The 5 hottest foodservice marketing trends

It wasn’t that long ago that a robust foodservice marketing campaign consisted of trade ads, sales materials and an operator rebate or incentive. And, while many of these tactics are still viable, today’s operators are busier than ever and it takes a more thoughtful approach to engage (and convert) them. Here are the biggest trends we’re seeing in foodservice marketing campaigns:

1) Data-driven planning

With the amount of data available to manufacturers today, it’s not surprising that savvy marketers are leveraging it in their planning process. For example, if you’re seeing seasonal search trends for a particular product or recipe, why not capitalize on it by proactively building an entire campaign around those key search terms? Leverage the wide variety of tracking metrics available, including website analytics, click-through rates and A/B tests to name just a few.

2) An authentic, emotional approach

For years, most foodservice marketing messages focused either on generating profits or reducing labor. While these are important benefits, meeting operators on an authentic, emotional level takes your message to a completely different level. Social media is a great place to test this by sharing behind-the-scenes photos and showcasing the stories of the people behind your products. For example, what is your culinary team working on? Where do they get their inspiration? Those are the kinds of stories that connect operators to your brand on a more meaningful level.

3) Solution-oriented promotions

Gone are the days when promotions were limited to cash back rebates or trips. Manufacturers today understand the challenges that operators face and are creative with prizes that bring long-lasting value to the operation, such as free publicity, culinary training or items that can help drive profits or increase efficiency, such as new equipment.

4) Content-first campaigns

Building long-term relationships with foodservice operators takes more than a product-centric, sales-focused approach. By nurturing the relationship through valuable trend or recipe-focused content, you’re demonstrating you want to offer solutions, as opposed to just moving cases. Each channel has its own unique challenges, so develop content that addresses those. For example, sharing creative participation-building ideas for K-12 operators, or dessert ideas that could build delivery revenue for a pizzeria operator.

5) Sampling made easy

We all know the power of trying a new product in the grocery store and immediately deciding to purchase it. Foodservice operators are no different, and they’re passionate about what they serve. By making it easy for them to sample your products, there’s a good chance you’ll earn their business. We talked to one operator who sampled a bottled sauce years ago, and it’s now a staple ingredient on their menu ­­– so much so that they switched distributors in order to get it!

Looking to grow your foodservice business? With nearly 25 years in B2B food marketing, we bring expertise and experience to heat up your sales. Contact Anita Nelson directly at 612-353-3410.

Beyond the Bottle: A Look at the Canned Wine Trend

Say goodbye to finicky corkscrews and clunky bottles, canned wine is here and part of a growing $45 million industry.

As we see it, wine is a little behind the times. As a traditionally more prestigious industry, innovations like boxed wine or twist-off caps were slow to adopt. Now, they’ve become mainstays.

Initial canned trends began way back in 2002, when craft breweries started selling their beer in cans. Hard sodas followed suit, and years later in 2016, the hard seltzer boom began, with leaders like White Claw and Truly rising to the top. Today, you can find just about any of your favorite cocktails available in a can: gin and tonic, Moscow mules, mojitos and more.

Canned convenience

As consumers continue to demand convenience and portability, it makes sense that wine is finding a comfortable home in cans. Can you take a bottle of wine out on a boat with your friends? Sneak it into the movies? Sure, you can. But, it isn’t quite as convenient as grabbing your go-to beer or spiked seltzer. Wine in cans provides a solution to the minor inconvenience of bottles.

In addition to the benefit of convenience, canned wine is more sustainable to produce, which is a) better for the environment and b) can mean a lower price for consumers.

Leading the change

Younger consumers—we’ll go ahead and give a shout out to marketers’ favorite audience, the Millennials—are keener to purchase canned wine. We’re not surprised; this group is not particularly brand loyal to the rich history of wineries, rather they are drawn to fun packaging, convenience, and anything they can do to reduce their carbon footprint. However, because of the convenience of canned wine, many other consumers are purchasing too.

Due to its booming popularity, many companies and entrepreneurs are eager to be part of the canned wine market. Some major players in the game include, but are not limited to: Underwood, Barefoot, Sofia Blanc de Blancs, Nomadica, and Dark Horse.

Minnesota’s Canned Wine

Vamos_Vino-Design-7

This past year, we had the opportunity to brand Vamos! Vino, a canned Malbec from Famiglia Meschini based in Minneapolis. Inspired by the portability of canned wine and Argentinean heritage of Famiglia Meschini, we crafted the name “Vamos! Vino”— translated from “Let’s go!” in Spanish. Paired with a design that uses bright, vibrant colors and a simple, modern text, it’s made to stand out on the shelf. Learn more about the design process (it won a Communicator Award of Excellence!)­ if that piques your interest.

For the Love of Wine

All in all, we love wine in any form but are excited to see how consumer behaviors drive design and packaging. Being part of the design process for Vamos! Vino allowed our team to fully understand the market and how the canned wine trend began.

For more food related insights, check out our blog and social:

Looking to grow your food or beverage brand? We’d love to help. Give us a call at 612-353-3400.

3 ways foodservice manufacturers can help operators take on delivery

Takeout and delivery have become table stakes for restaurants. Since 2013, digital orders have grown at an average annual rate of 23% according to The NPD Group, and are expected to triple in volume by the end of 2020.

Yet, because of this rapid growth in the delivery sector, there is little information out there to help operators navigate this new territory. Operators are forced to juggle between driving traffic to their restaurant and developing an off-premise plan – whether that means managing a new delivery partner relationship or understanding how to staff with this new revenue stream – all while remaining profitable.

Here are 3 ways foodservice manufacturers can support their operators in taking on take-out:

  1. Provide suggestions on how to serve your products so they taste just as good at home.

Not all delivery food is created equal. Pizza and Pad Thai often last the car ride much better than French fries and tacos. How can you help your operator ensure their food makes the trip, and still tastes delicious? Consider creating specific preparation instructions and recipe inspiration for your products so that they work well for delivery. These can be communicated via case inserts, follow-up emails after orders, or sales sheets.

  1. Incentivize purchase with on-the-go packaging.

Packaging is an important piece of delivery – not only does it ensure the safe (and tasty!) arrival of food, it also gives diners their first impression of a restaurant. Utilize rebate redemptions or limited time offers to incentive purchase by offering delivery containers, napkins and cutlery that work well for your products. Get inspired by Lamb Weston, who not only developed a specific recipe for delivery, but also a special container to ensure their fries are always as crispy as when they are served fresh. Bonus points if you use compostable containers!

  1. Create customizable marketing materials to promote delivery options.

If a restaurant is investing time and money in a delivery system, menu and process, they need actual sales to justify the costs. Ease the burden of promoting takeout and delivery options by offering some value-added marketing materials for your operators. Ideas include:

    • Digital and social templates that restaurants can easily add their logo to
    • Customizable flyers that restaurants can deliver to their local neighborhoods
    • How-to sheet for advertising with major restaurant delivery partners
    • Email template that operators can copy and paste to notify their customers
    • Customizable menu inserts to encourage future delivery orders

Delivery is a fast-growing trend and presents a golden opportunity for foodservice manufacturers to position themselves as true partners with their operators. Consumers are informing operators’ priorities by increasingly asking for takeout options, and in turn operators are relying on YOU to help them make takeout easy and profitable. Of course, helping operators delight their patrons is in your best interest too! Build the collaborative partnerships that will keep operators coming back for your products by helping them expand their business into the delivery space.

What’s new in food?

Our round-up of the latest news and trends in foodservice.

  • Consumers’ Latest Take on Healthy Eating: As the definition of “healthy eating” evolves, it’s important to understand what eating healthy means to consumers. This article by Restaurant Business, fills you in on new perspectives of how dining habits have evolved.
  • Recipe report: Catering season is here: Catering season is ramping up. If you’re looking for new ideas that add unique flavor to events, here are five recipes to try from Foodservice Director.
  • Diners wake up to modern, eclectic breakfast fare: Today’s breakfast has no boundaries. This article by Get Flavor has a collection of diverse menu inspirations to embrace this growing day-part.
  • The perks, potential pitfalls of restaurant ordering kiosks: A must-read for any operation considering incorporating more self-serve tech, SmartBrief dives into the pros and cons of new restaurant technologies.
  • Driving drink sales: Leverage beverages! Drinks are a huge opportunity to drive incremental sales. Find new data on beverage related trends, preferences and behaviors in this article by Restaurant Business.

For more industry updates, follow us on social.

Out with the Old, In with the New: Digital Project Management for Agencies

In October of 2017, the IN Food team embarked on a journey into previously uncharted territory. Years of keeping physical copies of projects (which had once worked so well), was now leading to overflowing review baskets, job jackets that had seen better days and hard-to-read handwritten mark-ups. We had to face it: our agency was growing and in need of a new project management system.

After months of research, training calls and internal testing, we were ready to take our project management digital. March 16, 2018 was dubbed “W-Day,” better known as the day we parted with job jackets and introduced “The Workamajig Way.”

Dancing the ‘jig  

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Workamajig is a multifunctional, fully integrated project management system made specifically for advertising agencies and in-house creative teams. Their latest edition, Platinum, allows users to manage project details, creative resourcing and reporting in one place. Read on for a closer look at 5 reasons why we love Workamajig, or as we affectionately refer to it – the ‘jig.

1) Focusing on What’s Important

Less time spent tracking the status of projects, more time spent strategizing and thinking creatively! We find that when projects are streamlined in one place on Workamajig, we can put more thought and energy into going above and beyond for our clients.

2) Details, Details, Details!

Complex projects require a lot of communication. We love building multi-modal relationships with our clients: on-site meetings, phone calls, emails and Skype conferences – we do it all. But clear, dependable, consistent communication across many platforms comes a lot of nitty-gritty details. Workamajig allows us to store all of these details in one place, making it easy to reference them later. This helps keep team members on-track and on the same page. 

3) Time Well-Spent

Through Workamajig, we’re able to track the number of hours we are putting into projects, our outside costs, our incremental costs – and everything in between. This is especially helpful when it comes to keeping projects on-budget. Recently, we began implementing a weekly budget analysis report through the ‘jig that allows us to see exactly where each project is at, financially speaking.

4) Happy creative team = Happy (Project Manager) Life

Nina, our project & traffic manager, prioritizes projects in the ‘jig to show our creative team what they need to tackle first. The creative team can then seamlessly route all projects through the system, collect feedback and upload final files upon approval.

5) Constantly Improving

The best thing about the ‘jig is the exceptional support behind the software. The Workamajig team is constantly making updates based on client feedback. In addition, we are frequently in touch with our Account Manager, Rod, who never fails to make solving complicated tech problems look easy.

Workamajig does incredible things for our team right now, and we haven’t even come CLOSE to hitting the ceiling with this software. In 2019, we’ll be honing-in on how to utilize the robust data and reporting to improve our processes and decision making. In an ever-changing industry, it’s important for us to stay ahead of the curve so that we can best serve our associates and clients. Streamlined software that makes everything run smoothly is simply one piece of what sets our agency apart.

Navigating Trade Show Season 2018

Tradeshows can be expensive and overwhelming, but they are also an excellent marketing opportunity. If you’re on the fence about participating, read on! We’re laying out the reasons trade shows could be advantageous for you, tips to make your show a success, and a list of upcoming shows where you can make your splash in the industry.

Why attend a tradeshow?

Participating in a tradeshow means multiple days in the same room as thousands of people who have the potential to grow your business: buyers, sellers, distributors, influencers, packaging experts, marketers, etc. It also provides the unique and valuable opportunity to network with other food companies, see new trends in the biz, scope out the competition and build new friendships.

How to make your show a success?

Be as prepared as possible.

Just when you think you have everything on your list, there’s something else, right? Each tradeshow comes with a learning curve and it’s good practice to get as prepared as possible ahead of time. Note: printing materials, shipping, and set-up can be more time consuming than you think. It’s important to plan ahead and make sure you have enough time to set yourself up for success. Shipping a pallet? Make sure to throw an extra roll of shrink wrap in for its return.

Other musts on your packing list:

  • Display materials (signage, tablecloth, banners, etc.)
  • Business cards (and a pouch to collect the ones you get)
    • We recommend writing a few notes about the conversation you had on the back of the card, so it’s easy to recall who you spoke with when looking through your stack of cards after the show.
  • Samples and small giveaway items
  • Sales sheets
  • Company information
  • Comfortable shoes – Trade shows make for lots of standing at the booth or walking around the show. Plus, if you’re traveling, you might want to do some celebratory sight-seeing after the show!

Staffing

This is a balancing act. You need enough people to allow breaks and help with set-up, but you don’t want your booth to feel overcrowded. Three people manning the booth at a time is usually a good number (depending on how large your booth is). Other hands on deck can walk the show, checking out trends and competition.

Stand out

With hundreds of other vendors, this can be a tall order, but above all remember that it’s important to create an experience and remain true to your company. Pro-tip: Samples, freebies, and demonstrations attract an audience. Also, a lot of people get full (can you imagine?) from all the samples, so hand-outs and on-the-go samples are important to consider.

Know your talking points

What is the main message you want to promote? How does it align with your business goals for the year? Have this prepared ahead of time to keep your conversations on track.

Smile!

Be approachable. This should be obvious, but tradeshows are a lot of work and exhausting. No matter how many cups of coffee it takes to get you through the day, keep a smile on your face and be ready to talk to anyone… you never know how far a good impression can go.

Convinced you want to exhibit?

Check out these upcoming shows!

Foodservice

Retail

Planning for a trade show?

Let’s work together.

A growing movement: plant-based dining

Recently, we’ve noticed that many people are turning to plant-based diets in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. From flexitarian to vegan, we’re digging into how (and why) people adopt different lifestyles to lessen their impact on the environment. Plus, as card-carrying food industry buffs, we’ve got the inside scoop on why incorporating more veggie-based options might be the next best way to boost sales at operations across all segments.

The meat industry’s impact on the environment:

Phew, this could be a thesis-level analysis of scholarly articles, but we’ll spare you the lofty hypotheses and keep it simple with some cold hard facts. If you’re interested in learning more, we have a bunch of resources posted below!

  • Growing livestock feed in the U.S. requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer EACH year across 149 million acres of cropland.
    • The process generates copious amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
  • Red meats such as beef and lamb are responsible for 10 to 40 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as common vegetables and grains
  • If diets continue the way they’re headed (that is, heavily skewed in the direction of carnivore), this will lead to an 80 percent increase in global greenhouse emissions from food production by 2050.

Amidst all these doom and gloom statistics we should mention that there’s a compromise that doesn’t translate to “eat exclusively rabbit food or we’ll all die.” It’s true that an overwhelming majority of the meat industry still relies on systems that are incredibly destructive to the environment. Fortunately, emerging agriculture practices, such as organic, grass-fed, and pasture-raised meats offer an environmentally responsible way to enjoy a nice juicy steak every once in a while.

Environmentally conscious diets:

Flexitarian

~22.8 million Americans are flexitarian. A flexitarian diet is exactly what it sounds like …a flexible vegetarian diet. Flexitarian is defined as a person “whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish.” Basically, eat a vegetarian diet, but make exceptions here or there.

Vegetarian

~7.3 million Americans are vegetarian, meaning no meat at all. Vegetarians get their sustenance from things like vegetables, beans, grains, fruits, dairy, and eggs.

Vegan

~1.6 million Americans are vegan. Taking it to the next level, a vegan diet eliminates all animal by-product. No meat, dairy, eggs, etc.

Fresh menu items we’ve got our eyes on:

Think outside the tofu container! There’s been a lot of great innovation happening in the plant-based category. Some flavorful ideas include, but are not limited to:

The Impossible Burger

Made from 0% beef, this burger cooks, tastes, and bleeds like the real deal. It uses 95% less land, 74% less water, and creates 87% less greenhouse gas when compared to its beef counterpart.

Grain bowls

A meal composed of a grain base. Add sauce, vegetables, toppings, proteins (meat, tofu, eggs) and arrange in a fun, visually appealing way, because why not.

Superfood salads

Lunch runs to our North Loop neighbor Crisp & Green are a near-daily occurrence in our office. Packing a salad with superfoods like avocado, kale, blueberries, quinoa, seeds, and nuts elevates it from side to main dish. If our office is any indication, the superfood salad is a great way to go.

Blended burgers (not entirely beef)

An ongoing competition from the James Beard Foundation has encouraged chefs around the country to give blended burgers a try on their menus, which goes to show that support for experimentation with plant-based and blended proteins is coming from all levels of the food industry. We particularly love the one from our neighbor, Red Cow!

Curious about your carbon footprint?

Visit the WWF Footprint Calculator. Note: it’s a U.K. based-test so some terminology may be different, but it’s practical, robust and pretty accurate.

As a food company (or, for instance, an agency that specializes in helping food companies reach their highest potential…wait, that’s us!), it’s impossible to please everyone. However, taking steps to formulate more preference-inclusive products, offerings and menus can have huge benefits for your operation. Repositioning, repurposing or introducing veggies and grains can go a long way toward preserving our precious natural resources AND bring in business from the growing number of flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan consumers.

Resources:

The Lowdown on Pizza Expo 2018

Pizza Expo 2018 in Las Vegas was one for the books – walking between booths with increasingly full bellies and slightly less-full wallets (what’s a trip to Vegas without a round of video poker?) we kept our eyes peeled for the very latest trends in pizza. Here’s what we saw…er, tasted:

  1. Get on board with charcuterie. Booths everywhere displayed boards of artfully arranged cured meats, both alone and with honeys, nuts and cheeses. The message was clear: simple, elevated appetizers are in. Many pizzerias are choosing to create signature charcuterie boards with flavors that represent their operation, while others switch it up weekly in order to drive diner interest and use up extra ingredients they have on hand.
  2. Health-forward options are turning the tables on tradition. Besides “Non-GMO,” “Made with real ingredients,” and “Organic” signs everywhere, new companies are popularizing innovative ways to freshen up pizza. Cauliflower pizza crust, made with cauliflower as the first ingredient and thickened with almond flour, appeared at several different booths. We were pleasantly surprised by the taste of this unconventional crust, but the familiar texture is what really won our hearts. Who knew cauliflower could be such a satisfying alternative to traditional crust?
    • Another plant-based variation on the classic ‘za appeared at Pizza Expo in the form of vegan cheese. This trend isn’t entirely new to us since it’s already begun making its way around the Twin Cities (check out Parkway Pizza’s partnership with the Herbivorous Butcher!) but our hunch is that pizza lovers everywhere will be offered an increasing number of vegan cheese options in the future.
  1. Your booth makes a difference. Well-designed, well-staffed booths attracted more visitors, especially if samples or demos are involved. From one food industry expert (and bona-fide pizza fanatic) to another (you wouldn’t have read this far if you weren’t also obsessed with pizza, right?) here are some quick do’s and don’ts:
    • DO create a welcoming atmosphere. Try making a small café- or diner-like space in your booth. Not only does it give people a place to rest, it’s a great conversation starter.
    • DON’T overstaff sales reps. Balance the space you have with a non-intimidating number of personnel—no one wants to feel ganged-up on, even if that’s not your intention! If you have several team members at an event, take shifts. While some reps handle the booth, others can scout for new trends or competitive insights around the expo.
    • DO get interactive. Show what you know! Experiment with hosting a live demo or get conference attendees up close and personal to interact with your product. People need an enticing reason to stop by your booth.
    • DON’T forget water or beverages. Pay attention because this is important. There’s no way that we were the only Pizza Expo attendees searching for a water fountain between bites of pizza. While EVERYONE had mouthwatering food samples, there were no liquids anywhere! Try branded water bottles and cups to serve refreshments with your savory treats – trust us, attendees WILL find you.

Here’s to next year! (And no, we’re not sick of pizza).

B2B Social Media Do’s and Don’ts

With over 20 years of foodservice marketing under our belt, we know a thing or two about the B2B space here at IN Food. And, as social media plays such an enormous role in marketing and brand awareness today, we would be remiss not to share some of our tips, tricks and trade secrets. Here are 10 things to consider when leveraging social media for B2B marketing:

DO:

  • A/B Test. Social media channels are a great way to conduct A/B testing—you can post variations on the same content more than once, it’s easy to review analytics and paid social actually encourages A/B experimentation. Plus, you’ll be generating more content for your followers to enjoy. (Can you say win-win?)

Test different types of posts to find out what gets people to your website. What types of images work best? Do certain calls-to-action generate more clicks? Do questions perform better than statistics? Compile and analyze your results, and then use the data to inform other parts of your business: email subject lines, paid media headlines, article titles and more.

  • Be creative. Show your company’s personality! Social media is a casual space, and the more personality your brand conveys, the more authentic appeal you will command. This isn’t to say that all companies need to be delivering hysterical one-liners 24/7 (see @Wendy’s hilarious twitter account), but with a strong brand identity you can push the boundaries of conventional business messaging, whatever angle you take.
  • Interact with other accounts. There are millions of users on social media, to differentiate yourself from the masses, you need to make—and interact with—friends. Say it with us: The key to good social media is engagement. It’s imperative that you reach relevant accounts—interact with influencers, customers and industry publications to build your following and your credibility. Respond to their posts, share their articles, and tag them in your posts.There’s a reason social platforms are referred to as communities. By definition you can’t create a community on your own. Reach out! Be social!
  • Offer something of value. Why should followers care about what you’re saying? People at work are busy and not eager to add extra clutter to their days. Think about how you can make following your accounts worthwhile for target audiences by sharing industry statistics or trends that will make their jobs easier, providing a free downloadable item or even a rebate.
  • Repurpose content. Not everything that you post needs to be brand new—your team will burn out. Conduct a content audit and find new ways to share existing content. You can even experiment with new ways to position the same article to find out what makes people click. For example, we could share this article in the following ways:
    • 10 Ways to Maximize Your B2B Social Media
    • The Do’s and Don’ts of B2B Social Media
    • Here’s how to reach your B2B audience without paying a dime
    • 5 things to avoid when you’re a B2B social media community manager
    • The list goes on!

DON’T:

  • Be a megaphone! If you’re constantly sharing your products, your ideas and your news, your platform is all about YOU, not your audience. Cultivate authenticity and build credibility by making it all about THEM. Share industry articles that make their jobs easier. Lead with the benefit, not the product. B2B social media best practices suggest that you have no more than 30% of your content promoting your products or services.
  • Forget analytics. Track, track, track everything! Benchmarks vary so much from industry to industry, company to company—you are your own benchmark.

Where do your followers live? You won’t know until you start tracking. A few basics to watch: followers, likes/favorites, retweets/shares, comments and mentions. You should be keeping an eye on these at the bare minimum, but you should also consider incorporating tracking URLs for even more detailed analytics on your posts.

  • Plan out everything for the year. Social media is real-time and current. It allows you to respond to things as they happen. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you like to fly by the seat of your pants!) this means you can only prep so much in advance. We recommend planning posts in two-week intervals, supplemented by regular community monitoring and sharing of articles in real-time. Sharing and posting about industry events in a timely manner (preferably while they’re happening) is also a great way to engage with your followers.
  • Allow just anyone to post. Give thorough social media training to whoever is in charge of posting. This helps ensure that brand standards are maintained and messaging is appropriate. Nonetheless, it’s wise to have an escalation plan in case something goes wrong. Involve your PR team and leadership in addressing problematic situations.
  • “Set it and forget it.” Have a dedicated community manager who monitors notifications and is responsible for responding to people who interact with your brand.

Use these Do’s and Don’ts to increase the impact of your B2B social media. We’re confident you’ll be impressed with the results.

That said, keep in mind that social media is an ever-changing beast. Skilled wranglers of social platforms must be flexible, adaptable and open to new things—an attitude we’ve adopted and embrace every day here at IN Food.

This iconic American dessert gets a restaurant-ready, deep-fried facelift

The Twinkie™ – in all its creamy, cakey goodness – has been the quintessential American treat since the Great Depression. New for 2017, however, is the Deep Fried Twinkie, because even with the increasing popularity of healthier, more wholesome menu items (did someone say Acai Berry Smoothie Bowl?), restaurant-goers will always have a soft spot for deep-fried foods.

Capitalizing on this deep-fried frenzy, McCain Foodservice launched an integrated campaign touting the Twinkie’s nostalgia and convenience to restaurant operators with the goal of bringing the Hostess® Twinkie® brand to the foodservice market. A series of ad placements with publications like Smartbrief Restaurant, Foodservice Director and Restaurant Business were built around a free product sample, hoping to intrigue and motivate operators to try the product with a strong call to action that touted the product’s novelty.

The ad’s creative is simple. Appetite-provoking hero images showcase how the classic Twinkie can be used in a variety of innovative ways. Upon clicking through, the reader is brought to a landing page (below) with an order form to request a free sample, along with recipe inspiration.

McCain was very liberal with samples, as there was no need to be a foodservice operator. However there does appear to have been a cap on this promotion as the rebate is now closed.


Our curiosity (and appetite) got the best of us, and we requested a sample of our own, which arrived in approximately two week’s time. With recipe inspiration taken from the site, we put the product to the test. We were impressed with the freshness and versatility of the product and can see its benefits to foodservice operators for a quick dessert.

Though it is too early to tell if the campaign resonated with operators, Long John Silver’s announced that it will test the Deep-Fried Twinkie on their dessert menu in select markets – an indicator of the campaign’s success.

Key Takeaways:

  • Liberal samples are a compelling, easy way to drive trial and usage when introducing a new product to market
  • A full media surround with a variety of print, digital, native ad and DTO placements helped this campaign break through
  • Pairing sampling with recipe inspiration can be a powerful combination to create operator trial
  • Creating a new twist on an old favorite is a timeless trend

Need help launching your product for foodservice? We can help! Contact us at info@infoodmktg.com