Papa Murphy’s Fun Family Food Fast

We all know that famous quote by Alice May Brock “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”   

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ says “Papa Murphy’s customized, personalized, pizza makes make’s family meal time ‘happy meal time’. Papa Murphy’s is the largest Take ‘N’ Bake pizza chain in the United States, selling uncooked pizzas that customers bake at home.

While Papa Murphy’s is has over  1,400 franchised and corporate-owned fresh pizza stores in 38 States, Canada and United Arab Emirates, which makes them a serious player in the pizza space today.

Papa Murphy’s marketing team knows how to bring family, fun, and food together.

Once again this Halloween Papa Murphy’s is selling a “Jack-O-Lantern pizza as a seasonal Limited Time Offer (LTO). For those of you taking notice Halloween is the chain's busiest day at Papa Murphy’s.

The Jack-O-Lantern Pizza starts with Papa Murphy's fresh, scratch-made dough in the shape of a pumpkin and is topped with traditional red sauce, generous portions of 100 percent whole milk mozzarella cheese and a smiling jack-o-lantern face made with premium pepperoni and olives. (This LTO has become a staple at my house).

Yes, food and can be fun, customized, personalized and as easy as Heat-N-Eat! Success does leave clues and while Papa Murphy’s only runs this LTO once a year for 9 or 10 days it culminates with the highest daily sales of the year for Papa Murphy’s. 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869 

Global Food Customer Migration Underway

For Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ new research provide insights into just how rapidly the undercurrents of customer migration are taking root.  In the U.S. and around the globe consumers increasingly choose to eat in quick service restaurants or buy meals prepared in convenience stores.

In Great Britain the 2014 CTP research confirms that ‘food to go’ is fast becoming a core mission for convenience. In fact C-store are becoming a lunch time destination much like in the US According to Katie Littler, Insights Director at HIM research, “57% of shoppers who buy a sandwich in convenience stores don’t buy any accompanying snack item. That is destination food shopping.

According the latest Nielsen Shopper Trends report, which covered 1,783 grocery decision makers aged 15 to 65 living in urban location in the Philippines, “the average monthly grocery “spend has fallen 13% over the past two years. This decline appears in large part to be a consequence of a rapid growth in the habit of eating out, combined with evidence that consumers are turning to prepared meals sold by convenience stores as an alternative to cooking food themselves at home.”

Legacy CPG food manufactures are losing customer relevance, sales, and channel opportunities. The Nielsen report cited also noted that consumers prefer to make all their purchases in stores nearest their homes, so location is critical.  The same holds true in the US and Great Britain.

Are you suffering from footprint malaise? Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Contact:  Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Millennials First Food Choice QSR Restaurants

The price, value, service equilibrium is alive and well.  Millennials in a constant quest for discovery apparently have found a comfort feeding zone.  That zone is Quick Service Restaurants. Discovery is expensive and when it comes to food Millennials want consistency, time savings, and cash savings.

Restaurateurs have been doing all they can to win over the largest of the six generational groups for some time.  Millennials currently 74 million strong continue to grow important and influential within the restaurant sector than any other age bracket over the next 10 years.

Bonnie Riggs, The NPD Group’s restaurant industry analyst said “What Millennials may lack in buying power they make up for in influence,” says. They have expectations when they dine out and are quick to spread the word when their expectations are or aren’t met.” Millennials are evolving with social media and are seemingly first to post photos of food and share experiences with multiple social media outlets.

According to Riggs and a new NPD report, “Millennials made more than 14 billion visits to food establishments, which roughly translates to $95 billion spent on meals and snacks. Traditional QSR establishments are the most popular among Millennials, which goes against the wide belief that fast-casual restaurants dominate the segment.”

The price, value, service, equilibrium includes discovery and non-traditional fresh food outlets including C-stores continue to attract Millennials according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™.  In fact Lunch time is the number one day-part for Millennial visits to C-stores.  Are you prepared to compete for Millennials? How can the 5 P’s of food marketing edify your brands positioning?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869 

Restaurant Growth Slows While Technology Drives Food Growth

Befuddled by extremely modest year over year sales numbers, flat customer counts, declining year over year unit locations, the restaurant sector has capitulated fresh food sales growth to new start-up and technology companies. The National Restaurant Association’s research analyst Hudson Riehle points out that only 2 in 5 customer say that restaurants today are an important part of their lifestyle. Yes,  as Bob Dylan would say” times they are a changin.”

Does Your Restaurant Have Braggability?

The change may not be so fast.  Ever the optimist  Wally Doolin, chairman of TDn2K, parent of Black Box Intelligence, remarked to NRN online about the restaurant sector “Sales finished strong in the third quarter,…We’re off to a good start in the fourth quarter already.”  This by the way has been the industry mantra for the past 5 years. 

By the way a San Francisco-based food delivery startup called Munchery, recently raised $ 40 Million dollars. That’s $40 million dollars that might at one time have gone into building new Burger Kings, Subways, Denny’s or IHOP’s.

This is becoming a land grab for share of stomach without the cost of the land. Think about it. Americans spend $151 on food each week. With technology today consumers never have to leave home, or work and can eat with or without cooking, or doing the dishes. Does your restaurant have ‘braggability’? Without braggability why would anyone come to your restaurant?

The Grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food driven by consumers is changing the paradigm with not only how that service or product is consumed, but how it is provided as well. Without ‘braggability’ in our Omni-channel retail world the questions becomes: Why build a restaurant? Why hire, train, and maintain a staff when technology can edify the experience for less and do it faster? All while the technology companies are creating media buzz, consumer ‘braggability’ and driving top line growth.

Is your company a Dinosaur or Pioneer?

When Red Lobster opens a new restaurant in 2014 they do it very much the same way they did 46 years ago? Sure an up-dated menu, décor, and messaging but the business model has not been updated. Red Lobster and maybe your company’s business model might just look more like yesterday’s business model than tomorrow’s business model. What’s your business model? Does it incorporate the evolving consumer or optimism for yesterday’s business model returning?

Legacy hedge funds are buying into companies the ilk of Bennigans, Sbarro, and Taco Del Mar all are here first stabilizing a brand with intent to grow it once again. Are these companies the past, present, or future of Food Retail? Do they have ‘braggability’ or customer relevance?

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ believes that companies the ilk of Plated, Peachdish.com , Spoonrocket, Hello Fresh, and Munchery will not only survive they will thrive for they provide “authenticity in being local, personal, while providing fast service.”  Are you’re operating standards evolving?

A New Business Model Unfolding

There is a new retail food business model unfolding today that model is portable Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food.  This new model it is creating disequilibrium for restaurateurs and reorganization or bankruptcy for others. Consumer adoption of mobile and non-traditional retail food platforms has created discontinuity for Chevy’s Fresh Mex, Buffets, Round Table Pizza, Fuddruckers and Red Lobster to name but a few. Is it time to edify your brand with grocerant niche consumer valued attributes? Outside eye can drive top line sales and bottom line profits.

The food space is exciting it is dynamic not static. The food sector is a market that is huge and too large to be considered just one market place for sure. “The takeout and delivery market today is estimated to between $70-to-$100 billion today, and a small fraction of these orders happen online today even fewer on mobile devise. Can you sell more food than is on your menu?  Yes, you can.  Will you?

Hudson Riehle points out that only 2 in 5 customer say that restaurants today are an important part of their lifestyle.  That number has been down market ably in the last five years. Are you ready to change with consumers?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Contact:  Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

O’ where, O’ where can I get dinner?

The average food shopper is in discovery mode.  Whatever happened to the brand loyal weekly grocery shopper?  According to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ “they went the way of cooking from scratch.  Once cooking from scratch was family affair, mothers and father’s passing on family recipes to their children and discussing the day’s events over a family dinner.  Today, cooking from scratch is time consuming inconvenience, distracting from family activities and social interaction.”

The proliferation of the availability of fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food combined the insatiable desire for multi-cultural full flavor food make cooking from scratch at home and satisfying every family member each meal a near impossible feat.

Today, a family meal is according to the Grocerant Guru™ is become an meal assembled from Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meal components. The components are coming from restaurants, grocery stores, C-store, and chain drug stores more and more to name but a few places.

In fact Susan Viamari, editor, Thought Leadership, at IRI stated “At this point, there are something like 2,500 potential paths to purchase, and any number of steps people can take to research their food purchases,” In an Omni-channel retail world consumers are migrating to new channels, looking for new products.

Viamari continued “In the past year, trip frequency and basket size has been flat to declining at both grocery and drug stores. Trips to dollar stores were also flat, but the average basket size increased 3%. And while trips to club stores fell a bit, spending in that channel also grew slightly. Grocery stores have lost share in core departments, while mass discounters and supercenters have given up ground in home care and general merchandise.”

Food industry trade magazine Marketing Daily” sums it up simply: Shopping preferences are “changing so quickly that [retailers] can’t afford to get caught up in the status quo. Consumers are more open than ever to buying products in unexpected channels.”

So, O’ where, O’ where can you get dinner?  Almost anywhere!  Regular readers of this blog know the Grocerant Niche is booming! Consumers are on the move, looking for mix and match meal components to pick-up and take home to make every meal a ‘happy meal’.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

McDonald’s, Domino’s, Dunkin Donuts, Fighting Back

Market share capitulation can only last so lone.  So we ask is the equilibrium about to shift from non-traditional fresh food market share gainers back to legacy fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat retailers?  According to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ you won’t have to wait long to find out. 

Complacency, Copy-Cat Menu’s, and Customer Counts declines inevitably lead to change.   Will change lead to innovation or simply more of the same?  Who are the likely winners and losers? Is your restaurant still playing the wait and see don’t act game? How’s that working?  Are Customer Counts and Sales up?

Companies the ilk of Casey’s General Stores with 1842 units has a three year fresh prepared food  growth that exceeds 38.5% driven in large part by fresh prepared Pizza sales.  Wawa is investing in excess of $550 Million Dollars in the Central Florida market driven in large part by sales of it’s now famous Hoagies.

All of this will likely make for an exciting time for the industry in 2015 putting additional pressure on legacy QSR’s to up increase innovation, or capitulate more market share.  Let’s first look at Domino’s Pizza clearly the innovation leader within the QSR sector.  Domino’s is the only company to completely dump, abandon, and replace its hallmark product it pizza.  Since they boldly replaced the crust, sauce evolving its brand identity from yesterday’s staple to today’s flavor profiles. Which in turn drove customer relevance, sales, profits, store counts and customer counts have posted sector leading numbers.

The once delivery company Domino’s Pizza is now selling fresh Ready-2-Eat slices at some units, remodeling others with high definition digital flat screen TV’s, digital menu boards, seating all creating a platform for what Domino’s CEO J. Patrick Doyle has suggested is “smart slice” positioning.  We might suggest that a gradual progression into a family friendly Pizza QSR with inside seating featuring ‘better for you” pizza and more.

While Yum Brands utilized new products the ilk of the waffle taco to attract customers.  The results have fallen short. No matter how much a company spends on marketing the new product must resonate with consumer.   While Yum’s target customers are millennials.  Millennials are digitally informed, seeking discovery, not gimmickry.  They require integrated branded marketing messaging and products that proactively edify the brand.

McDonalds is empowering franchisee choice allowing the franchisee the option this year to run the McRib LTO which plays better in some parts of the country than the other.  Today’s decentralization in chain restaurant messaging is playing a leading role and McDonalds understand it.  Leaders lead and McDonalds is once again providing industry leadership.  

Dunkin Donuts is building customer loyalty one sip at a time.  Dunkin Donuts' "DD Perks" now has a total of 1.5 million members and is adding close to 70,000 new members a month. Integrating food and beverage loyalty programs into evolving brand messaging is a signal that Dunkin “DD Perks” has customer relevance.

When asking the Foodservice Solutions® team if you could only pick company today that most likely would become the 2015 innovative fast food leader which would you select?  The unanimous consensus is Domino's Pizza  who will be entering the 2015 with  "Dom," a virtual voice-ordering assistant for its mobile app and ‘smart slice.  Yes, we know Domino’s is getting better for you!

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® or for a Grocerant Scorecard visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  Email: Steve@FoodserviceSoltuions.us

Snacking Myth not Fact Consumer Search Find Equilibrium

Have you been reading how snacking is now a trend? Asked if it we found it to be Fact or Fiction? We answered Fiction.  Here is what we found with each new article on snacking the author appears to be feasting on PR propaganda from restaurants chains with flat or down customer counts and research firms pandering to public companies thirst for simultaneously rising check averages, top line sales, and bottom line profits. Those main stream articles are more a kin to lemmings running to a cliff than consumer fact. 

The simple truth is 30 years ago QSR chains sold a small beverage aka a soda and it was a 10 oz. serving. Today, a small soda range from 16 oz. to 24 oz. for a small that’s 60% to 140% larger than it was 30 years ago.

It’s been 30 years that the industries prime focus has shifted from consumers, to stock analyst, and the bottom line, too an ever increasing waist line. The consumer has caught on. For five years customers have migrated from restaurants to C-stores and other non-traditional fresh food outlets offering mix and match meal bundling. That meal bundling included single serve fix size beverages not unlimited soda fountain drinks as a draw. Consumer prefer fixed size over unlimited. That is but one example.

Consumers also want to spend less, eat less, but want ‘better for you’ options at meal time. Those snack ideations most often mentioned in articles are equivalent to a basic burger in both portion size and calories that once drove exponential growth in the QSR sector. Why would anyone in this industry think the customer moved? They have not.

The industry has moved in a direction away from the consumer and closer to Wall Street. The tipping may be closer than you think. Momentum is a powerful thing and five years of flat and declining customer counts within the overall restaurant industry has provided ample time to bolster the hopes of the new competitors focused on consumers. Those competitors are positioning right sized, drinks, menu items, and deserts.

There has been no tectonic shift in consumption patterns the only shift that can be quantified over the past five years is consumers migrating to right sized, right priced Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat offerings.

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive top line sales and bottom line profits. Mix and Match meal bundling empowered by consumer choice is finding a home at non-traditional fresh food outlets aka the Grocerant Niche. Consumers have said enough is enough reduce portion size and price while adding bold flavors and we will come.  Snacking is not a trend it is mislabeled propaganda. 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Flat Restaurant Sector Customer Counts Yet Customers Are Happy

The line between restaurants and food retailers is growing ever thinner. The fight for America's food dollars continues to intensify as consumers find fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat food options at a wide and growing array of outlets across almost every channel: convenience stores, chain drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, club stores, vending and even more non-food retailers like dollar stores.

While manufacturers, retailers and restaurants worry about choice overload, consumers have embraced their new choices and show no signs of returning to the old ways. This fight is taking place in what is called the grocerant niche. Today’s fight is a food fight for share of stomach.

The restaurant industry is not an industry known for trying to be first as in fastest to market with an ideation, food or technology advance. In the United States the larger the chain in almost all cases the more slowly they are to adopt something than a smaller chain or independent restaurants will. Chain restaurants goal is simple feed one meal at a time in the restaurant while protecting and edifying the brand.

Historically chain restaurant leaders have denied the credibility of start-up competitors as non-relevant. The pizza sector is a great example; evolving from family dinning independents to national chain of "Red Roof" Italian, then to delivery only outlets and now take-N-bake is garnering market share in the pizza sector. (Note: Home Made Pizza Company and Papa Murphy's are further examples of take and bake pizza operators.)

Trends in the Food Industry Point to an Increase in Non-Traditional Meal Occasions

At the intersection of the consumer, fresh prepared food and technology we fine that consumer eating behavior is evolving and is now beyond the control of traditional food marketers. Evolving culture and lifestyle, demographics along with the new uncertain economy are all putting pressure on the American food consumer:

Demands of work, economic shrinkage, raising a family, commuting, social interaction, kid's after-school activities, all contribute to a food marketplace where convenience vies with price over legacy brands. Recent advances in food packaging and new points of non-traditional food distribution have empowered consumer choice, and Americans are embracing these choices even as legacy marketers cringe. Who's after restaurant food dollars? … simply put… everyone.

Why should you care if Walgreens is selling fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Made-2-Order sandwiches? Why should you care if Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Safeway and Wegmans are selling Ready-2-Eat and or Heat-N-Eat fresh pizza? Why should you care if Coinstar is selling Seattle Best Coffee at 1,000 locations for $1.00?

You should care because they are selling it, and you are not! The fastest growing sector of retail food service for the past five years has been the Convenience store sector. The C-store sectors growth in large part has been driven by fresh prepared food. Non-traditional avenues of distribution are growing, gobbling market share while establishing new patterns of consumption, price points and customer loyalty.

The Shopper is in Control Spurring New Retail Food Formats

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have created Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as an entity with identity that has help propel them into Ready-2-Eat fresh prepared food leadership. In fact recent research shows that both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are each known for high quality (restaurant quality) Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat foods with distinctive offerings. More important each is leading with innovative products and package size that create value and have positioned each chain as a food shopping destination for meal components customized and personalized for immediate consumption or mix and matched for a meal time at home. In short they are stealing your customers.

Walgreens fresh prepared food is restaurant quality and priced less than Panera Bread or Corner Bakery CAFE. Both Panera Bread and Corner Bakery CAFE thrive in urban locations. Walgreens is now growing price, quality and speed of service advantages over legacy retailers. Legacy restaurant chains must reconsider the speed at which they evolve and adapt or non-traditional outlets will capture profits margins as well.

Traditional views of meals and mealtime can pretty much be discarded. Legacy retailers waiting for the "next big thing" to copy simply might be out of luck this time. Legacy food retailers may not like to be first movers very much but it may prove that waiting too long will not work this time.

Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price are Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s

The retail food world is evolving at an ever increasing pace filled with innovation in food, portion size, points of distribution, and quality fresh prepared meal solutions. The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in retail foodservice. In order to edify the brand and reinforce consumer relevance restaurateurs must leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5P's of food marketing. 

Many legacy food retailers continue to practice brand protectionism, stifle the brand while diminishing consumer relevance. The consumer is dynamic not static. Brands must be dynamic, evolving with the consumer. Four more years of watching other retail sectors thrive should be long enough. Success in the restaurant world is no longer simply about what happens within your 4 walls. Get Help Now:

Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  or http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant  

What is Driving Food Price Value Disequilibrium?

The Consumer is driving change to the price value service equilibrium and many legacy companies are having a difficult time keeping up. The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in Grocery stores, Restaurants and Convenience stores

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ stated “consumers rapid migration too and adoption of fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh is becoming disruptive.  Consumers are looking for new products, new packaging and time saving options.”

Seeking solutions consumers are driving the evolution of food retail today. They have found solutions in Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food.  They are attracted by the fresh prepared focus, new portion size, and differentiated price points.  Which provide a strong margin for increased profitability for the retailer?

Every sector of food retail has noticed a growing discontinuity in consumer food shopping behavior and all are fighting for share of stomach.   Contributing to this displacement is a focus on short term market metrics particularly price and away from the consumer.   Which in turn has caused a loss is consumer traffic in some sectors.  

There are other attributes that are much more important to the consumer, yet many don’t take time to look. Today, many consumers lack the skill-set, time, or desire to cook from scratch. Meal assembly is a key ingredient for successful family meal.  Meal time preparation is comprised of utilizing fresh prepared components that are Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat.  

What kind of food are you selling and where can it be consumed and by whom? Restaurants, Grocery store deli’s, Convenience stores, Drug Stores and even Dollar stores are selling meal components that are mixed and matched then bundled into a  family meal.  Who is your customer and where are they getting dinner?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Want to know where McDonald's customer are Migrating?

McDonald’s doldrums are creating customer count declines directly correlated to the decline in the number of dollar menu offerings priced at $1.00 according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson.  Our field studies continually reveal that the undercurrents of QSR customer migration are grounded in competitive pricing and value offers from non-traditional fresh fast food outlets including C-stores.

The dollar menu and more positioning has proven to be a challenge for McDonalds.  While blaming speed of service, to many menu items offered, and complexity are all real issues.  The simple fact is the price, value, and service equilibrium is not in disarray rather it is under attack. 

The in fact Bloomberg reported that “McDonald’s famous Dollar Menu now includes items that cost more than $1, and other items are creeping above $5. At some McDonald’s locations in Chicago’s Loop, a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a drink totals about $7.50. Chicken Club sandwiches are $4.45, $4.99 and $5.19 at different Chicago McDonald’s restaurants, without sides or a beverage.”

Still an Aspirational

With 49 Million Americans still receiving food assistance via the SNAP program Foodservice Solutions® filed research shows that McDonald’s is still the number one aspirational restaurant brand or consumers receiving SNAP benefits. Yes, McDonald’s is an aspirational brand. Do not doubt it. 

So, where are McDonald’s customers migrating too?  Papa Murphy’s where they can utilize SNAP benefits to buy fresh prepared Heat-N-Eat pizza for one.  Secondly to 7-Eleven where mix and match menu offers are sub one dollar on some items, creating a value position that is strong and driving top line growth, new store counts, and bottom line profits. 

Stuck in the Middle

McDonald’s high end customers those spending between $6.25 and $7.50 per order are migrating to Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Chili’s enticed with competitively priced promotions. This customer count decline is more about price than speed of service.  It has become a example of a company stuck in the middle of the market getting attacked at both ends.

More and more grocery stores delis are offering a lunch and dinner specials that are priced below lunch or dinner specials offered my QSR’s and Fast Casual restaurants.  Even more important the grocery stores offerings empower consumer choice with interactive participatory touch points that drive engagement.

We all know what happens when a company gets stuck in the middle.  McDonald’s is not in the middle but is misplaced, mispositioned, mispriced.  Customer count growth will drive long term success for any food retailer that can garner customers today rather than capitulate them. .  Integrating Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing into long term strategy not just tactics will drive customer count growth.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Are C-stores Winning the Battle for Share of Stomach?

In the United States Aldi and WinCo are the two fastest growing fresh food grocery retailers both offer low-cost high quality fresh food.  Dollar stores all the while continuing expanding food offerings including more and more fresh food and fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food. Walgreens, Rite-Aid each continue expanding fresh prepared food offerings creating a platform for ‘ruthless’ competition for legacy grocery stores that focus more on slotting fees than the consumer. All this while the restaurant sector continues to capitulate customers.

Food Consumer Discontinuity

The Restaurant sector continues to suffer customer declines according to TDn2K’s latest Black Box Intelligence and People Report same-store traffic fell 0.2 percent during September. According to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson “that makes 5 years of flat or declining customer counts the consumer is not eating less they are eating somewhere else.”

Five years is a long, time, long enough that consumer behavior is evolving faster than many legacy food retailers. Five years is a long enough time that ‘promiscuous’ shoppers, are fast becoming brand loyal customer at new and non-traditional fresh food outlets.  Once driven by competitive pricing today consumers are more and more driven by convenience. 

So, Where Are the Food Shopper’s Migrating

Steve Bishop of BricksMeetsClick.com outlined where the upscale food shopper is migrating. Bishop has forecast that “Online grocery spending in the US will reach between 11% and 17% in most markets by 2023.  Bishop thinks that the fastest growing markets will reach that range even faster.   If the high-end is migrating to Online, the low end to discounters Aldi, WinnCo, and Dollar Stores where are those in the middle migrating?

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ say’s look no further than the United Kingdom to find how and where the ‘middle’ consumers are going creating new winners  the retail food space. It also provides a view how restaurants customer count capitulation can be explained. 

In fact “1 in every 3 visits to a convenience store in London is to buy food-to-go, according UK according to Katie Littler, Insights Director at him! research & consulting. Littler continued; “Overall 24p in every £1 spent in convenience stores is now spent on meal occasions (food-to-go or meal for tonight) and this proportion continues to grow.” 

Price Value Service

The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in the United Sates.  Driven by new non-traditional fresh food retailers and continued economic doldrums.  Success does however leave clues. Doing what you have always done, and doing it the same way will not work today.  Do you understand the new competitive food landscape? Wawa in the US says that it is a Fast Casual Restaurant To-Go. Where are your customers eating?  Do you know how to compete in an Omni-channel world?   If not, we do.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869  Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Howard Schultz Is The Best Prepared Food Merchant

If success leaves clues and they do.  One clue is success is much easier when you are prepared.  That got our Grocerant Guru™ wondering, was Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ever a Boy Scout? We all know the Boy Scout motto is ”Be Prepared”.  There is no other retail food merchant as prepared to win as Howard Schultz according to the consensus of Foodservice Solutions® analytic team.

Last week when Starbucks Coffee Company continued its educate and elevate initiatives sharing with over 2000 district managers what it learned over the past year and how they plan to edify the Starbucks brand to

further transform and elevate the Starbucks Experience in Holiday 2014 and beyond.

What Starbucks Learned

Schultz stated: “Holiday 2013 witnessed a seismic shift in consumer behavior in which many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers experienced a decline in foot traffic compared to significant growth in online shopping”

He continued: “Customers researched, compared prices, and then bought the brands and items they wanted online, frequently utilizing a mobile device to do so. Since that time, we have been focused on radically redefining the Starbucks retail experience for our partners, customers and stores. As a result of the work we’ve done, Starbucks is poised for a great holiday – our innovation pipeline is strong and we have a number of initiatives ready to launch during the holiday and into calendar 2015 and beyond,” Since last winter, the company has completely reimagined the holiday experience in stores for this shopping

What Starbucks Knew

Starbucks knew  that for  “U.S. consumers today, innovation means basically one thing: convenience.”

In a recent GfK Roper Reports study, almost eight in 10 people (78 percent) said innovation is about finding faster ways of doing things; slightly less felt it was about finding “easier” ways. All other possible answers scored at least 30 percentage points behind. U.S. consumers seem to have an insatiable desire for cutting corners and they expect the companies they do business with to rise to the occasion.”

In addition Starbucks new that a  U.S. Labor Department study found working parents with children have about an hour a day for meal preparation and consumption  and that includes breakfast and dinner.

 Starbucks in Action Integrating Knowledge & Learnings

1. Starbucks Gift Card and Ecommerce Expansion Coming Holiday 2014
2. First-Ever Starbucks for Life Contest Coming Holiday 2014
3. Mobile Ordering is now being tested with 2015 roll out planned
4. Starbucks edified its Rewards Program Design and Marketing
5. In January all Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors will get a pay increase. Experienced Partners who are at or above their pay range and eligible will get a lump sum increase.

Success does leave clues and regular readers of this blog know our team often states “The customer is dynamic not static and your company must be as well.”  Clearly Starbucks is prepared, positioned, and planning for continued success.  What did you learn last year?  What did you do with that knowledge?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Full Flavor Food Fuels Sales

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ stated “one of the hallmarks of the grocerant niche is consumers growing appetite for ‘better for you’ food and beverage options.”  Bundling ‘better for you’ Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food with full flavored portable meals and meal components will drive sales.

Ed Ancewicz, chef for Eurest the contract foodservice company that serves business and industry clients, stated “People try to eat well, but wellness items do not always taste good,” he says. “But you can add spices to it. A little spicy sausage goes a long way in flavor without compromising the integrity of the food.”

The rapid growth of multigenerational households, multi-cultural households, and a growing Hispanic population combined has created a platform in which “spicy foods” full flavored food will continue expanding its reach.  Today’s as the demand for bolder, spicier and adventurous flavors continues to grow.  Fewer and fewer consumers have the skill-set, time or inclination to cook from scratch or clean-up the kitchen according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™.

Billie Jo Waara chief marketing officer at Taco John’s stated’ “There has been a lot of attention on breakfast in the last year in the industry.  In our consumer research, consumers want a breakfast that is tasty and flavorful and a break from the normal routine. Our goal was to innovate and give a kick to someone’s morning routine.”

One of the best-selling items at Taco John’s is a spicy breakfast burrito according to Waara. The Taco John’s breakfast burrito combines scrambled eggs with a savory chorizo sausage, jalapeños and spicy salsa. Breakfast now account for 7.5 percent to 8 percent of menu sales for the franchised restaurants.

Success does leave clues and Full Flavor Food does Fuel Sales is a clue for all fresh food retailers. Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® or for a Grocerant Scorecard visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  Email: Steve@FoodserviceSoltuions.us

Healthy Food Finds a Home On the Road

While it may seem that day after day we read in the newspaper, hear or the radio or TV that there is another automotive recall from GM, Ford or Chrysler that fact is today cars are built better than ever before, lasting longer, and getting much better gas mileage. Maybe that’s all because they sit in the drive-thru of fast food restaurants so long.  But I doubt it.  The auto makers are doing a good job.

So good in fact that many retail gas stations sales of standard products specifically gasoline are faced with a decline in total volume sold. Creating fewer profits for the operator.  Mark Larson, executive director of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association stated "The independent guy really does have a tough nut to crack. It is tough." What are they too do? 

In an effort to maintain profitability many gas station operators are turning to Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food to drive customer frequency, top line sales and bottom line profits.  Fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food creates a platform to drive consumer loyality, differentiation, and additional day-part sales success according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Scoreboard team leader.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869  Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Time, Speed, and Food Where Is Intersection?

The retail food price, value, service equilibrium is dynamic not static.  To be successful within food retail today retailers need to be mindful of consumers evolving mindset. Today we find the consumer at the intersection of time starved, speed of service, and quality of food.

According to GfK Insights for “U.S. consumers today, innovation means basically one thing: convenience.  In a recent GfK Roper Reports study, almost eight in 10 people (78 percent) said innovation is about finding faster ways of doing things; slightly less felt it was about finding “easier” ways. All other possible answers scored at least 30 percentage points behind. U.S. consumers seem to have an insatiable desire for cutting corners and they expect the companies they do business with to rise to the occasion.”

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food saves consumer time.  In fact a U.S. Labor Department study found working parents with children have about an hour a day for meal preparation and consumption — and that includes breakfast and dinner. That’s not much time and one of the key drivers of  the rapid consumer adoption of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared mix and match meal components.

The current evolution is being driven by hand held marketing (smart phones). Today we have “High-speed Internet connections both at home and on the road.  Smart phones have forever changed consumer expectations. Consumers “need for speed” has been transferred to the brick-and-mortar world, raising the bar for service and reducing the amount of time customers are willing to spend in a given store.

Today consumers are looking food, food solutions, in the palm of their hand.  This is creating a since of urgency to please and intense completion between retailers like never before.  GfK found they keys that consumer consider very important today they are:

1.        Know me: Remember not only what they purchase, but where, so you can guide them to the closest store and alert them to promotions only on products they buy. 

2.       Listen to me: Solicit and act upon their feedback. If you don’t give social media mavens an outlet for feedback, they will create one. It can be as simple as a “How did we do?” text after their purchase or an invitation to a quick mobile survey.

3.       Reward me: Shoppers’ expectations of loyalty programs continue to escalate beyond the manufacturer-funded promotions they get now. Cash discounts for frequent visits, checking in on social media, submitting a Yelp review or just trying a new product all can be managed to drive trips, share of wallet and unpaid media visibility.

Above all retailers must not forget that your food must taste good first. That said consumers will reward you if you remember that the retail food price, value, service equilibrium is dynamic not static and your company should be as well.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.