How big is the street food market?
“Street food has become an integral feature of modern life and no more so than with contract caterers. Schools, hospitals (for both staff and visitors) as well as sports and leisure venues are all sectors who take inspiration from street food to help create lively and innovative menus. And, with the current covid restrictions, street food has found an even greater market, with many more people wanting to grab and go, rather than sitting inside.
What are the most popular types of street food?
“The flavours of Japan remain on-trend and are being incorporated on all menus, including schools. Zingy and colourful noodle ramens or stir fries with lots of tasty ingredients are easy to create and are always satisfying! They also complement different proteins like Young’s Pink Salmon & Alaska Pollock Pieces which can be added straight from frozen for the ultimate convenience.
As well as meeting the school food standards, the Alaska Pollock & Pink Salmon Pieces are a fantastic source of protein and Omega 3 and provide a quality protein source that can be used in multiple ways to create different street food inspired recipes with plenty of nutritional value and flavour.
For caterers looking to offer a simple, yet delicious street style Japanese dish, then why not add a Katsu fish burger to the menu? Young’s MSC Certified Quarter Pounder Fillet of Fish can be served on a brioche bun with crunchy iceberg lettuce, radishes, spring onions and finished off with a dollop of katsu curry mayonnaise for an on-trend burger that is also a relaxed street food spin on traditional flavours. The Wild Alaska Pollock is coated in a golden bubbly batter and makes a great flexitarian alternative to the traditional beef and chicken burgers.”
What are the advantages of selling street food?
“The beauty of selling street food is how easily it can adapted and updated to create a completely fresh, new offering. Furthermore, it can be served quickly and easily, to help reduce socially distanced queues.”
How can caterers get street food onto their menus?
“Thankfully, caterers don’t have to worry about sourcing lots of different products to create an appealing menu and many meal staples can be adapted accordingly to save time, money and resources. For example, Young’s Breaded Omega 3 Alaska Pollock Fish Fingers can be easily made into delicious street food dishes when served in wraps, Mexican-style tacos, flatbreads or even light and fluffy Asian bao buns with sriracha garlic mayonnaise and pickled red onions. All of which are on-trend and convenient for takeaway operations too.
Young’s Wild Alaska Pollock fillet fish fingers coated in a light, golden breadcrumb are a great source of Omega 3 to meet the School Food Standards and help caterers achieve Food for Life. What’s more, frozen fish fingers make menu planning easier and minimise waste.”
What one tip would you offer in getting your provision of street food right?
“Whilst caterers must ensure their street-food offering looks and tastes incredible, it’s also important to consider the varying dietary requirements of today’s customers when creating a balanced street food offering. For example, whether it is for environmental, health or financial reasons, more and more consumers are trying to reduce the amount of meat that they eat, whether that means cutting it out altogether, or just going meat-free a couple of times a week. As well as including vegan and free from dishes, including more fish on menus is great for appealing to flexitarian diners.”
Please include any other comments that you feel our readers will be interested in.
“Caterers can be confident that all of Young’s products are responsibly sourced in accordance with our award-winning Fish for Life programme. We have close partnerships with all our suppliers, so we know exactly where our fish come from, how it’s caught and who’s caught it. This ensures all our products meet our high-quality standards every step of the way, so that our customers can deliver only the best on menus.”
Joel Carr, Development Chef at Young’s Foodservice
For further information or recipe inspiration, please visit www.youngsfoodservice.co.uk.