By Julie Anderson, Business Development Manager, FusionFSM 

Wondering about the opportunities for your product within higher education, such as universities and colleges? If so, you’re in the right place – that’s absolutely something we can help with.

Our data shows the university catering market is valued at around £150 million, serving 95 million meals every year. So yes, there are a lot of opportunities to be found in this exciting sector, you just need to know where and how your product fits in.

The foodservice provision in a university environment often comprises various outlets on a single site all offering something different. This could include a fast grab and go outlet with high turnover, requiring quick service and time-saving solutions. The main cafeteria may see the most footfall and need to provide on-trend meals that cater for a range of budgets.

As we know, university students will typically spend more than college students but are still cost conscious. We’re also seeing environmental sustainability becoming a high priority within this group when making buying decisions, so if I can demonstrate a product has great eco-friendly credentials, that’s going to pique the interest of purchasing leads.

Despite this, it still needs to be a price students will pay. This is especially true of universities based in city centres or that have shops and take away outlets on the doorstep, meaning external outlets are competing with the university offer in terms of both pricing and brand recognition.

And it’s not just students. When looking at this segment, it’s also important not to forget to consider the university staff who need to be catered for and may have a different budget than the students. Universities often have higher-end coffee shops on site serving better-quality tea, coffee and sandwiches targeting a higher-spend group such as professors, parents, visitors or international students.

Whatever the needs, the catering managers and head chefs that I work with regularly are looking for better solutions that help them address those needs as well as keep costs down. So, it’s worth thinking about whether your product or products can meet a need or demand better than what is currently on offer. That can be in any area: sustainability, price, food trends or something entirely different. 

As part of my role, I’m in regular contact with the buyers who make the catering supply decisions at universities across the UK, whether that be catering managers or head chefs.

My colleagues and I have long-established relationships with the decision makers and years of experience in the market. As a result, we understand what they are striving for. Supporting them to achieve these goals is a crucial part of the relationship we have with them – they trust us to put the products in front of them that will help meet those goals. In turn, we can help suppliers target the university market, providing a tailored approach to your specific product, and getting your products in front of the right people.    

There’s plenty more I could say on this topic, so if you’d like to chat through how your specific product could fit into this exciting and diverse market, just drop me a line at julie@fusionfsm.com  

Julie Anderson, Business Development Manager, FusionFSM