A perfect lettuce leaf for every kind of sandwich

Changing lifestyle

Stimulated by changing lifestyles, the global out-of-home market is expanding year on year. The strongest growers in Europe are new fast-food chains focused on fresh and natural food, such as the UK’s LEON Naturally Fast Food (+70%), the French chain Pitaya (+60%) and the German chain dean&david (+27%), according to the ‘Foodservice 2019 - Global Outlook’ report. They provide an all-day offering of healthy juices, appetising salads, high-end hamburgers, vegan flatbreads or fish-finger wraps, including a delivery service.

Sandwich Range

Although sandwich preferences differ per chain, country and region, they all have one thing in common: a salad garnish. Bauke van Lenteren, Manager Convenience at vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan, comments: “Lettuce adds freshness, colour and a satisfying bite to any sandwich. The challenge is to retain that satisfying bite, even in combination with acidic dressings or warm fillings. With our Sandwich Range, we offer the perfect lettuce leaf for every kind of sandwich.” For luxury hamburgers Rijk Zwaan recommends robust lettuce types such as Crystal Lettuce, Crunchy Lettuce or the curly leaves of Salanova® Batavia.

Meanwhile, Open Heart Cos and Salanova Crispy work well in classic triangle sandwiches. The vegetable breeding company has also selected the perfect lettuce leaves for baguettes, flatbreads, kaiser rolls and wraps. Meanwhile Wrap Lettuce, which recently won an innovation award in Spain, eliminates the need for bread completely because the crunchy lettuce leaf itself acts as the wrap, explains the Manager Convenience: “Combined with a tasty filling, this fresh, gluten-free snack is the ideal ‘on the go’ solution.”

Salanova®

Many of these lettuce types are Salanova varieties. “This is a one-cut-ready lettuce that is ideal for convenience and foodservice applications because it takes just one slice of the knife to remove all the small, uniformly sized leaves from the head. Plus all the leaves are usable, which helps to prevent food waste,” explains Van Lenteren. Besides these specially selected lettuce types, Rijk Zwaan offers many other vegetables that appeal to the foodservice market. “An extra-large tomato is the ideal topping for hamburgers, for example, and the out-of-home market has already expressed considerable interest in our babyleaf spinach. Thanks to its versatility and healthy image, spinach is the perfect ingredient in numerous trendy food options such as salads or smoothies.” That’s how we share a healthy future.

Rijk Zwaan is exhibiting at PMA Food Service in Monterey, California, USA, on 26 and 27 July 2019. For more information about Salanova®, go to www.rijkzwaan.com/solutions/salanova