Kern Halls Launches Ingenious Culinary Concepts to Bring More Diverse and Desirable Food Choices to School Cafeterias for K-12 Students
Orlando, Florida (PRWEB) July 02, 2013 -- Using the tagline, “We Bring Your Customers to the Table,” Kern Halls announced the launch of Ingenious Culinary Concepts (ICC). His new consulting, training and marketing services company serves both school systems and food service manufacturers who share a mutual interest in student retention and satisfaction.
“ICC is the bridge between the manufacturer and the student. We create innovative marketing and promotion strategies designed to Bring Your Customers to the Table. Most recently we developed a product for a manufacturer that increased incremental sales by 303%!”
According to Halls the new business is about turning empty dining halls into hubs of student activity. He does this by seeking out and combining the right menu items and packaging to get students to "want" to dine in school cafeterias.
That’s not always an easy task. But Halls and his team generate student excitement by applying innovative techniques, seeking out proven products in the marketplace and then replicating them in schools. The result: cafeterias filled with enthusiastic diners eating meals they enjoy that meet predetermined school food service and nutrition guidelines.
Halls believes customer clarity is a primary component of any strategy for customer retention. Due to the value of knowing your customer before making any business decisions, Halls has created his first product for his clients: How To Conduct a Customer-Centered Focus Group. In addition to video demos and how-to instructions his kit provides guidelines that help school systems and manufacturers avoid common pitfalls of facilitating student focus groups. Handled properly, the feedback from these groups can help both sectors make smarter decisions affecting their budgets and revenue generation.
“Knowing your customer is about connecting -- developing a relationship with them,” says Halls. “If you don’t honestly know what your customer needs, how can you satisfy those needs – or provide a course correction if you get off track? Not knowing, understanding and relating to your customer can only impede your end goal of increasing sales and participation, making it much less attainable.”
Putting his degrees in Business Management and Marketing to work, Halls served 8½ years in the United States Navy as a Culinary Specialist and later joined the team at Walt Disney World managing a restaurant with $18 million in sales. Following that, he became part of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Orlando, Florida, the 10th largest district in the nation where he was responsible for marketing, special projects and secondary school menus.
Focusing his attention on measurably increasing student participation, Halls added a manufacturer’s product to an existing menu item resulting in an additional $100,000 in sales for one school district in one year. In addition, he developed a product for another manufacturer that increased incremental sales by 303%. He has also written award-winning menus that have increased participation in high schools, the most challenging grade level, by 46%.
About Ingenious Culinary Concepts
Ingenious Culinary Concepts provides smart marketing strategies, training, focus groups and other research on behalf of foodservice manufacturers and school systems. Their goal is to make food fun and create new choices that are delicious, nutritious and cost-effective – so everyone wins. Learn more about ICC and get a free Special Report at http://www.ingeniouscc.com.
Kern Halls, Ingenious Culinary Concepts, http://www.ingeniouscc.com, 888-994-3476, [email protected]
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