Nathan's Outside the Box Strategy

Growth at any cost is not worth the effort.  Growth when looking at a key consumer unmet need-set (hand held food for immediate consumption), then outside the box avenues of design, development, and distribution heave the potential to drive solid growth according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

These are unprecedented times food retailers need to look at consumers first, then their concepts success or problems growing customer counts, sales, and bottom-line profits according to Johnson.  Consumer migration from well established eating patterns has evolved dramatically not just this year but over the past 10 years.

Since, 1995 80.5% of all U.S. restaurant meals sold, have been sold by fast food restaurants.  Today that number is somewhere above 84%. The silent, unspoken demise of full-service restaurants has single handedly put the blame on the pandemic.  The fact is, consumer migration from full-service dinning has been underway for 25 years.  It is is because it is time consuming, expensive, and deemed ‘special occasion dinning today. Let’s face it in 2020 there are very few reasons to cheer.

So, when Nathan’s Famous announced the launch of its new brand, Wings of New York, a virtual concept offering New York style wings as well as Harlem-style chicken and waffles, focusing on hand-held-food for immediate consumption the team at Foodservice Solutions® knew Nathan’s was on the right track.

The roll out of this concept will only be available through third-party delivery initially in the New York Tri-State area, with expansion plans across the U.S. in the coming weeks.

James Walker, Senior Vice President, Restaurants stated, "We are excited to launch Wings of New York and provide our fans with high-quality wings, hand-dipped chicken tenders and Harlem-style malted waffles through delivery,” “We’ve worked non-stop with our team as well as our culinary consultant Chef Mark Miller, to develop the menu with flavors that will resonate well with wings and waffle lovers all over.”

The cost to develop a virtual restaurant is up to 82% less than a traditional new restaurant concept. Even more important the ability of the team at Nathan’s to learn key drivers within a new avenue of distribution plus virtual brand distribution along with consumer consumption frequency patterns on a new product line will greatly benefit its legacy brands.

So, Wings of New York will offer customers a variety of menu options including wings and tenders a la carte, wings and French fry combos and Harlem-style chicken and waffles. The brand will offer over a dozen different wing sauces ranging from Classic Buffalo and Creamy Mild Buffalo to Carolina Reaper and Ghost Pepper, as well as a signature Buffalo sauce created by culinary consultant and James Beard Award Winner Mark Miller. The fries can be served alongside wings or loaded with an assortment of toppings including the NY Cheesesteak fries by Pat LaFrieda, while the waffles, which can also be served a la carte, will be topped with real maple syrup and butter. The menu also features two waffle dessert options – a Waffle Sundae and a Waffle Shake.

Wings of New York, will utilize Nathan’s Famous kitchens as their Wings of New York ghost kitchens, has launched on UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub and Postmates in the New York area with plans to expand in the coming weeks. Additionally, Wings of New York and Nathan’s Famous have partnered with Kitopi, a cloud kitchen platform, to deliver the menu to customers in the UAE starting next month.

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter