Solving the Targeting Challenge
Published by: Mark Fahey | RESCO
Overcoming Customer Targeting Challenges in the Foodservice Industry with RESCO
The foodservice industry—including manufacturers, distributors, and operators—faces significant hurdles when it comes to effectively targeting and reaching end customers. Unlike traditional retail, the foodservice channel is highly fragmented, decentralized, and heavily influenced by intermediaries. These unique structural complexities present measurable challenges that limit marketing efficiency, delay campaign execution, and reduce ROI. In this article, we break down these challenges and show how RESCO’s strategic print and fulfillment services help foodservice brands solve them.
The Targeting Problem in Foodservice
1. Fragmented Customer Base The foodservice market spans independent restaurants, institutional kitchens, regional chains, hospitality, and healthcare operators. Unlike CPG brands that market directly to consumers via mass media or retail channels, foodservice marketers rarely have direct access to their buyers. Instead, they rely on intermediaries like brokers and distributors.
2. Lack of Direct Data and Contact Channels Many foodservice manufacturers don’t maintain direct relationships with their end customers. This makes it difficult to segment messaging, customize marketing materials, or track effectiveness across campaigns. According to Datassential, nearly 70% of operators say they prefer content that is customized to their operation type—but less than 30% report regularly receiving it.
3. Over-Reliance on Distributors for Marketing Distributors often control the relationship with operators, leaving suppliers with limited visibility into what marketing gets deployed, how it performs, or whether it aligns with brand standards. This results in wasted collateral, inconsistent messaging, and low campaign attribution.
4. Operational Bottlenecks and Resource Constraints Sales and broker teams often lack the bandwidth or tools to execute consistent local marketing campaigns. Materials must be customized, printed, kitted, and delivered quickly—while remaining brand-compliant and approved by headquarters. Delays in any part of the process can lead to missed seasonal windows or competitor advantage.
How RESCO Solves Foodservice Targeting Challenges
RESCO addresses the marketing friction foodservice brands face through a combination of strategic services that improve reach, reduce costs, and enable faster execution across distributed networks.
1. Programmatic Print and Customization at Scale RESCO’s advanced print capabilities allow foodservice brands to personalize materials by segment, geography, or customer tier. Whether it's a batch of direct mailers for institutional kitchens or promo kits for independent restaurants, we deliver localized, relevant messaging without burdening internal teams.
2. Kitting and Fulfillment for Distributed Campaigns We build and distribute customized marketing kits—complete with flyers, coupons, signage, and branded items—directly to brokers, sales reps, or operators. By handling the logistics from assembly to delivery, RESCO reduces campaign complexity and time-to-customer by weeks.
3. Sub Packing for Cost Efficiency and Precision Rather than sending full-case quantities of samples or merchandise to every sales region, RESCO stores bulk inventory and creates sub packs based on real-time need. This ensures that each target receives the exact volume and content they require, improving cost-efficiency and reducing waste.
4. Strategic Inventory Management Our climate-controlled storage and real-time inventory tracking ensure that samples and promotional assets are always ready for deployment. Sales and marketing teams can focus on outreach, while we manage the back-end logistics.
5. Direct Coordination with Field Teams RESCO bridges the gap between corporate marketing and field teams. We align campaign fulfillment with sales schedules, plans, and regional activations—ensuring materials are not just produced, but actually used to drive business.
Tangible Business Outcomes
By solving the underlying targeting and execution bottlenecks in the foodservice marketing funnel, RESCO delivers measurable improvements across key performance indicators:
Increased ROI: Tailored messaging and faster deployment maximize campaign impact and minimize waste.
Improved Customer Reach: Sub-segmented campaigns reach more operators with relevant content, increasing engagement.
Faster Market Penetration: Our print-on-demand and direct-ship capabilities allow brands to support new product introductions quickly and consistently.
Reduced Campaign Timelines: RESCO clients cut down their go-to-market lead time from weeks to days, keeping pace with seasonal trends and competitive pressures.
Final Thoughts
Marketing in the foodservice industry is inherently complex—but it doesn’t have to be inefficient. With RESCO’s strategic print, fulfillment, sub packing, and sourcing services, brands can reach the right operators at the right time with the right message.
In an environment where speed, precision, and cost control matter, RESCO helps foodservice marketers shift from reactive execution to proactive performance.
