Rosseto Food Dispensers Take Center Stage at Hilton Home2 Suites

Rosseto Serving Solutions featured on "Inspired Table" breakfast buffet at Home2 Suites by Hilton.  All Home2 Suites are required to include specific types of items, but there is choice within each category. Home2 Suites puts it over the top with its signature topping stations. In the cereal and yogurt area, for example, guests can choose to top their entrées with nine separate offerings.

The Inspired Table is located in Home2 Suites’ large public space, known as The Oasis. This breakfast zone offers many ways to start the day.

Home2 Suites, Hilton’s latest extended-stay concept, aims to become a lifestyle brand targeting Gen X and Y. In developing breakfast, the team took into account three trends, including guests’ preference for quick and efficient breakfasts, demand for healthy and natural foods, and desire for customization.

Reprinted from Hotel F&B March/April 2011 article entitled: Inspired Beginnings Home2 Suites lets clientele customize the morning meal.  By Laurel Powell
 

Reprinted from Hotel F&B March/April 2011 article entitled:

Inspired Beginnings  

Home2 Suites lets clientele customize the morning meal.  

By Laurel Powell
 

If variety is the spice of life for the Baby Boomer set, it’s an essential slice of life for Generations X and Y. So designing breakfast for an extended-stay hotel brand targeting younger business and leisure travelers must have versatility on the menu.

Home2 Suites is Hilton Hotels’ newest brand. The mid-tier extended-stay hotels are part of the company’s Focused Service Group, which also includes Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn.Home2 Suites is Hilton’s second extended-stay brand, following on the heels of the more upscale Homewood Suites.

After the opening of the first Home2 Suites in March,  Dawn Koenig, vice president ofbrand development, saysadditional properties will include Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Layton, Utah—for a total of six slated to open by the end of 2011. With its motto “Free To Be You,” Home2 Suites aims to become a lifestyle brand representing flexibility and customization.“In trying to create brand loyalty, we are letting consumers create their own experiences,”says spokesperson Jennifer Hughes. That philosophy extends into the breakfast arena.

“It’s difficult to differentiate breakfast,” says Mark Southern, director of product, quality and innovation/F&B, for Hilton’s Focused Service Hotels. For Home2 Suites, Hilton initiated a multi-fold approach. First, a research team studied macro trends in food and beverage. Southern notes three key trends that his team took into account. “First,” he says, “extended-stay guests want to keep to the quick, efficient breakfast habits they set at home. Second, there is increasing demand for healthy foods and natural ingredients. Third, for this generation where people can create their own music playlists and watch video on demand, customization is key.”

In addition to trend-spotting, team members were sent to stay at competitor hotels for a week in order to complement the statistics with live, real-time information. “One key takeaway from this process was that we found within the same brand, breakfast was often not consistent,” Koenig says. “One Brand X property might offer coffee, juice, and bagels, while another Brand X property served up a full hot breakfast. In order to create consistency across the brand while maintaining the diversity needed to please the extended-stay guests, we knew we had to develop a versatile, yet easy-to-follow brand standards menu.” 

That said, Southern explains, “We didn’t set out to best anyone when developing the breakfast. Instead, we looked at our target and  listened to the consumer.What drives them in hotels and in their daily lives? What makes them feel at home when on the road? Based on their feedback, we were able to design a breakfast where the guest makes all the choices.”

Thus, the development of “The Inspired Table.” Located in the hotel’s large public space, known as The Oasis (which also includes the fitness area/laundry room called Spin2 Cycle), the breakfast zone offers a plethora of ways to start the day.
All Home2 Suites are required to include specific types of items, but there is choice within each product category. For example, three cold cereals must be available. At least one has to be “healthy” (i.e., Kashi); one sweet (i.e., Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes); and one standard (i.e., Raisin Bran, Cheerios). Two hot cereals are required, one of which must be oatmeal.

Also included on the must-have list are yogurt, fresh apples, hard-boiled eggs, and baked goods including white and wheat bread, English muffins, doughnuts, biscuits, and bagels. One specialty breakfast sandwich, which can be heated in a conveyor toaster, must also be on the daily slate. At least two juices and one flavored mineral water are available in the beverage area, as are coffee, tea, and hot chocolate.
That’s a lot of variety. But Home2 Suites puts it over the top with its signature: topping stations. In the cereal and yogurt area, guests can choose to top their entrées with nine separate offerings. While there is some flexibility for owners in terms of which toppings to display, the options must always include granola, some kind of nut or trail mix, and a fresh or frozen berry. Other toppings range from flaked coconut to chocolate sprinkles to flavored sugars. In the baked goods area, guests can choose to top their toast or biscuit with standards such as butter, margarine, or jam, or they can go sophisticated with Nutella or apple butter. A variety of syrups may also be available.

“The topping stations allow guests to theoretically create hundreds of ways to customize and individualize their breakfasts,” says Southern. “And since owners are required to offer a variety of products throughout a given week, the options grow exponentially.” Just the way Generations X and Y like it.

http://www.hotelfandb.com/biol/mar-apr2011-home2-suites-breakfast-research.asp