What do Blue Apron and Aldi have in Common?

At the intersection of the consumer and food retailers there are boundless commonalities. Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ stated “the battle for share of stomach is ratcheting up and companies with the best business model are beginning to disrupt legacy operators.” 

One new business model that is working well and expanding is the ‘meal kit’ sector.  Blue Apron, which delivers recipes and fresh ingredients nationwide, recently launched Blue Apron Wine, a monthly service available to its customers that delivers wines chosen to pair with Blue Apron meals.

Blue Apron CEO and co-founder Matt Salzberg stated "Like the grocery category, wine is a large industry with low online market penetration,"… "Of the $38 billion in wine sales in 2014, less than $2 billion were direct to consumer.” So our Grocerant Guru™ says “there is nothing more natural than adding a Monthly service that pairs varietals with meals to drive incremental sales.”

Aldi the leading US discount grocery store has also announced that it will start selling goods online in the UK next year. It will begin testing online sales by selling wine by the case. Aldi had proven successful by utilizing a different business model with heavy emphasis on price. Price does matter.  

Now that both Blue Apron and Aldi are exploring / testing online ordering with deliver of fresh food and wine by the case.  We believe that is will create an incremental disruptive force for legacy fresh food retailers. This will create a platform of quality, and pricing options that many legacy retailers will not be able to duplicate.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  The 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. www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

Burger King’s new LTO Expands the Brands Invitation

Brand protectionism be dammed! Burger King is taking a page out of the McDonald’s playbook incorporating bold global flavors and looks into a seasonal LTO to provide a sales lift.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ believes it will do just that. 

The new LTO is an A.1.sauce Halloween Whopper sandwich.  The seasonal LTO is a burger unlike any other in America, with a black bun that has A.1. flavor baked in according to the Burger King press release. 

This LTO was  “Inspired by the BURGER KING® brand’s Black Burger in Japan, which created buzz worldwide, the Halloween WHOPPER® sandwich has a look that’s curious to the eye, while the A.1. bun’s flavor is familiar and savory to the palate. The A1 smoky black pepper flavor is baked right into the bread. Layered between the buns is savory flame-grilled beef topped with melted American cheese, ripe tomatoes, fresh lettuce, creamy mayonnaise, A.1.® Thick and Hearty Sauce, crunchy pickles, and sliced white onions.”

Eric Hirschhorn, Chief Marketing Officer, for the BURGER KING® Brand North America stated “We tailored the flavor of the black bun to the American palate with A.1. sauce, a flavor this country loves, and we’re delivering it in a way that’s never been done before by baking it into the bun. It may look Japanese but it tastes like America.” 

Hirschhorn stated “Our U.S. guests have been extremely curious about the bun flavors they’ve seen introduced in Japan and other countries, so we saw the opportunity to bring them an equally unique experience,” said This scary good burger will be available for a limited time at participating restaurants nationwide while supplies last for the suggested price of $4.99. 

International companies that import success from abroad back to the US show have vibrant and flexible a brand must be to compete and maintain global customer relevance.  Brand protectionism is a thing relic of a bygone era.  Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food brands must adapt and evolve with consumers in our Omni-channel retail environment. 

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.

Do you even Want to Cook Dinner?

If the answer is no then there is a very good chance you are looking for fresh prepared multi-flavor, multi-ethnic Grocerant Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat meal components. Heat-N-Et and Ready-2- Eat fresh prepared food with portability is driving retail food success across all retail platforms in 2015.

Where are you shopping for you food today is not the same place your mother was nor is the meal prepared the same way. As long as multi-generational family's gather for meals together, the demand for more divergent flavors continues to permeate.

Grocerant mix and match bundled meal component offerings allow for increased family integration, understanding and acceptance in less time without a required cook from scratch skill set. In the 1940's cooking from scratch was the normal. The average home cooked meal took 150 minutes to prepare. Everyone sat down at the table and enjoyed it or not but they all ate the same thing.

Today's "home cooked meal" takes on average less than 30 minutes to prepared. In most cases at least two different entrées are served. The average time spent inside a McDonalds in the 2,000 was 11 minutes. Today 65+ percent of all McDonald's food is sold via the drive-thru. U.S. fast-food chains are increasingly remodeling restaurants in an effort to garner additional drive-thru customers inside and increase sales, simple because the drive-thru can't hold all the cars.

Walgreens is creating and bundling distinctive differentiated food consumable's as an entity with identity by day part in a mix and match meal component format in select urban setting targeted at both the office worker for lunch and meal components for them to take home for the family dinner.

It is a successful program. With over 8,125 units operating in the United States Walgreens has the potential to become the most disruptive force in food retailing in 50 years. Walgreens with its mid-sized foot-print Walgreens is garnering customers from both restaurants and grocery stores.

Consumers Want Easy to Prepare Meals

Today The grocerant niche continues to grow with companies like Central Market, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and 7-Eleven entering the fresh prepared better for you space. Meal time is now becoming a time of convenient meal participation, with differentiation and individualization for the entire family. Safeway with its lifestyle stores are heading in the right direction however the stores are so large consumers are forced to spend more time in them than they want.

More often than not the multi-generational family today is multi-ethnic as well. Creating a demand for more varied flavors and additional cooking skill set that is simply not there. Grocery stores, Convenience Stores, Restaurants and Chain Drug Stores are all selling ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food. Is your focus family dinning? Are you selling meals or meal components for Take-Out, delivery or Take-Away?

Lacking the skill set to prepared fresh prepared multi-ethnic meal components at home coupled with the time it takes to prepared a home cooked meal it is clear the buying habits of consumers will continue to evolve. Bundling mix and match meal components into a meal is one key driver within the grocerant niche. Given that most American family are comprised of multi-cultural background. The fight for within the retail food space for share of stomach will only intensify.

Supermarkets and grocery stores are expected to sell complete lines of Reay-2-E and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food much of it will be multi-ethnic food. That places higher expectations on grocers than restaurants or a company like Walgreens. Walgreens might just be in the perfect spot to expand fresh prepared food offerings capturing customers from both restaurants and supermarkets.

For More Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® a Tacoma, WA based retail foodservice consultancy has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

 

Dinner Consist of Bundled Grocerant Meal Components Today

Alice May Brock said: “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.”

Today convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization; are each hallmarks of the ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche.  That is the recipe for retail food success in 2015.

Bundled meal components allow customers to select from Italian, American, French, Russian or Greek and utilize the components at home any way they like.  The new American meal can be a composite of any prepared food components that the individual may want and they can mix and pair them any way as well.  

Continuing a long standing tradition the United States is a melting pot of people from all over the world, with different cultures, traditions and flavor preferences.  The new American meal is a melting pot of flavor and choice.  Meal components that can be mix and matched for home consumption are integral to retail success.

Fresh prepared and portable Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food is now available for all consumers and can be found at Liquor Stores, Convenience stores, Drug stores, Grocery stores, Restaurants, Mobile trucks, and new on-line points of fresh food distribution all just waiting for the taking.  When developing new menu items do you consider where the food will be consumed or how and where you can sell it? 

Consumers have been exposed to a plethora of flavors and have not the time to master the skill of cooking each.  The rapidly growing grocerant trend is empowering the consumer to establish new customs and traditions in eating better, more flavorful food.  The Grocerant niche is about convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant  Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us for more.