Foodservice Brands Securing Loyalty on College Campuses

Millennial and Gen Z customers are targeted demographics in the foodservice industry. They are all anyone in the foodservice can talk about and who can blame them. Brands want customers who will continue to buy from them, not once or twice, but for as long as the customer lives.

Although there is no exact start and end age for Millennials, most can agree that it’s somewhere between the ages of 20 and 35. One thing that experts can agree on is the fact that this demographic is, and will continue to direct food trends for quick-service brands, which means, new product development and new promotional strategies.

Some fast-food operators sit back and let Millennial and Gen Z customers find their product through marketing. Meanwhile, others see it as an opportunity and are being more aggressive, establishing locations in the center of college campuses to secure brand affinity amongst students.

For the companies that take the initiative to position themselves in college and universities, it gives them the advantage of increasing their brand awareness in front of thousands of individuals who are looking to experience new things.

For example, Moe’s Southwest Grill has 17 operating college-campus locations in the US. Positioning their restaurants on these campuses allows their brand to be exposed by thousands of potential customers between the ages of 18-21. As these customers go back home or move to other areas, hopefully that following will continue.

The connection is not only strategic but also emotional. Customers associate brands with personal experiences and that’s what college is about. Having a place on campus and becoming a notable part of your customer’s life builds a strong connection with them.

“I know with my college experience, there were a couple food and beverage places that are near and dear to my heart because of my experience in college,” says Charles Watson, vice president of franchise development for Tropical Smoothie Café, which has six college locations. “The ability to get a lot of brand affinity by being on the campus and being in that special part of someone’s life.”

In real-estate, there is a coined phrase: “location, location, location.” CHD Expert can deliver the most up-to-date location information to help restaurants determined the right college or university. With the most accurate foodservice data on over 5,000 colleges and universities in the US, CHD Expert can provide details and counts around schools in a specific area, enrollment size, ownership type (public/private), and contact details.

Whether you’re a business that wants data on all private colleges with less than 10,000 students in a 25-mile radius or a public universities with over 20,000 students in a 50-mile radius, CHD Expert can provide you with that data. CHD Expert can even break down the campus area to provide you with information as to where competitors are located and the type of cuisine offered.

If a quick-service restaurant, whether branded or proprietary, is trying to expand into the College & University market, CHD Expert can help you make more intelligent business decisions. If you would like more information on how to access CHD Expert’s databases, please contact Catherine Kearns via email at cathy@chd-expert.com or call (312) 768-6916.

CHD Expert Releases New Product, Restaurant Chain Locator, Enabling Key Decision Makers To Visualize The Foodservice Market Landscape At The Click Of A Button

CHD Expert, debuts their newest foodservice marketing intelligence tool, Restaurant Chain Locator, helping food service businesses find, track, and footprint chain restaurants across the United States.

Chicago-based foodservice database, marketing, and analytics firm, CHD Expert unveils its latest innovation in foodservice data, The Restaurant Chain Locator. The new Restaurant Chain Locator tool is part of CHD Expert’s interactive online database platform that provides restaurant chains and foodservice providers with new ways to evaluate the foodservice market landscape. This tool identifies the chain operator landscape and density, and can postulate the data onto specific geographic maps, provide aggregated counts, graphs and other business intelligence around the chain and independent operators. The Restaurant Chain Locator has the ability to overlay current U.S. Census bureau information to further evaluate decisions in comparison with other geo-specific key indicators.

According to the latest figures from CHD Expert’s foodservice database, there are over 227,000 total chain restaurants located in the United States. These 227,000 chain restaurants consist of more than 1,900 unique restaurant brands. Subway leads the way with over 25,000 locations across the United States. McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Burger King round out the top 5 most prevalent U.S. restaurant chains. Chain restaurants are defined as restaurants with more than nine units in operation throughout the US. See Figure 1 for the chain restaurant density heat map by zip code.

Data indicates that chains are more heavily located in major cities, with some zip codes containing more than 55+ different chain restaurants. On the contrary, there are zip codes that contain two chain restaurants or less. Some restaurant chains and foodservice providers might see low density areas as a growth opportunity, while others may want to focus on the more heavily populated zip codes. This depends on the businesses’ strategy.

Executives who are looking to expand or consolidate their restaurants’ locations can use Restaurant Chain Locator to evaluate the market landscape and make strategic decisions. This tool allows restaurant chains to visualize their locations and the footprint of operators around each of their units for competitive intelligence as well as new location placement strategy.

Restaurant Chain Locator features include the ability to: locate competitor establishments, visualize density of independents and chains locations within a given market or segment, view census demographics, and map out the results of their selection. With all the intelligence available in the database, a restaurant chain can now view footprints by segment, menu type, annual sales, #employees and average check, giving them more intelligence around their competitors in any given market.

“The restaurant industry is one of the most dynamic and volatile industries to be involved in,” stated Catherine Kearns General Manager of CHD Expert North America. “Restaurants open and close on a regular basis and when considering expansion it is vital to understand the current market landscape and evaluate from a macro perspective. The insight provided by this tool is a game changer for foodservice professionals who are looking to better understand their competitive landscape.”

To get a free demonstration of Restaurant Chain Locator please contact bbloom(at)chd-expert(dot)com.

CHD Expert is the worldwide leader in collecting, managing, and analyzing data for the Away-from-Home Global Foodservice Market. For more than 10 years, CHD Expert has been dedicated to support Foodservice channel members in providing a global vision and an in-depth understanding of the industry (in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific).

Our objective is to support our clients in their sales and marketing strategies by providing the most comprehensive and accurate foodservice census housing market information for more than 4 million operators worldwide. For more information or learn about all of our products available, please visit CHD-Expert.com.

Four reasons why Direct Street Reps can benefit from access to foodservice prospects

It can be very challenging for Distributers to stay on top of the ever-changing foodservice industry. What are you doing to set yourself up for success? As a sales professional, it is important that you maximize the time you spend selling and minimize time spent doing busywork.

CHD Expert can help make your process more efficient. Our foodservice database can provide you with digital access to a constant source of new prospects. We are the leading provider of foodservice industry data, and with our tool, Easy2FIND, you can have access to over 5 million accurate foodservice operator contacts.

Our foodservice data can help you improve your sales results. Here are four reasons why Direct Street Reps (DSRs) can benefit from constant access to foodservice prospects:

1. Complete and accurate prospect lists: With Easy2FIND, DSRs can have a constant source of new prospects at their fingertips. They don’t have to worry about staying on top of frequent operator changes. With Easy2FIND, DSRs have access to a custom portal filled with operator contact information that is accurate and updated regularly.
2. Spend time selling, not researching: Easy2FIND allows DSRs to spend more time selling and less time researching. DSRs don’t have to spend their time looking for new operators to call on or creating new prospect lists.  If DSRs aren’t spending their time selling, they are not making money and with Easy2FIND, DSRs can increase their efficiency.
3. Gain an edge over your competition: With Easy2FIND DSRs are using the latest digital technology to power their prospecting process. With a unique custom portal, DSRs have the ability to pinpoint their next prospect and get the contact details they need to connect with key decision makers, making their sales team more agile and efficient than competitors who still use dated methods.
4. Expand into new segments: With Easy2FIND, DSRs can continuously add new data to their custom portal. For example, if they want to expand their sales into a new segment like the healthcare industry, or move into a new geography or zip code, this information can be easily added to their custom portal and scaling into new markets becomes a cinch.

Easy2FIND is a new generation of online sales and marketing data analysis tool that improves market research and intelligence efforts. Easy2FIND provides you unlimited access to the Foodservice Industry National Database. Updated every month with businesses openings and closings!

Contact us with any questions at cathy@chd-expert.com or call us directly at (312) 768-6900.

 

 

CHD Expert Releases The Latest Restaurant Data, Focusing On Independent Restaurants in a Market Landscape Overview

CHD Expert’s Latest Restaurant Data Indicates That In The Current US Market Landscape, Independent Restaurants Out Number Chain Restaurants Two To One.

Leading foodservice data and analytics company CHD Expert, releases the latest figures around the current United States restaurant landscape and evaluates how independent restaurants stack up against the more widely recognized chain brands. All data in this report is pulled from CHD Expert’s Restaurant Database as of October 2013. Currently in the United States there are 678,691 total restaurants in operation, equating to approximately 1 restaurant for every 467 American citizens*.

While some of the most recognizable global brands are famous American chain restaurants, in the United States the total number of independent restaurants outnumbers chains almost exactly two to one. Currently there are 454,695 total independent restaurants in operation in the United States, whereas there are 224,266 chain restaurants in operation.

However in terms of annual sales, independent restaurants generally gross less than chain restaurants. 67.3 percent of independent restaurants gross less than $500,000 a year, whereas only 24.8 percent of chain restaurants aggregate less than $500,000 annually. Considering the highest grossing restaurant segment, only 1,023 independent restaurants achieve more than $5,000,000 dollars annually, whereas 1,234 chain restaurants fall into this category.

Breaking down the states and District of Colombia by their mix of independent restaurants compared to chains, the four states** with the highest percentage of independent restaurants all reside on the North East Coast. New York leads the nation with the highest percentage of independent restaurants with 82.1 percent of the state’s restaurants being independent. This is not surprising, as the five boroughs of New York City, particularly Manhattan, are largely comprised of unique restaurants. After New York is New Jersey with 78.5 percent independent restaurants, followed by Washington DC at 77.6 percent, and then Maine at 76.4 percent.

Considering states with the most independent restaurants by volume, California leads the states with 12.9% of the US Total comprising of over 58,540 total independent restaurants, bringing in almost $30 billion in sales annually to the California economy. New York is second on the list with 40,928 total independent restaurants, followed by Texas with 33,171 then Florida with 29,449. Rounding out the top ten states by independent restaurants are PA, NJ, IL, OH, NC and MA. See figure 1.

The footprint of independent restaurants in QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) and FSR (Full Service Restaurants) is significant. Independent restaurants make up over 90% of the FSR market, whereas in QSR it drops to 43%.

A majority of independent restaurants fall into the full service category. They represent almost 69% of all unique independent restaurants throughout the nation, with retail sales of over $189 billion annually, whereas limited service restaurants sales achieve $$52 billion per year.

“For foodservice professionals who sell their products to restaurants, it is critical to understand the market landscape in your territory”, stated Brad T. Bloom, Director of Sales for CHD Expert North America. “It is a misconception that foodservice manufacturers and distributors need to engage with the large chains to land big sales. Often times the low hanging fruit can be the local independents, who’s decision makers can be much easier to get a hold of and sell to. It is more difficult than ever for sales professionals to engage restaurant owners or decision makers, but with relevant restaurant data, sales professionals can spend more time developing strategies that increase sales and less time researching.”

To obtain more information about CHD Experts findings, or with general questions about foodservice data, please contact Nicolas Watson – nwatson@chd-expert.com

* Based on US Census population clock estimates October 20, 2013
** Washington DC is considered a state for this exercise