Primary Research with the ultimate user - The Operator

Foodservice Research Institute goes directly to the foodservice operator as a source for information on product categories and brands used. Since 1992, the BEST Survey of operators has investigated more than 125 foodservice product categories with 100+ Food Supplier Companies and Associations participating. BEST Reports are custom designed for clients who get the benefit of sharing the fielding cost with non competing manufacturers. Considering the costs associated with interviewing 2,000 restaurants, the shared cost approach results in huge savings for the marketer.

BEST provides valuable, hard to find category insight on Food Product Market Size and Brand Share detailed for 9 commercial and 5 non-commercial market segments. BEST participants also get the benefit of sub segment detail showing market size for 30 smaller segments in which there may be an interest.

These segments include Casual Italian Pizza Chains, Casual Mexican Chains, Casual Steakhouses, QSR Burger Chains, QSR Chicken Chains, QSR Independent Sub Sandwich Delis and more. BEST sampling is from the ground up and based on universe counts and interview completion quotas established for 120 projection cells composed of 30 market segments within each of four geographic regions.

BEST Market Size and Brand Share Reports are based on Primary and Original survey research conducted at the operating unit level. BEST is not to be confused with reports from other companies that rely on secondary source / desk research compilations.

BEST and Brand Equity Share Trends are trademarks of Foodservice Research Institute.

BEST Fielding Begins August 15 Reports Delivered January 19

Data insight into your product categories

• Market Size detailed by Operator Market Segment and Region
• Brand Share detail for all competing brands, including major distributors
• Printed Report with graphs/charts/tables and Summary of Findings
• Sample stratified for each of 30 sub market segments within each of four regions
• Trend reports available for BEST categories studied previously

Market Segmentation for Chains

More than 450 phone operator level interviews are to completed with the top 150 QSR Chains. Completion quotas are set for each chain depending on chain size. A sample of QSR chains included in QSR sample includes : Arby's, Burger King, Domino's, Jack in the Box, McDonalds, Popeye's, Taco Bell, Carl's Jr., Zaxby's, Del Taco, Panda Express, White Castle, Whataburger, Captain D's, KFC, Qdoba, Krystal, Hardee's and more.

Phone interviews are to be completed with 230 Casual Chain Operators at the unit level and these include: Applebee's, Chili's, Olive Garden, Long Horn Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday, California Pizza Kitchen, Romano's Macaroni Grill, O'Charley's, Daily Grill, Rainforest Café and more.

Phone interviews will be completed with 120 Midscale Chain Operators at the unit level and these include: Denny's, Ponderosa, Perkin's, Steak 'n Shake, Friendly's, IHOP, Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, Big Boy, Bob Evan's, Sizzler, Eat 'n Park, Marie Callender's, Western Sizzlin' and more.

Segmentation by State/Region

BEST Sample is selected with quotas set by Market Segment within Region.

• Central: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
• Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
• South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Dist. of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia.
• West: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.

Interview Process Guidelines

• 100% of BEST telephone contacts are made from our Chicago corporate office by our (fluent English and Spanish) speaking staff of student interviewers from Dominican and Concordia Universities. Quality Controls and monitoring allow real time viewing of resultant distributions as they occur during the interview process.
• Staff is trained to administer questionnaire using CATI methodologies and IBM/SPSS software.
• All respondents are qualified by interviewers for purchasing knowledge and authority.
• Respondents are then asked to indicate which product categories (out of our subscribed list of 15-20) they purchase. i.e. Do you purchase Bacon?, Breakfast Sausage?, Cheese?
• For each category purchased, the respondent is then asked to indicate (aided basis) which product formats they purchase. i.e. "Do you purchase Raw Bacon or Pre Cooked?" Or "Which types of Cheese, I am now going to mention, do you purchase? American? Cheddar? Colby?
• When category use/purchase has been established, operators are asked (unaided basis for each format): "What brand do you purchase? What other brands do you purchase? Do you purchase any other brands?
• Operators are then asked "How much of this brand (product) do you use in an average week?" Most volumetric measures are expressed in pounds. Volumetric measures also may include number of PC containers, gallons, bag in box volume packs, pouch packs (#10 equivalent), 5 gallon pails and other configurations.

BEST Research Methodology

List Source and Name Selection

List of commercial restaurant operators and non commercial/institutions is leased from major foodservice business publications. Completion quotas are established for 30 market segments within each of four geographic regions. Universe count for each of 120 sample cells (30 segments within 4 regions) is used to determine the sample size and also the projection factor which explodes sample data into estimates for market size for the entire foodservice universe .

Questionnaire

A total of 2,000 interviews are to be completed with foodservice operators by the research phone staff of Foodservice Research Institute (FSRIN). Quotas are to be observed for each market segment within each state and region using state by state operator counts based on leading industry and government sources. Questionnaire is to be designed by the Foodservice Research Institute. Questions are to be asked on quantities of product categories purchased for each brand/label per average week. Client approves wording of their category question (s).

Data Collection and Processing

All calls are completed at the call center of Foodservice Research Institute in Oak Park. Computer Aided Telephoning Interviewing is used with brand coding built into the CATI system. Questionnaire, survey, data control and tabulation are implemented using an IBM/SPSS software package. Records are reviewed for consistency and completeness by the staff of Foodservice Research Institute, Inc.

Quality Control

BEST phone interviewing is conducted using college students from Concordia and Dominican Universities. Interviewing is conducted on the premises of Foodservice Research Institute. All interviews are constantly audited by a dedicated QC monitor on the FSRIN staff. Real Time viewing of results is possible as interviews are completed.

Research Margin of Error

All survey research is based on the premise that a randomly selected sample of the universe can be used to infer characteristics and behavior about the universe. Provided strict sampling methods are employed, the sample is a reflection of the universe within a plus or minus margin of error that is related to sample size and confidence level. The plus or minus margin of error for the BEST sample is 2.4 percentage points (at the 95 degree level of confidence), however, this applies only to market share data. The margin of error for market size estimates is in the range of 10% to 15% depending on the product category.
 

Comprehensive and Detailed Reports Include

• Executive Summary --- generally 3 to 5 slides
• Detailed Findings --- 15 to 25 charts utilizing tables and graphs
• Trend reports in second and succeeding years increase the size of the Executive Summary and Detailed Findings
• BEST Report is delivered in PowerPoint format
• Computer tabulations provide detailed information on the brand share of each brand and company of all reported brands
• For example, if a company has 3 brands, results are provided for total company (example 25%) and for each brand (example: A=15%, B=7% and C=3%)
• Reports are delivered via email. At customer request, reports can be provided in a bound notebook.

Save On The Purchase Of Multiple Categories

Report price is $25,000 for one category, $22,000 each for two categories and $20,000 each for three or more categories.

Add $500 per sub category format

Example: report on Bacon, with two sub categories (raw and pre-cooked) has a base price of $25,000 plus (2*$500), yielding a total price of $26,000

Payment Terms: 50% up front, 30% upon completion of fielding (mid-November) and 20% on report delivery
 

Research Report Inventory

• In the last 20 years, BEST Research has conducted studies on 125 categories

• Several product categories have been studied for multiple years and will include trend information.

• BEST studies have the longest sustaining brand share/market size data collection in the industry.

• BEST studies have the experience and insight to provide quality foodservice product category and brand performance.

• BEST has the largest inventory of past Market Sizing/Brand Share reports with several years of trend history.
 

The BEST Sample REFLECTS the FOODSERVICE UNIVERSE down to the sub segment level. BEST Survey Market Size information is provided for the market segments/sub segments in column one and brand share information is provided for the market segments/sub segments in column two. Market size and brand share detail is provided for four regions. (excludes segment within region)
 

Spring Reports Available Now

The Reports below were completed in the spring 2011 wave

• Dry Gravy Mix: beef, brown, chicken, au jus, peppered, country, turkey
• Frozen Prepared Mexican Foods: burritos & chimichangas (bean, beef, chicken, breakfast) (beef, chicken & cheese enchiladas) tamales, taquitos, mini tacos
• Frozen Fish: breaded fish fillets, breaded fish portions, dish sticks or nuggets, IQF fillets, fish steaks
• Olive Oil: extra virgin, pure olive oil, pomace olive oil
• Deli Meats: sliced turkey, chicken, roast beef, pastrami, corned beef, ham, salami, bologna, capricola, other variety meats
• Coffee: regular & decaffeinated ground roast
• Prepared Pre-Cut Fruit: (studied in Spring 2011, because of exclusivity, available to others in March 2012) fresh cut on premise, fresh cut pails/jars/dry pack, pasteurized shelf stable, frozen
• Frozen Cookie Dough: drops, scored & layered, batter in tub, prebaked bulk packed, prebaked individually wrapped
• Muffins: fresh delivered bulk, frozen prebaked bulk, IW fresh, IW frozen, preformed frozen batter, bulk pail frozen batter
• Brownies: IW, frozen bulk tray scored, frozen bulk tray un-scored, frozen batter tub, dry mix
• Yogurt, Bulk Pack Sizes: low fat / non fat yogurt, regular (non reduced fat) yogurt, Greek style yogurt
• Sour Cream, Bulk Pack Sizes: low fat / non fat sour cream, regular (non reduced fat) sour cream
• Cottage Cheese, Bulk Pack Sizes: low fat / non fat cottage cheese, regular (non reduced fat) cottage cheese

Proposed Fall 2011 Product Categories

Fielding of the BEST Survey of 2000 foodservice operators begins August 15. Fielding is conducted at the call center of Foodservice Research Institute in Oak Park, Illinois. BEST Reports are available January 19, 2012. Contact John Sepsis or Matthew Brady at 800-685-BEST to book your category. If your category is not on the list below, please contact us to be certain your category is included in the upcoming BEST Survey.

About Us

Foodservice Research Institute has been providing valuable information to the food, beverage and hospitality industries since 1991. We are based in Oak Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago. We understand the needs of the Foodservice/Restaurant Industry and we provide clear analysis that will make an impact to your business.

Foodservice Manufacturers/Restaurants have relied on our syndicated and custom research services to provide category insight, develop new items, identify food, flavor and ingredient growth trends, obtain market size and brand share as well as product usage characteristics. We are a specialized company with its own Call Center that provides focused, detailed and personal attention to collecting primary data on the foodservice operator. Our company has pioneered Foodservice Market Sizing and Brand Share studies as well as the MenuMine online database.

How To Order

To reserve your category or answer any questions, please call: John Sepsis or Matthew Brady at 1-800-685-BEST Sample reports available at client request or fill out this form and someone will contact you.