Senior leaders across the foodservice sector attended the ‘landmark event’ at the Courthouse Hotel, Shoreditch. The conference was the first of its kind to the foodservice sector and it aimed to share knowledge and insights on the future of nutrition.
New research from Jerry Taste & Nutrition revealed eight out of ten people (81%) seeking to change their diet believed foodservice operators have a responsibility to improve nutrition on their menus.
Karl Buiks, vice president for foodservice, marketing & strategic planning at Kerry Taste & Nutrition said: “People are eating out more frequently and demanding healthy options that don’t compromise on taste. The foodservice industry is also being challenged by public health bodies to address this demand with nutritional improvements to menus.
“Our purpose at Kerry is to inspire food and nourish life and as one of the world’s leading taste & nutrition companies, this is a major focus for us. The aim of this conference was to share insights in nutrition, consumer behaviour and future development of menus with the leading companies in the industry.”
The research looked into consumer attitudes, trends and behaviours towards nutrition when eating out of home. There was a specific focus on food sourcing, sugar reduction and the importance of maintaining signature taste profiles.
Six out of ten people surveyed said they would like to see more nutritional information such as calorie content, fat content and sugar content on foodservice menus.
According to the research 43% of foodservice customers are interested in the sugar reduction trend. Kerry Taste & Nutrition’s research was conducted in the summer of 2019 on 806 consumers from seven European markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Russia.
Elaine Druhan, foodservice marketing manager at Kerry Taste & Nutrition, who unveiled the research at the event, added: “Given the limited amount of research to date in this area specifically, we really wanted to help our customers understand this growing trend and in turn be able to evolve their businesses to meet consumers’ growing nutritional expectations.
“The day was such a success. We had such great attendance from many major operators and are eager to share our new findings more broadly.”
There were keynote speeches and panellist discussions from organisations including Sodexo, Crussh and the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF).