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August /September 202 2 VII MAGAZINE Frozen is therefore back in the kitchens of bars and restaurants, putting a difficult season behind it. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, in fact, the share of consumption of this category in the eating out sector had reached almost 40% of the total, thanks to a consolidated upward trend over time. In 2020, however, with the arrival of the health emergency followed the heavy slump: -37% in volume in just twelve months. The year 2021, on the other hand, marked the turning point with robust and definite signs of a good restart. Of course, the values are still far from those of the pre-Covid years,’ IIAS points out, ‘but there are good preconditions for the upward momentum not to stop: the first findings for 2022 in fact return a positive picture, also encouraged by the general upturn in eating out sales. There are many positives in favour of frozen food. ‘It is now recognised,’ explains Giorgio Donegani , President of IIAS, ‘the high quality of the ingredients of these products, their high nutritional value, and the ever-increasing range. Without forgetting the enormous practicality of use, the constant availability all year round, the great anti-waste value and, in general, the response to the growing need for sustainable consumption’. And again, one must consider that frozen food is subject to strict and timely supply chain controls. A real guarantee for eating out operators as well as consumers and patrons. “They are as good, nutritious and safe as, and sometimes safer than, any other type of food,’ Donegani observes. ‘And this is because they are the result of a technologically advanced production process, which allows the fresh ingredient to quickly reach a temperature of -18° C and thus best retain its organoleptic and nutritional qualities. SAVINGS FACTOR To this already extensive list of advantages, however, one more could be added, linked to contingency: savings. Frozen food by its very nature allows long-term storage. And this characteristic opens up the possibility of stocking up and thus avoiding the price increases that rising inflation is generating. In short, by abundantly stocking your larder with frozen food today could prevent you from incurring the price increases that are appearing more and more likely in the future. Of course, it must be considered that we are talking about foodstuffs whose preservation requires an additional cost for maintaining the cold chain. A cost that, in times of high energy prices, risks becoming significant. But it is also true that the advantage with respect to expected price increases could still be beneficial, especially in the case of products with higher added value and the product categories at the centre of the greatest price increases. An advantage that, moreover, could already be immediately noticeable by restaurateurs at the time of payment: in many cases, in fact, frozen food is cheaper than fresh. The ability to be functional in a saving strategy is therefore one more reason for restaurateurs to direct their choices towards this product category. And therefore one more reason for our Cic members to develop and strengthen their frozen range. A range that has already been a flagship in our Cooperative’s catalogues for some time and that could now find favourable conditions to experience a season of further expansion. __________________________________ BOX The asterisk is no longer scary The growth of the frozen sector in Italy has been held back by the inconvenient and cumbersome presence on menus of the asterisk used to mark dishes packed with one or more frozen or deep-frozen ingredients. Well, even this barrier seems to have been overcome today: according to the results of an Iias-Bva-Doxa survey of 2021, in fact, 7 out of 10 Italians consider that emphasising the presence of frozen ingredients in a dish is either irrelevant to their choice (64%) or useless (5%). “The obligation of the asterisk on menus,” says FIPE, Federazione Italiana Pubblici Esercizi (Italian Federation of Public Establishments), “is the result of a completely anachronistic interpretation, anchored to past schemes and outdated consumption models, that fails to understand how freezing and deep-freezing techniques have evolved over time, guaranteeing a quality and Giorgio Donegani , President of IIAS