Keep your finger on the pulse. That’s where you’ll find the lifeblood of our industry’s ability to anticipate the next need ticking away.
Timing, metaphorically and physically, is everything.
“It is important to launch any trend we’ve been watching at the right time.” Stacey Kinkaid’s words are the thesis statement to a cataclysm between facts and feelings.
Facts—the importance of data, research, and metrics—are more slippery than science should be in the world of produce. This has made feelings—intuition, experience, and good ol’ fashioned duck-around-and-find-out—a prevalent foundation for fresh decision-making.
Amid the calamity, Stacey and a strong team of experts utilize both fields to ensure they stay one step ahead of the coming demand. In other words, she more than earns her title as Vice President for Product Development at US Foods.
“In many cases, we will watch and analyze trends that inspired many of the new items we introduce for years to ensure the timing is right for their success. In fact, there are a number of factors we consider, including proper access to the product and other supply chain considerations,” Stacey explains of the process behind one of as many as 50 new exclusive brand products launched annually in the company’s Scoop™ product portfolio featuring on-trend and innovative product offerings.
The exclusive product innovation launch is all about fresh product offerings designed to inspire culinary vision and relieve back-of-house operator pain points. Part of this commitment is to expand by upward of 50 products every year, a track maintained since it debuted in 2011.
In 2024, Scoop marked $1 billion in annual sales.
Stacey and her team, who bring everything from food science backgrounds to culinary expertise, have been there every step of the way, with hundreds of products to show for it.
“Developing high-quality products is a key contributor to the success that we are now celebrating with our most recent $1 billion in annual sales milestone for 2024. And ensuring consistent quality is essential throughout the development process; what we create in our prototype samples needs to match the quality that arrives to our customer—this satisfies even those who might have reservations regarding the quality of prepared or semi-prepared products. We work with a broad group of suppliers and have strong partnerships. We have such gratitude for their flexibility and innovative approach with us as we explore unique opportunities. We invest a lot to bring these products to market, so thank you to the suppliers who partner with us to make this happen,” she says.
While versatility, flexibility, and experimentation are the sinews and muscles of Scoop, Stacey makes clear that collaboration, teamwork, and support are the bones.
“We have a dedicated team developing our products. There are 23 product development team members who are focused on Scoop products and development as one of their primary responsibilities, and it takes many more than even those people to bring new products to market,” Stacey tells me.
This small insight speaks volumes to US Foods’ philosophy, one that Scoop is a microcosm of: Anticipate the next need, and the wheels will never stop turning.
“We are proactive in anticipating what is next for our customers and, at the same time, reactive by listening to what pain points are being encountered now,” Stacey explains. “We have a very thorough process to evaluate what’s on trend now, using menu and customer data, market and field research, and our in-house culinary and technical expertise. This helps us determine the best time to launch new trends to market. We are also looking for trends that cover different operator preferences in relation to their resources and individual goals. For example, some operators prefer to prepare all of their dishes from scratch. We offer on-trend ingredients to appeal to those operators. Others prefer a speed-scratch approach and we offer value-added ingredients, such as caramelized onions, that help reduce labor to suit their business model. This allows our customers to expand their menu capabilities across many areas, like solving for on-trend dietary needs such as gluten-free or non-dairy substitutes, but also reduce labor.”
“In many cases, we will watch and analyze trends that inspired many of the new items we introduce for years to ensure the timing is right for their success.”
- Stacey Kinkaid, Vice President of Product Development, US Foods
Focused on understanding operators’ pain points as well as opportunities, Stacey says customer feedback is key to how far Scoop has come and how much further it is planning to go.
“We use insights, research, and so much more,” she emphasizes. “For example, it is imperative to ensure products are highly versatile to help reach as many customers as possible and allow customers to use the same product in multiple ways across their menu.”
Not only is this reflected in the balance Stacey pointed to between proactive and reactive, but also the return on US Foods’ investment vis-à-vis grower and manufacturer support and that billion-dollar accomplishment. Averaging upward of 50 cutting-edge products brought to market annually across a range of categories, the breadth of US Foods’ industrious portfolio now represents hundreds of ways to inspire and problem-solve.
“We have seen a lot of growth over the past five years; this milestone reflects that customers are taking advantage of what we are offering, and it is resonating with them. We have accomplished this success through a lot of labor-saving product initiatives for our customers while helping them keep their menus fresh,” Stacey observes.
Reflecting on the magnitude of Scoop’s impact, her words take me back to my first role in foodservice.
As a sandwich maker at a well-known California chain, I was part of a team that prepared our own avocado spread by hand. Sitting down to a box of 30-plus avocados, I was trained to palm the fruit in my left hand, using a serrated bread knife in my right to cut around the axis from top to bottom until it split in half. Then, keeping the seeded half in my left hand, hack the knife across the pit to axe it out.
Thinking back now on my being a 17-year-old clutz, the danger of this single experience among millions crystallizes for me the boon of offerings like US Foods’ Scoop. Knowing this, the billion-dollar marker is far from the summit for Stacey and her team as they continue to keep the pulse of fresh demands to come. 
