Restaurants Online Sales Need to include Snacks

Restaurant chains have been trying to attract both Millennial and Generation Z consumers as they are the current base customer and future growth driver according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Restaurants need to understand that both millennial and Gen Z consumers are more likely to search for meals, menus, snacks online, via mobile devise; then use mobile pay. One problem is driving the incremental add on snacking item to the order to increase ticket size and profitability. 

New research from Euromonitor International have that found consumers are making fewer unplanned, impulse snack purchases in the last five years because of the shift to e-commerce. While

Online grocery sales are forecast to reach $100 billion by as early as 2022, and 70% of shoppers will at least occasionally shop for groceries online by that time, according to the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen.

The fact is consumers still like snacks. According to market research firm IRI, sales in snacking rose to $89 billion in 2016, posting an annual growth rate of 3%. Nielsen found the growth has not been confined to just one area, with all individual snacking categories posting sales increases — led by bars, jerky, cookies and crackers — from 2013 to 2016. In fact, for younger generations, snacking has begun to replace the three-square-meals-a-day model. Grocerant niche mix & match bundling is a key solution to garnering incremental snaking daypart sales.

According to a report from Packaged Facts, members of Gen Z are more likely than millennials to snack between meals and prepare simple meals when they slow down enough to do so.

Millennials think of small meals = snacks they are looking for more sustenance and a way to nourish the body, as evidenced by the rising demand for organic, plant-based and natural foods without additives.

It’s at that intersection that grocerant niche mix & match meal bundling that you can find your solution to building top line sales and bottom line profits according to Johnson. Understanding the challenge and beginning to invest more heavily in multi-meal dayparts on your digital platform is a success clues few should forget.  

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Is the Starbucks & Alibaba Partnership a Global F&B Play

Success does leave clues and when Starbucks Coffee Company and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced a deep, strategic “New Retail” partnership the team at Foodservice Solutions® took notice.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® stated that this partnership may be the most significant foodservice /technology partnership of 2018.

Johnson noted that both Starbucks and Alibaba are continually looking a customer ahead and that this partnership as it evolves will be the platform for growth that each of these companies is looking for it will become the new electricity that enables a seamless Starbucks Experience and transform the coffee industry in China.

This partnerships is more than delivery according to Johnson.  It is a relationship that will help Starbucks deliver coffee in China but most important it is a relationship about reciprocal technology sharing.  Alibaba Group plans to grow sales in the ‘West’ and Starbuck’s proprietary software might just the be tool to speed up that expansion according to Johnson.

Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Alibaba Group, believes that this partnership is again a testament to the success of our New Retail strategy. So is your company looking a customer ahead?

What is the new electricity that is driving your top line sales and bottom line profits?  Are your customer counts growing?  According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, urban clothing, grocerant consultants, coins /currency, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Where is your new electricity?  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.

Digital Payment Speeds Service Drives Sales

Legacy grocery stores have long been known by consumers as a place that it takes too long to shop at and even longer to wait in line to pay only to coaxed while in line for that last minute impulse buy the consumer really did not want according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In a new study by Adyen found “Over the last 12 months, 86 percent of U.S. consumers say they have left a store due to long lines, resulting in purchases at a different retailer or no purchase at all. This resulted in approximately $37.7 billion lost in potential sales. In addition, $1.1 billion in potential sales have been lost when retailers don't support their customers' preferred payment methods, the survey found.

A key segment emerged in the study, coined "Spendsetters." This group loves to use technology, tends to be early adopters and represents one-third of all consumers and 52 percent of millennials.

According to Adyen, spendsetters will drive the future of retail as the key segment of shoppers who set the trends for how people want to spend and shop. The group is also the leading indicator of broader customer demands in retail experience and where the industry is headed.

Roelant Prins, chief commercial officer at Adyen stated "Retailers need to cater to shoppers by offering fast, easy and frictionless ways to pay so there are minimal lines and offer personalized recommendations and in-store deals. In other words, experience is key." Additional findings on Spendsetters from the survey include:

·         45 percent believe brand is important and are willing to pay a premium for the experience

·         49 percent love to shop

·         42 percent prefer to shop online

·         80 percent are comfortable using digital wallets

·         86 percent have left a store due to long lines

Spendsetters also have three overarching shopping demands:

Convenience

·         75 percent would shop more in-store with a "just walk out" payment experience

·         69 percent would shop more in-store with shorter lines and direct shipping of out-of-stock products

Context (personalized)

·         57 percent say the ability to check if an item is available online before going in-store would increase their loyalty to a retailer

·         53 percent prefer a store with a mobile loyalty program

·         72 percent would shop more with personalized product recommendations and coupons, based on location

·         61 percent want personalized experiences based on past purchases and preferences

Control (interaction on their terms)

·         59 percent want to use a store-branded app to pay onsite

·         80 percent are comfortable using digital wallets

·         53 percent would shop more online if they could use a chatbot with personalized recommendations

·         80 percent would increase shopping frequency online through marketplaces

The survey also examined issues from the retailers' perspective:

·         46 percent of retailers are considering cashless stores

·         67 percent see an increase in customers using their mobile phones in-store for coupons, payments and product info

·         64 percent see a need for associates to use mobile devices to better assist customers

Additionally, when it comes to luxury retailers, 85 percent see an increase in customers using their mobile phone for shopping in stores in regards to coupons, payments and product information, and 74 percent are considering cashless stores that only accept cards and digital payment.

So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Grubhub & Venmo Complement Millennial & GEN Z’s Path to Purchase

Foodservice Solutions® interns have used Venmo to pay restaurant bills, bar bills, rent, and utilities bills in the past. Venmo is a platform that invites sharing eases the path to payment and edifies relationships between friends.

When the team at Foodservice Solutions® read that Grubhub was going to up the enter a venture with Venmo to drive awareness with its cashless payment options for time-pressed diners, especially Millennials our team wondered aloud ‘wow what a perfect fit.’

Grubhub a leading online and mobile ordering platform thousands of restaurants has partnered with Venmo, a peer-to-peer payment app favored by younger diners. The integration allows restaurant customers to pay bills or split a virtual check using PayPal’s Venmo.

Sam Hall, chief product officer for Grubhub stated “Adding the ‘split the bill’ feature provides an additional level of convenience our diners have come to expect from us. This is a big deal because Grubhub has a portfolio of other apps, such as Eat24 and Seamless, work with more than 80,000 restaurants in 1,600 U.S. cities and London. Diners ordering from restaurants such as Burger King, Rubio’s Coastal Grill, Wienerschnitzel, Subway, Krispy Kreme and Buffalo Wild Wings can now pay using their Venmo account.

Grubhub said more than 60 percent of the company’s orders are placed on mobile devices, so the partnership with Venmo makes sense. The app also allows users to send a payment to other Venmo users via iMessage on iPhones with iOS 10 or later.

Now think about this for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, Venmo processed $10.4 billion in payments, an increase of 86 percent year over year. Peer-to-peer payment users are projected to grow to 126 million by 2020, from 53 million in 2014, according to Statista. Grubhub and Venmo can complement consumer’s choice of payment options at your retail foodservice operation. 

So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

KFC Focus on Security and Mobile Payments

Food security and safety is first for all restaurants but information security is second in top of mind awareness for consumers today according to  Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  KFC is looking for a new electricity to drive incremental top line sales and bottom line profits with a new strategic partnership.

KFC has found that new electricity in a partnership with Ingenico Group to Simplify EMV Migration that strengthens it hand held marketing and payment platform with a new level of security and that security is KFC new electricity, according to Johnson; partnerships specifically strategic partnerships are driving retail success today. 

Johnson stated that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

Retailers the ilk of KFC to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different in some form and KFC has been and continues to lead at that. KFC keeps upping its game and other brands must embrace new fresh food and technology partnerships more now than ever

So in short KFC has migrated its payments system in the U.S. to Ingenico Group’s Telium Semi-Integrated solution to simplify its path to EMV card acceptance and to reduce PCI compliance scope while providing their customers with more payment options and enhanced payment security. As part of the solution, customers will be able to pay using all forms of electronic payment, including EMV chip & PIN, EMV chip & sign, magstripe and NFC/contactless. That according to Johnson is very important.

KFC now uses a mix of Ingenico Group’s iSC250 and iPP350 smart terminals at the counter and iPP350 smart terminals for its drive-thru’s, providing customers a fast and secure payment solution no matter where they pay. Using a semi-integrated approach, where sensitive cardholder data is routed around the point of sale (POS), allows KFC to better protect its customers’ payment information.

Chris Caldwell, KFC U.S. chief information officer  stated “Upgrading our payment terminals wasn’t just about migrating to EMV—it was about helping to protect our customers’ payment information and giving them the ability to pay the way they want, whether it’s by using their mobile device or their credit card,” .... “Ingenico Group has helped KFC U.S. transition to EMV and implement a seamless payment experience for our customers with best-in-class terminals that accept a variety of payment options.”

Scott Tubbs, chief revenue officer for Ingenico Group  stated “KFC has always been dedicated to creating innovative customer experiences, and upgrading its payments system is the latest improvement it’s made,”  “Ingenico Group’s semi-integrated payment solution provides KFC’s customers with a multitude of payment options without compromising the security of their information.” Do you have a security pillow?

Is your branded evolving with consumers demand for mobile payment?  What is your new electricity? 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