Insights from Forum Panel on Selling Into Foodservice

Naturally Chicago’s Pitch Event and Forum on June 2 featured a panel of experts on Embracing the Opportunity in Foodservice. From right, Greg Keller of Naturally Chicago, who served as moderator; Dick Thomas of Every Body Eat; Teresa Ging of Sugar Bliss; Eve Albert of Compass Group; and Jeff Nash of Crafty. Photo by Bob Benenson

It is often a good idea for emerging brands to seek to expand their revenue streams beyond traditional retail and e-commerce.

One particular alternative that is gaining a lot of traction is selling products into foodservice, a term that broadly refers to restaurants (full-service, fast-casual, and fast-food); cafeterias; catering services (including those that serve institutional buyers such as hospitals and schools); and food vendors at events.  

This has become a hot topic for Naturally Chicago. “Embracing the Opportunity in Foodservice” — a panel discussion that took place June 2 at our Pitch Event and Forum — followed upon our February 4 webinar, “Selling Into Foodservice 101,” which featured foodservice industry giant Compass Group. 

The June 2 panel had two participants in common with the webinar: Greg Keller, Naturally Chicago’s senior strategist and manager of our brand relationship programs, and Eve Albert, a leader on Compass Group’s Retail Strategy Team.  

Also in common was the brand Every Body Eat, which produces gluten-free, allergen-friendly snacks in Evanston, just outside Chicago: Trish Thomas, Every Body Eat’s co-founder/CEO, was a webinar panelist, while Dick Thomas, her husband and the company’s co-founder and chief customer officer, participated on the Forum panel.  

They were joined at the June 2 Forum by Jeff Nash, senior operations director at Crafty, which caters to business offices that provide foodservice for employees, and Teresa Ging, founder/CEO of Sugar Bliss, a Chicago-based producer of baked goods. 

Eve Albert of Compass Group. Photo by Bob Benenson

Keller opened the conversation by asking Albert to describe Compass Group’s broad reach across the foodservice sector. She replied: 

"We own companies in several different pillars. We've got a healthcare division [that services] hospitals and community-living medical centers. We also have an education sector, so there's K-12 and then colleges and universities. And then our business and industry sector, which covers everything from manufacturing, white-collar, and call centers. And we have leading sports and entertainment venues.” 

Jeff Nash of Crafty. Photo by Bob Benenson

Nash then described Crafty’s different, more focused approach. “We’re a company that focuses on office space in particular, a lot more premium office services for tech companies, banks, clients who are looking for something more natural, more organic. We are also operators. We service the spaces, we have folks who go onsite.”  

Teresa Ging of Sugar Bliss. Photo by Bob Benenson

Ging is no newbie as a food entrepreneur — she opened Sugar Bliss as a retail bakery on Chicago’s South Side in 2007 — but she only developed her Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) line during the COVID crisis.

She needed to make packaging adjustments to get into foodservice, replacing their five-ounce bags of cookies with two-ounce snack sizes. But with that foot in the door, she connected with Compass, which has spurred growth that has included becoming a provider to the Chicago Bears football team and to higher education institutions such as University of Chicago.  

“Compass has been a great partner,” she said. 

Dick Thomas of Every Body Eat. Photo by Bob Benenson

Keller then asked Thomas why Every Body Eat, which had achieved robust placements in retail, decided to get into foodservice. Thomas described how foodservice plays an important role in introducing their better-for-people products to new customers. 

“We want people to try our products...,” Thomas said. “Foodservice is an incredible place to really do research, to generate trials.” 

He continued, saying that consumers are open to trying new things when they go out. He said that it’s very important for a specialty product such as Every Body Eat, which has an above-average price point because “there's a lot more price elasticity” in foodservice compared to other trial food sites. 

He also cited the “Halo effect” of selling into foodservice: “No matter where you are, whether it's a restaurant, whether it's Crafty, consumers know that these items can be very heavily curated.” 

Keller then asked Albert what Compass Group looks for when they are choosing new brands to bring on board. She emphasized that packaging that tells the brand’s story is a must. 

“Everybody wants to know what your story is right now...,” she said. “And we have a lot of marketing, print, digital and mobile app marketing, to support all of our brands. That's one of the reasons why we're continuing to get exponential growth in the program, because all of our clients and customers are looking for that story.” 

Nash said at Crafty, “The preferences and the needs of our clients vary quite dramatically. Some people want local, but it's sort of contingent on the category of snack... What they're looking for, oftentimes, is motivated by budget. So we'd like to make sure that we have great, differentiated brands. We think of ourselves as curators in many ways... So getting a delicious food with a differentiating story, those are the types of things we try to promote and champion at Crafty.” 

The bottom line from the panel is that foodservice is a different selling environment than retail, and it requires brands to adopt new ways of thinking, producing and packaging. But if they hit the sweet spot, brands can enjoy substantial growth in the foodservice channel. 

Naturally Chicago thanks all participants in the Retail panel for sharing their expertise and insights. If you are interested in learning more about how we help emerging brands connect with foodservice companies, please contact Naturally Chicago Senior Strategist Greg Keller at greg@naturallychicago.org.