There is no
doubt that Walmart knows what customers want for dinner. Where Walmart has stumbled was trying to sell
consumers for dinner what they bought 25 years ago, the same brands, but in a
smaller packaging size for more money according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
At the
intersection food customer migration and what’s for dinner Walmart is experimenting with ways to give
consumers what they want. That’s is to
say, grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meals and meal
components according to Johnson.
Ghost Kitchen Brands has planted
its flag in the U.S. partnering with Walmart.
So, the Canadian provider of off-premise-only kitchen spaces recently opened
its first domestic location, inside a Walmart in Rochester, N.Y. Ghost Kitchens has a deal with
the retail giant to open at least 30 such outlets here over the next two years.
Why a virtual kitchen in a Walmart? Insights from the team at Foodservice Solutions® found:
1. Recent Grocerant ScoreCards found 82.3% of consumers
don’t know what’s for dinner at Noon, and 61.1 don’t know what’ s for dinner at
4PM %.
2.
83.1% all dinners have at least 1
grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meal component and 68.4% have two
meal components.
3. When asked if
they wanted to cook dinner from scratch or assemble dinner from fresh meal
components 90.4 % of Gen Z chose assemble from Fresh Prepared Meal Components
and Millennials 82.7% chose meal components.
4. Seventy-three percent of retail prepared food purchases are taken
to go
5. Prepared food purchases are frequently a planned
purchase among 59% of shoppers, while 41% of shoppers said they buy prepared
foods on impulse. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food buys with 79%
of respondents making purchases for that meal, while lunch comes in at 77% and
breakfast at 62%.
6. 55% of consumers would like to try autonomous EV
delivery
Get this, Walmart’s Rochester location features 25 brands that include restaurants like Quiznos and Saladworks along with packaged products like Red Bull and Kraft Mac & Cheese. Customers can order a combination of items for delivery or pickup while they shop, either via mobile app or on-site kiosks.
Adding relevance for Gen Z
and Millennials customers can order from kiosks or via mobile app for pickup or
delivery. Here is how it works; Ghost Kitchens operates all of
its locations via licensing deals with the brands. Each kitchen staffs
about two or three employees who are cross-trained on the various concepts
Ghost Kitchens focus
in on templated uncomplicated brands the ilk of Quiznos and Saladworks, and it
sister concept, Frutta Bowls, fit that bill. Other options, include the ilk of Nathan's
Famous, Wow Bao and Dickey's Barbecue Pit, have also made ghost kitchens and
licensing deals part of their growth strategies.
Ghost Kitchens employees are
cross-trained on all 25 concepts at the location. So, other brands on the
Rochester roster are Cinnabon, Cheesecake Factory's bakery concept and Shaquille
O'Neal's Big Chicken, which is making its East Coast debut.
The selection of
brand also includes a handful of international concepts. Canadian chains
BeaverTails and Yogen Fuz are in the mix, as is U.K.-based Costa Coffee, owned by
Coca-Cola.
Currently, Ghost
Kitchens hopes to have 800 locations in the U.S., with Illinois, Texas, Georgia
and California next in line. It is targeting nontraditional, high-traffic sites
in retailers and malls, as well as stand-alone stores. In some of its Walmart
locations, it is taking the place of McDonald's found in many Walmart’s. How are you giving customers what they want
for less?
Invite Foodservice
Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or
placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®. Since 1991 Foodservice
Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the
Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869
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