Spinx Co. Named the 2021 Prepared Foods Innovator of the Year

 

Success does leave clues and our friend Don Longo, Editorial Director at Convenience Store News is one of the best at identifying, qualifying, and quantifying success within the convenience store sector according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food retailers will love this story by Don on how The Spinx Co. took its Legendary Fried Chicken, sides and proprietary banana pudding and made it all ready-to-go for shoppers during the pandemic.

So, the Convenience Store News Foodservice Advisory Council cited, the way Spinx Co. was able to satisfy the call for more prepared food items with minimal touchpoints, thus being named prepared food innovator of the year.

So, customers were able to purchase fried chicken that was prepared the day before, properly and safely chilled to under 40 degrees (24 hours cold), and merchandised cold for sale throughout the day. They were impressed with the process and discipline the stores took in serving the cold chicken the proper way (not leftovers). The returns were great not only in evening business (take home and re-thermalize), but customers also purchased the chicken throughout the day and ate it cold. "Who doesn’t like cold fried chicken?" commented one judge. (This is after all the food business where the customer is always right.)

This ideation satisfied the call for more prepared food items with minimal touchpoints or interaction for safety reasons during the pandemic, and turned into an everyday SKU without any cannibalization of Spinx's traditional Legendary Fried Chicken program. In addition, several side dishes were added, and the retailer's proprietary banana pudding was sold in quart containers, as well as single-serve.

Yet, there is more, the debut of the Spinx Cluk-Truck in upstate South Carolina was also cited as a major success by the council. The Cluk-Truck was booked for special events throughout the area, serving a limited menu of chicken tenders and fries. Judges thought this was a great way to bring the Spinx brand to other areas of the state.

This is the first-ever win for Spinx in the Foodservice Innovators Awards program. Greenville-based The Spinx Co. operates 82 convenience retail stores throughout South Carolina. Are you looking for a ideation of your own to drive sales?

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