A Billionaire’s Comfort Zone the Good Old Days of Static Fresh Food Fresh Not so Easy

After two steps backwards Fresh & Easy looks forward, maybe.  Here we go again with Fresh & Easy a new day a new spin.  One thing is clear a billionaire’s comfort zone in what he did once is not what customers wanted today.

When you hire C-level team from legacy food retailers, category managers from legacy industries who were successful in the past, it appears as if they brought the past with them not the success.  The consumers have moved.  Category managers, continuous category managers, and advanced category managers call them what you will; they are the Achilles Heel of the grocery sector according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. 

There was a time when grocery customer service was frictionless.  There was a time when all value metrics within the grocery sector were static. That time was 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and category managers thrived during that period. That time has come and gone. That business model has evolved.  The customer has evolved.  Today, the consumer is dynamic not static seeking interactive participatory interaction in today’s retail food world. Simply put Fresh & Easy did not get it. 

While the name and consumer mandate was Fresh & Easy.  Just what the hell were they thinking when they brought in all the new products from legacy manufactures?  Clearly they were look backwards, utilizing wall-street metric’s that measured success by basket size rather than customer relevance.  Fresh & Easy became yesterday’s retailer in today’s reality and was stuck looking back not forward. 

After shuttering 50 units once again we hear they are going to focus on ‘fresh food convenience stores’?  Do you think they understand what that is today?  How many growler stations do they have in the remaining Fresh & Easy units?  How many digital menu boards do they have posting customer relevant messaging? How many salad artists do they employ?  

We all find comfort reading stories of our hero’s from the past Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Babe Ruth, George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, John F Kennedy but we live in the moment, we line in the day.  We like our cash machines rather than visits into the bank, we like Email over snail mail, and we prefer fresh food fast over shelved food stored according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™.  

Consumers today want Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food; Grocerant Niche food. They are not seeking a frictionless, efficient, sterile environment that measures metrics of yesterday. Rather they are seeking an interactive participatory interaction platform that elevates consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization. 

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?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.