Back in the day there were 1,225 thriving
malls in the US and everyone of them had a food court that kept shoppers from
getting hungry while they shopped according to Foodservice Solutions®
Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. Today, less
then 700ish, are doing well and many others are are doing all they can to
stop stores from closing and leaving the mall.
The food court could not save the mall
and it will not save legacy grocery stores the ilk of Kroger according to Johnson. So, when Kroger
opened new store in downtown Cincinnati, complete with a ‘food hall’ aka food
court it was a sure sign that looking backward for Kroger was easier than
looking a customer ahead in the minds-eye of the team at Foodservice Solutions®.
Kroger can call it what they want but to food
professionals it’s a food court and it will be consumed with problems the ilk
of, operator - turnover, marketing, and access problems others retailer have
gotten away from. Kroger’s food court features a full-service bar and five
local Cincinnati restaurants:
·
Kitchen 1883 Café and Bar
·
DOPE! Asian Street Far
·
Django Western Taco
·
Eli's BBQ
·
Queen City Whip
One miss-step can be over looked. However, our Grocerant Guru® recently visited a Kroger remodeled Fred Meyer store (Pictured above). It looks like a grocery store from 1990 who’s
focus was fresh food? We ask why? Sure, Kroger invested $
12 Million in Main & Vine three years ago only to close it 19 months
later. How could it be that they do not
leverage any lessons learned? We ask, why would you remodel a store and have it
reflect yesterday customer expectations, not today’s or tomorrows?
Are you ready for
some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday
that tomorrow? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information
or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success
does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your
continued success.
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