ASHFSA turns 40: health care foodservice group takes stock of trends, looks to future at confab

Nation's Restaurant News,  June 25, 2007  by Elissa Elan

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SARASOTA, FLA. -- The impact of changing consumer tastes, health and wellness concerns, and the upscaling of hospital fare were among the key issues addressed at the 2007 American Society for Healthcare Food Service Administrators conference held here recently.

Approximately 500 health care foodservice operators, nutritionists, dietitians and exhibitors attended the conference, which was titled "Learning From the Past ... Leading Into the Future." At the conference, the organization, which turned 40 this year, focused on the evolution of health care foodservice over the past four decades and issues that pose challenges for the segment, including the increasing demand for ethnic fare and diverse flavors.

"There are four growth drivers of ethnic foods: changing demographics, travel, the excitement of tasting new flavors and media exposure," said John Cabot, senior vice president of marketing and sales for the health care division of distributor U.S. Foodservice.

Cabot, who moderated a panel on emerging trends and diversity, also noted it is important for health care foodservice professionals to keep the customer in mind.

"Think about the customers you service, who you sell to and what you see concerning their interests and demands," he said. "Ask yourself what you are going to do to meet those demands and how you can freshen what you're already doing in order to be more in tune with the bigger trends."

According to Joan Ralph, Cabot's co-moderator and vice president of support services for Charlotte, N.C.-based consultancy Premier Inc., hospital foodservice customers, from patients to employees to visitors, all want the same things--entertainment, sophistication and value, the same things they could expect to find in commercial restaurant settings.

"Customers are boisterous and asking for what they want," she said. "They're more worldly and educated and want [in hospitals] what they're seeing in restaurants."

To that end, Ralph said that consumers are interested in bold flavors, such as Fuji apples on freshly prepared salads with sophisticated dressings like bananaginger vinaigrette, better breads and creative condiments that feature ethnic accents. She further noted that breakfast sandwiches, yogurt parfaits and cereal bars continue to increase sales across the segment. Both moderators agreed that sales of fruit juices and smoothies are on the rise, as is the demand for gourmet coffee.

Another emerging food trend is bite-sized desserts, Ralph said.

"Even if they've had a big meal, they still want dessert, so a bite-sized treat is a wonderful way to satisfy customers and increase check size," she said.

Ralph said other emerging food trends include specialty sandwiches, Latin American and Mediterranean items, pan-seared foods and the use of fresh herbs and exotic mushrooms. "They make a dish seem that much more extravagant," she said.

And, Cabot noted, adding one ethnic accent to an item changes the whole thing. "It changes the overall perception of what it's all about," he said.

He also said customers are savvier about healthful items and the pressure is on foodservice providers to offer more of them on their menus.

"Right now we are more fad-diet conscious, but by the year 2010 we will be a health-conscious society [interested] in sustained dieting, nutritionally aware and acting on health issues," he said.

To that end, he observed, grab-and-go foods are enjoying in creased popularity not only for their convenience but also because they are served in more manageable portion sizes.

"Portion control is top of mind," he said. "Because of obesity, people need self-policing."

Participants also addressed how the role of marketing has changed in health care foodservice. Patti Dollarhide, former director of nutrition services at Via Christi Hospital in Wichita, Kan., and current market segment sales manager for Cargill Value Added Meats, told attendees that upgrading the food at Via Christi and then publicizing it made a difference in terms of sales and her department's public recognition. To accomplish that, she hired a former hotel chef to oversee the kitchen operation and then enlisted the hospital's marketing department to spread the word.

"We decided we really had to focus on the food and partner with someone already in the hospital--our marketing department--to change the way people thought about our food," she said. "Part of our team's mission was to be a strategic partner, not just support. We wanted to be an asset to our industry."

Tony Almeida, director of food and nutrition/environment/host services for Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, a level-one trauma center in New Brunswick, N.J., said, "Everything we do is marketing, from the way your staff looks to the presentation of the food."

Richard Martin, executive editor of Nation's Restaurant News and moderator of the general session, said today's consumers are practically demanding "the jettisoning of hydrogenated oils, more grilling, less frying and the use of more locally sourced ingredients.