CHD Expert Adds New Data Segments, Providing Foodservice Professionals With Intelligence On Restaurants That Have Just Opened And Those With Plans To Open In The Future

Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) February 27, 2014

New data segmentation now allows CHD Expert’s customers to identify restaurants that have been open for less than 30 days, and those restaurants that have yet to open their doors to guests.

CHD Expert, the Chicago-based foodservice database and analytics firm is announcing the expansion of their operator filter suite in two new and exciting areas; businesses that have just recently opened, and those who have plans to open in the near future. These two new segments will provide critical insight to companies that sell to restaurants, as they will be able to use the data to contact decision makers in the critical process of outfitting their establishments and looking to build lasting relationships with food suppliers. The two segments will be available in March 2014.

Currently, CHD Expert’s Foodservice Industry Database (FIND) offers data at an industry-leading level of accuracy on over six million global operators, providing contact information that can be segmented and filtered by various criteria. The two new segments will be joining an already robust list of available criteria that includes location, units, menu type, revenue, average check, number of employees, and many other pertinent details.

This March, CHD Expert customers in select USA markets will be able to quickly identify two types of restaurants and other foodservice kitchens not previously possible – those with recently opened doors, and those who are scheduled to open in the near future. The segments will be broken down into two specific areas: New Business and Pre-Open. These two new filter options will join all the current age-related filters, which identify restaurants that have been open for less than one year, one to two years, two to five years, and five plus years.

The New Business segment will classify operators who have opened within the past 30 days. Imagine the possibilities this information can provide to CHD Expert customers, who will now be able to identify recently opened restaurants in their selected geography. Companies who focus on selling advertising, POS systems, or other digital services will be able to use this data to target prospects that have yet to solidify these necessary relationships, or who are ready to enhance their current operations. Specialty providers can use this data to target and sell their products to restaurants that may not have an identified provider at open, or after an initial experience with one, now want to change quickly.

The Pre-Open segment will recognize operators who have plans to open in the near future. This information will be highly desirable for any foodservice distributor or manufacturer who sells to restaurants or commercial kitchens. Vendors will now be able to strategically offer their goods to restaurants that are in the process of purchasing equipment and food products to outfit their establishment.

“Foodservice distributors, equipment manufacturers, and food manufactures have been requesting pre opening data for years,” said Brad Bloom, Director of Sales at CHD Expert North America. “Being able to connect with a restaurant or foodservice establishments while they are outfitting their kitchen and looking for suppliers while menu planning is the Holy Grail for sales professionals who sell to the foodservice industry. We now have this information available for our customers, and we are excited to see how this data positively affects their sales results.”

To learn more about CHD Expert’s foodservice database, or to learn more about CHD Expert’s latest restaurant data segments, please click the button below:

Smart Business Magazine’s Review of Chicago’s Restaurant Landscape

At CHD Expert, we not only provide data to our clients, but sometimes we get the change to work with magazines and other news outlets. Most recently, we got the chance to work with Mark Scott, Senior Associate Editor at Smart Business Magazine  and provided him with restaurant data for the city of Chicago. In this month’s edition of Uniquely Chicago, Mark writes about how Chicago shouldn’t only be recognized for it’s pizza, but for it’s diverse food scene as well. Click the image of the article below to read the full story and to learn about the restaurant landscape in Chicago.

Uniquely Chicago – Restaurants, A Slice of Life

If you are a journalist looking for restaurant or foodservice data, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to help you complete your story or provide you with data on the foodservice or restaurant industry. Email us at cathy@chd-expert.com.

Healthier, Gourmet Food Options on The Rise in US Airports

When was the last time you traveled. Did you happen to remember that the airport’s food options have been significantly upgraded to gourmet or healthier fare? Travelers will soon no longer have an excuse to eat junk food when traveling. According to a panel of doctors, at the nation’s 18 busiest airports, 76% of restaurants offer at least one healthy entree. This is up since 2001 when only 57% of airports offered travelers at least one healthy item on the menu. See how the different airports rank on health options per the chart below.

2013 Airport Food Review published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

This news is good for the 100 millions of travelers that pass through airport terminals on a regular basis. With more and more individuals searching for healthier options, it’s only right that airport restaurants continue to offer passengers a variety of nutritious options. Let’s talk about one airport in particular that we think excels in healthy options for travelers. JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at JFK does a great job of offering a wide variety of restaurants and healthy food options. For example, they have a food court with a salad bar option in addition to several restaurants through out the terminal, one of which is sushi bar called Deep Blue Sushi which has a robust menu of fresh choices created by NYC’s Buddakan Executive Chef Michael Schulson. JetBlue continues to push the envelope on overall “terminal” experience, and providing diverse food options is one of areas in which they excel, especially when it comes to offering healthier options. JetBlue has 24 total food and beverage outlets offering travelers a variety of places to choose from.

As people continue with the New Year’s Resolutions, healthy options will continue to be an important factor in where people choose to dine in airports, especially for frequent business travelers. Airports, foodservice companies and restaurants should consider how the healthier trend can impact their business.

Do you have questions about airport locations? Or are you looking for a list of airports addresses or airport data? Send us an email with your questions and we’ll get back to you within a few hours. Email us at cathy@chd-expert.com.

2014 Foodservice Industry Trends

The foodservice industry is all about trends. Trends can have a significant impact on a foodservice business. Today’s consumers are more interested than ever in the foods they eat, where they eat, and where their food comes from. True trends, as opposed to fads, shows the need in our society and how foodservice industries meet those demands.

Here are 3  foodservice industry trends you should look out for in 2014:

Restaurants In Retail  Shops

How would you like a glass of wine as you look around for a new pair of shoes? Well, the next big thing in food could be fashion. There is a growing trend of retail stores in the US developing their own themed restaurants within their store. A perfect example of this is Tommy Bahama’s New York flagship restaurant that sells rib-eyes and fish tacos. Another great example of this is David Burke’s Burke in the Box and Forty Carrots at Bloomingdales.

So what’s the value of putting a restaurant into a store?  Restaurateurs want to keep shoppers in their stores for as long as they can and giving shoppers the ability to drink and eat can increases the time they spend in the store. The more time spent in the store; the more likely a purchase will be made.

More Restaurants Using Tablets

 Restaurants are embracing technology and the use of tablets is just another example of that. Earlier this week Applebee’s announced plans to install 100,000 tablets at every table in each of its 1,860 restaurants in the United States. These tablets will allow Applebee’s customers the ability to order food, pay their bill, and play games as they wait for their food. Back in September, Chili’s announced they would also begin installing tablets on each table of its 823 restaurants by March 2014.

While this move may seem like the beginning of the end for servers, don’t be alarmed. The restaurant business is about speed and service. Restaurants make more money when their servers are quick, and they get their customers out the door happy. The devices are for interactive purposes and convenience, targeting groups and families who wouldn’t mind paying $0.99 to play games. In fact, services could expect to see an increase in tips as the system is implemented to increase the spending per table and customers will benefit from better service as servers wont have many tasks on their plate.

Goodbye Trans Fats

Say goodbye to margarine because artificial trans fat in food will soon be a thing of the past. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its preliminary determination saying trans fat is not “generally recognized as safe” for food. If this preliminary determination is finalized, hydrogenated oils (a component of margarine) will become food additives that could not be used in food without approval. Any food with unapproved additive cannot legally be sold in the U.S.

If you are looking to find accurate and up-to-date data on full service restaurants, retail stores, or information on restaurants that offer a specific cuisine, CHD Expert can help you locate those businesses and get you contact information for key decision makers. If you would like more information on how to access CHD Expert’s database, please contact Catherine Kearns via email at cathy@chd-expert.com or call (312) 768-6916.

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.

 

 

Burger King Satisfries: Are healthier options the next trend for fast food restaurants?

By Nicolas Watson

Fast food is becoming healthier – at least for one popular fast food chain. With the introduction of ¨Satisfries¨, Burger King is leading the way in what may become a new trend for healthy fast food.

¨Satisfries¨ are a low-calorie version of Burger King´s original fries and contain 40% less fast than fries from McDonald´s. Now people have the option to choose between full-fat fries and healthier ones. What impact will this have on fast food?  Are Satisfries the first of many “healthier” fast food options?

Interestingly enough, this is the first time we’ve seen a menu innovation around French Fries. Fast food chains have played around with healthier options in the past, for example grilled chicken wraps or low-calorie salads. What’s brilliant is that Burger King was able to think about a food innovation that satisfies a fried food craving. They aren’t trying to replace fries with apple slices like some other chains. They are looking to capture that satisfying fried food taste that people come to fast food restaurants for.  Such menu innovations in the fast food industry may become more common as consumers needs and consumption continue to change.

For some, this will impact where they decide to open their next location. To choose the next best real-estate location, they might want to consider working with a company like CHD Expert. Here at CHD Expert, we help businesses visualize the market landscape by providing them with information on chains headquarters, sub-franchisees, regional offices or even multi-concept operators. CHD Expert can even break down the market landscape do this down to the zip code level and provide a visual aid as to where any restaurant is located within the defined area.

For more information on food service data or chain locator tool, visit CHD Expert. Or reach out to me directly at nwatson@chd-expert.com.

We Sell Data, We Manage Data.

Author: Nico Watson

Here at CHD Expert, our main focus is data. We sell data, we manage data, and we create insights around data! Data is at the core of our business. Especially foodservice data. That’s what we specialize in. We know the foodservice market place better than any other “generic” data provider out there.

We can help you improve your sales and marketing efforts. Want more info or to talk to one of our foodservice experts? Email me, Nicolas Watson (nwatson@chd-expert.com) to discuss how we can help your business.

In the mean time, this week we saw an awesome infographic that is all about data and we wanted to share it. Check out this amazing infographic about how Data Never Sleeps! Pretty amazing right? Thanks Domo for putting this visual all about data together!

CHD Expert Releases New Data About the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Industry

New data available from leading foodservice database and analytics company, CHD Expert reports on the status of the restaurant and lodging industry in the nation’s fourth most populous state, Florida.

With the 2013 Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show taking place later this month in Orlando, foodservice database and analytics firm, CHD Expert reports on Florida’s current lodging and restaurant landscape.

With great weather, world-class amusement parks, natural wonders, and over 1,000 miles of coastline, Florida is a top destination for domestic and international travelers. People come to Florida looking for a nice time and according to CHD Expert’s latest data, Florida leads the country with 367 active resorts, accounting for over 20% of the Nations Resorts. By comparison, the state with the second highest number of resorts in the nation is California with 179, accounting for 10 percent of the national total.

Holding the third place, behind California and Texas, the state of Florida hosts over 6% of the hospitality and lodging market in the US. There are a total of 4,323 different lodging facilities in the state of Florida, 14 percent of which have a restaurant as part of the facility, much higher than the national average of 7.8 percent. Contrarily there are 2,632 hotels and motels in the state that do not include a restaurant, of which over 29 percent offer a complimentary breakfast to their patrons.

In terms of restaurant industry landscape, Florida has 44,811 total restaurants, which makes up 6.5 percent of the total restaurants in the United States of America. Figure 1: Florida Restaurant Breakdown by Market Segment compared to US Market

Figure 1 Florida Restaurant Breakdown by Market Segment compared to US Market

Florida is a family destination identified by its high percentage of Family Style restaurants. About 12 percent of the restaurants in the state of Florida fall into the “Family Style” segment, defined as a full service restaurant that does not serve alcohol with an average check of $6 to $12. In comparison, this is a much higher percentage than other large states like California (10 percent), New York (10 percent) and Texas (9 percent).

Florida hosts 11.4 percent of the Steak and Seafood restaurants in the United States, and Steak and Seafood restaurants make up 3.8 percent of the Florida market. Varied Menu is most common menu type in Florida, making up 20.5 percent of Florida’s menu type mix, followed by Pizzerias, which make up 10.1 percent. These menu types are similar to the US footprint in these menu type categories. Figure 2: Top 10 Menu Types in Florida Compared to US Market.

Figure 2 Top 10 Menu Types in Florida Compared to US Market

Florida also hosts a very high percentage of the US menu type totals in Latin and Caribbean menu types, although the numbers of these ethnic restaurants are not substantial compared to the more common menu types. Figure 3: Florida Top 10 Highest Percent of US Menu Types

Figure 3 Florida Top 10 Highest Percent of US Menu Types

Similar to the US Market, most Florida restaurants are independent (restaurants that have between 1-9 total units) and not part of a major chain. However in the full service restaurant segment, Florida has a slightly higher percentage of Chain Restaurants than the national average. Figure 4: Full Service Restaurants US Market Vs. Florida Market

Figure 4 Full Service Restaurants US Market Vs. Florida Market

Other fortuitous news for aspiring restaurateurs in Florida, is that 49.81 percent of restaurants in Florida have been in business for 5+ years. With the difficult times in the past for restaurants, Florida is coming back fiercely, with over 4400 new openings in the past 12 months.

When evaluating the average check cost in Florida, 23.8 percent of the time the bill ranges between $15-20. The check exceeds $50 less than one percent of the time and under $5 approximately 6 percent of the time. The majority of restaurant menu types that earn over $5 million annually are Varied, Italian and Seafood.

“Florida is a great place to visit and this is apparent when you look at how the states economy is impacted by the tourism industry,” said Nicolas Watson, Global Marketing Manager of CHD Expert. “With Florida’s popular resort culture and wide range of lodging accommodations, this state is designed to cater to the tourism industry. This makes Florida a prime target for businesses who want to sell products to the restaurant and lodging industries, and this recent data helps make the sales process more lucrative and effective.”

To access the most up to date lodging and restaurant information on Florida in its entirety, please contact Nicolas Watson: nwatson@chd-expert.com

CHD Expert Presents: The Clean Data Challenge – How Accurate is Your Organization’s CRM or Database?

CHD Expert is challenging organizations to test the accuracy of their current CRM or database. If you utilize data for sales, marketing, or business decisions, take the challenge and compare the accuracy of your data to CHD Expert’s Foodservice Industry National Database.

Chicago-based foodservice database and analytics company, CHD Expert, is rolling out the Clean Data Challenge: How Accurate, Complete, and Clean is your Organizations Database? The company is asking organizations to compare their current data to CHD FIND® (Foodservice Industry National Database), the industry’s highest standard for foodservice data.

Customers can count on CHD Expert’s database. With consolidated data from over 80 different sources, it is guaranteed the most accurate in the industry, and every record is supported with a money back guarantee. To prove this, CHD Expert is proposing that businesses take a stand against dirty data, and compare their current data records to CHD Expert’s FIND® Database. To help make this happen, CHD Expert is extending a free sample match opportunity until September 30th, 2013.

The Clean Data Challenge will provide participants with a gauge on the accuracy and completeness of their current database, as well as put them in contact with a CHD Expert data specialist to help determine the best ways the data can be used to benefit their business. This includes insight surrounding market penetration, and how many additional foodservice operators are available in the selected sample region.

To participate in the Clean Data Challenge, please identify and provide CHD Expert with 1,000-2,000 records for comparison. A CHD Expert data specialist will then walk participating organizations through a 4-step process, summarized below.

Step 1: Data Preparation: Select geography from current records that makes up approximately 1,000-2,000 records, and compile it in .xls or .csv format. Include a unique ID, business name, address, and phone#.

Step 2: Data Cleansing: CHD Expert will prepare the data as follows:

• Postal normalization
• Removal of dirty data and special characters
• Formatting of all fields
• Deduplicating repeated records

Step 3: Match and Append: CHD Expert will then match the clean data to CHD FIND’s master records, appending it with information from the CHD FIND database. This can include, data on market segment, market information, and/or contacts. Which businesses have closed will also be identified. It all adds up to a clear, defined picture of the current holes in the data.

Step 4: Delivery of Results: CHD Expert will provide participating organizations with the results from the Clean Data Challenge, and walk through the findings with selected participants. For further incentive, participating organizations will be provided with approximately 200 NEW additional sales and marketing leads in the same geography, which are currently NOT in the database.

“Rarely does a company have a database that is 50-60% accurate. Normally it is significantly worse,” states Brad T. Bloom, Director of Sales for CHD Expert North America. “What I find most interesting is people’s reaction when the challenge shows them how incomplete and/or inaccurate their data truly is. Some people are shocked, and some are not surprised at all. Regardless of their initial reaction, they are glad they participated in the challenge, and come away with a lot of insight. If your organization has data, put it up to the challenge. You will be surprised to see how it compares to the industry’s best.”

No business is too big or small to participate in CHD Expert’s Clean Data Challenge. If your organization is interested in participating, please register on CHD Expert’s Data Challenge Page and a CHD Expert representative will be in contact.

Restaurant Data: The Landscape for Restaurants That Have Been Open for 5+ Years

Author: Nicolas Watson

Do you ever wish you could identify all of the restaurants that have been open for more than 5 years in a particular city? Well with Easy2FIND you can!

CHD Expert has the tools in place that allow you to segment restaurant operator data in a ton of different ways.  For example, if you sell point of sale technology or software, it might be important for you to know which restaurants have been in business for a while because you know that new restaurants have most likely already purchased your product. But, you also know based on your own sales data that you have the best close rate when you reach out to businesses that have been open for more than five years.

By working with CHD Expert you can license the data and have constant access to this type of information, and segment it however it is helpful for your organization! Here are a few options of ways you can segment the data in case you are having trouble being creative. You can segment by: Menu type, GFC code, average check, annual sales, number of employees, years in business, and so many more!

To illustrate how helpful this data can be for businesses, we’ve put together an infographic showing details for restaurants that have been open for five or more years.

Restaurant Data Infographic

If you have any questions or want to learn more about CHD Expert, please feel free to give us a call at (312) 768-6900 or email us at cathy@chd-expert.com.