Magazine: Grab, take and eat!

Success in the gastro segment, success in the shops

Ákos Bősze
business development executive HoReCa
METRO

According to Ákos Bősze, business development executive (HoReCa) of METRO Kereskedelmi Kft., finger foods were among the most popular products in the HoReCa sector in 2019. In the last few years the company expanded its product selection by 40 percent.

Gergely Liszenkó
CEO
Marnevall

Gergely Liszenkó, the CEO of Marnevall Zrt. said: the finger food segment underwent great development in the HoReCa channel in the last 2 years. The product selection increased parallel to the growth in consumer demand, and besides meat and cheese products vegetable-based finger foods became more significant.

Ádám Nagy
managing director
Nádudvari Élelmiszer

Ádám Nagy, managing director of Nádudvari Élelmiszer Kft. talked to our magazine about the pandemic’s influence on finger foods. Sales of large-sized gastro product variants dropped, but this was offset by the increase in the sales of smaller finger foods available in shops.

Szilárd Kelemen
international franchise and
concept division director
Fornetti Group

Szilárd Kelemen, Fornetti Group’s international franchise and concept division director revealed that the constantly growing mini product rage is a very important part of Fornetti’s finger food offering. In the last 2 years Fornetti put 15 new mini products on the market and from these 10 remained in the assortment for good.

Development directions

Mr Bősze told Trade magazin that METRO’s private label finger foods are the perfect choice for consumers who got bored with ordering pizza during the lockdown. The new products are a reaction to the recent Asian cuisine trend – Chinese and Japanese delicacies are both available.

Mr Liszenkó shed light on the fact that the company’s innovation work doesn’t only react to market needs, but they also develop their own ideas. A good example of the latter is Marnevall Zrt.’s product selection for children, which includes specialties such as the corn dog.

Mr Nagy spoke to our magazine about Nádudvari’s finger food product selection, which consists of various breaded vegetable and cheese products, and the fish range that was added to the portfolio last year. Their finger foods fit perfectly into the vegetarian trend of recent years.

Mr Kelemen explained that they don’t adopt already existing concepts in their innovation work, they actually create and produce new finger foods. Fornetti’s goal is to generate new types of consumer needs and the company is happy to receive ideas from partners. He added that hygiene considerations are very important nowadays and this favours frozen bakery items.

From a catering perspective

According to Csaba Nagy, sales director of Budapest Party Service, the pandemic induced big changes in the world of catering. One of these changes is that classic finger foods served on a tray are likely to lose ground for quite a long time, and the trend of finger foods served in single portions will continue strengthening. In 2020 the company started using plexiglass panels to separate the food display tables from guests; now chefs serve the foods as part of a live kitchen concept. Mr Nagy reckons that the bowl food concept is going to spread as well, thanks to which guests can try more dishes with the same serving.

In accordance with guest needs

What about finger food ingredient trends? There are two influential trends in this domain: one of them is that local/national ingredients are used more widely, while the other is the conquest of the vegetarian/vegan diets and gluten- and dairy-free finger foods. Budapest Party Service’s creative chef Krisztián Balogh monitors these trends and integrates them into the product selection of the catering firm. It is always difficult to adapt restaurant trends to finger food, but the company does serve the finger food version of some of the dishes popular in its restaurants, e.g. foie gras mousse, steak tartare. //