Chinese sauce company Lee Kum Kee has launched a new comprehensive foodservice report exploring oriental cuisine.
The report draws on a wide range of insights, data and industry intelligence to shed light on an important and long-standing consumer favourite.
It shows the overarching trends in foodservice and what consumers are looking for when eating out of home.
Unsurprisingly, a key trend driving consumer dining habits is health and wellbeing. However, this isn’t limited to just special diets – such as vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian.
Instead, the report comments of the general shift in diners looking for fresh and unprocessed dishes.
“The report demonstrates the opportunities and challenges for foodservice operatives,” said Maria Chong, MD of Lee Kum Kee Europe.
“One of the key opportunities is the rise in ‘kind eating’, particularly for Oriental food.
“Operators should be showing consumers just how healthy and nutritious Chinese food can be.”
Discussing the current political and economic climate, the report shows that the foodservice industry is in challenging times, but by being agile and having a clear proposition operators can still thrive.
Challenges include consumer confidence impacting restaurant visits, rising business rates and a shortage of skilled Oriental chefs.
But there are also many opportunities as people will always want to eat out and fresh, healthy and delicious food will continue to be in demand.
“Everyone is familiar with Oriental cuisine, but it’s changed dramatically over the years, as has the UK food scene,” said Chong.
“We’ve created this report to understand the current status of Oriental food in the UK foodservice market and offer an effective tool for operators.
“It’s about unlocking the profit-making opportunity that a good Oriental food offer can present and driving business success, not just within traditional Oriental restaurants but across all foodservice sectors.”
