The benefits of frozen produce in a disrupted ordering environment

Foodservice businesses across Australia operating in challenging conditions. From having to meet rising customer expectations around the quality and presentation of their food, to finding and managing a team of motivated staff, to controlling costs to ensure that their business is actually viable in the long-term. Added to these daily concerns since the pandemic are increasing disruptions in the availability and quality of common fresh foods like fruit and vegetables.

Over the past two years, the everyday consumer has been witness to stock availability and supply chain challenges in the supermarket, where early in the pandemic empty shelves were common due to spikes in demand, as shoppers responded to lockdowns by panic-buying pasta, rice, tinned goods and toilet paper. Today, these spikes in demand are less pronounced but supply chain and product availability issues persist due to disruptions in production and delivery processes.

Unfortunately, just as consumers are still experiencing a shortage of their usual go-to trolley items today, the foodservice sector is also being impacted by the same issues. Cafes, pubs, clubs and restaurants are increasingly having to operate in a fluid manner, altering menus and swapping-out key ingredients in old favourites as their usual food deliveries are impacted by produce shortages.

Ongoing product availability and supply chain issues mean that even if a foodservice outlet can source their full order of products, sometimes the quality of their produce may not meet its usual standards, or the prices for those goods have skyrocketed.

In such an environment, foodservice businesses are continually having to innovate (which is something the industry does extremely well and prides itself on) and also look for alternate options to ensure they have access to key ingredients for their customers. One option that savvy foodservice operators are increasingly turning to are frozen fruits and vegetables.

The range of Riviana Foodservice frozen fruits and vegetables are an excellent alternative to fresh produce given that the goods are picked when optimally ripe and quickly frozen, locking in nutrients and flavour.

Incorporating frozen fruits and vegetables into your regular foodservice orders also helps to control produce costs. Pricing for frozen goods is cheaper and relatively stable compared with fresh produce, not to mention offering the same consistent quality of product year-round. Foodservice operators can control food costs or plan their menus with a much higher degree of predictability when incorporating frozen produce into their menus.

An additional benefit of incorporating frozen fruits and vegetables into your menu is convenience. These products can be easily stored in commercial freezers and be on hand for easy use at any time – be that when costs for fresh products escalates, there is a disruption in stock availability or just because the quality of the frozen produce means that they can be used for any occasion.

For more information on Riviana’s frozen range, please visit: Riviana Foodservice