‘Fast casual foodservice’ the new frontier in growing food-to-go market
‘Fast casual’ is the fastest growing foodservice sector in Ireland and has already captured over 50% of out-of-home food spend in 2015, according to new Bord Bia research. As we discovered at its recent 'Street Eats' show, Martin Food Equipment is confident it can help retailers capitalise on this trend
23 November 2015
All things new in street food were present at Martin Food Equipment’s ‘Street Eats’ show on Tuesday, 17 and Wednesday 18 November, as ShelfLife discovered when we headed along to check out the exhibition last week.
Informed by the latest research in street food, Martin Food Equipment presented eight fresh new concepts in fast casual dining at its Innovation Centre in Dundalk.
Food development teams from Ireland’s top retail groups attended and over 400 progressive Irish retailers visited during the six day long series of presentations.
Martin Food Equipment was bang on trend with its ‘Street Eats’ presentation and the timing was impeccable coming just days after the recent Bord Bia conference entitled ‘Quick Service and Food to Go’.
According to this far-reaching research, ‘fast casual’ is the fastest growing foodservice sector in Ireland and has already captured over 50% of out-of-home food spend in 2015.
Street Food concepts presented on the day included handmade burritos and fajitas, handcrafted gourmet sandwiches and sizzling wok Asian cuisine.
Martin Food Equipment has designed these concepts and more around the most recent market research which identifies what appeals to today’s food-to-go customer.
Technomic International, the team behind the recent Bord Bia research, identifies the following as important factors. Food to go must offer top quality ingredients, wholesome fresh food, at a fair price, with speedy service, by friendly employees. Food offerings must be flexible and prepared in full view.
“The food must be what we call storyfull” according to Frank Doonan, managing director at Martin Food Equipment. “Fast Casual foodservice benefits from a back story that includes ingredient sources or provenance and healthy methods of preparation. If a retailer can proudly explain why they serve a particular menu item or prepare it in a certain way, consumers will trust the retailer and their menu. Retailers should be proud of how fresh, how local, how healthy and of course how tasty their food is. This really appeals to today’s food to go customers.”
Doonan adds that “a recovering local economy, increased tourism and an improving jobs market in Ireland is fuelling resurgence in out of home dining”. Many retail groups, forecourt operators and independent retailers are currently evaluating their in-store food offering to capture their share of this increasing consumer spend on ‘fast casual’ dining.
“Martin Food Equipment stands poised to help,” says Doonan. For more information or to arrange a free menu consultancy meeting, contact: Martin Food Equipment at info@mfe.ie or call Callsave 1850 30 36 36.
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