Brakes Food Services' Essay On CSR And Sustainable Strategies In The Food Industry.

Market Analysis for the Food and Supply Industry

Sustainability and hygiene have become a crucial factor in the food production and supply industry because, it helps the business in achieving a competitive advantage from the market. Brakes food services is a food supplier company, that has planned to take initiative in terms of promoting sustainability in the entire industry in the market through appropriate corporate social responsibilities (Hoffman, Sutto and Bechtold 2022). Due to COVD 19 pandemic, the company lost over 25 million British pounds, and currently the main purpose of the company is to increase corporate sustainability in terms of developing brand recognition in the market. It also helps in increasing the overall bottom line of the company, by boosting innovative strategies, and reducing the overall business expenditures. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the corporate social responsibilities and the sustainable factors of the Brakes Food Services in terms of achieving a new target market. Based on the sustainability factors of the selected company an integrated marketing and communication plan of the food products will be developed that will also be beneficial for positioning Brakes Food services as a sustainable brand in the market. Relevant business models, concepts and theories will be integrated in the plan, in order to make it more reliable and valuable for the company.

Market: Food and supply industry is considered one of the largest grossing market, with a current revenue of 152 billion US dollars. It is also expected to grow by 1.59%, annually in terms of CAGR (Statista. 2022). It addition, after the COVID 19 pandemic, the online sales of the food and supply industry has increased by 14.4% within 2022, and it is expected to grow further in the upcoming years. According to the Mintel reports, 43% of the customers within UK are looking forward to use the traditional food delivery services, rather than the online services (Mintel Store, 2021). It indicates that Brakes Food services has a chance in order to gain market popularity because, the market conditions are increasing gradually.

Figure 1: Types of food product in the UK market

(Source: Statista 2022)

Customers: After the global pandemic situation, the purchasing perception of the customers has changed regarding the food services industries. More than 35% of the customers shifted their focus on the online food delivery services, other than the traditional catering services like the Brakes Food services (Ibisworld.com. 2022). Therefore, the switching cost can be considered as low, and the customer power is extremely high in the market. According to the reports of the Euro monitor, the customer food habits has also changed after pandemic, and they are more prone towards hygienic or fresh foods (Euromonitor 2021). Therefore, the newly developed sustainability food measures of Brake Food services are beneficial for increasing the brand recognition among the customers.

Figure 2: Food delivery service growth

(Source: Ibisworld.com. 2022)

Competitors: Currently the market of the food service industry within UK is growing by 1.3% per year, indicating the growing rate of competition (Ibisworld.com. 2022). Some of the main competitors of the company are Sysco group, Aryzta, Bidfood, Restaurant Depot and many more. All of these companies earn revenues in billion Euros, which indicates that the company needs to earn competitive advantage from promoting sustainability. BidFood Company is considered largest sustainable food market chain, which has the highest competitive value against the Brakes Food services.

Changing Customer Perceptions on the Food Industry

Distributors: The food service contractors or distributors are expected to face a growth of 104.5% by the end of 2022 (Ibisworld.com. 2022). Due the extreme growth in online food delivery services, the food distributor facilities has also increased. Brakes Food services has an opportunity to distribute their new sustainable food product range all over the market, without many obstacles.

Suppliers: It has been observed that the UK food industry imports 46% of the food supplies, which is also growing (GOV.UK. 2022). It indicates that Brakes Food services has an opportunity to develop a robust supply chain, in order to increase the distribution channels.

Table 1: SWOT Analysis

(Source: Created by the author)

Analysis: One of the major internal issues that the Brakes food service company faced after the global pandemic situation is that it suffered a loss of 234 million British pounds. The main reason behind this circumstance is that, the COVID 19 pandemic changed the overall dynamics of the hospitality industry. Therefore, it negatively affected the food service industry, which is also a major weakness of the company. One of the major strengths of the company is that it has three main sustainability focus areas, based on which they develop their products ranges. The three areas are, people, planet and products, which are beneficial for customers as well as the environment. It is beneficial in terms of increasing the overall reputation of the company. As the overall foodservice market is growing by 1.3% on an annual basis, Brakes Company has the opportunity to expand its business with the sustainable strategies, which will also help the company to revamp its market conditions (Brake.co.uk. 2020).  Due to the developing market, the competition threat is also increasing in the industry, which means that the customers has high power in terms of switching to other companies for sustainable food products.

Table 2: Segmentation Table

(Source: Created by the Author)

Geographic Segmentation: The company is currently focusing on delivering food as well as catering services, mainly to the people living within the United Kingdoms (Stadnyk, et al. 2020). It is important to focus on the local markets, in order to mitigate the ongoing issues, which will be beneficial for acquiring international markets in the future. In addition, the population density is 281 per km^2, which is high that means acquiring large number of customers at a single time.

Psychographic Segmentation: According to the current data, 34% of the customers have shifted their focus on the sustainable food and drinks market (Wunsch 2021). It indicates that the consumer food habits has changed, towards more hygienic, healthy and sustainable foods. Therefore, with the sustainable food facilities, the company targets the customers, who are concerned about the social and environmental factors.

Behavioural: There are very rare number of customers, who frequently order food services within the country. However, the occasions, such as parties, weddings, events, business meetings and many mores, people want to order food services in large quantities (Erlangga 2021). Therefore, the company mainly focuses on the event organisers, and in some cases create partnerships with them, so that Brakes Food services are contacted every time an occasion is conducted.

Competitive Landscape of Food Service Industry

Demographic Segmentation: The company focuses on people aged between 30 to 40 years old of people, who are mainly known as millennials, because the sustainability concerns are mostly increasing among these generation. In addition, customers who have a regular and stable income, are more prone towards ordering food services or catering facilities (Smith et al. 2019). The brand desires to promote the importance of sustainability in food production or consumption habits, as a result, they focus on the people who are actively engaged with sustainability practices.

In terms of targeting, the company uses an undifferentiated strategy, which means they develop their services for everyone, who are especially aware of the sustainability measures regarding the food products. This strategy is beneficial in terms of concentrating on the demands of the customers, irrespective of their gender or food habit differences. In addition, it has been found out that within the UK, 13% of the customers are willing to pay 10% extra costs for the sustainable food products, because it has benefits for the individual health as well as the overall environment (Bedford 2022). Therefore, Brakes Food services has opportunity in terms of expanding the business within the UK markets, because customers have become more environmentally and socially concern. Previously, it had been observed that the food service market is gradually growing, especially after the COVID 19 pandemic scenario, which indicates that the customers have started to increase taking food services more often. In addition, by targeting the event organisers, the company wants to develop a strong and loyal customer base, which will help the company to sustain in the market for a long time span.

Brakes Food services follows a price-based product strategy in order to position their brand in a desirable rank in the overall market. The main purpose of the company is to deliver high quality products in a very affordable and low range, which also has the capacity to reduce the food cost inflation. In this way, it becomes easier for people belonging from medium income rage to high income range to access the food services, as per their convenience (Brake.co.uk. 2022). It can be observed that there are mostly 11 other food companies, that has initiated the sustainability practices in business. As a result, the overall competition has increased in the market, which brings a competitive threat for the company. In addition, one of the sustainable food service companies Alara is growing rapidly, due to the attention of the customers, and currently has 4.5 million British Pounds annual revenue (Pomanda.com. 2022). Therefore, attracting the attention of the customers, with competitive based pricing strategies are beneficial in terms of providing competitive advantage to the company. The company has also asserted the sustainable practices, which are focused on the social and environmental welfare. As a result, with the help of the sustainable and the competitive pricing strategy, the company has a chance to dominate a large portion of the market share.

Brakes food services has a wide range of customer basis, starting from contract caterers, hotels, restaurant chains, schools, event organisers and many more. Therefore, it was important for the company to develop a valuable creative strategy, which is beneficial in terms of attracting attention of all the customers (Su et al. 2019). Due to the closure of the restaurant chains, pubs, schools, and many more business, Brakes saw a decline in their delivery services. In order to manage and overcome the crisis, the company transformed their creative strategy to launch a new platform, which especially offers, direct-to-consumer platforms through which customers become able to order food directly from the company (Caiazza and Bigliardi 2020). This is also helpful for engaging with the customers directly, during the difficult times. Another most important creative strategy, that Brake food services used is that, they distributed over 1.5 million care packages during the peak times of COVID 19 to the vulnerable individuals, who were mostly affected due to the pandemic situation (Sekhon 2020). It helped the company to gain a significant reputation and recognition from the customers, all over the country. These creative strategies impressively helped the company to increase the customer count after the financial crisis situation, and it is anticipated that these pivoted creative strategies will help the company to sustain in the market for a long term.

Distribution and Supply Chain Opportunities

It is important to discuss a real-life problem, that the business is trying to reduce through its creative strategies. It will be efficient in terms of providing the customers a reality check through the creative message developed by the company. The message of the company has been developed below:

• To increase the awareness of the customers regarding the importance of suitable practices in the food service procedures
• To increase the supportive activities for the deprived communities, and creat a positive impact on the brand image
• To focus on the current situation, rather than highlighting the problems
• To bring innovation in the distribution procedure, for helping the customers to directly connect with the company, and get high quality food services within a shorter time period

Brakes Foodservice | Brakes Wholesale Food Supplier (Official Website)

Website Link: https://www.brake.co.uk/

Brakes Foodservice owns their official digital website through which the customers can actively purchase the wholesale food products. The website is generally separated into various categories, such as dairy products, fresh productions, frozen products, meats, drinks, desserts, bakery, alcohol and many more. The company have established different categories, in order to simplify the purchasing procedure for the customers. In addition, the home page of the official websites offers articles regarding sustainability and the support ventures conducted by the company, during the pandemic situation, which is eye catching for the customers (Nguyen et al. 2018). One of the main strategies of the brand is to increase the awareness of the customers, regarding the importance of initiating sustainability practices, which can be seen highlighted in several articles. In addition, there is a separate section developed by the company in the website, by clicking which, the customers or any types of sponsors can willing raise funds, which will be used to develop and distribute the care packages. This website is also considered as the direct-to-face digital platform for the customers, where they can share their experience regarding the purchased products, or the brand in general. It also helps the company to identify the gaps they have in their delivery services, and improve the production in accordance with the customer reviews (Garcia-Garcia, Stone and Rahimifard 2019). With the help of the website, the company benefitted in terms of acquiring large number of funds, and supplied over 14,0 00 products to the continuous working staffs at the Nightingale Hospital, as well as 200,000 care packages for the deprived families all across the UK (Evans and Taylor 2021). This indicates that the owned media of the company helped them to develop a strong and assisting brand image in the market.

Mass media and online customer reviews

Earned media are the sources, which mainly helps the company to promote its valuations in front of the customers. Mass medias, has played a crucial role in terms of promoting the services Brakes has conducted, especially after the corona virus pandemic situation, and are still continuing to do so. The Q Awards, developed by one of the mass media channels titled the company as the ‘Foodservice Operator of the Year’ title, three consecutive years. It increased the reputation of the company among the customers, which can also be considered as a competitive advantage. The mass media has also helped the company to deliver their message regarding their 100% focus on the benefits of the company (Brake.co.uk. 2020). It can be observed that the mass media has labelled the brand as a people’s company. In addition, the company approaches to the online review platforms, and asks the customers to share their reviews regarding the products of the brands. These reviews are also visible by other customers, which provides them a clear idea regarding the product as well as the distribution quality of the brand. Therefore, it can be said that, the earned media of the company has played a beneficial role in terms of promoting the company, as well as helped in increasing the interests of the customers.

SWOT Analysis of Brakes Food Services

Figure 4: Award presented to Brakes Food Service Company

(Source: Brake.co.uk. 2020)

Webinars and social media

The company constantly engages with the eminent marketing personalities, food scientists and nutrition experts, in order to clarify the customers regarding the quality of the products as well as the services offers by the company. It has been observed that the company has also funded and organised ‘Virtual Food Event’, through which the company engaged with the customers. Not only the eminent personalities, but also the customers got chance to participate in the event and opportunities to share their experience. Apart from these programs, the company is also active on the social media platforms, where they book influencers, to provide positive reviews about the company and promote the newly developed creative strategies of the company.

Figure 5: Organised event by Brakes Foodservices

(Source: Brake.co.uk. 2020 )

Table 3: Action plan

(Source: Created by the author)

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the overall discussion that, despite of having high level competitors at the market, Brakes Food Services has managed to develop a beneficial positioning strategy. In accordance with the ongoing customer demands, the company has developed sustainable creative strategies. In addition, the company also initiated to concentrate on the corporate social responsibility factors. As a result, the company assisted various families living across the UK, during the COVID 19 pandemic situation, which also increased the overall brand image in the market.

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