Lineup Highlights New Products Within the Company’s Growing “Serve You” Portfolio Featuring Plant-Forward, Gluten-Free Certified and Clean Ingredient Label Offerings
US Foods – one of America’s leading food service distributors – announced today the launch of its Spring 2024 Scoop. Themed “Get to Know Serve You,” the issue highlights products under the company’s newly branded “Serve You” portfolio featuring more than 1,700 US Foods Exclusive Brands products that offer plant-forward, gluten-free certified or clean ingredient labels with no ingredients on the US Foods Unpronounceables List1.
“Given evolving dietary and lifestyle preferences, it’s more important than ever for operators to appeal to a variety of diner desires, but the challenge is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” said Stacey Kinkaid, vice president of product development and innovation for US Foods. “With Spring Scoop, we’ve delivered a variety of on-trend, high-quality products that can meet specific preferences, while also appealing to all diners regardless of their dietary or lifestyle choices. Most importantly, all products help save operators back-of-house labor and are highly versatile without sacrificing flavor.”
US Foods “Serve You” products appeal to diners who want more personalization given their dietary and lifestyle preferences are great tasting and can work across a variety of menu options. As aligned with the company’s Scoop commitment, the items are developed with operator needs in mind and offer menu versatility and labor savings of between 30-90 minutes per case as compared to making them from scratch.
Plant-Forward: Plant-forward products on the menu are expected to grow by more than 517% over the next four years2 as more vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian diners seek expanded dining options. To support this need, Spring Scoop highlights several new plant-forward products, including:
- Molly’s Kitchen Plant-Based3 Smashed Patty: With smash burgers predicted to grow in popularity among diners by 138% over the next four years2, US Foods is helping operators meet this demand head-on with the company’s first plant-based3 smashed patty. Made with pea protein, the vegan4 and gluten-free certified patty grills up with crispy edges and is packed with the taste of a traditional burger.
- Chef’s Line Tempura Brussels Sprouts: This new vegan4 offering is tempura-battered and delivers the subtle earthy flavor of the brussels sprout without masking taste or texture. With brussels sprouts projected to grow by 47% on menus over the next 4 years2 this product is on-trend and highly versatile across the menu.
- Molly’s Kitchen Mexican-Style Cheese Stuffed Cigars: This vegetarian5, chef-inspired creation builds upon three popular appetizers – spring rolls, cheese sticks and jalapeño poppers. The item is hand-rolled in a crispy spring roll wrapper and features Mexican-style melting cheese, cotija cheese, cream cheese, red pepper flakes and jalapeño pieces to give it the right hint of heat. Cotija and Mexican-style melting cheese are projected to have a 27% and 14% increase, respectively, on menus over the next four years2 providing a fresh, on-trend choice for diners.
Gluten-free certified: With nearly 30% of consumers limiting or avoiding gluten2, it is critical for operators to offer a variety of flavorful gluten-free options that appeal to a wide variety of diners. Spring Scoop highlights several new gluten-free certified solutions including:
- Chef’s Line All Natural6 Gluten-Free Breaded Chicken Breast Fillet Raised Without Antibiotics: The fillets were made to meet the increasing demand for breaded proteins that are both gluten-free and raised without antibiotics. The fillets can be baked or deep-fried, and use a breading made from a blend of rice and yellow corn flour.
- Harbor Banks Gluten-Free Breaded Alaska Sole: This Marine Stewardship Council Certified Wild-Caught Alaska sole has a crunchy and light gluten-free coating made from an innovative combination of amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds, rice flour and navy bean flour. The fresh scent of herbs, combined with the savory flavors of garlic, salt and pepper, is mild enough to allow operators to easily customize this dish.
Clean ingredient labels: Seventy-eight percent of consumers find clean label products appealing. The company’s Unpronounceables List1 initiative offers products with ingredient profiles that do not contain certain ingredients, such as artificial flavors and artificial (FD&C) colors, hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup or added MSG.
- Chef’s Line Pinsa Crust: This crust has been perfected through several years of product development at US Foods. Made with simple ingredients, such as wheat flour, rice flour and extra virgin olive oil, each crust is cold fermented for 24 hours then hand-stretched and hand-pressed for a back-of-house appearance. It’s light and crispy, but holds up to being loaded with toppings, perfect for all sweet and savory pizza applications.
- Metro Deli Kettle Cooked Potato Chips: Back by popular demand and with the same great taste, these gluten-free certified kettle cooked potato chips offer a clean label profile with no ingredients on the US Foods Unpronounceables List1 and come seasoned with one of three iconic chip flavors – sweet and sassy Hickory Barbeque, classic Original with Sea Salt and mouth-puckering Sea Salt and Vinegar.
To view all the new products featured in Spring Scoop, visit the company’s Scoop webpage at USFoods.com/springscoop.
1 Processing aids and potential cross-contact during production are not in the scope of this program.
2 Datassential
3 Made with ingredients derived from plants, fungi and algae: no animal-derived ingredients. Reasonable efforts to avoid cross-contact with animal-based ingredients.
4 No ingredients of animal origin. Reasonable efforts to avoid cross-contact with animal-based ingredients.
5 Milk, eggs, honey and beeswax permitted; no other ingredients of animal origin. Reasonable efforts to avoid cross-contact with animal-based ingredients.
6 No artificial ingredients, minimally processed.
Visit USFoods.com to learn more.
