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BANKING ON THE EARLY BIRDS

With foodservice analyst Horizon showing pubs alone are set to serve 12.5 million breakfasts by 2010, it’s vital that every outlet considers how best to cater to its customers’ demand.

Chefs must be firmly on the ball, offering customers trusted brands, great products and fantastic deals to help them build a solid reputation as a breakfast stop and persuading customers there is a delicious alternative to eating in.

On a mission to establish itself as 'The Breakfast Expert' in 2008, Heinz Foodservice not only comes up with the goods but has some hot advice to wake up the sector….

Start as you mean to go on

With healthy eating at the top of the nation's food agenda, old mantras about starting the day right are more important to consumers than ever and pubs are now in a unique position to capitalise on this with the help of Heinz Foodservice.

Heinz Foodservice has identified the biggest challenge facing the foodservice industry is that it is failing to appeal widely enough to consumers, with a massive 52% of people saying they hadn't eaten breakfast out of home in the last three months¹.

And whilst Mintel research also shows that the good old English fry up is still the favoured breakfast out of home, with 56% of people enjoying one, other cooked options and hot rolls/sandwiches account for 15 and 14% of the market respectively. So, why are so few people eating these out of home on a regular basis?

Right Offer = Big Profits

According to Mintel Menu Trends, the future is about customisation, grazing, time poor consumers, premiumisation and value for money. With this consumer insight, Heinz is committed to growing caterers' businesses by creating the right offer and profit for them.

As brand manager Tal Drori points out: "The simple way to address these issues, as both Heinz Foodservice and Mintel research shows, is to initially tackle the fact that a whopping 36% of consumers find it more convenient to eat at home.

"Not only are we able to offer great complementary products for breakfast time, we are now able to offer outlets guidance on how to deal with their consumers. Our research has identified four key consumer types for foodservice outlets and what outlets can do to appeal to them to maximise their breakfast offering and profitability."

These four consumer types are:

Fuel Stop

Food is fuel and the cooked breakfast is part of this breakfaster's daily routine. So, if your customer base is mostly male and blue collar, you should be offering a value-for-money breakfast menu that includes trusted brands like Heinz Beanz – as well as ensuring that HP sauce and Heinz Tomato Ketchup, the nation's top two favoured condiments², are ever-present fixtures on the table.

Grab and Go

These consumers lead busy lives and are extremely time poor and because of this they regularly skip breakfast as a matter of course. The key to attracting these consumers is offering convenient options breakfast options that they can take away with them, such as ready-prepared hot options like pre-cooked bacon that can be placed in the bread product of their choice in a speedy manner.

But it's also important to make sure they are offered convenient choices to personalise their meals – which is where sauce solutions like Heinz SqueezMe! comes in. Available in six flavours including Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Brown Sauce, these easy-to-open 26ml sauce portions are the ideal size for everything from a bacon sandwich to a cold slice of Spanish omelette.

Healthy Choice

Healthy eating has now become mainstream - for health orientated consumers a satisfying, yet guilt-free, breakfast can be hard to track down, particularly when looking for hot options.

Heinz Beanz offer a great base for healthier breakfast options and are available in original, Reduced Sugar and Salt and Weight Watchers versions.

To entice these health-conscious customers in, caterers should be communicating to their customers that just one serving of Heinz Beanz:

Can contribute to one of your 'five-a-day'
Complex carbohydrates for sustained energy release
A fifth of your recommended daily protein needs
More than a fifth of pregnant women's recommended folic acid needs
Calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous for children's developing bones
More than 40% of your recommended daily fibre needs

Total Treat

At the opposite end of the scale from the healthy-minded consumer are those who like to treat themselves with a real slap-up breakfast, as a once-in-a-while indulgence.

This trend for premiumisation, embodied by hotels like Malmaison and the growing number of independent cafés, pubs and restaurants that are offering high-quality local produce, means that mixing well-known brand names like Heinz and HP with products with excellent provenance will see the consumer pay more for the experience.

In fact seven out of 10 consumers say they would be prepared to pay a premium for Heinz Beanz as part of a dish³.

Maclay wakes up

Keith Deary, catering manager for Scottish operator Maclay Inns, said pubs were often unaware of the audience on their doorstep. "Three of our pubs now open for breakfast at 9am, Braes in Dundee, Victoria Café bar in St Andrews and Hopetoun Inn in Edinburgh, which are doing well because they fill a gap in the market," he said.

"The Victoria Café bar in St Andrews is a particular success due to the proximity of the university and the demand from students. When it first introduced the breakfast menu, including fry ups, cereals and baguettes, it was serving up to 400 meals a session, which has levelled out to up to 200. The key is to start by opening an hour earlier, then two and keep assessing the situation. Breakfast is a powerful niche to break into if the demand is there."

Hints and tips

The good old English fry up is the favourite breakfast out of home and yet the classic has yet to shake off the unhealthy stigma which might be putting restaurateurs off investing in the majestic meal.

How about this for a selling point? Not only does offering a traditional English breakfast prove healthy for your profits, a hearty first meal of the day can prove healthy for customers compared to, say, a continental offering. A reminder of the fat content in a traditional English versus a continental style menu may well be a real eye opener:

English Breakfast – 2 rashers of bacon, 1 sausage, 1 fried egg, baked beans, 1 slice of white toast, mushrooms and 1 grilled tomato = 540kcals, 26.2g fat
Coffee Shop Special - white chocolate and strawberry muffin and grand latte with whole milk = 843 kcals, 45.3g fat

To find out more about Heinz Foodservice brands log onto www.heinzfoodservice.co.uk or call Heinz Customer Services 0800 57 57 55.

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