Offering meals offers great opportunities for fresh produce specialists

Work, family, friends, sports, groceries, housework, hobbies… people are increasingly busy and sometimes have little time to shop or cook. This has created an undeniable trend: the demand for ready-made, healthy meals. And this trend offers great opportunities for fresh food specialists. We've compiled a list for you.

Meals and a strong positioning as a fresh food specialist
Ready-made meals—with healthy and balanced options based on dietary preferences, allergies, and taste—save people time and money, provide a healthy and satisfying meal, and offer convenience. For you as a fresh produce specialist, this trend offers a wide range of opportunities and benefits. Primarily, innovation, diversity, and a strong positioning. Offering new, unique meals can broaden your product range and offer the opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This allows you to expand and strengthen your market, attract new customers, and result in a significant increase in revenue. And when customers buy meals from you and are satisfied with them, you not only expand your customer base through word-of-mouth advertising but also increase customer loyalty and strengthen your customer relationships.

Favorable effect on margins and costs
Offering meals also has a positive effect on margins and costs. If you, as a fresh produce specialist, prepare and sell your own meals, you maintain higher margins than if you only sell meat. Meals typically command higher sales prices than other fresh meats, which can increase your profitability. Offering meals can also help you reduce excess inventory and food waste. You can use leftover food in your meals, reducing food waste and improving your efficiency. By processing leftovers, you're working towards zero waste , leaving more for the bottom line.

How can Verstegen help with providing meals?
At Verstegen, we offer extensive support to chefs and fresh food specialists. We incorporate the knowledge we've acquired in these sectors into new concepts and products that serve you as a fresh food specialist and can help you position yourself with a unique offering. Our priority is delivering high-quality products. With the right combination of our products, sourced from all over the world, you can give meals a unique and authentic flavor that's difficult to replicate. Our products can significantly influence the flavor of a dish and offer you the opportunity to be versatile in offering various meal solutions. In developing our products, Verstegen never loses sight of the importance of health and associated requirements, as evidenced by our Pure line .

Remain inspiring and distinctive with the range of meals
How do you remain inspiring and distinctive when offering meals to your customers? Our advice: keep experimenting. Using different ingredients, flavors, and preparation methods to create new and unexpected flavors. Introducing new flavors and dishes will surprise and excite your customers. Ask them for their opinions on your meals and use this feedback to improve and adapt them. Customers will appreciate being heard, and this can help build a loyal customer base. Ensure the quality of the meals is consistent and meets customer expectations. Use seasonal ingredients for freshness, credibility, and variety, while maintaining low costs and an environmentally friendly image. Experience and ambiance are also important: consider how to present your meals more creatively and distinctively to leave a lasting impression on your customers. And last but not least , consider using sustainable and local ingredients to create a conscious and responsible image. This can attract customers who value sustainability in the fresh produce industry.

Want to know more?
Take advantage of the trend and discover how Verstegen can help you offer unique, healthy meals. Contact one of our specialists and explore the possibilities! At Verstegen, we also love to use our knowledge and years of experience to provide inspiration, for example, through recipes and tips .

Also read: Verstegen brings convenience, quality and craftsmanship together at Slavakto