Ricker's Checkout Technology is a Competitive Advantage Over Restaurants

Restaurant customer service is defined the type of service say fast food drive-thru vs table service.  However, each type of service is evaluated on speed of service.  One convenience store chain that is selling as much fresh fast food as most chain restaurants just elevated it’s speed of service leaving fast food chains looking more like yesterday than today or tomorrow’s fast food outlet  according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Ricker's announced that it is implementing frictionless checkout technology at its 58 convenience stores throughout Indiana. Fast, faster, service is going to be the new electricity that drive incremental customer adoption at Ricker’s according to Johnson.

Ricker’s now has a partnership with Skip is a hybrid of mobile pay and the Amazon Go concept. The mission, according to Skip, is to provide a best-in-class convenience store experience, easy access to promotional deals, and enable customers to purchase in-store items at the pump or prior to arrival.

Quinn Ricker, CEO and president of Ricker's  stated "By adding Skip to our arsenal of customer service competencies, we expect to see higher frequency and volume of transactions simply from the competitive advantage this partnership will provide. Not to mention being able to convert frequent fuel purchasers into loyal in-store customers,"

Skip's technology reduces the speed of checkout from an average of 60 seconds to an instant pay-and-go action controlled by the customer. Via its partnership with Zipline, Skip also acts as a cost cutter for retail businesses bringing down transaction fees.

For Ricker's, Skip provides a competitive advantage expected to drive more transactions and frequency, including higher conversions from the forecourt to the food court thus garnering incremental restaurant customer migration according to Johnson.  So, what is your new electricity that is driving top line sales and bottom line profits?  Are your customer counts growing? 

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, coins /currency urban clothing, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.