At 4 PM your
customers are just beginning to think about what’s for dinner. Eighty-one
percent of American consumers are unsure about what’s for dinner; the
opportunity is yours for the asking.
Consumers are looking for high quality ready-2-eat and or heat-N-eat
fresh and prepared food. What they want
to do is buy meal components that they can bundle into a customized family meal
that will please everyone without spending time cooking.
Consumers today have
the opportunity to purchase high quality chef prepared ready-2eat and
heat-N-eat food from independent restaurants, grocery stores, chain drugstores,
convenience stores, chain restaurants and non-traditional food retailers the
ilk of Amazon.com and food trucks. At
the convergence of all of these new and legacy meal component points of
distribution you find the Grocerant niche.
The grocerant niche
refers to prepared food that is portable, ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat food that
is deemed “better for you”. The
consumers are finding grocerant niche food in grocery store deli sections
including Whole foods, Trader Joes, Safeway Lifestyle stores and Central
Market, convenience stores including Wawa, Sheetz, Rutter’s Farm Stores, and 7
Eleven, chain restaurants and independent restaurants around the world.
Successful
foodservice operators today understand that differentiation in menu items and
food products doesn’t mean different, rather it means familiar with a twist;
taking ordinary daily menu items, adding contemporary relevance. Then presenting, positioning and pricing
competitively; these are the universal footprints of success found within the
grocerant niche.
In NPD Group’s 2011
report on Eating Patterns in America
famed food industry researcher and speaker Harry Balzer found that more meals
were consumed at home this year than ever before. Most interesting is that the
food consumed at home is a mix and match set of traditional menu items with a
twist and food products bundled as meal components then simply assembled at
home creating personalized unique dining experiences.
The intense
competition and expanding points of distribution in retail foodservice provides
a platform of opportunity for retail food operators and chefs around the globe.
Each of these new expanding points of non-traditional distribution including
chain drug stores, grocery stores delis, take-away and take-out chain
restaurants, convenience stores are all seeking localized chefs.
There is a universal
commonality of the success in retail foodservice identified by Foodservice
Solutions® they are the 5 P’s of
food marketing. These include Product, Packaging, Placement,
Portability, and Price all are found within the burgeoning grocerant
niche. Successful chefs will understand that food products need to be
contemporary yet traditional. According
to Foodservice Solutions® within each chefs packaging tool kit, less is more.
Product placement today needs to be found in multiple avenues of
distribution. Menu items cannot be
limited to simply in store dinning, or frozen food shelves. Consumers prefer to assemble meals for home
consumption rather than cook from scratch.
All food products need to be portable available for take-out. The food
value price relationship is driven by the success of bundling of the first
4P’s.
Henry David Thoreau
reminds us, “things do not change, we do” Successful retail foodservice takes
on a life of its own and is dynamic not static. Success does not just happen it is planned,
focused and based on good informed choices.
Its 4PM; are you
ready for your customers? Remember, the
consumer is now shopping in the grocerant niche. Make sure your food is prepared food that is
portable, ready-2-eat and or heat-N-eat and deemed “better for you”.
Successful food
service operators today understand that differentiation in menu items and food
products doesn’t mean different, but familiar with a twist. Leveraging traditional menu items by adding a
twist with contemporize relevance then positioning, placing, packaging and
pricing with portability are the keys to success in retail foodservice and the
grocerant niche today.
For international
corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven
Johnson Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions. His extensive experience as a multi-unit
restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public
speaking will leave success clues for all. Facebook.com/Steven
Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant
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