November 2018 Digital Issue

THE HOSPITALITY MARKET REPORT
“One-in-10 millennials consider themselves to be vegan or
vegetarian. Plant-based menus are up eight per cent as of
2017 and have been on a five-year steady-growth trend”
Robert Carter, NPD Group
would like to see more vegetarian options,
Carter reports. “One-in-10 millennials consider
themselves to be vegan or vegetarian.
Plant-based menus are up eight per cent
as of 2017 and have been on a five-year
steady-growth trend.”
One need only consider the sell-out
status of A&W’s Beyond Meat Burger to
realize the relevance of plant-based menu
items, Elliott says. “They really hit it out of
the ball park with that [offering]. Products
such as the Beyond Meat and Impossible
Burger are delivering on both texture and
taste that go beyond the typical soy burger.”
Rio Infantino, founder of Copper
Branch, has found success in the vegan
space. He opened the first outlet in 2014
and now has 30, with more to come.
But his choice to offer vegan was more
about healthy eating than social commentary.
“We never went after the vegan/vegetarian
consumer. What made us successful
is that our marketing and food are actually
geared to mainstream clients. In other
words, to people who want to eat healthier.
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Institutional foodservice
holding its own
Institutional foodservice accounts for 11
per cent of the total foodservice industry,
according to Geoff Wilson, principal, fsStrategy
Inc. in Toronto, who adds that the segment
is split between self-operated institutions
and contract catering. “Healthcare
accounts for just over 50 per cent of the
institutional market. The next largest would
be remote catering. That’s a big sector that
is largely contracted. The third is education,
which is growing in urban centres and
declining in non-urban regions.”
Commercial brands have been a popular
option for many institutions, but Wilson
expects to see some retraction in the coming
months. “Operators will be doing a bit
more of their own internal branding. That
said, brands such as Starbucks are still in
high demand, although other brands are not
getting the traction they used to.”
The fastest-growing segment in healthcare
is retirement homes, largely because many
are private-sector operations, Wilson says.
“If you want to have fun in the industry, get
into retirement homes. It’s all about figuring
out your target markets and providing the
menus accordingly.”
iSTOCK.COM/DISOBEYART [MILLENIALS EATING VEGETARIAN]
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2018-10-05 1:10 PM
30 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY NOVEMBER 2018 FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM