Small role, big hit: Ethnic entrees

Though they may be only a small part of the vending product mix, ethnic entrees remain a popular vending item. Customers who enjoy them regularly miss them when they're not there, and let their foodservice managers know it.

At East Pasco Medical Center, Zephyrhills, Fla., a 150licensed-bed facility, food and nutrition director Russ Couron offers burritos and pizza in his frozen machines, and has for eight years. "They've been very wellliked. If we don't have them in there, people gripe and complain because they're not in stock," he says.

Couron replenishes the burritos and pizzas daily, and buys them from a manufacturer. Because the hospital is Seventh Day Adventist, all vending products are strictly vegetarian; no meat products are served. Burritos are bean and cheese and the pizzas are plain cheese pies. A microwave is provided for retherming the choices.

Convenience Factor

Because the cafeteria is not open at night, the frozen food items are the only meals the nursing staff can obtain when on the evening shift. There's also the convenience factor: Nurses use a debit card to pay for choices, which results in an automatic payroll deduction.

"They don't have to use cash, it just comes out of their paycheck. They just swipe, eat and go," Couron explains. For this market niche, downtime is not an option. "Believe me, when the machines are not working, I get calls at three in the morning," he says.

He adds that the burritos especially are very easy to eat, and he would provide more if the facility served meat. "We are planning to add meat in the future, so we'll have those available in the vending machines, too. But we'll only use kosher-type meat, not pepperoni or pork. Meat items will include beef, chicken or fish."

Couron adds that the hospital is planning an expansion that will include the cafeteria, with construction starting this fall and completed by summer or fall 2002. "We're also putting in a cyber cafe, which will have about nine laptops and TVs-sort of like a Starbucks at night. We'll keep that open for the nursing staff because it will only need to be manned by one person. We'll add more frozen food vending machines there and around the hospital."

At Vendors Unlimited in Cedar Falls, Iowa, ethnic entrees are made fresh weekly in the comissary and rotated per the company's four- or fiveweek menu plans. Customers might get to sample sweet-and-sour chicken (put in the machine in a clear, 8-oz. container that is warmed in the microwave), savory taco wraps or a fresh taco salad. Vendors Unlimited also has a commissary at its Dubuque operation, which runs the same schedule and ethnic items.

Demand Fluctuation

"They don't sell out all the time, but it depends on what people are hungry for-you just never know. But these entrees definitely go over pretty well," states Cindy Lenehan, kitchen manager. "We've been doing it for several years now."

Vendors Unlimited services a variety of manufacturing and B&I locations, making food for approx. 75 food machines in about 45 sites for just the Cedar Falls location alone. Feedback on the ethnic features has been positive.

"Route drivers will come tell us if the items sold and we also get a report back from our customers. If they didn't sell, we'd pull them off the menu," Lenehan points out.

At Cornell Univ. in Ithaca, MY, dining project manager Paula Amok recalls that when the university was running vending by itself instead of its current outsourcing, the kitchen would put fresh egg rolls in food machines.

Now students can buy frozen burritos, which are constantly being restocked because they are so popular, Amols notes. "It's probably the main thing you can find from the distributors. It's a hand-held convenience item, which students see in other fastservice places like Taco Bell. They're usually reasonably priced in our machines and seen as a good value."

On the Prowl

"When a student goes looking for something good, and not just a junk food snack, they'll pick the burrito. Because you microwave them, they're hot and seem like real food to students."

Amols doesn't think brands play a large role in students' purchasing decision in this product category. "There aren't brands in the machines that students would necessarily recognize. Now with something like a Hot Pocket sandwich, with Italian sausage and pepperoni, there you have a brand, because they've seen the Hot Pocket in the grocery store. We used to sell a lot of those," she says.

Jack Koser, foodservice director at Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, Pa., oversees food production for 10 schools-six elementary, two middle and two high. He points out that schools have had to stay away from ethnic entrees, not because of the product, but because they're primarily frozen.

Microwave Control Issues

"We only have ice cream in our frozen machines. Frozen products that are not desserts require a microwave. But there's nobody really watching those microwaves to control the kids. Most school districts don't have them for that reason. Even with some of the refrigerated ethnic items, you still need the microwave. So the products have to be avoided, unfortunately. There are also concerns about the refrigerated entrees' shelf life."

Koser does offer wrapped bagels-two kinds from Sara Lee, a plain and a mixed raisin without cream cheese-in his refrigerated machines.