Nick Portillo welcomes Maeve Webster, President and Founder of Menu Matters, on this episode of the Titans of Food Service Podcast. Maeve and Nick discuss the impact of the pandemic on the food service industry and how it has forced people to become more entrepreneurial. Maeve talks about her background in the food service industry and shares her passion for innovation and efficiency. She also discusses how the pandemic has led to a healthy reset for the industry, allowing for new ideas and decisions to be made. 

QUOTES

• “The Pandemic forced so much incredible innovation and so many new ways of thinking about things and shook things up enough that it made people, to your point, be more entrepreneurial in the way they attacked even their current businesses. To be honest it wasn't entirely a bad thing. I think it's probably long-term a healthy thing that happened to the industry.” -Maeve Webster [07:11]

• “Menu Matters was born out of the desire to focus more strategically on what the data that you get from various sources mean to a business. I came up with the idea largely because I saw so many manufacturers and operators. I think it's only gotten worse up until the Pandemic when trends kind of weren't quite as important given everything else going on. But you saw a lot of operators and a lot of manufacturers chasing trends. The idea that the trend was the solution and the trend was the end goal, when that's really not the case.” -Maeve Webster [15:38]

TIMESTAMPS

02:16 Maeve Webster Intro

07:08 The Impact of the Pandemic on the Food Service Industry

14:02 Preparing for a Recession

20:41 Trends in Consumer Mindset: Refocusing on Authenticity in 2021-2023

24:42 Exploring Authenticity in the Food Service Industry

30:54 Gen Z's Impact on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

39:57 Gen Z Mental Health and Future Trends for Manufacturers and Distributors

RESOURCES

Portillo Sales

CONTACT 

Nick: nick.portillo@portillosales.com

Maeve:https://www.linkedin.com/in/maevewebster/