“Travel through your tastebuds”: Kerry Foodservice debuts adventurous ready-to-eat seasonings

16 Jul 2020 --- Kerry Foodservice has launched its Chef’s Pass ready-to-eat seasonings, a line which consists of 11 flavors each of which is chef-crafted with on-trend, taste led profiles. They can be used across multiple platforms. The flavors include beer-flavored cheese, bruschetta, buffalo, buttermilk ranch, hot honey, Nashville hot, pesto seasoning, spicy chipotle, sriracha kick, umami and yellow curry.

“Food is the only thing some people are looking forward to right now. We are all seeking escape or adventure through food, as we are all sequestered in our all too familiar surroundings at home. That alone makes it so much more important to keep finding ways to create new emotional journeys through the food we consume,” Scott Aldredge, Senior Executive Chef – RD&A for Kerry North America, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

Consumers want to travel with their taste buds and try new menu items and limited-time offers (LTOs). These different flavor profiles provide the opportunity to quickly and efficiently transform menu items to offer that experience to consumers. Whether they’re looking for regionally-inspired tastes like Nashville hot French fries or a twist on pizza with a pesto seasoning, Chef’s Pass works across many different menu items.

“Igniting an epic memory through the senses of sight, smell and/or taste is the most visceral way to bring back nostalgic family moments, amazing travel memories or to create new ones with flavors you have been too hesitant to try before,” explains Aldredge.

According to Shannon Coco, Strategic Marketing Director – Food for Kerry North America, the company focused on emerging high potential profiles from across the US. “We crafted these seasonings with flavor profiles accessible across regions, with a range that includes mainstream flavors such as buttermilk ranch and more emerging profiles like umami and beer cheese.”

“Our seasonings help increase menu options while also decreasing the number of products needed in the back of house,” Aldredge says.Cross-functional seasonings
Kerry aims to keep taste and nutrition at the forefront while also striving to decrease back-of-house complexity by developing cross-functional products. 

“Our seasonings help increase menu options while also decreasing the number of products needed in the back of house. A single seasoning can be used in a myriad of ways: to season plain fries, enhance a basic cream sauce, create a new mac and cheese flavor, increase the options of dipping sauces by simply adding it to an existing ranch dip, brighten up a plain mayo for a new sandwich spread or aioli, spice up ketchup or BBQ sauce. The list goes on,” Aldredge details. 

“Our seasonings provide versatility across culinary applications such as meat, fries, dips, sauces, sides and snacks, and pizza. Because they’re chef-crafted and ready-to-eat, culinary teams, as well as operators can quickly and efficiently transform their menu,” adds Coco.

With limited menus and limited crews back of house at restaurants, Chef’s Pass provides an operationally-friendly way to elevate limited menus and gives the consumer the ability to customize their parts of their order, says Cian Leahy, Director of Culinary – RD&A for Kerry North America. 

“For example, operators can season fries and wings with a variety of seasonings that have minimal impact on the sodium content of the end dish. [They can also] season tomatoes on your sandwich to now have bruschetta tomatoes or add an Umami boost to any dish with the Umami Seasoning, making the dish more appealing,” he explains. 

Will foodservice bounce back?
With foodservice transactions down by 57 percent versus last year, customers commit to streamlining menus, and ensuring convenience and value for their consumers, according to NPD COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Restaurant 365 Weekly Data. “Industry needs support to help rebuild the economy during the ongoing challenges of the pandemic,” Coco stresses. “With these easy-to-use and ready-to-eat seasonings, Kerry can support the foodservice industry as it rebuilds through our culinary creation and provides simple ways to add menu items.”

Moreover, Leahy says this is a unique time in the foodservice industry considering staying at home has increased comfort food and carb-heavy eating. “We believe consumers will seek out more nutritious offerings without sacrificing taste. Kerry makes delicious food nutritious and nutritious food delicious,” he comments. 

For some, food is an experience, not just nourishment, Aldredge chimes in. “That said, I believe this pandemic has greatly broadened the number of people who experientially see food.”

For those who viewed food as simply a means to exist and would not usually plan their day around eating, Aldredge is certain their mindset has “changed immensely.”

Food and beverages have become a much more communal experience for people during this time. “Bringing neighbors out of their homes to meet new people and giving friends and families more time together even during a time of social distancing. Sharing recipes, trying something new and even tapping into their local markets and food purveyors have changed how entire communities see, purchase and experience food and eating. Hopefully, this trend will remain on track and continue to strengthen and expand both our emotional and educational relationship with food and the people around us,” concludes Aldredge. 

By Elizabeth Green