Margaret Heery,
Vice President National Accounts and Strategic Marketing
BUNN Corporation

BUNN Corporation manufactures beverage equipment designed to increase foodservice operators’ beverage program profits. Foodservice manufacturers and operators, unlike manufacturers and retailers in other industries, do not widely share their data across the industry. BUNN Corporation Vice President, National Accounts and Strategic Marketing, Margaret Heery, told us that dearth of information means it is difficult to know “how many cups of coffee or any other beverage were served through any of the chain restaurants or other foodservice segments.”

BUNN Corporation looks to NPD’s CREST information to identify the growth markets within foodservice and, as Heery put it, “to know BUNN’s customer’s customer.” CREST provides the BUNN sales force with the data needed to understand which beverages would be most helpful to BUNN’s wide range of customers – from quick-service to fine dining establishments – for improving their beverage sales. “We use the CREST data to help us better understand the underlying dynamics of the marketplace,” Heery said. “This enables us to suggest the best beverage equipment solutions for our customers.”

Heery explained CREST data helps BUNN Corporation determine the industry’s equipment needs today and for the future. Her role is to bring together information to extract future growth opportunities and  determine what products are gaining in popularity. “NPD market information gives BUNN a competitive advantage, since it allows us to spot growth opportunities for our customers,” she said.

Subscribing to CREST information made it easier for BUNN Corporation to convince customers that serving a better cup of coffee would increase their traffic. BUNN uses CREST data to help operators appreciate this valuable chain of fact-based information:

1. The breakfast daypart at restaurants has seen consistent growth over the past
   four years. (Source: The NPD Group/CREST)
2. Fast breakfast quick-service restaurant (QSR) traffic has outpaced total traffic for the
   last three years. (Source: The NPD Group/CREST)
3. Coffee is the #1 food consumed at breakfast, both in-home and at restaurants.
   (Source: The NPD Group/Eating Patterns in America)

Put those points together and BUNN customers begin to understand they “should be serving a good cup of coffee, or the consumer will go elsewhere.” BUNN manufactures coffee brewers that Heery believes will brew that better cup of coffee – so BUNN customers can meet their consumers’ demands.

“Without CREST, you are making important decisions based on mixed information about the market and the customer,” she said. “CREST lets you see trends and make informed decisions about growth.”