McCain launches challenge awarding restaurants support packages

The Dishruption Challenge is aimed at independent restaurant owners, who for the last year have had their lives and businesses challenged and threatened. To participate, entrants need to create a dish containing at least one McCain product, add it to their restaurant's menu, price it accordingly, and sell at least 20 of these dishes before the competition closing date on 30 June 2021. Ten winners will be selected, and will each receive a support package valued at R50,000.

Restaurateurs are finding themselves in an ever-changing environment and have been forced to adapt at a rapid pace. In addition to the focus on health and sanitation, one of the biggest adjustments was moving from indoor dining to delivery, a business model which has become crucial. There has also been a drastic reduction in trading hours and indoor seating capacity, the latter causing a hurdle especially during winter months.

Helping businesses adapt to the 'new normal'

Over the past year in particular, McCain Foodservice Solutions has been working to provide support to operators through various initiatives. This includes the provision of toolkits to help restaurateurs navigate the requirements of the different lockdown levels, and launching SureCrisp, a product specifically aimed at providing crispy chips for delivery, in a time where takeout was the only option.

The company also joined One Meal Many Thanks - an initiative that saw foodservice suppliers rally together with the aim to save 1.8 million jobs in the industry through a variety of tactics, including the provision of free stock and a campaign to encourage and incentivise consumers to eat out.

“Despite the massive disruption brought on by the pandemic, the foodservice industry has been facing the Covid-19 crisis with great courage and resiliency,” says Catharina Bester, marketing manager: foodservice and retail. “Adapting to and embracing this disruption is simply the only way to bring life towards relative normalcy; providing offerings that keep customers satisfied and restaurants profitable. As a manufacturer in this new reality, we’re committed to helping the industry stay ahead and build back stronger.”

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McCain Foodservice Solutions also launched its Insiders Club, through which professionals in the food industry get free access to the latest industry trends, business tips, inspiration and resources.

One such resource is McCain’s Restaurant Resilience Toolkit, developed to assist those in the food industry in navigating through the Covid-19 crisis and adjusting to a ‘new normal’. It provides simple and practical tips to make small and profitable changes to menus, safety tips, menu inspirations, a guide to improving take-away and delivery offerings, and more.