Takeaways, Takeout, ToGo Fresh Food Meals and Meal Components SELL

Back in the day Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® was under contract with cyberslice / cybermeals / food.com and as industry veterans and regular readers of this blog know he placed /sold the first 7 national restaurant chains with online ordering.

That was when Johnson the touting the benefits of moving your restaurant business model from selling traditional restaurant meals and filling seats with butts to selling more grocerant niche fresh prepared meals for takeout and delivery. In 1998 the restaurant to go meals were hovering nationally at 2.1%. 

Consumers were on the move and out Grocerant Guru® was the first to identify, quantify, and qualify that movement.  Today, the consumers is more dynamic than ever and according to new survey results from the National Restaurant Association “Off-premise orders continue to nibble into overall restaurant sales with those transactions now making up nearly 60% of foodservice occasions.”

Hudson Riehle, the NRA’s senior vice president for research and knowledge mimicking Johnson’s on going insights states “We are seeing the industry change and adapt faster than ever before in response to the macro-environmental factors driving consumer behavior,”

Now, Riehle has expanded his view fresh meal to include “The off-premise percentage also includes freshly prepared items taken off-premise at grocery and convenience stores”  (aka meals and meal components that are portable are GROCERANT NICHE MEALS). We defined things that way back in 1998 but its great to have the NRA on board with the “Battle for Share of Stomach”.  Let’s see what else they found:

·         92% of consumers used drive-thru at least once a month.

·         34% of consumers used delivery more often than a year ago.

·         79% of consumers used restaurant delivery at least once a month, and 53% of consumers used a third-party delivery provider.

·         78% of restaurant operators considered off-premises programs a strategic priority.

·         74% of companies were investing in off-premises programs but none of the Top 5 investments include customer-facing technology.

·         For takeout, 52% of operators said they had remodeled their facility to add off-premise services, including in-store kiosks, to-go counters or other similar features.

·         66% of operators offered delivery through a third-party service and 55% offered delivery through internal staff.

·         22% of consumers used kiosk ordering last year, and 11% used voice-assisted ordering.

·         69% of consumers would use vehicles, if available, with built-in heating trays to keep food warm and 41% would use autonomous delivery.

·         44% of restaurant operators who offered voice ordering, and 50% who offered location intelligence to target new customers based on their position, said it had a positive impact on their business.

Do you want to know just what we are seeing today? Do you want to Look A Customer Ahead?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

Battle for Share of Stomach