|
The food service industry is growing and has been for years. Since the inception of "pop machines", the vending and food service industry has been growing. Companies have been developing and initiating new ways of providing consumers with food and beverages. Performance Statistics for the Industry Annual gross revenues $426.1 billion, which is equal to four percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. The Foodservice Industry employs 11.3 million people, making it the nation’s largest employer outside of the federal government. Employment within the foodservice industry, 58% are female, 59% are less than 30 years of age, and 71% employed are single. The average annual household expenditure for food away from home is $2,030, or $812 per person The foodservice industry share of the food dollar today is 46.1 percent, compared with only 25 percent in 1955. Innovations As new technology develops, companies are given a wide range of new and innovative products to use to sell their products. Recently, vending machines have lead the way in making food and drinks accessible anytime and anywhere. In addition, these machines have been designed to produce and serve never before possible products. For example, Vendtronic's machines can serve a variety of ice creams and frozen dinners. Additionally, these machines can even prepare fresh French fries and cooked hot dogs. In the past, coffee machines only offered one type of coffee. Today, these machines allow the consumer to select the type of coffee, the strength and the amount of cream and sugar to be added. Coca-Cola has added a temperature gage to some of their pop machines which increase the price as the outside temperature rises, certainly taking advantage of demand. Entry The industry is, by nature, highly competitive. Because a company not only needs to sell itself to a location, which often requires a reputation, it must sell its products to the end-user which requires competitive pricing. For this reason alone, it is very difficult for entry within the industry. There are also other barriers for entry, another being the need for capital. Founder of AVI, John Payiavlas learned that foodservice is very capital-intensive, with each new account requiring a minimum equipment investment of $20,000 to $2.5 million. Restaurant equipment, as well as automated vending machines, are very expensive to purchase. Startup costs are great. Insurance, equipment, warehouses and proper legal consulting are all costly necessities.
Approximate Word count = 1570
Approximate Pages = 6.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
