At 4 PM Do You Know What is for Dinner?

Its 4 PM: your customers are just beginning to think about what’s for dinner. 68.7 of American consumers are unsure about what’s for dinner according to the latest Grocerant ScoreCard conducted by the team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®.

Today consumers are looking for high quality Ready-2-Eat and or Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food.  What they want to do is buy meal components that they can mixed and matched with other meal component  then bundled into a customized family meal that will please everyone without spending time cooking.

Consumers today have the opportunity to purchase high quality chef prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food from independent restaurants, grocery stores, chain drugstores, convenience stores, chain restaurants and non-traditional food retailers the ilk of Amazon.com and food trucks.  It is at the convergence of all of these new and legacy meal component points of distribution you find the Grocerant niche.

The grocerant niche refers to prepared food that is portable and Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh food that is deemed “better for you”.  The consumers are finding grocerant niche prepared meal components in grocery store deli sections including Whole foods, Trader Joes, Safeway Lifestyle stores and Central Market, convenience stores including Wawa, Sheetz, Rutter’s Farm Stores, and 7 Eleven, chain restaurants and independent restaurants around the world.

Successful foodservice operators today need to understand that differentiation in menu items and food products doesn’t mean different, rather it means familiar with a twist; taking ordinary daily menu items, adding contemporary relevance.   Then presenting, positioning and pricing competitively; these are the universal footprints of success found within the grocerant niche.

Henry David Thoreau reminds us, “things do not change, we do” Successful retail foodservice takes on a life of its own and is dynamic not static.   Success does not just happen it is planned, focused and based on good informed choices.

Its 4PM; are you ready for your customers?  Remember, the consumer is now shopping in the grocerant niche.  Make sure your food is prepared food that is portable, ready-2-eat and or heat-N-eat and deemed “better for you”. 

Chain restaurants, grocery stores, dollar stores and non-traditional fresh food retailers today understand that differentiation in menu items and food products doesn’t mean different, but familiar with a twist.  Leveraging traditional menu items by adding a twist with contemporize relevance then positioning, placing, packaging and pricing with portability are the keys to success in retail foodservice and the grocerant niche today.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson 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. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant