MONTEREY Calif. Restaurateurs are willing to pay more for produce that is guaranteed to be safe, according to research unveiled here Saturday during the Produce Marketing Association’s annual Foodservice Conference & Exposition.
Eighty-nine percent of 510 recently surveyed foodservice operators said they are willing to pay more for guaranteed-safe fresh fruits, vegetables and leafy greens, the research by restaurant, produce and distributor trade groups found. In addition, 97 percent of respondents said they expect to offer the same amount or more of those foods during the next two years.
More than three-fourths, or 76 percent, of the restaurant owners or restaurant purchasing agents interviewed in a nationwide phone survey in April and 10 chain purchasing executives interviewed in June said they would be willing to pay more for produce that was traceable from the farm to the restaurant to enable quicker action when contamination is discovered.
The results follow such headline-grabbing produce-related foodborne illness outbreaks as the 2008 Salmonella saintpaul scare originally associated with tomatoes but later traced to peppers from Mexico and 2006’s fatal Ecoli outbreak linked to bagged spinach.
Some of the research, which was underwritten by the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association, Produce Marketing Association of Newark, Del., and International Foodservice Distributors Association of McLean, Va., was shared Saturday during PMA’s annual conference. NRA chief executive and president Dawn Sweeney touched on the findings during a panel presentation that also included, among others, Fedelle Bauccio, chief executive of foodservice contractor Bon Appetit Management Co. of Palo Alto, Calif., and Tina Fitzgerald, director of produce and social responsibility for foodservice operator Subway’s Independent Purchasing Cooperative Inc. of Miami.
Other findings from the research the three trade groups said they would spell out in more detail to members this fall included that 77 percent of the survey group said they prefer domestic produce over imports.
Overall, 56 percent of the respondents said they use some locally sourced produce in their restaurants, but the percentage by segment varied greatly, with 83 percent of the fine-dining operators saying they use local product, compared with a similar response by just 37 percent of the quick-service restaurateurs.
Asummary of research findings noted that among chain purchasing executives, the sentiment regarding the use of locally sourced produce was mixed. The primary argument against using locally sourced produce is that it adds a layer of uncertainty in terms of ensuring that the chain’s traceability standards and requirements are being met, the research indicated.
Sweeney of the NRA said in a statement about the research, “Nutrition and food safety are key issues to our industry, and working with the produce and distributor industries will enhance both.”
According to researchers, 72 percent of the operators surveyed said emphasizing fresh produce in marketing materials “drives more customers to their restaurants.”
About 2 percent of the operators surveyed said they planned to use less fresh produce during the next 24 months, 56 percent said they would use about the same and 41 percent said they planned to offer more such products.
The findings suggest a great deal of work ahead for the interested parties if they are to meet the goal of doubling foodservice use of fresh produce within 10 years set by industry executives involved in a July 24 private “Executive Think Tank” session. That invitation-only session on fresh produce was held in conjunction with the PMA conference.
“Increasing consumer confidence in fresh produce, including product safety, trust and integrity,” was one of five strategies for achieving greater produce sales identified by think tank participants, including Bauccio of Bon Appetit. Addressing growers during the PMA conference’s Saturday general session, he suggested that “taking the mystery out of your industry” might help in that endeavor.
Bauccio said he spent the past five months trying to tour some supplier facilities, but complained, “Most of the time, people wouldn’t’ let me in the fields and they wouldn’t let me talk to their workers.” Again addressing growers and processors, he added, “You have the opportunity to create a new model” for “transparency” among food producers.
“Consumers are not hearing about what you are doing” to make produce safer and lessen agriculture’s impact on the environment, Fitzgerald of the Subway Independent Purchasing Cooperative remarked during the Saturday general session. During the past few years she said, the “produce industry has been on the defensive.”
The IPC representative earlier in the session touched on some of the challenges within the supply chain related to moving fresh produce, as experienced by Subway. But she predicted that as word of produce and distribution industry initiatives get out and the value of emerging safety programs is proven, fresh produce, for health and flavor reasons, could become “the golden child” of foods.
The Friday think tank session was co-led by the NRA’s Sweeney, PMA president and chief executive Bryan Silbermann and IFDA president and chief executive Mark Allen. Other operator representatives joining Bauccio and Fitzgerald in that exercise included Ted Balestreri of Monterey’s Sardine Factory; Greg LaMothe of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants of San Francisco; Mike Liewen of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands Inc. of Louisville, Ky.; and the NRA’s Hudson Riehle.
On Saturday, the NRA’s Sweeney said that as dining out becomes more about sustenance than special occasions for many Americans, fresh produce can play a key role because 76 percent of consumers surveyed said they need more healthful menu choices. She underscored that meeting the goal of doubling produce usage would require the collaboration of all parties, from growers to operators, and PMA’s Silbermann remarked that the recent activities within and between those groups were “the first steps in a long journey.”
Silbermann, in opening the conference, outlined the other strategies for increasing produce usage devised by participants in the preceding day’s think tank. Beyond fortifying consumer confidence in the safety of fresh produce and the greater collaboration referenced by Sweeney, he said the strategies included “re-imagining” the restaurant experience, “with produce having a stronger presence;” demonstrating “social responsibility, balancing the needs of people, the planet and profitability;” and the fostering of “closer collaboration” with government and other stakeholders.”
The last strategy involving government struck a chord with at least one conference attendee, the director of purchasing for a national restaurant chain whose company sees “food safety” as its highest priority. That purchasing director asked rhetorically during a private conversation, “Why is it that when Ecoli is found in ground beef, there is a mandatory recall, but if that same [pathogen] is found in produce, it’s a voluntary recall?”
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected]
