Morning glory

More and more people are forsaking breakfast these days, blaming lack of time. Amanda Marcus looks at ways to convince customers that breakfast really is worth fitting into today's hectic lifestyles.

Breakfast is commonly acknowledged to be the most important meal of the day, yet according to Mintel's Breakfast Cereal Report 2001, about three-quarters of adults regularly miss breakfast, and 60% of us now substitute breakfast at home with a morning snack at work because of the hectic nature of today's lifestyles. Traditional breakfast foods requiring preparation are declining in favour of portable snacks which can be eaten out of home.

On-the-go snacking via breakfast bars is growing, but caterers in the food service market are still offering traditional breakfasts, according to Quaker, to consumers who have more time to sit and enjoy them.

"The key to a successful breakfast is variety," says Alan White, head chef at the 204-bedroom Selsdon Park Hotel and Golf Course, south London. "Guests have different tastes and it's important to cater for them all, especially if they're staying several days. Trends will vary, but bacon and eggs is always a best seller for British guests. Offer a selection of cooked eggs - fried, poached, boiled and scrambled - and vary cuts from streaky to back bacon where possible."

White says it's vital that breakfast food remains fresh. "There's a chef on our buffet all the time with three jobs to do - ensure temperature control, keep the buffet topped up and turn the food over. The food should look as good at 7am as it does at 10am - a dish like scrambled egg needs constant attention."

For those too pushed for time to prepare, Larderfresh has pasteurised Whole Egg Liquid. Equal to 20 whole grade 4 eggs in a 1kg carton, the product can be used for omelettes, pancakes and scrambled eggs, reducing preparation time and mess. Scrambled Egg Mix is also available for the same price.

Egg supplier Fridays also has an organic liquid egg sold frozen in 1kg cartons. The company's organic egg range includes eggs, omelettes and boiled eggs. "Over the last year or two there has been an enormous increase in demand for organic produce in the retail sector and we're expecting similar growth in the catering market," says Andrew Friday of Fridays. "The demand is partly to do with healthier eating and partly the growing awareness about environmental matters. Our range is designed to generate new business in this rapidly-growing sector."

Luxury combination Jordans says that in addition to a cooked breakfast, hoteliers need to offer cost-effective quality breakfast cereals. Its range includes Natural Muesli and Special Muesli, a luxury combination of exotic fruits and nuts with cereal flakes. Both come in 50g portions and 1kg bags. The company also has Organic Muesli and Organic Crunchy breakfast cereals in its range.

New from Kellogg's is Luxury Muesli, which the company says contains 20% more fruits and nuts than other big-brand muesli. Free point-of-sale kits are available while stocks last (see contacts, below).

Steve Penny, sales development manager for Peppercorns, says: "We have seen a growing interest in healthy eating generally, and many people want reduced salt and sugar in products." Popular choices, he says, are Organic Muesli, Exotic Muesli, Tropical Crunch and American Pecan Crunch. Peppercorns has also introduced Cranberry, Papaya and Pine-apple mix.

"It's a cliché, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day," concludes White, "and doubly so for hotels. It's the last meal guests have and you are judged on it. Take the same pride in breakfast as you would in any other meal - whether preparing for five or 50 covers - and you'll leave a lasting impression."

For caterers, the growing out-of-home breakfast market clearly spells potential.

According to Datamonitor, three-quarters of adults have eaten breakfast out of home in any three-month period and on-the-go options are on the up.

In direct response to rising demand for a portable breakfast, Pritchitt Foods was quick to introduce Twinners last year, and cereal giant Kellogg's followed with To Go Twinpot. Both are all-in-one, ready-to-eat breakfast cereal products with cereal, milk and a spoon in one pack.

Not everyone is looking for a cereal on the go, however. Apetito has launched Breakfast Pastries, a range of frozen bake-off products. The Bacon Breakfast Pastry contains prime smoked bacon, egg, tomatoes and baked beans all encased in flaky pastry, while Sausage Breakfast Pastry has a sausage enveloped in light pastry with baked beans, tomatoes and egg.

Mintel suggests that croissants are the third most popular morning product eaten by full-time workers and 15- to 34-year-olds. These same people are most likely not to eat breakfast at home in an average week. Délifrance says caterers can focus on capturing the time-poor consumer with a carry-out French pastry to consume on their way to work or at their desk.

Mini snacks are also on the increase as they appeal to the children's market and reduce the guilt factor for indulgent adults. Délifrance has Mini Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, and Pain au Raisin or Mini Danishes to serve as a side with coffee or as a selection for a sweet breakfast or snack.

Make the most of it

Research has categorically shown that people who skip breakfast do not perform as well, either physically or mentally, as those who do eat breakfast, according to Weetabix, and other research demonstrates that eating breakfast can also improve your mood and behaviour.

Breakfast cereals with milk can provide us with up to 30% of the daily requirements of several key nutrients that are essential to health and wellbeing.

With facts like these at their fingertips, caterers should be well-armed to encourage more of their customers to partake of the last meal to remain underexploited by the industry, says Weetabix. The cereal supplier offers a series of suggestions for making breakfast time more enjoyable, and encouraging people to make more time for breakfast.

• Make the breakfast buffet look as attractive and inviting as possible.
• Fruit - fresh, tinned, or dried - adds taste to breakfast cereal and gives a valuable boost of fibre and vitamin C.
• Offer your customers a good selection of quality breakfast cereals to increase choice and overcome breakfast boredom.
• Add an interesting selection of breads and morning goods and invest in tableware that is aesthetically pleasing.
• Offer a glass of unsweetened fruit juice to give customers an extra boost of vitamin C and aid the absorption of the iron in breakfast cereals more efficiently.
• Children can enjoy mixing cereals. A wide selection will encourage them to make a healthy choice and allow guests to increase the fibre content of their breakfast.

Contacts

3663 01494 555900
Apetito 01225 753636
Bernard Matthews Food Service 01603 872611
Brake Bros 0845 606 9090
Caterplan 0800 783 3728
D‚lifrance 0116 2571 871
Fridays 01580 710200
Jordans - from Universe Foodservice 01932 838000
Kellogg's Kareline 0800 7836676
Larderfresh 0845 606 9090
Peppercorns 020 8961 4410
Premier International Foods (Foodservice Division) 01406 367 077
Quaker Foodservice 020 8574 2388
Twinners 020 8290 7000
Weetabix Catering 01536 722181

Names mean numbers

According to Kellogg's, branded goods play the greatest role at breakfast, with cereal, tea and jams being the categories most reliant on strong branding.

• Premier International Foods (Foodservice Division) has a range of breakfast products from jams to baked beans and side-of-plate sauces. Hartley's Jam Portions in 20g servings include Strawberry, Apricot, Raspberry, Blackcurrant, Marmalade and Honey flavours. Chivers' range of Conserves and Marmalades is available in 28g glass jars and come in Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackcurrant, Apricot and Breakfast Marmalade. For traditional breakfasts, the range includes HP Baked Beans and St Nicholas Baked Beans in tomato sauce, in reduced-sugar and -salt varieties, Hartley's Sliced Mushrooms and Whole Button Mushrooms and Fege's Peeled Plum Tomatoes.
• Brake Bros' unsmoked bacon range includes back, middle and streaky. Large pack sizes (2.5kg) contain up to 80 rashers. Beechwood Smoked Back Bacon (rindless) is also available. Brake Bros Black Pudding Slices shallow-fry in six minutes. A 1.5kg pack of Hash Browns costs £2.65; deep-fry from frozen in three minutes. The Real Danish Selection - 12 each of Cinnamon Swirl, Vanilla Crème Crown and Apricot Crown - bakes from frozen in 18 minutes. Pre-glazed and unbaked range of Croissants, Pain aux Raisins, Pain au Chocolat and Cinnamon Swirls, as well as Fully Baked Croissants.
• 3663 relaunched its Coronet portion pack brand in July. Coronet was the former Booker Foodservice vehicle for table-top consumables such as sauces and jams.
• Flora and Marmite are strong consumer brands, associated with quality and healthy eating, according to Caterplan of Unilever Bestfoods UK.
• Larderfresh has a range of breakfast products, including Stapleton Luxury Yoghurt from Devon, with flavours such as Cereal & Banana Breakfast. A 150g pot costs 49p.
• To show how easy porridge is to prepare, hot cereal supplier Quaker has produced Make the Most of Porridge, an easy-to-use guide which carries conventional and microwave cooking instructions, plus top tips and ideas for serving. Its range includes Quaker Oats, Scott's Porage Oats and Oatso Simple.
• Bernard Matthews Food Service has launched a triangular version of its Cheese Hamwich. Weighing 57g, the smaller version of the traditional Hamwich is aimed at children in primary schools, pubs and family restaurants and can be offered at breakfast, lunch and supper. Packed 40 to a case, they are priced at around 20p each.

Food for thought

• Coffee houses capture the greatest share of the away-from-home breakfast market (20%), ahead of hotels (19%) and roadside outlets (15%).
• Hotels earn as much as half their turnover from breakfast.
• More than a quarter (27%) of consumers do not eat breakfast at home in an average week, peaking with 21- to 34-year-olds.
• Nearly three in 10 (28%) people snack at work, 11% because they are too busy to have a proper meal and 6% snack as a planned meal replacement. Other reasons include hunger (34%) and boredom (29%).

Source: Kellogg's, Fusion FSM, IGD Food Consumption report 2000/Consumer Watch 2001