Portable Food Evolves to Portable Retail

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® asks does your retail foodservice footprint look more like yesterday than today’s interactive participatory successful footprints?  If so you have a long way to go to catch up to tomorrow’s footprint if it is anything like the “Little Yellow Horse”.

Ok, just Imagine a c-store that comes to you. If you cannot you are not on the same page as Liu Zhiyong, founder and CEO of Zhen Robotics, which manufactures a snack-delivering robot, sees a bright future for his “Little Yellow Horse." 

About the size of a small washing machine, this autonomous robot delivers drinks, fruit and snacks from a local store to the residents of the Kafka compound in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

The “Little Yellow Horse” is equipped with a GPS system, cameras and radar, and the CEO of Zhen predicts that 1 billion packages will eventually be delivered every day because of technologies like his. He goes on to say that "there will not be enough humans to make the deliveries. We need more and more robots to fill this gap in manpower and to reduce costs."

China is the world's biggest online shopping market with more than half of its population making at least one smartphone purchase per month, according to professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. This compares to 14% in the rest of the world.

To get a delivery via the "Little Yellow Horse," according to a report in Japan Today, the customer selects the desired products, taps in the address and pays right on their phone. The supermarket staff place the items in the robot, and the robot takes off.  So, we ask are you looking far enough into the future or are you looking backwards for your next steps?

Deliveries in China are increasingly being made by autonomous means and several firms have received the okay to operate drones, either to deliver directly to the customer or to ferry goods between hubs.  Are you ready for some fresh ideations?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. 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

Grocerant Guru’s Ten Clues for a Food Focused Start-Up

The undercurrent’s of retail success begins with an understanding where the consumer has been and where they are headed. Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson understands that the consumer is dynamic not static. If you are starting a new food focused company or fighting to stay on top here are 10 clues to keep your brand dynamic:

1. Symbolism: Why you are there! The most successful brands are inclusive include values greater than themselves. A lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion a point in time aka customer relevance.

2. A story: Most major brands have a story. Examples: if you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nikes, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created.  What’s your story? It’ the Why behind the buy.

3. A track record: When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers. It’s not what you want to sell.  Rather it’s what Consumers buy form you becomes the story.

4. Trust: When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have. Case in point: a friend of mine always reminds people that he won't buy an automobile that isn't a BMW. He's had a good experience with his and trusts so much in the company that he doesn't believe there's a better-made car.

5. Expectation: When a consumer chooses a product or service because of brand association, he or she is buying an expectation. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner.

6. Differentiation: Expectation is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

7. Imitators: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you. Welcome to my world. Haha  

8. Market leadership: Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in. Market leadership does not mean pricing. Look at Trader Joes, Aldi, Wal-Mart, Lidl consumer adoption and market perception drive leadership.

9. Adaptability: The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping, reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Coca-Cola is a good example of a brand that has never abandoned its core product but has evolved its message over time to keep up with changes in the marketplace and society at large.

10. A strong marketing presence: Although it's nice to believe that you can market yourself for free on Facebook and Twitter, the reality is that brands aren't advertising on television and radio because they're dumb. Building and maintaining brand equity requires consumer relevance.  Consumers are dynamic not static your marketing efforts must continually evolve.

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 Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Buffalo Wild Wings Faster is Better

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson says “the customer is dynamic not static, when the customer moves retailers must move with them.  That is exactly the case as Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW’s) begins piloting B-Dubs Express restaurants focused on takeout and delivery.

The evolving Buffalo Wild Wings’ B-Dubs Express offers dine-in and takeout options expanding the reach of the brand while bringing added relevance to its customers.  Last week BWW’s began its pilot of  small-format restaurants called B-Dubs Express in Minneapolis that will focused on takeout and delivery.

The menu will include wings, a burger, Buffalo mac and cheese, a salad, and other items.

The fast-casual-style locations will also have televisions, beer and wine for those waiting or dining in. The pilots will provide a way for the company to learn about customer behavior. The B-Dubs Express location in Edina will be about a half mile from an existing Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. This will provide a chance to see whether customers will go to both restaurants, depending on the occasion.

Takeout and delivery are nothing new for BWW’s  started out with counter service and converted to the full-service model about 15 years ago.  About two years ago, the company started to notice that more people were placing takeout orders.  Go figure!  The Grocerant niche is picking up momentum according to Johnson. 

Buffalo Wild Wings said in April that it was expanding its delivery service. Delivery service at the B-Dubs restaurants will be provided through a partnership with DoorDash. There were 62 billion visits to restaurants for the year ending March 2017, including pickup, takeout and dine-in, according to food industry research icon Bonnie Riggs of the NPD Group.

According to NPD data released recently, delivery grew in the first calendar quarter of 2017 by 2% while visits to casual dining restaurants and to family dining restaurants fell by 4% and 3% respectively. There are some axioms that always seem to be true and the one that comes to mind is the trend is your friend. 

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, Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Grocerant Guru Foodservice Transparency equals Authenticity

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson reminds regular viewers of this blog that ‘less is more’ in the minds-eye of the consumer and transparency in labeling, packaging, and menus equals authenticity in the minds-eye of the consumers and that builds loyalty.

In a new report form the Food Marketing Institute titled: U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2017 found that “when it comes to how retail channels meet consumers’ need for transparency, natural and organic, online-only, club, fresh-focused, and midmarket traditional grocery stores make the top of the list. Conversely, retail channels trailing in transparency include: convenience, discount, supercenter, limited, dollar, drug and value-focused.”

FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin stated  “In the competitive food retail landscape and in an age in which information moves faster and faster, the consumer demand for clear and honest answers offer a zip-line to confidence in the complex food system,” “[Consumers] can handle the truth, and the information they do want to know, they want delivered in a clear, forthright, trustworthy and easy-to-find way that conveys some sense of vulnerability and openness. This is a crucial area because I think honest clarity is the currency of trust in the digital age.”

According to Trends, while less traditional retailers enjoy more grocery traffic and shopper loyalty, 8 percent of shoppers still claim to have “no primary store.” Limited assortment (25 percent), natural (17 percent), convenience (11 percent), ethnic (11 percent) and online-only (11 percent) food stores are increasingly frequented by shoppers; however, 45 percent of consumers who do have a primary store view it as an ally in their wellness pursuits.

Is direct to consumer the next big wave of disruption targeting traditional grocery stores? FMI data also suggests that millennials have become more comfortable with using online shopping for their grocery needs, although they still order only a limited amount of food products online.  Without doubt this is a trend picking up in urban centers and spreading across the country.

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

Restaurant Customers Eating Meals Made Easier

What to eat, Where to eat, and What’s for Dinner are the most commonly asked questions from adults. Only in the United States do consumers who think about going on a diet want to know how to eat their way thin.  In the case of the restaurant sector consumers are not eating less they are eating somewhere else.  That somewhere else is increasing grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.

The restaurant sector continues to struggle with declining year over year customer counts, rising food, and labor costs which are forces that are contributing to force change to a once invincible business model according to Johnson .

​ In a new study by L.E.K. Consulting found that that restaurant professionals are concerned about:

1.        Rising food and labor costs, and increasing competition: Restaurant operators said the most significant barriers to growth over the next three years were rising food costs from suppliers (40%) and rising labor costs (38%). Twenty-three percent see increasing competition as a growth threat.

2. A growing price gap between restaurants and groceries: Restaurant and foodservice costs increased 2.7% last year, driven by the price of labor, while groceries and other food retailers experience deflation. Retailers are passing lower food prices along to consumers, while restaurants must increase menu prices to cover labor. The result? A widening gap between the cost of eating out and the cost of eating in.
3. Groceries selling prepared foods, and eating into restaurant profits. The line between foodservice and retail is blurring: Almost 80% of foodservice professionals say retail prepared foods will be a threat to their business within the next three years. And more than 70% say prepared foods are a threat today.
4. An emerging threat from online food sellers: Online grocery/meal providers and online ordering services are another emerging competitive threat. More than half of foodservice professionals say these online entrants will be a threat to their business within the next three years. Amazon Fresh and Grubhub/Seamless are especially strong contenders, they say.

To respond, restaurant and foodservice professionals are considering these moves:

1.        Standing out with healthier ingredients: Almost half (44%) of foodservice professionals say they view healthy and nutritious foods as a way to boost revenue, and 36% said the same of locally sourced ingredients.

2. Creating digital services: Over the next three years, foodservice professionals expect about a 10% increase in online ordering, and about a quarter of them plan to enhance their delivery services to counter competition from online food sellers.
3. Buying pre-prepared foods from suppliers: Nearly half (44%) of the restaurant and foodservice professionals who buy pre-prepared foods from suppliers do so because it helps them save on labor costs, and 38% say buying pre-prepared foods is cheaper.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is driving incremental growth in every sector of retail foodservice today, including the restaurant sector.  Have you developed a strategy to increase customer counts, reduce your labor, reduce your food cost all while edifying your brand?

 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. 

Grocerant Guru’s 10 Clues Too Drive Customer Counts UP

The retail foodservice customer is not fickle they are evolving, dynamic and moving forward searching for ways to many dinner complexity free according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.  I hope you are not the Neanderthal brand marketer we talked about in yesterday’s blog.  

The consumer is dynamic not static and all food retailers and start-up fresh food retailers must strive to create or maintain consumer relevance while evolving their own brand.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson believes that the following ten clues to build contemporized food brand relevance that will edify your brand while building top-line sales, bottom-line profits and year over year customer counts.  Here are his 10 Clues:

1.       Purpose:   Customer relevance with evolving focus.  The most successful brands are inclusive, include values greater than themselves.  That means they focus on a Lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion, a point in time.  Today that must include a halo of better for you the consumer as better for the consumer is better for the retailer. 

2.       A story: Most major brands have a story. Examples: If you like Wawa you know the family history, If you line McDonald’s you have heard the story or seen the movie If you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nikes, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created. You get the picture.  What’s your story and where is your story being told?

3.       Consumer interaction:  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® firmly believes that within foodservice retail they brand, products, and footprint must be consumer interactive and participatory. When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers. Consumer will build the brand and the story for with you.

4.       Trust:   Establish operating standards that are measurable for every department within your company and each standard must edify a customer facing tactic, communication, service, or product.  When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have.  Would you buy a Edsel today? Maybe so, but you are buying to today as a relic not as a product of today.

5.       Consistency:  Consumers today choose a product or service because of brand association.  The consumer is buying an expectation, a promise. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner. The expectation must be met time after time.

6.       Differentiation: Customer migration from a legacy  to an new brand is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation in the product or the avenue of distribution for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

7.       Imitators: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you. Enough said. (However, we have imitators trying to play catch up and we thank you for edifying our brand and sharing this blog.)

8.       Market leadership: Success does leave clues, collect your clues and own them. Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in. Own the space, and understand why you do.

9.       Evolve:  The consumer is dynamic not static your brand must be as well.  The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping and reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Brands are either growing or dying.

10.   A strong marketing presence: The information super highway has evolved into a mobile marketing platform in the palm of your customers hand; your message must follow with the traffic.  Don’t get stuck on the road less traveled.

Success does leave clues feel free to reach out for a private corporate presentation, confidential engagements, educational forums, or keynote. Contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® at: 253-759-7869 Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  Facebook.com/Steven Johnson Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Grocerant Sales Battle over Share-of-Stomach

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® coined the term Grocerant after his first visit to Eatzi’s back in 1996.  He and was published in both FoodService Director and Nation’s Restaurant News in August  the same year in  an opinion article called, Call Them Grocerants. 

Since 1996 Foodservice Solutions® primary focus has been Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food and what a journey it has been.  The Grocerant Niche is all about Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  It’s about the consumer migration away from traditional restaurant meals eaten out, away from CPG pantry stocking from legacy grocery stores, and away from high priced milk and bread from convenience stores too fresh food fast for takeout, takeaway, to-go, and drive-thru’s meals to go or delivered via a meal kit.  

Foodservice retail today is about Share of Stomach who is winning the battle of What’s for Dinner. While foodservice trade media, the ilk of Progressive Grocer, Supermarket News, Nation’s Restaurant News, Convenience Store News and the National Restaurant Association all stepped up their focus on the grocerant niche each tries to define it as their own.  They are all wrong.  It’s the about the consumer and foodservice retailers battle for share of stomach. 

Our team suspects that all of the attention, accolade, and success that our own Grocerant Guru® has had helping industry titans and start-ups find success with in the grocerant niche has caused quite a stir. In fact daily readership of our blogs posted to our social media accounts has hit a new record of 26,250 views per day.  Thank you.   

The team at Foodservice Solutions® thanks all of you for getting helping us become the global leader in the grocerant niche and maintain that leadership.  Why, all of the attention now? Increased customer migration, evolving consumer consumption patterns, and increased access to Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  Evolving meal occasions day-parts, channels, and snacking  have help evolve the battle for Share of Stomach. The Grocerant niche is here to stay. 

Consumer migration from legacy points of fresh food distribution too new points of fresh food distribution that highlight take-out, take-away, and on-the-go consumption will continue to drive change in the retail foodservice landscape.  Today the grocerant niche is fast becoming a disruptive force driven by ongoing customer migration according to our Grocerant Guru®.

It’s was 2015 that we saw Americans spending more eating out than on groceries for the very first time.  That reallocation of spending has created by what Foodservice Solutions® team has coined Eating-Out while Eating-In. 

Success does leave clues and since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  has picked up important customer relevant clues and exceled helping others drive top line sales and bottom line profits leveraging insights from those clues. You too can drive incremental top line sale and bottom line profits.  Visit: www.GrocerantGuru.com or Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us for information on how you can edify sales at your operation.