Peapod Beef’s Up

Differentiation does not mean different when it comes to food retail it means familiar but with a twist according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  One online food grocery delivery company stepped up to the plate creating a point of differentiation from itself any Amazon Fresh, Walmart /Jet.com, and all others by leveraging beef as its new electricity  to garner incremental customers with a qualitative point of differentiation.

That company is Peapod who entered an exclusive distribution partnership with meat purveyor Meats by Linz. The deal marks the first time Meats by Linz products will be available at grocery retail, with Peapod serving as the only distribution channel for direct-to-consumer purchase. The Grocerant Guru® has no beef with that. OK, so much for the pun.  This is great positioning that is all there is to it according to Johnson.

Meats by Linz  is a third-generation family-owned company, that provides high-quality meat for high-end steak houses throughout the Midwest, including Maple and Ash Restaurant, Ditka's Restaurant Chicago and Michael Jordan's Steak House.

Spencer Baird, SVP of merchandising for Peapod stated "Peapod is continuously looking to add new sources of high-quality products to our lineup, and that is what initially brought us to Meats by Linz," …"As another Chicago-based company, we saw the immense potential not only to distribute their products, but also collaborate in a full partnership that gives the Peapod customer a truly unique experience delivered right to their door."

In addition to the partnership, Peapod has in fact introduced a Virtual Butcher Shop, offering a variety of resources to connect its online grocery shoppers to its meat products including an Ask the Butcher Q&A section and a Dry Aged Steak Room, where shoppers can view the aging process in real time; once again adding a qualitative point of differentiation according to Johnson.

Meats by Linz owner Fred Linz stated "Consumers hear a lot about 'dry aged steak,' but not a lot of shoppers actually know what that means," .. "This partnership with Peapod gives us a way to not only share our amazing products with consumers, but also provide an educational component that will help them purchase items best suited for any occasion"; which is a win for Peapod, a win for Meats by Linz and a win for the consumers according to Johnson.

So, just what is your brands new electricity? 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.”  That is why this is such a great partnership according to the Grocerant Guru®.

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

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.