Kai Market Fresher Faster Foodie Favorite

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive consumer adoption, customer migration, retail foodservice disruption all while expanding fresh food to millions of urban dwellers and suburban soccer mom’s according to the team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Uwajimaya’s a staple for foodies in Seattle has opened a new concept that is even more foodie friendly called Kai Market. Kia Market has about 5,500 sq. ft. is filled with options that are both Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat all can be eaten in the store or simply as grab-and-go meal and or meal components. 

Kai Market aims to answer the question What’s For Dinner with fresh food fast.  Kai has more foodservice options with an emphasis on fresh seafood, along with a limited selection of grocery items which follows the consumer trend of empowering fresh food discovery and backing away from legacy CPG products according to our won Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.

Uwajimaya’s CEO Denise Moriguchi stated that targeting urban office workers is their goal. Moriguchi noted “There are just so many office workers—it’s super-dense,.. I would say there’s not enough lunch and dinner options right now; there’s definitely a number in the area, but just for the number of workers, people want more choices and more options for primarily lunch, but a little bit for dinner as well.”

Looking a little like Whole Foods Kai Market is somewhere around 70 percent grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat foodservice and 30 percent grocery according to Moriguchi. This new store focuses heavily on grab-and-go, it also offers a range of Asian snacks popular at the more traditional Uwajimaya grocery stores, including Japanese crackers, cookies and candy, as well as beverages ranging from tea, coffee and soda to beer, wine and sake.

Moriguchi continued “The amount of grocery that we have is basically enough to complement your seafood,”. “We have a small selection of produce, enough to make a side noodle dish or something like that also.” The company anticipates a rise in residential population, so it’s possible that the product assortment could shift over time to target more than the grab-and-go lunch and dinner crowd. But Moriguchi believes that Kai Market will provide shoppers looking for more Asian grocery options with a taste of what can be found at the full Uwajimaya stores.

This small footprint store filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food with authentic Asian flavors will drive incremental top line sales while garnering customers from other avenues of fresh food distribution including legacy Grocery stores, C-stores, and Fast Casual and Fast Food Restaurants according to our Grocerant Guru®.

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. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information