Dining Out for Thanksgiving: Foodservice Trends + Foodservice Marketing Best Practices

We always keep an eye on foodservice trends and foodservice marketing, and every November we consider, How many people will be dining out for Thanksgiving?

Before the holiday, the National Restaurant Association said that a survey found that nearly 14 million Americans will dine of for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Two top reasons for dining out are convenience and not having to “do the dishes.”

Another interesting foodservice marketing trend we saw this year is that restaurant booking websites identified restaurants that were going to be offering a Thanksgiving menu.  In particular, Open Table helped facilitate the “convenience” factor for people who wanted that option. They offered a search functionality for restaurants that were putting on a Thanksgiving Meal, with options that included, cuisine type, price, location, buffet and other tasting options.

Open Table also did a nice job of informing their users that dining out was an option for the Thanksgiving holiday. They used a lot of best practices in their email marketing campaign which we’d like to point out and share with our readers. The subject line for the email reads: Thanksgiving Made Easy

Here are some other best practices Open Table used in their email:

1. Clear, benefit driven subject line. The better the subject line, the higher the open rate.

2. Scannable copy that is personalized to the reader, listing specific local restaurants that are offering Thanksgiving Meals (This email was sent to someone who lives in NYC).

3. There is a clear call to action, “Make a reservation.”

4. There is a secondary call to action. So, if you don’t dine out on Thanksgiving, there are other nights like Friday, Saturday and Sunday night that you can dine out too.

We thought this was a nice job by Open Table to promote dining out options on one of America’s favorite holidays and we wanted to share it with our readers. We hope you had a wonderful  Thanksgiving and if you have any other questions about foodservice marketing or foodservice trends, let us know. We are happy to help!

Feel free to call us at 312-768-6900 or email me (Nico) at nwatson@chd-expert.com – We can’t wait to hear from you.

Foodservice Segmentation: How we define the different segments of the foodservice market

We get asked a lot about foodservice segmentation and the different segments of the foodservice market and we wanted to share a free list of foodservice segment definitions.

There are a variety of foodservice industry segments and there is a system in place to help foodservice industry professionals speak the same language. This easy to use system is called the GFC code, or the Global Foodservice Classification code.

While the idea of GFC codes may be easily digestible, a lot of times clients and prospects ask us “what does code 1310 for really mean?”

We took that question to heart and wanted to share a list of definitions and examples to help people better understand the jargon behind the GFC codes. Click To download CHD Experts Foodservice Segment Definitions  List. It includes an example and definition for each segment.

Or, if you are looking for more information or want to speak with a representative, give us a call at 312-678-6900 or email Brad at bloom@chd-expert.com

Thanks!

The 50th Annual IFMA/IFDA Presidents Conference

With extreme weather wreaking havoc on the Eastern U.S., a few lucky members of the CHD Expert team get to spend this week in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona for the IFMA/IFDA Presidents Conference.

The International Foodservice Distributors Association and the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association have teamed up to co-host this premier conference “Where leaders meet”.  This annual event is by invite only and is aimed at connecting c-suite level exectutives among manufacturers, distributers, operators and other foodservice channel partners.

Also taking place at Presidents Conference is the annual Distributor Awards, which acknowledge leadership and excellence among companies within the foodservice industry.

If you are attending the Presidents Conference and would like to schedule some time to meet during or after the event, please send an email to Brad Bloom (bbloom@chd-expert.com) and we can set up some time to network.

Or if you will not be at the event, but would still like to talk foodservice marketing, please reach out and let us know how we can be of service.