Foodservice Council
CRC’s Foodservice market research reports are specifically designed for foodservice professionals looking to grow profitably and work more strategically with their customers. Our annual offering includes trends in the food business, proprietary industry insights and growth forecasts, access to our team of experts, and connection with peers across the industry.
Get In Touch
Our foodservice market research reports are powered by the foodservice community
CRC’s Foodservice business analysts regularly engage with and have long-standing relationships with hundreds of industry professionals. We collect, track, and monitor real-time data and feedback, and we regularly field industry benchmark studies and surveys.
Our research coverage includes key segments and customers in foodservice across chain restaurants, foodservice distribution, non-commercial and contract management, and convenience stores.
Foodservice Insights to help you win key customers and outpace the industry
Companies who engage with CRC receive high-level thought leadership and ground-level action items. Whether you want to elevate your strategic thinking or need key deliverables for your team to execute immediately, we provide forward-looking insights and growth forecasts to help empower smarter business decisions.
Research & reports
Our ongoing foodservice research reports cover key channels and companies in foodservice. Our members also gain company-wide access to CRC’s Partner Portal to download relevant research and search historical reports in our online library.
One-on-one engagement
At the core of CRC’s partnership is access to our research analysts. Reach out with questions, feedback, or if you want to learn more about what we’re hearing that pertains to your business.
Events
CRC’s industry-leading Foodservice Forum connects foodservice companies with our experts and industry thought leaders. Our annual event provides high-level strategies and ground-level action items. We also frame up key trends across the foodservice business, growth performance and outlook, and what to expect in the future across distribution, restaurants, non-commercial, as well as other hot topics in the industry. Partners also have opportunities to be invited to roundtable discussions throughout the year.
Webinars
Our timely and topical webinars are led by CRC’s expert analysts and offer relevant foodservice market insights and actionable recommendations. Slide decks and digital replays are available to download on demand after each call and are easy to share within your organization.
Foodservice Market Research FAQs
CRC provides quarterly Excel files containing our updated growth forecasts across key channels and companies within distribution, chain restaurants, and contract management / non-commercial. Our volume, sales, and unit growth estimates are projected on a quarterly and annual basis. As a part of our ongoing foodservice industry research process, we update our estimates every six to eight weeks and embed them within our various reports.
A key part of CRC membership is one-on-one engagement with our research analysts, so we always keep our members up to speed on foodservice industry trends and inflections. Our team regularly fields questions from our network of industry professionals and aggregates our answers for the broader membership community in real time. We also conduct surveys and facilitate roundtable discussions to provide an avenue for manufacturers to gain perspective from their peers and share best practices.
Through CRC’s quarterly operator surveys, we ask key questions to decision makers around their path to purchase journey – including how and where they go to find inspiration, conduct research, and ultimately order products. CRC can also provide custom work on your specific brand, category, or product through deep-dive operator surveys (across independent restaurants, K-12, C&U, healthcare, and c-store).
Within our foodservice distribution “playbook” reports, we highlight trends across the food business, company-specific insights, and volume growth forecasts for Sysco, US Foods, and Performance Food Group. Through our ongoing foodservice industry research, we decipher what the big 3 distributors’ key initiatives are and how they are progressing. We then provide best practices for suppliers to align your business strategies with those of your customer.
Many convenience store chains are investing more heavily in foodservice offerings in order to offset structural declines and shifts within other areas of the business. Each quarter, our team has discussions with senior leaders at c-store chains across the country to get a pulse on how the industry is thinking about food and beverage specifically – including performance, outlook, menu innovation, value, and promotions – and aggregate the feedback within our reports.
We believe non-commercial has lapped the pandemic recovery in most segments, and the outlook seems to have returned to normal, pre-pandemic levels. Our non-commercial foodservice “playbook” reports provide key insights into the segments and the big 3 contract management companies, Aramark, Sodexo, and Compass, with a focus on helping suppliers navigate differences in channels.
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