Dine In or Take Out? A glimpse of the Foodservice Industry in the Philippines

Foodservice is a term used to define any institution, company, and establishment specializing in out-of-home meals. Compared to retail, foodservice represents channels that offer dine-in or take-out food, such as the fastfood and full service restaurants, hotels, bars and cafes, convenience stores, and kiosks that sell prepared meals.

The Philippine foodservice industry continues to soar high with compounded annual growth rate of 13% from years 2000 to 2005 despite economic challenges. According to Euromonitor, the growth can be attributed to the increasing number of working mothers, longer working hours, and the burgeoning of malls. Eating out is not anymore just a celebration for some families -it is now an everyday affair for families who find it more efficient to dine out or buy ready to eat fares versus cooking at home. This has in turn spurred the growth of food establishments. Likewise, Euromonitor has projected a stable growth rate of 6% until 2010.

Consumers, both local and international are hungry for more ways to "fit" quality food in their busy schedules. The demand for flavor variety, healthy alternatives, accessibility and ordering options, and unique eating experience has always been a challenge for the industry players. San Miguel Purefoods (SMPF) has seen this opportunity early on and has continued to be one of the leading foodservice providers in the country.

GFS also exudes the right amount of aggressiveness to build and strengthen relationships with their customers through well-targeted efforts such as co-branding activities with key accounts, memberships with foodservice organizations, and other projects aimed at achieving customer confidence and loyalty. Another key to building customer confidence is people empowerment. All GFS frontliners are have undergone a series of technical, culinary and Selling Edge trainings, as well as the international food safety training and certification, Servsafe.

The vision of GFS is clear, to be the leading food solutions provider in the country. The crux of the strategy is to bring together foodservice experts within the San Miguel Food Group for a complete package of business solution offerings tailored to the client's specific needs, thus, giving GFS the competitive edge in this emerging industry and truly making them "All you need. All you want."