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Find a Way Forward Through Innovation
CSSI Staff Post – May 27, 2020
COVID-19 has definitely thrown a wrench in the way restaurant brands are able to innovate. For some, innovation bandwidth is at a minimum due to staff cuts or furloughs. For others, remote working makes research and development difficult to execute. But a path forward exists for operators willing to adapt.
Why is it important to continue innovating despite today’s uncertainties?
Even with a lack of stability in the marketplace, innovation is more crucial than ever. Operators must continue to come up with new solutions and ideas that solve for current COVID-19 restrictions while also looking toward future innovation possibilities as businesses start to open back up. Consumers will be looking for new and fun menu items to try, as they have likely been cooking at home for weeks on end or ordering from the same few restaurants. They’ll be ready for a change!
How should operators approach menu innovation right now?
Operators should look at consumer insights and COVID-19-specific research as they approach menu innovation in order to understand consumers’ current desires and concerns. From everything we are seeing, consumers are interested in menu items that are comforting or play into nostalgia—who doesn’t want comfort when stress is high? Additionally, even as things open back up, many consumers will still avoid venturing out to eat. So, delivery solutions or family/bulk meal options will continue to drive sales. Consumers will still be concerned about safety and how items are prepared and packaged, so messaging is key.
That said, operators should strive to stay true to their core brand and ensure their innovation program follows suit.
How can operators innovate in a virtual or travel-restricted environment?
We all know innovating can be challenging with just a makeshift office and a WiFi connection, but it is not impossible! To help your team keep the ideas flowing, explore new virtual platforms, tools and ways of working:
- Look for new flavor or format inspiration through virtual market tours
- Develop cutting-edge menu ideas in virtual brainstorm sessions, and then view these concepts with immersive 360º photography and videography
- Build out your strategy in virtual collaborative whiteboard discussions
Operators should also lean heavily on their cross-functional teams, suppliers and partners to help them innovate right now. All will have different perspectives and insights that can help spark a key idea. Additionally, virtual collaboration allows for more minds to come to the table from across the country, when groups might have previously been limited by location or travel expenses.
How can CSSI help?
We know you can’t put a pause on innovation, so we’ve been working rapidly to build out new virtual tools and solutions to keep the ideas flowing. Face-to-face interactions are helpful when building relationships and ideas, but they aren’t the only way!
Our new Ferocious Innovation process combines our culinary and strategic expertise and collaborative mindset with cutting-edge virtual platforms and tools. This process allows for engaging virtual collaboration with your team that will ultimately delivery turnkey solutions and ideas for your operation. To learn more about this process and our other virtual solutions, check out cssiculinary.com/ferocious
or reach out to us to walk you through the process live!
Eileen Stapleton
Senior Culinary Account Executive
March 1st, 2023 We’re thrilled to introduce the newest addition to our culinary family: Chef Steve Madonna. Formally trained in both Italy and the United States, as well as having worked for Wolfgang Puck, Chef Steve brings an extensive set of connections and culinary knowledge to our already stacked chef roster. Featured in this month’s issue is one of Chef Steve’s favorite recipes for making memories at home with your loved ones.
October 19, 2022 Pumpkin pie is a nostalgic menu item and my personal favorite when it comes to fall and winter menus, as it goes hand in hand with a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas feast. We elevate the nostalgia by turning this must-have holiday dish into a clarified cocktail that leaves your taste buds as curious as your eyes. We get adventurous as we replace expected visual elements with an ice-cold glass of clarified liquors infused with pumpkin pie. This cocktail defies all visual expectations, while leaving your sense of smell and taste immersed in a seasonally nostalgic experience.
October 19, 2022 Canada is well known for many things. Hockey, snow, maple syrup, and a few other stereotypical but somewhat accurate concepts may immediately come to mind. What you may not know, though, is how invested we are in the snacks that we consume. Compared to the U.S., sure, we are no match for the quantity and variety offered in the land of the free, home of the snacks. However, what we know in our hearts is that Canada has a long-standing, tried-and-true, flawed, yet beloved top-notch snack game. I’m talking about comfort foods that have become so integrated and so established that they are classified as cult-favourites—and no, I did not spell favourites incorrectly. You are about to see a lot more of the letter “U” in this article. Sorry! The great Canadian snack game is easy enough to understand. You think of a flavour and either slap it on a potato or pair it with chocolate. Snacking has always been a huge part of Canadian food culture, but it is only going up from here. To put it lightly, the past few years have been tough on everyone around the world, and Canadians have chosen to increase their spending on snacks by 67% as an indulgence or, personally, as a coping mechanism. In no way, shape, or form am I claiming to be a culinary expert somehow employed in the field of Finance, but I have eaten a lot in my life and right now, I’m the best and/or only Canadian guide you’ve got. Let’s get into the details:
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