Do consumers consider your company contemporary in look and feel?

Visceral attractive, sometimes even “cool” looking is how consumers described many a restaurant. Independent restaurants are unique to there own location or part of the country. Decor, design and style are played a part in driving consumers to restaurants in all niches from the 1960’s to the 2005 or the golden era of chain restaurants.

Restaurants continue to report declining same-store sales. In fact for the 17th-consecutive month October, 2009 the National Restaurant Association states 61% saw sales decline in October at stores open at least one year. Sure some of this can be contributed to continued high unemployment but not all.

However, just for a minute consider how visceral attractive grocery stores are becoming with ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat prepared better for you food. Flat panel TV style monitors at alternating end of isles with bright graphic’s depicting simple quality food fast. Grocer’s are experiencing resurgence in sales and improved staffing and service has followed with the new consumers. Ha maybe the chart above could mean that consumer are finding more options, less hassle and clean environments that are as friendly as restaurants once were.

Faced with lower sales volume restaurants are experiencing staffing tightness and pressure on operations staffs that is after 17 months putting a strain on the staff. Those of us who have spent years in operations know sales cure many a problem. Now is not the time for restaurants to squeeze much more or the service, quality equilibrium may just swing so far that it become to steep a hill to over come.

Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche. We specialize in Grocerant program strategy development and rollout with consumer relevant contemporized components. Product positioning and brand re-positioning all within the Grocerant niche is something we have been getting calls for of late. Grocerant emersion tours are a top requested item.