H-E-B Growing Grocerant Meals & Meal Components

Grocery stores around the world have been capitulating market share to the Dollar Store sector, Convenience store sector, Restaurant sector for so long that they have 50% fewer grocery stores today than 12 years ago according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

One simple fact has driven most remaining grocery stores to evolve from selling legacy pantry filling CPG products to selling grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according to our Grocerant Guru®. That fact Millennials don’t have or want a pantry?  They want fresh prepared meals and meal components according to Johnson.

H-E-B is one retailer that is standing up for itself and meeting the consumer half way by offering more and more grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food inside it stores as regular readers of this blog know.  Now they are one of the grocers going after a larger Share of Stomach opening a free-standing restaurant directly in front of an existing H-E-B store in an attempt to garner back restaurant customers.

H-E-B’s new 625 ft free standing seafood restaurant albeit directly in front a H-E-B store is a branded invitation to think H-E-B for fresh food according to Johnson.  This is a clue on how the industry may evolve according to Johnson. Most it cost a lot to stock a seafood department with qualified fish mongers, fresh fish, and competitive pricing.  Regular reader of this blog know Tesco is closing 90 seafood and meat departments in its store in an effort to save money.  

The menu at H-E-B-s new seafood restaurant includes classic chain seafood staples the ilk of fried seafood baskets, broiled crawfish, peel and eat shrimp, snow crab and mix and match combo meal options. Yes, by the way you can get takeout.  H-E-B understand consumers want seafood, but they don’t have the skill-set to cook it.  Thus, meals and meal components used to expand the H-E-B brand.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869