Can Restaurant QSR’s Keep Pace with C-store Fresh Food Success?

When Wawa committed $650 Million dollars too entering the Florida market they were focusing on driving customer frequency with fresh food, not gasoline.  Wawa sales have surpassed company expectation and consumers like more than just the famous Wawa coffee.  

Wawa is garnering new customers from legacy restaurant QSR chains and legacy grocery stores from New Jersey to Florida by focusing at the intersection of the consumer, fresh prepared food, and meal component Mix-N-Match bundling, and fast service. 

Mix-N-Match meal component bundling is a key driver of Grocerant niche success according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. As regular readers of this blog know other retailers the ilk of Casey’s General Stores, QuikTrip, and Sheetz are all expanding Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food offerings. 

Chet Cadieux, QuikTrip’s chairman and CEO has just about completed the remodel of 716 units in 11 states to compete directly with quick-service restaurants. Not only remodeled but repositioned as QT Kitchens focusing on traditional restaurant QSR offerings. 

Here is QT Kitchens’ new menu which now includes breakfast sandwiches, flatbreads, toasted sandwiches, made-to-order personal pizzas, pizza-by-the-slice, specialty coffee drinks, frozen lemonades, smoothies and ice cream treats. 

QuikTrip is a 75 year old company evolving fast, Wawa began in 1802 as an Iron Factory and has never stopped evolving.  Chain restaurants particular QSR’s found a business model that worked and many of those chain restaurants stayed right in the sweet spot for 25 years.  However today the consumer is on the move and QuitTrip and Wawa are moving with them.  Are you?

The consumer is dynamic not static, business is dynamic not static.  The QSR business model is evolving faster than many QSR’s.  Why? Does your QSR need a Grocerant Niche Scorecard?  Are you utilizing analytics focused on a business model of 1980, 1990, 2000? Well the customer has moved on, customer relevant analytics have moved, and your competitors have moved on. 

With 1865+ stores open Casey’s General Stores reported a 16.2% same stores sales increase in prepared foods in December 2014 and 16.9 % in January 2015.  Casey’s is not a small chain, 1865+ units growing sales with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food.  Mix-N-Match meal component bundling works and is evolving as a business model change agent.  Casey’s has moved on?  Are you evolving your business model? Why not? 

There has been a lot of finger pointing within the QSR sector of late, blaming menus creep, slow service, lack of focused messaging all for not.  There are Omni-channel restaurant retailers that focused on component bundling the ilk of Cinnabon, Starbucks each consistently continues to grow faster than the bulk of the restaurant industry.  Success does leave clues.  Are you ready for assistance from outside eyes for inside results?  

Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  if you are 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 or you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant