Takeaways and Slides from Our Compass Group Webinar

Compass Group is the world’s largest foodservice company, providing food for many of the largest companies and venues in the world. Its clients include hospitals, universities and other schools, stadiums and corporate campuses. They are increasingly sourcing CPG products.

Naturally Chicago’s members-only February 4 webinar, “Compass Group: Selling to Foodservice 101,” was a deep dive into the opportunities and complexities of selling to foodservice. It featured two experts from Compass Group and two Naturally Chicago community brands that sell to the company.

We received great feedback about the webinar from member brands who attended the webinar. Here are some examples:

Leslie Danford, Vitaminis: I got so much out of the Foodservice webinar you did with Compass! 

Lisa Marsh, MsP Gluten Free: The Compass group webinar was absolutely amazing.

Angelica Lee, Steepers Only: Wow!

Angelica Ford, Fueled by AF: I love the webinar today!

The following takeaways from the webinar were prepared by Greg Keller, Naturally Chicago Senior Strategist, who moderated the conversation.

Speakers: Eve Albert, Compass Group; Kristopher Murray, Compass Group; Trish Thomas, Every Body Eats; Jenny Yang, Jenny's Tofu/Phoenix Bean

Takeaways

Compass has many divisions and channels of distribution including but not limited to:

• Vending : They are the nation’s largest vending company

• Businesses: Office restaurants as well as office stores

• Schools: University dining as well as stores

• Sports: Sporting and entertainment events

• Airports: Airport stores, restaurants, lounges.

• Senior Living: Senior living facilities

• Healthcare: Hospitals

• Restaurants: They also service a wide range of restaurants, from coffee shops to fine dining.

Driven by their customers requirements, Compass Group is focused on health, diversity and sustainability. Brands with health and diversity claims, such as woman or minority ownership, are in high demand with their customers.

Companies submitting products with such claims must have the claims certified: for example, Certified Organic or Certified Woman Owned. Compass Group is also looking for brands that are good for the environment.

The Compass team is constantly looking for unique brands for their consumers. Eve Albert reviews brand submissions via the company’s Retail Incubator. You can review requirements and submit items on the site www.retailincubator.com.

Foodbuy is the primary source of purchasing for all of Compass Group. On the local level, there may be some brands that are not with Foodbuy but are serviced through Minimus Distribution.

Entering the foodservice space is not always easy. Many times buyers are looking for unique pack sizes or case configurations. Trish and Jenny both said that it took longer than expected to get a foothold in the business.

Kristopher said that the universities with which he works are always looking for local items that are preforming well in the market.

Eve Albert of Compass Group has shared the slides that she presented during the webinar. Click the 1st button below to access the slides.

Note: In order to provide maximum benefit to our paid subscribers, sponsors and corporate partners, we are providing them with first access to the recording of the video. We will open it to the general public to a later date.

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