The Food Landscape Evolving Is Your Customer Base Safe?

When the food landscape changes the only way to survive is to change with it.  Foodservice Solution® was the first to highlight the relevance of the Census Bureau date that 50% of Americans over the age of 18 are single in the US. Customer relevance is essential too driving continued success.

In one of our Grocerant Guru’s most notable Key Note speeches in 2008 titled Single People don’t want 10 Pork Chops he noted “bundling single portion meal components will be the key driver to retail sales success.” Very little has changed, but let’s take an updated look at some key facts.

1.       Between 2000 and 2010, the U.S. urban population increased by 12.1%, compared to an overall population growth rate of 9.7%, according to 2012 Census Bureau data.

2.       1 in 7 Americans lives in the New York, Chicago or Los Angeles metropolitan areas and nearly 1 in 3 lives in one of the 10 most populous regions, according to Census data.

3.        A U.S. PIRG study found that between 2001 and 2009, the number of miles driven by people ages 16 to 34 dropped 23%.

4.       Americans purchased 191 meals per person at restaurants in the year ending August 2014, the slowest pace since 1993, according to The NPD 2014 Eating Patterns in America.

5.       In 2015 Starbucks begins delivering food and coffee in select urban locations by adding delivery to its mobile app and added a feature this year that allows users to contact Uber through the Starbucks app.

How is your brand adapting to the new retail food landscape? Are you still selling 10 Pork Chops? Holding four tops open all night? When was the your last brand scorecard completed? Customer relevance may mean not doing what you have always done and not doing it the same way. Outside eyes can provide inside results.

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