DENVER -- Yogurt topping stations are delighting customers at one southeastern convenience-store chain, but could retailers face an allergy-founded lawsuit if cross-contamination between the peanuts and the chocolate topping occur?
These are the types of concerns raised when retailers rush into the risk-filled world of foodservice, according to Donna Hood Crecca, senior director of the research firm Technomic Inc., based in Chicago.
Unfortunately, trends such as meal customization and freshness are important elements in mounting a successful foodservice program today, which puts added responsibility upon the retailer, Crecca told about 50 attendees at the CSP Leadership & Crisis Prevention Forum in Denver.
“Freshness is the mandate,” she said. “But the need for safe handling explodes. With produce, raw proteins, fresh chicken, burgers, your handling practices have to change.”
Here are some tips:
- Elevate the processes for hiring, training and accountability.
- Create daily checklists.
- Dedicate a food safety manager.
- Make a commitment top down.
“Designate a food-safety champion,” she said. “It can’t be something else Bob also does.”
Other trends are also pushing the envelope on food safety, including “food with integrity,” meaning fewer preservatives and no genetically modified products.
Hood gave an example of St. Louis-based Panera Bread producing a “no-no” list of ingredients it will no longer use that include artificial colors, preservatives and antibiotics.
“But when you start moving to antibiotic-free protein, [those antibiotics] kill bacteria, so are they open to more bacteria?” she said. “Yes, they are. There’s a certain level of exposure.”
She advised conference attendees to have serious discussions with their foodservice directors on menu planning, because all of the implications have to be thought through.
On the positive side, Technomic research shows that consumers are willing to go to convenience stores for food and beverages, Crecca said. In their surveys, 22% of people who shop c-stores say they have increased food and beverage purchases in the channel.
For retailers building larger-format stores—5,000 to 6,000 square feet—the news is also good, with Technomic studies showing that 77% of consumers say it’s appealing, with the numbers growing among 16 to 34 year olds to 88%.
“They would visit such a store and more than half would say they’d visit more often and would visit for foodservice more often,” she said.