Organic Insights - Spring 2022

22 / Organic Insights / Spring 2022

sales & marketing master class

In our previous Sales and Marketing Master Class, we covered the merits of the four main retail / wholesale channels – The Majors (e.g. Woolworths, Coles, Aldi), Independent grocery chains (e.g. IGA/Metcash, Harris Farms), Speciality Stores, and Retail Distributors (e.g. Metcash, Born Organic).

In this article, we dive into the Food Services market- but what exactly is it? Management consulting firm Elm Professional continues to look at the commercial side of the sustainability equation; sales, marketing, operations and financial profitability. Here is the final part in our 3-part Sales and Marketing Master Class: GETTING MORE FOR YOUR PRODUCT- FOOD SERVICES Broadly defined, Food Services focuses on supporting hospitality-based businesses. This covers everything from going to a café for a quick bite, enjoying a romantic evening with a loved one, or going to support your favourite sports team at a stadium – in other words, any venue where food or beverages are consumed out of the house. As with all distribution decisions, there are advantages and disadvantages to consider when working in this channel, so let’s work through them. • Why would you consider Food Services? Firstly, the barriers to entry are a lot less than those retail / wholesale channels we spoke of in our previous Master Class. This is primarily because the consumer won’t know that your product has been involved in the making of their favourite cranberry, brie and turkey sandwich. In other words, from a brand awareness perspective, it means you don’t need to worry about

expensive and time-consuming marketing and advertising, in order to create and maintain a relationship with your consumers. Secondly, it’s typically simpler to produce for two reasons. Firstly, you

Mia Van Tubbergh

can get away with using simpler packaging. Other than product description, ingredient list, allergen listing and size, you don’t need to invest in expensive, branded packaging - clear tubs, bags and/or pouches are normally all that’s required. Secondly, Food Service products are normally done in bulk - think a 2.5Kg tub of Mayo or Aioli that a restaurant might use, rather than a 250g bottle which might sit on the shelf in Woolies. Consequently, it means less packaging, labelling and manual handling, all of which can help simplify your production. Thirdly, and arguably one

of the best advantages, is the ability to monetise

excess capacity by producing products that can be pushed through a Food Services channel. Got excess rawmaterials? Only producing 100 widgets a day when you could be doing 150? In using this spare capacity to produce those easier and simpler Food Service products, you’re getting the most out of your resources, and with the right operational mix, it’s possible to achieve a

Dr Pete Marzec

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