Coffee Catches Customers

Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and convenience stores are all garnering incremental customers, top line sales, and bottom line profits driven by an increased demand in fresh full flavored coffee according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today consumers purchase an average of 3.6 beverages per week from c-stores, restaurants, and new non-traditional foodservice locations. Simply put ‘On-the-go’ beverage consumption is fueling coffee visits thus foodservice outlet visits according to Johnson. In fact 64% of consumers have drank coffee within the past month, either at home or from a foodservice outlet.

Erica Colgan, Product Manager at Huhtamaki stated that many of these visits are likely happening on-the-go. “In general, consumer lifestyles are becoming more mobile”... “Coffee has always been an important part of the morning routine for many people, but with busier schedules, it’s often easier to grab a cup to go while on the way to work, school or errands.”

Colgan continued “A great to-go cup starts with proper insulation. While many busy professionals don’t have the time to linger over a cup of coffee in the morning, they want it to stay hot on the go. Not only do quality cups keep beverages at the right temperature for a longer period of time, but they also make it more comfortable to hold—something that’s important for customers who stop in before their morning commutes. “With proper insulation, drinks will stay hot and the cup stays comfortable to the touch, making it easier to hold during commutes and while on-the-go,”

Fresh fast full flavored coffee service in the morning has incremental brand-building power for foodservice outlets. Retail foodservice outlets can print logos and other branding on the outside of cups, which increases brand recall for consumers. With branded cups, an operator can gain additional exposure. Colgan says “allows operators to showcase their brand in a high-quality way. And now, the extended sleeve provides even more room for branding.”

More and more municipalities are banning legacy plastic and Styrofoam cups.  Are you prepared with the proper cups for takeout?  Do your brand cups look more like yesterday than tomorrow? The best-designed to-go cups will take into consideration consumer needs and preferences, and adapt to those needs.

Success does leave clues and being prepared with branded cups of fresh brewed coffee that is full flavored is a clue not operator should over look.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Dunkin’s Mobile Grab-N-Go Drive’s Customer Flow

Regular readers of this blog understand the strength and key drivers of grocerant niche growth and Dunkin Donuts new prototype emphasizes those attributes.  The team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes that Nancy Luna of Nation’s Restaurant News captured some of the visceral customer touch points in her recent NRN article. We have added out view and included some of Nancy’s NRN article photos to drive home our points.

Dunkin’s store of the future edifies consumer increasing demand for fast service, quick payments, and grocerant niche mix and match meal component bundling all while edifying customer choice with relevance according to Steven Johnson our Grocerant Guru® convenience, takeout and tech

The relevance comes in as pointed out by Nancy in the form of a pickup counter for mobile orders, nitrogen-infused cold brew and tabletop outlets to power devices all focused on convenience, takeout and technology that edifies speed of service. 

Dunkin’ Donuts plans to open 50 of these store of the future units by the end of 2018 according to the company. While calling itself a beverage first company these new units underscoring the interplay between food and beverages creating a platform that enables mix and match meal component bundling superiority to that of McDonald’s and Starbucks.  

The new eight-tap beverage system empowers choice including cold-brew coffee infused with nitrogen which continues to garner new customers. This new display will prove inviting to consumers and elevate product sampling according to Johnson.

The Donut display puts the doughnuts out front, instead of behind the counter like in traditional locations.  Combine that with an expanded to-go section is stocked with a variety of snacks and merchandise, such as bottled drinks, yogurt parfaits, nutrition bars, coffee mugs, beef jerky and mints the grocerant niche mix and match bundling will enhance the consumer experience.

Mobile order and pay add relevance to Gen Z and Millennials as the mobile pickup counter enable consumers to simple skip the line when they pay online. How is your brand expanding consumer choice?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant

Starbucks Kicks Off the Restaurant Holiday Season

Restaurant holiday specials, sales, and Starbucks Cups are all coming out this time of year.  Our own Grocerant Guru® reminds us that ‘when you see Starbucks Holiday Cups you know that the restaurant holiday specials will follow.”  Once again this year we will highlight several pantry busting holiday restaurant family meal offers all aimed at making your family meal simpler.  

Back in the day 1997 is when Starbucks began its holiday cup program, once again this year you can fill those cups with favorites the ilk of Chestnut Praline Latte, Caramel Brulée Latte and Peppermint Mocha.

This year, Starbucks has unveiled its first color-in holiday cup. The cup design starts with a pair of hands holding red cups of coffee, an ode to cups of years past, connected with swirling ribbons with lively holiday scenes and splashes of red and green.

Leanne Fremar, executive creative director for Starbucks as if she were taking a clue from our own Grocerant Guru® and expanding the concept of customer interactivity and participation stated  “We love the idea of everyone making this year’s cup their own. “This year’s cup is intentionally designed to encourage our customers to add their own color and illustrations,”  Ah yes the Grocerant Guru® one again on target.  

May we suggest that you try a flavored holiday drink in one of the new holiday cups and color to your up and let us know if you think consumer interactivity and participation draws you closer to the Starbucks brand.  We think you will but we will wait to hear from you.

Marketing matters learn how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization? Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.