In the fifth part of our menu development series, we hear from Tom Lannary, Marketing Director for ESS, who describes how our marketing specialists work with the wider team to create food concepts and environments that will resonate with our consumers.
As marketing specialists, we work with our chefs to monitor trends, know our markets, understand our consumers and create concepts that will resonate with them. Insights and ideas flow both ways, meaning our food offer is the product of a multidisciplinary team with differing skills, experiences and viewpoints.
We’re part of the world’s largest contract catering business, which gives us unparalleled access to experts, data and brands from a variety of sectors, including business and industry, education and sports, leisure and hospitality. We leverage all of this knowledge and information to further enhance our menu development work.
We create coherent, eye-catching branding that’s contemporary in style and appealing for customers. We want to mirror the dining experiences on offer outside the wire – whether it’s Field, Forchetta Italiana, Spice Trail, Wild Greens or one of the multiple cuisines that sit under our Global Kitchen brand, all have been designed with a high street look and feel.
With individuals consuming more and more information digitally, the way we present our concepts is a key consideration of the development process. Dynamic, colourful imagery that works well on big screens and totems, as well as on our app, is an important part of providing the right environment for our consumers.
The look and feel of our outlets are crucial parts of the customer experience, so as well as working with our culinary and nutrition colleagues to create the best food offer, we collaborate with our clients to design and deliver great spaces to eat and socialise.
Next week, Jay Averill, Regional Executive Chef for ESS, concludes our menu development series by discussing the mechanisms we use for client and team engagement and the data and information we draw on to begin the process again for our next menu cycle.
