An innovative and no-waste opportunity to significantly expand the hot savouries section of the menu has been made available to caterers by Snowbird foods. The company fully cooks and freezes its sausages, meatballs and meat bites at the factory stage so they can be microwaved from frozen in seconds.
That means the products can be heated to order, cutting out the need for oven baking or deep frying in advance, thus avoiding the danger of waste.
Fully cooked products, particularly sausages, have played a part in the growth of breakfasts as a profitable catering opportunity and in a new analysis of the foodservice industry the NPD group has reported that breakfasts saw a growth of 2.2 percent in the year to September, 2013.
However, the snacking sector fell away by 1.5 per cent in the same period.
Those statistics, suggests Snowbird sales director, Roy Anderson, demonstrate there is an opportunity to build the hot savoury snacks business by utilising the profitable convenience of microwaveable, fully cooked products.
The American market, which is ahead of the UK in this sector, has recognised that pre-cooked meat is a tool foodservice operators can employ to make their jobs easier, whilst managing growth and quality.
“Fully cooked meat products deliver consistency, thus benefiting both quality control and customer retention. Staff training is easier, food safety issues associated with raw meat are eliminated, as are cooking odours, and preparing food to order means there is no waste,” said Mr. Anderson.
Snowbird’s Gourmet Range of sausages contains a minimum 74% top quality pork drawn from a single, Red Tractor approved source which supplies meat from a carefully selected breeds of pigs. The range has collected 19 quality awards in recent years.
Hotel Business has an ABC certified circulation of 7814 (audit period 1st July 2013 – 30th June 2014)