales, and was led by Ira Blumenthal, president, Co-Opportunities, and covered by a panel featuring Andy Revella, chief culinary officer, The Fuzion Food Group; Steve Shing, corporate vice president, sales & marketing, GSC Enterprises, Inc.; and Ray Johnson, operations manager, Speedee Mart, a Las Vegas c-store chain.
“People have no time,” said Blumenthal. “Convenience retailers are poised to take advantage if they do foodservice right. Every quick serve restaurant (QSR) operator is hoping that convenience stores do not get foodservice right.”
The opportunity stems from today’s busy lifestyles, Blumenthal added, adding that c-stores can cater to consumers’ needs for quick food throughout the day.
Shing outlined the growth of foodservice at his company, which has made a significant investment in capacity, including multi-temperature trucks and staff expertise, to support a sophisticated foodservice initiative for GSC customers. It has required significant training of staff, he said, “and you need to have a good array of products to service your customers’ needs.”
As a retailer, Johnson pointed out that the demands of c-store customers are constantly changing, requiring retailers to respond. Distributors, he said, are a logical point of information that can be invaluable in retailers’ foodservice success.
“If the retailer doesn’t have a total commitment to foodservice,” he said, “my advice is to walk away. Foodservice is totally different from selling other c-store products. There has to be a commitment to training. What happens if someone gets sick because you didn’t do something you were supposed to do? For the distributor, it’s how do you get that knowledge to the retailer?”
Revella said his company works with c-stores that are doing as much as $10,000 per week in foodservice sales. But, he said, it takes the right products in the right locations, innovation in terms of offerings to capitalize on local demographics and local needs, and a dedication to quality and service.
Asked if once-a-week deliveries are suitable for foodservice operations, Revella said no. “It’s supposed to be fresh,” he said. “You’ve got to get past that old way of doing things. But if you can get your foodservice sales up to $5,000 a week, with a 30 percent cost of goods, isn’t it worth twice a week deliveries?”
Revella was asked how much foot traffic is needed in a store to justify investment in foodservice. “We have stores with as few as 400 a day,” he said, “but you find that it starts to ratchet up once you put in a foodservice program that matches that need and is poised for growth.”
