Microwaveable
Fast Foods
March/April
2003
Zap
& serve - it's the ideal food offering for C-Stores
ith C-Stores looking more like restaurants, it's hard
to remember that the new style of convenience food offering all started
with the microwave. ACSN discovers that microwaveable food continues
to hold its own.
It's so simple. Zap and serve. Couldn't be easier and
- very importantly - couldn't be safer.
That's in terms of HACCP, the whole issue of food handling
safety. Microwaveable foods are a great way for a retailer to have a
food offering without hassles, providing the basics are right - that
is, good equipment (fridge, freezer, microwave), good presentation and
a good product range.
"Microwaveable food was the first real food offering
in C-Stores and it has built itself a strong place in the market,"
says Ian Kerr, national sales manager for Australian Convenience Food
Group.
Versatile and HACCP friendly
"The whole category of pre-packaged self-serve microwaveable snacks
is growing quite quickly with a range of other products joining the
originals. Once manufacturers have a product and the ability to wrap
it so it is self-serve, there are all sorts of possibilities."
Mr Kerr speaks from a strong position. ACF manufactures
and distributes a range of microwaveable convenience foods, including
its leading brand of Aussie Hero rolls, as well as fresh sandwiches.
"Aside from their versatility, there's no doubt one
of the major advantages to retailers is the whole HACCP food handling
issue. All they have to do is store the product correctly. If they use
the vendor-fill system where ACF supplies directly, we monitor the stock
weights and account for the wastage, then the retailer's only role as
far as HACCP is concerned, is to make sure their fridge or freezer is
operating at the right temperature.
"And you can't underestimate that appeal to someone
who is doing many tasks at once, the fact the products are packaged
and easy to prepare, or consumers can prepare them for themselves,"
Mr Kerr says.
"They can choose it and cook it. It's only recently
with HACCP becoming such an issue that people appreciate how easy microwave
products are to range and sell."
Mr Kerr's comments are strongly echoed by Steve O'Shannessy,
marketing manager - soup, for Heinz Watties. The six varieties of the
company's Soup To Go heat-and-serve cups are edging out of supermarkets
and into C-Stores to great acclaim, for all those reasons.
"Route is a good channel for us and our product is
ideal in the C-Store environment. It comes in its own container and
is shelf-stable for 15 months, so it's easy to manage for the retailer
and the consumer.
"We're finding that soup is increasingly being substituted
for tea and coffee. People are thinking about more healthy food and
beverages and soup is seen as a healthy beverage that is also quick
and convenient. And, of course, given you simply take off the lid, remove
the seal and heat it, the whole food handling issue is easy. There's
very little risk here," Mr O'Shannessy says.
Food safety regulations are having a profound effect on
old favourites such as the hot dog. Boss Hogs Hot Dogs has recognised
the change and has developed a snap-frozen, microwaveable hot dog to
complement the product currently sold nationally from its hot dog steam
network.
"Our hot dog can be reheated from either a frozen
or thawed state, depending on demand, which makes it a very convenient
product for the retailer," says Bill Alt, managing director of
Boss Hogs, which is set up as a franchisee distribution system.
"They've been so successful, we're currently conducting
rigorous research and development towards the introduction of additional
convenient re-heatable take-away products."
Route offers opportunites for growth
Mr Alt says there are extraordinary opportunities for growth in the
food offering sector of the route trade. "The fast food market
is growing generally and even more so in route. It's also becoming more
diverse in terms of the offers provided. And consumers are more sophisticated
in their choices and are driven by product quality and variety as opposed
to price being the only motivator."
Like Mr Alt and ACF's Mr Kerr, Heinz Watties' Mr O'Shannessy
is seeing strong growth in the 'out of home' microwaveable food market.
The fact that consumers want something fast, tasty and nutritious has
helped his product's sales to a 75 per cent increase on the previous
year. Soup To Go now represents four per cent of the total soup market.
"There's a lot of excitement globally about this
sort of product. We predict there soon will be a lot more players in
the take-away soup market, simply because it is tailor-made for C-Stores
and their customers in terms of convenience and ease of management."
Another recent arrival in C-Stores is Mexican Express'
Nachos To Go. Designed primarily for the convenience market, what's
tagged as 'The World's Easiest Nachos' won the Best New Food Service
Product Award at the Sydney Fine Food Show, according to Mexican Express
sales manager, Allan Taylor. Route represents 35 per cent of Nachos
To Go's national sales, a significant part of the company's total business.
"It's just so easy to make. Heat it for 30-40 seconds
and there's a delicious ready-to-eat meal which is completely gluten-free
with no artificial colours or flavours."
Yet another alternative gaining popularity as a C-Store
food offering is pizza. Balfours produces the Pizza Haven Express range
that is selling very strongly. "They're 200g, individually wrapped
single-serve frozen pizzas in four flavours," says Balfours' sales
and marketing director, Paul Stanley.
"Route is a very important market to us for this
product and it's growing. People want fast food that's healthy and convenient
and individually wrapped, so they're confident of it being safe to eat."
Storage and shelf life are obviously very important issues.
The ACF Group seals its products in MAP (Modified Atmospheric Packaging)
which provides a long shelf life. As mentioned earlier, Heinz Watties
Soup To Go has a shelf life of 15 months without needing refrigeration,
and is easy to stack and store, while Nachos To Go is packaged in cardboard
to avoid burning hands and food. Pizza Haven's Express Pizzas are designed
to sit in the freezer or refrigerator until required.
Choose quality equipment
But perhaps the most important issue is the actual microwave. While
many outlets use a domestic oven, it makes more sense to use a commercial-grade
product, says Mati Jaas, spokesman for Food Equipment Distributors (FED).
"Our Avanti range is all stainless steel, which means
it's very easy to clean - an important consideration with the HACCP
regulations. It's received a high level of acceptance from C-Store groups
and customers because of its sleek styling, robust construction and
operational ease. It comes with a laminated three-step instruction card
to ensure the food products is cooked to its best in terms of presentation
and food safety requirements.
"We see a trend towards this type of oven which offers
commercial performance with the operational ease of the standard home
microwave. All-stainless steel is becoming more prevalent because it
is better in high-usage situations, and also because of its ease of
cleaning."
Mr Jaas' comments are backed up by Terry Ebbott, client
manager at AVEM, which imports a range of food service equipment. Mr
Ebbott, who has a long pedigree in the food industry, says a commercial
oven will provide better results every time - and is designed for heavy
use and ease of cleaning.
"It's always important to allow the product to cook
thoroughly and a good quality oven ensures the food is of the highest
standard, so the customer will come back. I believe a combined microwave/convection
oven is the best bet.
"A microwaveable food offering is particularly well
suited to outlets that are not part of a major chain. Done right, it
really adds to the bottom line and, of course, it's something that can
be on offer 24 hours a day which can be difficult with other offerings,"
Mr Ebbott says.
"The quality and range now available for microwaving
is so good, and it's so simple to manage. It's not fiddly and there's
no real wastage or HACCP issues involved. It's a real winner if the
retailer puts a bit of thought into doing it well."
Position is the key
Position is obviously the key with this sort of food offering because
it is such a drawcard. The microwave and its location must be clean
and neat, and it makes sense to have the appropriate food products nearby.
Interestingly, while point of sale material is a key drawcard for many
products, some experts suggest it's probably a case of overkill for
food offerings.
"POS is probably superfluous with convenience foods
because the food will sell itself," says ACF's Mr Kerr. "But
the packaging needs to be bright and illustrate clearly what the product
is."
Mr Kerr does suggest that because a lot of microwave product
is sold at night (between 10pm and 2am), enterprising retailers should
bring out additional stock at night and position it in space that might
have held sandwiches during the day.
Boss Hogs' Bill Alt would argue the relevance of point
of sale. He believes it does have a role to play as part of the general
presentation which, he says, should always be bright, clean, easy to
use and - if there are instructions - easy to read.
"We want our product to always look appealing and
at the same time we want the retail price to be seen to be affordable.
From the point of view of the retailer and the customer, the dispensing
equipment must be simple to operate, easy to clean and appealing to
the eye and any point of sale and merchandising needs to be versatile
so it fits into a multitude of different store applications."
Heinz Watties' Mr O'Shannessy suggests his company's products
will also sell well if they're displayed well, preferably close to a
well-presented food service area, with a clean and efficient microwave.
"Keep some in stock and display them near other microwaveable products
and the microwave itself. Consumers then have a choice and it will also
stimulate some impulse buys - not every customer comes in looking for
soup but they buy one if they see it."
Mexican Express' Mr Taylor also advocates stocking his
company's product close to the in-store microwave and says late-night
sales are very strong. "We know bench space is always at a premium
in C-Stores, particularly when you're talking about a food offering,
so we have designed a free-standing display unit which takes up minimal
space and is supplied free. We do have POS material and our posters
can be made into mobiles to encourage customers to that corner."
Possibilities are limitless
So what does the future hold? Is there room for more products? Our experts
suggest the possibilities are almost limitless, which makes microwaveable
food the most exciting food offering available.
"Bread is the carrier for our traditional products
such as rolls and burgers and I think we'll see a lot of different bread
types such as lavash, pita breads, muffins or even tortillas - that's
where there are some new product opportunities," says ACF's Mr
Kerr.
Heinz Watties' Mr O'Shannessy promises both a continued
improvement in the current SoupTo Go range as well as more variants
to come. "This is such an easy product to handle, our advice to
anyone interested is to simply take a few first and see how they go.
It's not an expensive outlay for the retailer and it's probably important
to note that while soup is still more heavily weighted in the winter
months, it's not as seasonal as it once was.
"Last year we advertised out-of-season and we had
a huge response. We've still got a bit of work to do in terms of raising
awareness so we will be maintaining that level of support this year.
Retailers can be sure that customers are familiar with the product and
find its convenience appealing," Mr O'Shannessy says.
The biggest question for most retailers would be
knowing what to stock. The key, as always, is looking at your demographic.
Who are your customers, when are they in-store, and what are they looking
for when they're there? Whatever food offering you decide on, a little
research and observation will ensure that you have exactly what they
want, when they want it - and a microwave with a range of interesting
food varieties which offer good margins can make a big difference to
your bottom line.