Grow and differentiate with fresh herbs. That is what Vitalicious, Vitacress Real's herbal brand for food service, is committed to. To provide targeted advice and inspiration to customers, they use market data.

Which fresh herbs do chefs use and how often? What do they really know about fresh herbs, their uses and health benefits? And what are barriers in the hospitality industry to using more fresh herbs?

Vitalicious decided to retrieve this information on the ground. In collaboration with Marketing4Results, a quantitative survey was conducted among chefs to gain more insight into the use and knowledge of herbs among this target group. The spice producer has traditionally focused on retail (consumers). ‘Advising customers on how to grow the spice category is what we are strong at. With Vitalicious, we extend this to the professional target group (wholesale, hospitality and catering), so that we can let even more people enjoy the real taste of fresh herbs,’ said Renée Peeters, marketing manager of Vitacress Real.

How chefs help with fresh herbs?

Vitalicious was introduced in corona time. ‘Not an easy time to introduce a new label, but it gave us the space to interact with the (normally very busy) target group. Vitalicious's positioning is founded on interaction with the target group,’ she reveals. ‘Almost 100 decision-makers in the hospitality segment participated in the survey, including restaurant owners, buyers and, of course, chefs themselves. The questions included how often and what fresh herbs are used for, knowledge about fresh herbs, applications and health benefits in general, why chefs choose fresh herbs and what is the barrier to not using fresh herbs. The results are incredibly useful. The data provide insight into the need and underutilised potential of fresh herbs in the hospitality industry and how we can help chefs start using more fresh herbs in the kitchen.’

Inspiration box to promote use of fresh herbs

The survey reveals, among other things, that most chefs like working with fresh herbs. What stops them is, among other things, the shorter shelf life compared to the dried variety. All the more reason for the herb brand to take a close look at the way it offers its products. ‘Perhaps other portions or packaging could be significant,’ Renée explains. Limited knowledge and lack of inspiration is also a frequently mentioned barrier to using fresh herbs. These are factors we can really address. Based on these insights, we set to work on a Vitalicious inspiration box. This box is specially designed for chefs. We want to build a community among this target group. Chefs really don't allow themselves to be pushed in a certain direction, but we can inspire them so that they in turn can inspire each other. The box contains various spices and an inspiration booklet with recipe suggestions, spice facts and tips for use.

In addition, it turns out that inspiration is still mostly gained through wholesalers. That is why Vitalicious plans to join forces with hotel and catering suppliers such as Sligro and Makro by organising events and helping customers even better with knowledge and inspiration through magazines, the shelf and herb packaging, for example.

Herbs as a salt substitute

It also turns out that three quarters of respondents would like to know about the health benefits of using fresh herbs. ‘Anyway, the majority are curious about the healthy uses of herbs,’ adds Renée. ‘For instance, herbs are a good alternative to using less salt. Salt reduction has the attention of almost half of the target group. Everyone knows that too much salt is not good for health, but what many people don't know is that the flavour of herbs is a good substitute. Lovage, for example, is also called the maggi plant. This is a real natural and fresh seasoning and samphire is also a good alternative. Or how about chives with egg. We are so used to a pinch of salt on an egg, but fresh chives are much healthier and just as tasty.

With Vitalicious, we show what alternatives there are and how to apply them.’ Whether fresh herbs are suffering from the ever-increasing staff shortage in the catering industry? ‘Not so far,’ she explains. ‘We have tried to offer sliced fresh herbs (ready to use), but the need appears minimal. People everywhere are struggling with staff shortages, but as yet it has not affected use of fresh herbs. Probably then, the ultimate fresh experience of unprocessed fresh herbs plays a role in that after all.’

Tea menu to surprise with

Vitalicious not only helps customers grow with fresh herbs, it also offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to stand out. ‘Now that everything is open again, you immediately see a big run-up to the catering industry. We also notice that in terms of demand. In addition to the common types of herbs, we also see an increasing interest in the more special types of herbs again. Customers want to distinguish themselves and keep surprising their guests, which can be done very well with Vitalicious herbs. For instance, the tea concept was recently revamped. Herbal tea is also a real margin maker. To make it easier for our customers, we have developed a tea range of five flavours: Healing Thyme with lemon thyme and ginger, Lemon Calm with lemon balm and mint, Mint to be with mint, Rosemory with rosemary and lemongrass and Super Sage with sage and lemon thyme. Tasty and healthy herbal blends, presented on the table with the help of a tea menu, which also lists all the health benefits.

How nice is it to be able to offer a menu of speciality teas alongside a range of speciality beers! And of course, fresh herbs are also an excellent addition and margin-maker with cocktails and mocktails. Also new is an Asian spice line, which is still under development. Asian cuisine is still going strong. We would like to help foodservice by creating tasty combinations with certain Asian dishes and spices, to help them in their choice of fresh spices.’

The fact that Vitalicious is data-driven is quite special, according to Renée. ‘Especially in the fresh spice sector. We use the results from the research to develop market-driven concepts, to advise our customers in the best possible way and as a guide to create content for our social media channels, because there is still a lot to gain in terms of knowledge and inspiration there too.’ The Vitalicious brand has now been rolled out in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.