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Dressing Up For Salad Days
Salads used to generate as much excitement watching paint dry. Now, things are very different and any operator thinking they can just serve up a couple of limp leaves and a rock-like tomato needs to seriously rethink their approach or miss out on what can be an extremely profitable dish. With the addition of AAK’s Lion brand sauces and dressings you can be sure that interest in your salad offering will not wilt!
Mintel(1) reports that 74% of consumers now eat salad throughout the year and that it is particularly popular with women who tend to eat salad for lunch in an attempt to be healthy. Salads may well be a year round favourite but they really do become even more popular in the summer when the basic components are in season. However, whether they are ordered as a main or side dish, like some of the would-be healthy women who consume them, they look better when they are dressed up.
When it comes to those sauces and dressings, according to Mintel(2), the definition of a healthy diet has moved beyond one that delivers simple weight loss to a broader definition that encompasses a wide range of products that claim to deliver more general health benefits. Mayonnaise accounts for 50% of the market with the remaining value share split equally between salad cream and salad dressings. Consumer concern over healthy eating means that reduced fat and calorie products account for over 55% of the market’s value. Pointing to the future, Mintel predicts that innovation is likely to focus on exotic flavours.
Lion from AAK shows itself to be ahead of the game in respect of adding exoticism with its range of delicious dressings and sauces that can also be used as dips and marinades. “Lion’s Cajun and Tomato dressing, for example, is also ideal as a dip and in sandwiches and marinades – you could have this product on the menu in four different places,” said Rachel Neale Marketing Manager of AAK. “Dressings now have so many applications. Exciting flavours can be added to numerous dishes – not just salads – and Lion’s quality ambient dressings and sauces offer excellent cost in use because of their long shelf life – there is no waste so operators can have as many varieties as they wish.
The Government’s Change4Life TV and advertising campaign ‘Eat Well, Move More, Live Longer’ can’t help but put health and wellbeing at the forefront of diners’ minds which operators can cash in on by extending their salad and ‘lighter bites’ offerings and add value and profit with a range of quality dressings and sauces. “Side orders of salads and jacket potatoes will benefit from the addition of other Lion dressings with a difference such as Sour Cream & Chives, Garlic & Herb Dressing, Honey & Mustard and Ranch Dressing, make them into a gourmet experience in themselves,” said Neale.
The latest additions to the Lion range of delicious salad dressing include two healthy new offerings. Balsamic & Herb Dressing with its rich vinegary flavour is a free-flowing vinaigrette with the health conscious in mind, while Lion House Dressing contains White Wine Vinegar and French Dijon Mustard has a wonderfully enriched flavour.
“The two new low-fat additions to the Lion range both offer less than three percent fat without comprising on taste, less than one percent saturated and a level of sodium that complies with FSA 2010 targets,” said AAK Foodservice marketing manager Rachel Neale.
Lion salad dressings are also available in traditional formats such as Real or Thick & Creamy Mayonnaise, Salad Cream, Blue Cheese and Thousand Island and Prawn Cocktail.
Prep Premium oils are also a great option for salads. They are the only premium infused oils in 1 litre catering packs. “AAK is committed to diversifying and bringing consumer favourites to caterers in a convenient and cost effective manner. They are very reasonably priced compared with small amounts of deli oils in glass bottles and the plastic catering packs are much safer to have in the kitchen,” said Neale.
For information about the Lion, Lion International Kitchen range and Prep Premium oils, call 01482 332100.
1 Dieting, Market Intelligence, February 2008
2 Salad Accompaniments, Market Intelligence, August 2007
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