Healthy Food on the Go - Case Study Example

Healthy Food on the Go Introduction Most fast food chains as well as other companies in the food industry continue to jump into the healthy food bandwagon registering different levels and degrees of success. The fast food chains enrich their menus with products including foods, drinks, beverages, and puddings with lower fat content, lower sodium, and lower cholesterol with the aim of increasing sales and attracting a new group of customers into their outlets and restaurants. Another important drive comes from the anti-obesity campaign. Citing the case in two thousand and two where a client sued MacDonald’s after becoming obese following consistent eating of diet of the company’s high-fat foods. Although the customer lost the case, it entailed negative publicity about MacDonald’s image causing serious damage that took time and huge amounts to repair. For some time, the company experienced drop in sales. In the past, fast food chains and restaurants continue to add healthier supplements to their recipes with success and sometimes with big misses. MacDonald’s for instance, flopped with its introduction of low-fat beef burger dubbed the McLean. Pizza on the other hand, failed with the addition of lower-fat pizza toppings in the Hut. Success started emerging with new entrants in the food industry such as EAT and Burger King started grilling chicken with much success. The company labeled the grilled chicken, BK Broiler now referred to as Tendergrill. Choosing Healthy Foods People find it challenging to shop for healthy foods produced responsibly. Sometimes the labels are confusing and the lists of ingredients are complex with few directions on government regulations. It is challenging to people to identify true foods for families because the environment provides a tricky situation in most cases. Some fast food chains and restaurants take the initiative to provide reliably healthy foods that give priority to the health of their clients, the environment that they produce foods in, and producers. Fast Food Chains Grounds for Change This is a family-owned coffee-roasting fast food located in the Pacific Northwest. The fast food offers sustainably and fairly produced foods and drinks to customers. The products benefit the consumers, the environment, as well as to the suppliers, a position taken by farmers. The company operates on the mission of supporting social equity and environmental sustainability using organic, trade, and shade-grown coffee. The health of the products offered by Grounds for Change restaurant is certified organic (Pinto, 2010, p. 42). Food materials come from farmers emphasizing on using renewable sources as well as conservation mechanisms. In terms of environment, the fast food company buys one hundred percent renewable energy for all the facilities within the company, counterbalances the entire non-renewable energy used in business activities of the company apart from those used in transport, and uses a hundred percent post-consumer recycled papers. As a corporate social responsibility initiative, the company issues jute bags free of charge to organic farms in local communities who also double up as their suppliers (Prasanna, 2010, 152). The bags are effective during the process of preventing soil erosion. Furthermore, the company commits a specific percentage of its profits to Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, Carbon fund, and Save Our Wild Salmon program as well. All the programs aim at preventing clear-cutting of forests. Socially, the company has the fair trade certification. In this case, supplies come from farmers who in turn receive an acceptable price from the sales used by the company, farmers also work within a safe working environment, and put investments in business and social development programs including health-care services and scholarship projects among many more (Rosenfeld, 2010, 92). Among others, company products include shade-grown, organic, fair trade coffee. The company website also offers fair trade, chocolate, and organic tea. EAT The company Chief Executive Officer and serves clients the type of food he loves including quinoa, salads, lime smoothie, kale, and spicy lemongrass among many other products. Apart from being the Chief Executive Officer, the thirty-one year old is also a chef and the founder of EAT. The fast food company runs seventy-five outlets across six countries. The fast food chain specializes in producing organic and healthy food to its clients. They insist on offering these foods even if it means to a specific niche of target audience. The Chief Executive borrowed a lot from Chipotle Mexican Grill (Cordeiro, 2010, p. 21). The fast food chain restaurants sent its employees to the Mexican Grill in various departments among them customizing soups, assembly line, wraps, salads, as well as burritos that comes with an assortment of toppings and fresh ingredients. EAT becomes outstanding compared to the Chipotle Mexican Grill because the CEO finds a way to differentiate his products from those from competitors in the market. The CEO standardizes and franchises super-healthy meals taking care of the masses. Taking this leading, EAT is now a model for even giant food chains such as McDonald’s. As opposed to other giants in the food industry, EAT started business nine years ago opening its first restaurant in Toronto in two thousand and five (Caul, 2010, p. 62) A loan from his parents and personal savings enabled the CEO to pump two hundred and fifty thousand United States Dollars into the business at the start. The Chief Executive ventured into the business despite the fact he was only twenty-three years. His idea arose from the fact that people in offices did not access adequate health and affordable food during their lunch break. This group entails people on the go. The idea was successful enabling him to open eight more outlets in Canada. Two years after opening its doors to clients in Toronto, the CEO moved the headquarters of EAT to Chicago. This was his first stab in the international market. Currently, the company runs more than one hundred and twenty outlets in eight countries generating annual revenue of ninety million dollars. EAT developed brown rice and tofu making them staples in United States menu. However, the cuisine by the CEO gained popularity among his millennials. It is important to remember that this is the most influential generation of people ranging from twenty to thirty-five years old. EAT makes use of research information by various study companies that more people within the generation Y have more interest in unprocessed and organic foods compared to people in other generations (Bhushan, 2010, p. 31). This was the essence of the CEO developing the cuisine. On the other hand, the aging generation continues to form an essential component of the target market by the CEO because of their continued development in the foods offered by EAT. This demonstrates the importance of calories and gives insightful information on good and bad fat levels in the menu only available at EAT. Initially, the Chief Executive simply focused on quality but the attention now puts into perspective the financial aspects. Frontier National Products Members own the Frontier National Products through co-operate shares. The fast food chain runs along the values of corporate social responsibility, integrity, openness, provision of supportive infrastructure to agriculture, respectable associations with community, suppliers, and environmental projects (Coca-Cola Company Annual Report, 2010, p. 79). The USDA certified the company’s health standards because it engages in ninety-five percent of non-genetically modified organism products whose ingredients provide gluten-free products. The fast food chain commits itself to an overall offsetting of electrical energy with renewable energy satisfaction. The company gives carbon-neutral shipping. On the social front, the company has the fair trade certification as well as full ingredient disclosure. The company does not hide ingredients on their foods and beverages to consumers. Frontier National Products established the Well Earth program that advocates for sustainable sources projects that examine the capacity of suppliers depending on various factors among them fair treatment, worker safety, sustainable production and growing features, environmental and community influence of the company, and food quality and safety. Company products include among others spices, bulk herbs, teas, dressings and seasonings, as well as dips. Others include baking extracts and flavors, pasta and soup sauces, vegetables, dried fruits, and drink mixes as well. Pret-a-manger Owned by farmers through their cooperative shares, the company came to existence a few years ago. The main aim of the company is protecting local communities in rural areas in addition to safeguarding the health of families on farms via organic agriculture. The company has more than one thousand six hundred and eighty-seven family farms specializing in the production of a range of dairy and meat products. The USDA issued the organic certificate to the company after evaluating the health standards (Goel, 2010, p. 121). The company does not use synthetic hormones and applies antibiotics as a last alternative on animals suffering from other diseases only if they do not respond to the holistic treatment. No products have genetically modified ingredients. The company invests much money in researching and promoting renewable energy programs on farms across the locality. Since the company follows the co-operative model of production, it sells food to the neighboring to farmers who double as company suppliers. Through this, the company saves a lot of money on transport costs compared to others in the industry engaged in international trade. Socially, the company is effective in getting back to the society. The company focuses on human treatment of all animals, development of hitherto local economies through promotion of family farms, and purchasing of locally produced food. Majorly, the company engages in dairy products that include yogurt, milk, butter, eggs, cheese, beef, juice, turkey products, and pork. The Global Front Subway is the new front-runner in the food chain industry after overtaking McDonald’s following its announcement of its biggest fast-food franchise in the world. On the first of January two thousand and fourteen, Subway announced a margin of one thousand more stores compared to McDonald’s in the whole world. The company has five more stores than MacDonald’s in the United Kingdom alone (Haigh, 2010, p. 147). While Subway prides in having one thousand five hundred stores, MacDonald’s appears a distinct second with slightly over a thousand stores. The increase in the number of outlets reflects the rise in the number of customers visiting the stores. This fact goes to the healthy nature adopted by the company in its new products. The company does not use synthetic hormones and applies antibiotics as a last alternative on animals suffering from other diseases only if they do not respond to the holistic treatment. No products have genetically modified ingredients. The company invests much money in researching and promoting renewable energy programs on farms across the locality. Commitment from Food Companies Big food companies engaged in big food advertisements appear to be joining the path taken by fast food star-up chains. This comes on the back often vilification for playing a big role in making people in various countries where they run business obese. Recently, the companies made good their promise by reducing salt and sugar in one hundred and seventy-one products they market to kids (Cateora, & Graham, 2013, p. 61). However, the effort is minimal compared to the number of customers who continue to shy from their products in favor of the new menus offered by start-up chains offering healthy foods on the go. Eighteen giant companies among them The Dannon Co, Campbell Soup Co, Kellogg, General Mills, Pepsi, as well as the mammoth Kraft implemented category-particular standard nutrition formula as part of the commitment from the industry. The companies effected the standard agreement in early two thousand and fourteen. The agreement allows these companies to compare their products especially food values even in their brands. The market dominants adopted a joint strategy because it appears more effective compared to individual nutrition methodology (Kingsolver, Hopp, & Kingsolver, 2007, p. 112). In many ways, this strategy aimed at cutting the pace at which the new kids on the block are attacking their clients with success. The input does not cover all products produced for children under the age of twelve instantly but commitment from these companies’ means that they will withdraw the advertisements for products not yet meeting the minimum standards until they comply. Other measures by these companies include cutting brands from products their produce. As an example, General Mills cut the amount of sugar in the Yoplait Go-Gurt products by a massive ten percent with calories losing fourteen percentile. ConAgra Foods on the other hand, adopted a different strategy by removing some of their products from the market and replacing them six new other developed products that meet the agreed standards. Frosted Flakes produced and distributed by Kellogg lost nine percent of its sugar content. Ferrero USA, Coca-Cola, Hillshire Brands Co, The Hershey Co, as well as Mars Inc are the five companies that continue with their pledge of withdrawing their advertisements on products targeting children below the age of twelve years. Over the past three years, the food industry continues to change across the world partly because of increased competition from fast food chains that continue to enrich their menus with health ingredients and government pressure on the big players in the industry to implement government-drafted guidelines on child nutrition (Vig, & Kraft, 2010, p. 56). It is easy to recognize the effort by the big players on stage to capture the interest of customers especially those falling between the age of twenty and those below thirty-five. They are the biggest population and yet they tend to develop higher interests in unprocessed and healthier foods. Although reports indicate that rates of obesity continue to decline following the input from big players and fast food chains, criticism still exists on the same companies encouraging obsessions with sugary foods. Other people believe that the government agencies should ban advertisement targeting children altogether (Stanford, 2010, p. 59) According to other, the link between advertising and obesity is causal and policymakers need to take advantage of this new development the issue that pressure on companies will help in self-regulation. All measures in future should focus on the companies within the industry. Conclusion Companies as well as fast food chains continue to find that reducing the levels of sugar, fat, and salt from their products including foods, drinks, beverages, and puddings to satisfy consumer demands who require lower-calories foods is a profitable business venture. Foodpreneurs learn most of this information from fast food chains and restaurants currently enjoying success with the same analogy. Research indicates that lower-calorie foods record sales at a rate of four times more than other foods do. Companies in the food industry that commit to undertaking this initiative do so in the interest of shareholders as opposed to the common assertion that this happens to satisfy customers. The management takes the responsibility of aligning the interests of shareholders with contemporary issues in the market. It is important to have companies running along the growth path because it plays a pivotal role in accelerating the decline in national obesity rates. Bibliography Top of Form Bhushan, R. (2010). Kraft Seeks Manufacturing Allies in India. The Economic Times. 26 July 2010. Web. Cateora, P. R., & Graham, J. L. (2013). International Marketing. New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin. Caul, M. (2010). Personal Interview. November 2010. 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(2010). Environmental policy: new directions for the twenty-first century. Washington, DC, CQ Press. Bottom of Form Read More