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Arby's is shaking things up with a delicious twist on their classic Reuben by introducing the new Rachel sandwich.

Three-fifths (62 percent) of general-population consumers say they consume meals without beef, pork, chicken or turkey at least once a week.

The company's new frozen lobster meat products and scallop products, which provide increased consistency of quality, versatility of use and labour savings, will be introduced at the world's largest seafood show, Seafood Expo Global (SEG), in Brussels, Belgium, on April 21-23.

King & Prince Seafood’s new Small Plates/Bar Bites product line features Jambalaya Fritters, Crispy Southern Flounder and Lobster & Seafood Pups.

Editor’s note: Prepared Foods talks with Jeff Wirtz, corporate executive chef at Blount Fine Foods, a Fall River, Mass., processor of fresh and frozen soups, sides, sauces and entrees.

Industry growth and sales in 2014 has led the foodservice packaging industry to forecast even greater optimism for 2015 than last year, according to an annual survey conducted by the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI).

The 500 largest restaurant chains in the United States accelerated their cumulative sales growth in 2014 to a 4% increase, totaling an estimated $274.4 billion. But some of the biggest brands among them, namely Subway and McDonald's, lost ground to focused-menu competitors and emerging fast-casual chains and reported overall sales decreases for the year.

Prepared Foods talks breakfast with Christopher Hansen, corporate executive chef for OSI Group LLC. OSI Group, Aurora, Ill., is a $6 billion global meat and prepared foods processor and supplier to foodservice, contract and private label channels.

Customers are seeking more flavorful, dynamic options in their dining selections, and operators have taken note, leveraging the small-plate trend as a way to showcase a range of flavors and cuisines in a small, approachable package. It's no surprise that small-plate menu items have risen 25 per cent on menus in a year-over-year comparison in the U.K., according to Technomic's MenuMonitor.