TRENDING

Choosing the right chips to maintain your competitive edge and differentiate your menu

As the foodservice market continues to expand, it’s never been more important to ensure you can create and maintain that edge that will set you apart from the competition and drive ongoing success for your business.

Having the right signature chip and second chip for your menu is a case in point. There’s a skill to choosing the right chip, and the team at Edgell is dedicated to making it easier than ever to find the best choice for your customer base.

Each season Edgell partners with potato farmers who cultivate and harvest the finest produce with uncompromising care and pride. Their expertise, coupled with Edgell’s stringent quality assurance procedures, ensures superior quality and flavour every time. And thanks to Edgell’s unwavering commitment to delivering value-added solutions, there’s an extensive range to choose from – which means chips to suit every menu feature, from Trusted Originals in A-grade quality, to Perfect Performers like Edgell Supa Crunch Delivery Chips, Crispy Flats and Sweet Potato Chips, and Finest specialty offerings like Edgell Sidewinders.

Coated chips such as Edgell Supa Crunch Ultrafast 10mm, which David describes as “the Ferrari of chips, our number one seller”, will hold longer than the traditional uncoated variety. “Supa Crunch Ultrafast is a real all-rounder and crowd pleaser,” David explains. “The 10mm cut delivers the perfect combination of batter and chip – it holds temperature beautifully while still being thin enough to ensure a terrific crunch.”

Edgell Supa Crunch chips fall within the Edgell Perfect Performers range, which are designed as ‘cook and hold’ solutions, come in a range of cut types and seasonings and can create a real buzz for your business through their superior crunch, taste and flavour.

The latest innovation in this space is Edgell Supa Crunch Delivery Chips, which have been designed to withstand the rigours of home delivery and stay crunchy to the last bite. As David points out, “nobody wants a soggy chip!”

Boasting a superior hold time of up to 40 minutes during delivery and a whopping 60 minutes under heat lamps, they’re even microwavable – enabling your customers to bring them back to tip top quality at home in just 20 seconds in the event of extra-long delivery.

Edgell also offers a superior Sweet Potato Chip on the market – using only Aussie-grown sweet potatoes, paired with Edgell’s world class delivery style batter and seasoning to deliver a sweet potato chip with distinctive savoury flavour profile, brightly appealing colour and superior hold time. The 10mm cut delivers great yield along with all the flavour intensity of a thicker chip while also ensuring quick cook time and good temperature retention.

“From a customer’s perspective, Sweet Potato is often perceived as a healthier option, making these ideal as a terrific second chip to create further menu differentiation,” David adds. “Not only are they appealing in terms of flavour, colour and crunch, they’re Australian grown as well – a great choice for anyone who’s looking to support local product.”

Edgell Supa Crunch Skin On Chips are a further means of offering more variety on your menu through a second chip menu offering with a homemade style and ‘retro’ look. “Much of the flavour of potato is in the skin, so these deliver a taste which customers equate with ‘better for you’ and a more rustic, back of house made presentation style,” David says. “Operators are calling them out on the menu because they know they resonate particularly with the millennial market.”

And if it’s superior yield per kg you’re looking for, nothing will deliver a better profit than Edgell Supa Crunch 7mm cut Shoestring chips. “They’ll give you terrific plate coverage, and at the same time the Supa Crunch batter ensures they stay crunchy and retain their temperature. So not only do you get better yield but also extended hold time and that famous flavour and crunch which customers love – they’re perfect for eating by the handful.”

For those operators looking to add a premium option to the menu, Edgell Sidewinders are the ideal choice. Their unique spiral cut and presentation style gives them a striking appearance and also makes them suitable for oven baking as well as deep frying. “Their shape ensures great airflow, which by default keeps them crunchier for longer,” David explains, “making them a perfect choice for delivery. They’re also ideal for loading up – you can add cheese or other fillings and again thanks to the airflow you won’t end up with a soggy mess. The distinctive shape also makes them great for dipping in sour cream or sweet chilli sauce, so they’re a top choice for share platters too – in fact, a real winner when it comes to menu differentiation and extension.”

LISTEN

The Bottom Line | Young Chefs Today, Part 2

In the second part of our series we talk to two young female chefs, Amber Heaton from the Star Gold Coast and Sarah Jones from the National Wine Centre, Adelaide who both have extensive experience in the competitive arena and to get their perspective on the future of the foodservice industry.

FEATURE PRODUCT

SUSTAINABILITY

Strategies to minimise food waste in your business

Reducing food waste is a great way to cut down your operating costs, which not only saves money but boosts business profit. And with around four million tonnes of food wasted in our country annually, about a quarter of which comes from restaurants and food businesses, it makes sound business sense to take steps to implement waste minimisation strategies. Here are several you can do right away: 

Undertake a food waste audit

This will help you identify where you can improve efficiencies and implement changes to reduce food waste, and so cut down your costs. Ideally it should be conducted over a fortnight so you can allow for fluctuations in waste across busy periods versus quieter times. Keeping records for even longer can assist in determining seasonal trends.

Begin by equipping your kitchen area with three extra food bins, preferably colour coded to make it easier for staff to distinguish between them. Label each bin ‘food waste only’ and assign one for spoiled food (including excess stock and food which has passed its use-by date), one for preparation waste (including spillages, leftovers and breakages) and one for plate waste (leftovers from served meals). All food waste then needs to be separated by staff into these bins accordingly.

By separating your waste into these categories you can identify where the majority of it is coming from. Be sure to check for food that’s been mistakenly put in general bins as it’s important to capture all relevant food waste.

Measure and record how much waste is left in each bin at the conclusion of every shift. You can either use scales to determine precise weight or compact the food waste down and then estimate the volume within the bin.  

Calculate the total quantity and type of food waste collected once per week and use this data as your benchmark to identify where you can make savings.

Once you’ve implemented waste reduction strategies post-audit, it’s a good idea to conduct a follow-up audit at a later date so you can determine the extent of the improvement.

Practise efficient stock control

Another way to minimise both food waste and spoilage is to ensure you have efficient ordering and stock rotation systems in place. This means ensuring food is clearly labelled with expiry dates and that all staff adhere to FIFO (First In, First Out) inventory management principles.

Having an effective stock management system in place will help you to predict required stock levels more accurately, especially if you utilise predictive ordering technology. This will also give you more insight into your ordering patterns and help you identify other areas of potential savings.

Use up menu leftovers rather than throwing them out

With customer demand often hard to predict, it’s easy to end up with excess ingredients and menu leftovers, but rather than throw them away, as long as they’re still within their use-by date you can try to utilise them on the specials board or as part of a meal deal, with staff actively promoting these to customers. 

Cut down on food spoilage by improving storage practices

How often do you check your fridge and freezer thermostats and make sure they’re running at the right temperature? Effective temperature management (at 1-4degC for fridges and -18degC for freezers) is essential to prohibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria which can lead to food spoilage. It’s also important to store high risk foods on lower shelves than low risk ones and keep the interior of your fridge/freezer, as well as your general storage areas, clean and tidy at all times. 

Inspect all food deliveries to ensure they’re as per specification

Ensure when your food deliveries arrive that you or an assigned staff member checks to ensure all food is in good condition and there are no visible signs of spoilage or damage. Any food which has been delivered at an incorrect storage temperature should be rejected as it will only spoil further and need to be thrown away.

WATCH

Do you want to save yourself time, labour and waste? Here is the real truth when it comes buying raw avocados.

SERVING SUGGESTION

OPERATIONS

Maximise your operation's efficiency ... and get better value out of your menu ingredients

As our foodservice sector starts to rebuild post-lockdowns, businesses all over have been impacted by the exodus of casual staff from the industry and are struggling to serve customers quickly while coping with a shortage of skilled labour. 

The result has been a paring back of menus – and a new focus on offering meals which can be prepared quickly and easily with minimal preparation. 

That’s why it’s important to look at food ingredients which are value added, ready to use and have a shelf life which allows them to be stored until needed without the risk of spoilage. 

Products like Edgell Chunky Avocado Pulp are a good example of this. Made from 100 per cent premium quality Hass avocados hand-picked at peak ripeness, it uses cold pasteurisation technology to lock in flavour and freshness and ensure a frozen shelf life of 18 months.

The result is a convenient avocado pulp which delivers authentic texture, presentation and flavour and is on hand whenever you need it – 100 per cent usable product with zero waste and no preparation.

Choosing these kinds of ingredients enables you to ensure consistency of presentation, flavour and texture while reducing labour requirements and preparation time. That way you’re able to focus your time on other parts of the process which add value, such as signature touches like a special garnish on the dish, or arranging the plating for maximum presentation.

With so many ready-prepared products available on today’s market – from frozen cut, trimmed and peeled vegetables, to purees and sauces, par-baked pastas and breads and much more – it’s relatively easy to find ingredients which can cut down on a lot of your prep work, all without compromising the quality of the finished meal. The reduced labour cost can then be factored in with your ingredients cost to determine the actual cost of producing each dish.

A good rule of thumb is to be able to know at least 80 per cent of your costings off the top of your head, as this will enable you to shift gears quickly and steer away from certain products should you identify they’re overpriced or not the quality your customers expect. Conversely, when you find good quality ready-prepared products, try to stick with them – that way you’ll ensure consistency on the menu, which is one of the most important considerations in keeping customers happy and ensuring repeat business.

A related principle is to try to anticipate which dishes are going to be your biggest sellers. This way you can purchase your ingredients against the expected uptake – making sure to base your forecasts on historical trends. Of course you will occasionally over-order, but on the other hand, don’t be overly concerned about selling out of a popular item.

Another way to keep innovating your menu is by looking at each ingredient and asking yourself how many different applications does it have, i.e. how many different dishes can you use it in? This is simply a case of thinking of your ingredients as assets and ensuring you maximise them – while keeping food wastage down as low as possible.