With the summer season fast approaching and the industry slowly reopening, Bidfood, one of the UK’s leading foodservice providers, is launching ‘Celebrate Summer’ a campaign to provide customers with the inspiration, hints and tips they need to tap into trends and entice customers back to hospitality this summer.
There is undoubtedly going to be a lot of competition in the market as the industry reopens, with a wider selection of outlets for consumers to choose from – so to help stand out above the rest, Bidfood has launched ‘Celebrate Summer’. The campaign aims to help operators stay ahead of the curve by tapping into the trends set to shape consumer behaviour for the remainder of 2021. ‘Celebrate Summer’ provides the inspiration and useful hints and tips needed to create innovative menus, enticing and safe environments, and so much more. Boasting a wide selection of Bidfood’s, most-loved products, recipes, insights and summer must-haves all at the click of a button, to enable customers to celebrate summer and getting back to dining out!
Key top tips for operators this summer[1]
- Invest in your outdoor space - as 76% of consumers are more likely to visit a venue with outside seating as lockdowns are easing and with 75% saying they would even be happy to eat outside in winter, this is a vital area for operators to upscale
- Ways to refine your menu – consumers are proving to be more and more demanding when it comes to choice in dining out, constantly looking for new flavours, cuisines and techniques. Over two thirds of people saying they would pay more for dishes that are more difficult and can’t make at home, which makes this a great profit opportunity for operators to tap into
- Embrace occasions to celebrate – with 82% of consumers tending to visit restaurants to celebrate special occasions, from themed days or sporting events, this provides a great opportunity to tap into driving social eating and drinking occasions to celebrate this summer
- Up your low or no alcohol game – almost a third of UK consumers plan on drinking less, or no, alcohol when they return to the out-of-home market, compared to what they drank pre-covid, therefore it is key for operators to up their game for those non-alcoholic options
- Offer more vegan choices – over a third of UK consumers have limited meat consumption in the last 6 months, so it really is the time to give vegan more focus on your menus
- Look at ways to be more sustainable – With 25% of UK consumers stating that the environment was a higher priority for them since the Covid-19 outbreak, it really highlights sustainability’s importance in consumers’ minds when making purchasing decisions.
Laura Mason, Senior Campaign & Brand Manager at Bidfood, said: “When planning our Celebrate Summer campaign, 2021 food and drink trends, along with the current landscape and consumer behaviour due to the pandemic, were top of mind. Over the last year, consumer dining out habits have changed dramatically, as well as their wants and needs, therefore we wanted to create a guide that really helped our customers tap into these new demands to satisfy consumers’ needs and calm any worries they had about venturing back into hospitality.
“Tapping into these talked about trends will be key for boosting operators’ businesses this summer. There will be a lot of competition on the market, which is why we have pulled together an in-depth range of products, recipes, tools, insights and ideas to help support our customers in tailoring their menus to entice more customers.
‘Celebrate Summer’ also explores a number of interesting topics set to be a must, this summer. From the rise in popularity of all things British (including the rise in staycations, dining out for brunch or classic afternoon tea); to good mood food; creative ways to enhance your burger offering; upping your street food game by referring to 2021 cuisine trends; expanding your summer drinks menus with more variety and even low alcohol options, and not forgetting ways to be more sustainable this summer.
To find out more details on all the products, guides, tools and services in the Celebrate Summer campaign, please visit https://www.bidfood.co.uk/inspiration/summer/
Sources:
[1] CGA, Consumer Countdown to Reopening Series; Mintel Eating Out Review inc. Impact of COVID-19, December 2020 (Data book); Mintel Fruit Juice, Juice Drinks & Smoothies report, UK, January 2021; and Lumina Intelligence Menu and Food Trends December 2020