Reaching The Restaurants:marketing To The Food Service Industry

The food service industry is a huge market that is growing repidly. According to the National Restaurant Association sales are expected to top 511 billion this year. That's a lot of chow! In fact, for every dollar a customer spends on food 48 cents of it is spent in restaurants. There's no question that customers enjoy dinning out. Thus, the food service industry must work diligently to satisfy this growing demand. It's a tall order no doubt and to be sucessful requires a great deal of time commitment. As such, if you're attempting to get your product or service noticed in this sector you need to keep a few points in mind. Most notably, food service professionals, owners,chefs, etc. are severely pressed for time: many put in 80 hour weeks. Your message needs to be completely focused on their needs and pressing challenges.

One of the biggest challenges facing the industry is being able to do more for less. Budgets are tight and the bottom line can quicly become out of sync. A marketing message in this industry needs to keep in mind that this is a diverse market full of many independent operators. Try to address your message to individuals as much as possible. A tradtional blanket type of marketing campaign proably isn't going to show up on the radar for most food service professionals. They've seen it all before and with numerous vendors vying for their attention they simply don't have the time to listen to another stale marketing message. So stand out! Show up in more then one place more then once e.g. sales letters, post cards, e-mail, etc. When you do have their attention zero in on how your product or service is going to address one of their pressing challenges. And don't forget to market your message on a personal level, remember this is a diverse market with a lot of independents in the field. Keeping these tips in mind should help elevate your message above the clatter in the kitchens.