Foodservice distributor US Foods Holding Corp. is announcing the launch of its Fall 2024 Scoop. Themed “Bar and Grill and Beyond,” Fall Scoop highlights 24 new on-trend products designed by US Foods product development experts who leverage culinary expertise, industry experience and data-driven insights to bring new product innovation to US Foods Exclusive Brands.
As operators remain concerned about rising labor and food costs and attracting new customers, the new Fall Scoop products help operators differentiate their menu with items that help address inventory, labor and time management costs. The products are also versatile across a variety of restaurant types, from bar and grill to other casual dining concepts and beyond.
Ten products in the Fall Scoop launch are part of the company’s “Serve You” product portfolio that features more than 3,300 US Foods Exclusive Brands products that offer plant-forward, gluten-free certified or clean ingredient labels with no ingredients on the US Foods Unpronounceables List, continuing its commitment to create Scoop products that cater to evolving diner and lifestyle preferences.
“Our product development team takes great pride in creating innovative, high-quality Exclusive Brands products that appeal to today’s diners and can address a variety of operator challenges, which is at the heart of our Scoop product innovation mission,” said Stacey Kinkaid, vice president of product development and innovation for US Foods. “Collectively, our team brings more than 400 years of product development, institutional knowledge and first-hand experience within the restaurant industry to our product development process. They understand the ins and outs of a busy food service kitchen and the evolving trends shaping diner preferences to create the right products at the right time to help our operators Make It.”
The new Fall Scoop lineup is a culmination of research and development, customer testing and experimentation by US Foods’ in-house product development experts to introduce on-trend and solution-oriented products to operators. Product highlights include:
- Chef’s Line All-Natural Cuban-Inspired Ropa Vieja: US Foods Product Developer and Chef Amy Bracco, with consultative support from Center of the Plate Specialist and Chef Frankie Ruiz, a Cuban cuisine aficionado, created an authentic yet approachable product, with cost and back-of-house labor savings in mind. The team started with a cost-efficient cut of beef that delivers on the texture and authentic “rope-like” strands expected with ropa vieja and added red peppers, onions, diced tomatoes, green olives, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf and cumin to bring the national dish of Cuba to operators. This product is sous-vide-cooked for nine hours to save the operator more than an hour of labor savings per case versus making from scratch and ensures the flavors of each ingredient are infused into the beef. The item contains no ingredients found on the US Foods Unpronounceables List.
- Chef’s Line All Natural Smoked Pork Butt: Smoked proteins require the right expertise, equipment and time – something independent operators and their staff may not have. After more than 20 years in the food industry, with a decade specializing in barbecue, Chef and US Foods Product Developer Ryan Udvett leveraged his expertise to develop a hickory hardwood-smoked product that enables operators to serve a savory barbecue product without a smoker. Seasoned with sea salt, spices, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and brown sugar, the product comes fully cooked after being smoked for more than 14 hours and is packed in a boil-in bag for easy prep that will save the operator 40 minutes of labor per case versus making from scratch. This product is part of the US Foods Serve You portfolio and contains no ingredients found on the US Foods Unpronounceables List.
Source: US Foods