Food manufacturers should be using catering sector to launch more products, says Backman

Horizons values food and drink purchases made by the catering sector at £10.3bn, but is critical of the fact that many food and drink manufacturers are focussed almost entirely on the retail sector. Backman said: "FMCG manufacturers often view foodservice as a poor relation to retail sales, merely repackaging their products into larger pack sizes. But the foodservice sector is growing at a faster rate than food retail as people eat more and more of their meals out of the home – and we will continue to see further growth over the next decade. "Many restaurant and pub menus now feature specific brand names on their menus, while other restaurant products have successfully transferred to the retail market, where they usually command premium prices. Foodservice is key to introducing new products, adds Backman. "Foodservice is a good place to launch products – manufacturers can test the market, gauge customer response and, with the help of restaurant operators, build successful brands. It's also far cheaper to build a brand through the catering sector than it is through the retail trade. "The catering market is currently suffering from a real lack of new product development, at a time when pubs and restaurants are desperate to keep their menus fresh and interesting for customers. This is a great opportunity for food manufacturers." Horizons' QuickBite survey, conducted in December 2009, reveals that price is becoming less of an influencing factor on eating out and that consumers are becoming less pessimistic about how often they thought they would eat out in the future. Some 5% of respondents predict they would eat out more often in 2010 than they had in 2009, while 73% feel they would eat out just as often in the coming year.