Albertson’s Focus on Restaurant Lunch and Dinner Takeout Niche

 

Filling a ‘basket’ has been the goal of all grocery stores for more than a century. All the while the number of traditional grocery stores in the U.S. stand at less than half the number just 20 years ago.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® want to commend Albertsons for taking a proactive step in focusing on meals over ‘basket-size’.

Why Albertsons, simple they are now piloting a digitally managed, store-in-store salad bar concept at a half-dozen supermarkets on the East Coast that reduce cost for each salad, offer incremental fresh meal solutions, that can be customized for a family of any size.

So, Los Angeles-based Picadeli U.S. said last week that its Arctic “smart” salad bar, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology, has been rolled out to six Safeway, Acme Markets and Kings Food Markets stores in Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. 

The modular salad bar has a digital food freshness system, digital labels, smart cooling algorithms and displays to communicate with customers, and the unit connects to a cloud-based monitoring system enabling active and passive control of store-level parameters and remote support.

Get this each salad bar container has a QR code that be scanned to check that ingredients aren’t staying out too long and to signal the need for refills and AI-driven reorders. The digital management system also collects data on consumption, product performance in different locations, cleaning schedules and temperature, enabling retailers to optimize the bar’s assortment and maintenance. The scannable codes, too, enable traceability of the bar’s supply chain and operation via the intelligent food safety system.

Albertsons’ deployment marks the introduction of Picadeli’s smart salad bar in the United States. Do you think it time that you visit one of the salad bars to see just how consumers are interacting with them? We do.

Jewel Hunt, group vice president of deli foodservice at Albertsons Cos, stated, “Picadeli has created an innovative, technology-forward solution to address the strong demand for healthy, affordable foods that can be customized quickly,”. “Fresh meal solutions is a category where we are continuing to differentiate our offerings, and by introducing Picadeli, we are giving our customers a great option for healthy meals at an affordable price.”

Picadeli U.S. CEO Patrik Hellstrand said his company's intelligent salad bar brings much-needed innovation to the fast fresh-food market.

This is important. The salad bar can be customized for each location, with ingredients selected specifically for each market, Picadeli reported. The company said the unit’s technology also creates efficiencies that cut down on food waste and reduce labor, in turn increasing profitability. 

So, while prioritizing food safety, the smart bar is made of hygiene-first materials and features technology-enabled shielding hoods plus automatic hand sanitizer and bowl dispensers. An innovative mounting system ensures that the grip on utensils doesn’t touch the food and ingredients aren’t mixed. 

Patrik Hellstrand, CEO of Picadeli U.S, stated, “The lack of convenient, healthy fresh food at an affordable price has created a unique opportunity for grocers to win over consumers who have been left behind by the growth in cheap, less healthy fast food and expensive fast-casual concepts,” … “Albertsons is a leader in recognizing the demand for healthy and affordable food by its customers, and we are thrilled to work together to introduce our offering to the U.S.”

Take new of this; Sweden-based Picadeli said its retail partners tally “markedly” higher sales and better profitability with its smart bars than with traditional salad bars. The company’s salad bars are in more than 2,200 stores across seven European countries and sold more than 45 million salads in 2019. Retail partners include Carrefour, EuroGarages, Franprix, Rewe, 7-Eleven, Coop, ICA and Kesko. 

“The fast fresh-food market is ripe for disruption and innovation,” Hellstrand added, “and Picadeli’s proven offering has demonstrated it solves this need for consumers and leading retailers across Europe. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our mission here in the U.S.”

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

Want to Build a Larger Share of Stomach?

Focus on Meals not 'Basket Size'

C-Stores Continued Innovation Drive Sales at Maverik

While restaurants and grocery stores are battling each other for an increased share of stomach and share of dollars.  The convenience store sector continues to drive top line sales and bottom line profits while garnering customer from both the grocery and restaurant sectors leveraging innovation in fresh food, and brand positioning according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

This year Maverik Inc. was chosen as the 2018 Prepared Foods Innovator of the Year in Convenience Store News ’seventh-annual Foodservice Innovators Awards program. Yes, for regular reader of this blog you are right this is the fifth time that Maverik, has won a Foodservice Innovators Award.

"With the combination of Adventure’s First Stop and Bonfire Grill, Maverik has been very innovative with branding itself and using its foodservice program to become a serious food destination in the company’s core markets," said one member of the CSNews Foodservice Advisory Council, who were impressed with the retailer’s prepared foods offering. Other significant moves that have built up Maverik’s foodservice program are:

·         Experimenting with creative LTOs, some of which become mainstays on the menu, such as the MOAB (Mother of All Burritos);

·         Examining its products and improving the quality of ingredients used;

·         Hiring a new corporate chef, Kyle Lore, a fine-dining culinary expert who’s brought a new perspective to the business; and

·         Creating a taste profile that is spicier and more flavorful compared to its c-store, quick-service and fast-casual competitors.

This year, Maverik launched a new fresh sandwich line to replace its hoagies, which consisted of meat and cheese in a hoagie roll that the customer purchased and then dressed themselves.

The new, fresh line of ready-to-eat sandwiches starts with new bread and also includes new meats and cheeses, and new sauces. Preparation steps have been developed that allow Maverik team members to dress the new sandwiches without them getting soggy.

Varieties include California Club, Turkey Gouda, Righteous Italian, and Buffalo Chicken Ranch. The new sandwiches were first tested in two stores, then expanded to a 10-store test to see actual sales results, and then moved to 30 stores to ensure ingredient distribution was right before being rolled out across all locations.

"Foodservice is an important part of Maverik’s business model, and is becoming even more critical," said Brian Sullenger, the retailer’s FRESCH category manager for grab-and-go. "We’ve been in the foodservice business a long time and our customers have come to trust that we have quality food for a competitive price."

Sullenger also told Convenience Store News that Maverik recently extended its Hispanic menu into nachos and salads, and plans are in the works for line extensions in the retailer’s most successful prepared food segments.

So, how are you planning to drive new customers to you retail brand?  Does our menu look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Restaurant Customer Counts DOWN Retail Denial is Disabling

Chain restaurant C-level executives appear to be once again at the intersection of brand protectionism and competitive denial according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

 While most restaurant industry C-level executives understand that consumers 10 years after the start of the recent recession continue to seek new non-traditional alternatives for fresh prepared meals, and meal components few will allow their brand to grow with consumers and instead continue to practice brand protectionism of the 1980’s. 

These are not the 1980’s and chain restaurants can’t wait for another ten years for customer counts to return. Even the Wall Street Restaurant Analyst that our team works with say that time is running out for those trying to maintain the status quo rather than stepping-up and standing-out.

Restaurant same-store sales rose 0.8% in March, according to TDn2K's latest Black Box Intelligence index, as the restaurant industry shows signs of creeping out of a two-year slump all the while same-store traffic still fell 2.1%.  This trend cannot continue unabated.

Consumers path to purchase for meals and meal components has evolved as has their dining habits as our Grocerant Guru® noted when he identified, quantified, qualified the 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome. Today consumers are buying Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat prepared meals frequently at grocers or convenience stores according to Johnson. The simple truth is restaurant traffic in the first quarter of 2018 declined 2.7% year over year. 

The restaurant sector must get a grip on the fast that 34.2% of US household have only 1 person. That 50.7% of US residents over the age of 18 are single today combined these to fast help explain the shift in path to purchase. 

With 80.7% of all US restaurant visit occur within the Quick Service Sector and that sector has over the past ten years gone from the $5 meal deal to the $4 meal deal putting pricing pressure on all other retail sectors except fine dining. This race to the bottom is not a race that is sustainable nor the future path to success. 

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Index and Grocerant ScoreCards have indicated since 2009 a clear path of preference that consumers are traveling when it comes to where to eat, what to eat, and where to buy dinner. Are you practicing brand protectionism of the 1980’s?  Customer brand relevance requires evolving with consumers not waiting for the economy to turn back time.  The status quo is not good enough in 2018.

Interested in learning 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.

At RaceTrac New Made-to-Order Food is the Future

RaceTrac entered the Florida market expanding its’ brands reach and recently they edified that reach with a new template concept convenience store that feature a full made-to-order, fresh prepared food program elevating freshness and brand relevance.

Regular readers on the East Coast of the US the battle for a larger share of stomach in the retail food space has nearly created consumer choice over-load according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® as 7-Eleven, Sheetz, Rutter’s, and Wawa have all targeted restaurant customers with new and improved fresh food offerings.

RaceTrac’s elevated fresh food includes sandwiches, wraps, a specialty hot and cold beverage bar with barista-style smoothies and shakes, and all-day breakfast items. Guests customize and order their meals on a touchscreen kiosk, and then can watch the store staff prepare their food.

To be sure this new ‘deli-based’ food concept replaces RaceTrac’s previous venture into made-to-order foodservice with the Speedy Avocado Mexican Grill getting more in line with customer expectations and grocerant niche industry norms according to Johnson.

The new concept RaceTrac is a meal 5,500-square-foot unit where customers can customize their breakfast sandwiches at an electronic kiosk. Other offerings include three different types of subs, four sandwiches, and one wrap; and made-to-order whole pizza, personal pan pizza and pizza slices. In addition, an extensive grab-and-go offering includes items from three roller grills the mainstay of convenience stores of yesterday.

Race Trac with this new concept store is moving more in-line with grocerant niche customers empowering choice, adding more and more fresh food and deemphasizing the roller grill. Is your brand evolving with consumers? 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

7-Elevens Personalizes, Customizes, Convenience

Is 7-Eleven the ‘Top Dog’ of convenience retailing?  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® ask that question because in his minds-eye there is no doubt that with more than 65,000 stores in 18 countries, including 11,600 in North America the numbers would say so.

However that’s not why Johnson thinks 7-Eleven is the convenience stores ‘top dog’.  Johnson believes that 7-Eleven once reliant on the roller grill which was the platform for consumer interactivity including topping each hot dog with personalized, customized toppings of the consumer’s choice. 

7-Elven has adopted an integrated get fresher strategy that included the key hallmark of the grocerant niche personalization and customization according to Johnson. Here is the latest example they are launching customizable tots as the newest addition to its hot food menu.

Customers can make their 7-Eleven Tots the way they want by choosing from any 10 topping choices, as well as mustard and ketchup, at participating convenience stores. Available topping choices vary by store, but primary toppings typically include chili sauce, melted cheese, pico de gallo, diced onion, sliced jalapeno peppers, green relish and pickles. Ranch dressing is also available.

Robin Murphy, 7‑Eleven director of fresh food stated "Tots are hot"… "They're served up on appetizer menus at trendy bars and restaurants. You can ever find tots and topping bars at weddings. 7‑Eleven has its own version of a tot bar for customers to create their own favorite tasty tot concoction. We encourage culinary creativity."

Better yet made in America yes 7-Eleven Tots are made with 100-percent real Idaho and Oregon potatoes, and are cooked to be crispy and golden brown on the outside with fluffy potatoes on the inside.​​​​​​​

Murphy continued "The new potato tots are great as a hot side to a grilled Big Bite hot dog, cheeseburger, breakfast sandwich or to eat alone as a snack at any time of day".. "I think for many, they're a guilty pleasure." The suggested retail price for a small order of 10 7-Eleven Tots is $1, while the large 25-tot order goes for $2. We ask how is your team integrating the FIVE P’s of Grocerant niche Marketing?

Interested in learning 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.