Through its partnership with NX-FOOD and Eurowings, Retail inMotion is helping food innovation fly to new heights. The three partners joined forces last August to give unique and creative food start-ups a chance to prove themselves with real passengers during a three-month test period. Four products have been carefully selected to pique the interest of Eurowings’ guests on board and perfectly compliment unique winter time taste preferences.
Each quarter, Retail inMotion, Eurowings and NX-FOOD, an innovation hub of the wholesale and food specialist METRO AG, set out to identify and select a group of the most innovative new food items on the market. The effectiveness of each cohort of items is evaluated after their market trial based on sales figures and customer feedback. At that time, new products are added to the mix and other items are removed. During the winter season, a team of judges from the three entities chose the following items:
- Wildcorn: This unique popcorn is made from the best ingredients and boasts the best flavors. Wildcorn was so popular during the first round of products, that we brought it back for round two. https://wildcorn.de/
- Bitebox: There’s no better place for a delicious and nutritious snack pack than on a flight. Bitebox offers mixed nuts and dried fruit for a healthy pick-me-up on board. https://www.bitebox.com/
- Berwork: With very little fat and no additives, Berwork sausages are the perfect power food to help you stay fuller longer and get your protein this winter. https://berwork.de/en/home/
- Dörrwerk: Fruit paper never tasted so good! Increase your vitamin intake with this innovative and crunchy new take on fruit. https://www.doerrwerk.de/
“Innovation is core at Retail inMotion,” commented José Lirio Silva, Head of Onboard Retail Europe at Retail inMotion. “We’re incredibly happy to leverage this partnership to identify start-up food products that have a very high-potential to excite passengers. We’re looking forward to seeing how this particular cohort of items will perform on board this winter – we expect they will do particularly well.”
“We keep growing NX-FOOD community of food start-ups and breaking down barriers for them by leveraging our own global footprint,” says Clément Tischer, Programme Manager at NX-FOOD. “We are also thrilled to contribute to our channel partners’ customer experience by offering them the trendiest and most innovative food products.”
“As a very innovative airline we are delighted to offer four innovative start-ups a chance to prove their products during a three-month test period on Eurowings flights,” comments Katrin Rieger, Vice President Customer Experience & Product at Eurowings. “Together with our partners Retail inMotion and NX-Food we carefully selected a group of the most innovate new food items on the markets and now get them on board for our guests. I am convinced they will love the variety from healthy popcorn, over dried fruit to mixed nuts.”
Retail inMotion, based in Ireland, became a fully integrated member of the LSG Group in 2016. The company’s culture of collaboration and innovation continues to help it to steadily strengthen its position in the global onboard retail industry. Retail inMotion offers propriety products, solutions and services in onboard retail IT technology, crew training, product distribution, inflight entertainment, and fully outsourced onboard retail services. www.retailinmotion.com www.lsg-group.com
METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and non-food assortments that specialises on serving the needs of hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders. Around the world, METRO has some 24 million customers who can choose whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO in addition also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and own businesses with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar of METRO’s business. METRO has been the sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last four years. The company operates in 35 countries and employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2017/18, METRO generated sales of €36.5 billion. In September 2018 METRO AG initiated the divestment process for the food retail chain Real with its 34,000 employees.
NX-FOOD stands for Next Generation Food and is a hub of METRO for new food solutions to address customer demands, future trends and a better food system. The range of NX-FOOD covers topics such as food waste and its reduction, vertical farming as well as sustainable new food concepts and innovative products for hospitality and end consumers that are made accessible by way of initiatives such as the Start-up Shelf. More information about NX-FOOD at nx-food.com
