Affluency Fuels Growth in the Full-Service Sector

For the last five years, a growing economy and robust spending have fueled the full-service restaurant industry to nearly $170 billion in 2018, according to industry market research firm IBIS World. The annualized growth rate of nearly 4 percent is due in large part to income growth levels and a strong corporate sector.

Other retail segments are seeing similar growth, prompting operators and C-level executives alike to capitalize on the best ideas in technology and customer experience.

The National Retail Federation’s “Big Show & Expo” attracted 38,000 attendees in January 2019 hoping to learn about the latest in operations, customer experience, technology, compliance, supply chain issues and more. 

Vendor Avery Dennison sponsored a Food and Beverage workshop in partnership with the NRF and the International Food and Beverage Technology Association, which launched a discussion about the importance of food safety in both the front and back of house. 

For full service operators, coolers are always a particular concern. Is equipment keeping foods at safe temperatures? Is restaurant staff dating open food and rotating stock to meet food safety standards?

To prevent foodborne illnesses such as Listeria, government regulations require opened and pre-prepared food—such as diced onions, marinating chicken and pre-cooked pasta, for example—be labeled with the current date, time and expiration date.

Avery Dennison’s Freshmarx Date Code and Food Prep Labeling program, which generates labels on demand and stores information for easy tracking, gained attention from operators nationwide.

The company’s Freshmarx Intelligent Food Industry Solutions is growing its suite of products—including hardware, software and applications. Francisco Melo, vice president and general manager, Global RFID, fielded questions about traceability and tracking with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to control costs in the supply chain and order food more efficiently.

Melo says: “We believe in a future where every item will have a unique digital identity and digital life, enabling businesses to improve visibility and efficiency across the supply chain, to ultimately enhance the consumer experience and improve retail margins.”