Can Restaurants Compete with Checkout-Free Convenience Stores

 

At the intersection of rising food prices at grocery stores, restaurants, and convenience stores the battle between wholesalers, packaged food makers, and distributors food prices continue to go up. The processed food component of food inflation makes up very little of the overall consumer price index that is largely driven by rising labor, energy prices, and rents.

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, stated “pricing pressures included more expensive raw materials, packaging, energy, logistics, and labor cost across the board. Technology is a must today and checkout-free technology dramatically help reduce labor cost. Allowing retailer’s, the ability to maintain cost and margins or is some cases reduce cost and increase margins.”

One convenience store chain MAPCO is adding a checkout-free operation to its locations. The first two stores with the new technology from Grabango will be in Tennessee by fall 2022, one of which will be MAPCO’s newly designed format that presents a holistic “store of the future” experience.

This marks the first-time shoppers in Nashville, Tenn. can save time with checkout-free technology.

Frederic Chaveyriat, CEO at MAPCO, stated, “Our team is constantly thinking of ways to always improve MAPCO’s guest experience,” … “We’re committed to helping our guests take a Better Break, where they can refresh and recharge at their pace with quality products and services at convenient prices that are more relevant to them, and Grabango’s shopper-focused offering combined with their proven success in the market, is why we’ve chosen them to help us execute on our shared vision.”

In case you did not know, MAPCO operates more than 330 convenience and fuel retailing stores across Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi. Are you looking a customer ahead?  How can you leverage technology for a competitive advantage?

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