Harvest Market finds Success with Grocerant Fresh Food Fast

Retailer after retailer that expands into the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food discovers the undercurrents driving consumer adoption and migration from legacy CPG products to grocerant fresh according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Niemann Foods’ Harvest Market is no different last year when they elevated their fresh prepared food offerings in a remodeled store they saw customer migration first hand.  The repositioned location refocused on the farm-to-table movement to connect consumers with the producers of their food. One of the biggest draws in the 58,000 square-foot showplace is the USDA-certified butter-churning room – a first of its kind feature for a grocery store.

As Niemann’s first foodie-focused market filled with grocerant offerings and the chain’s first to include a restaurant, named The FarmhouseThe Farmhouse’s selections boast from-scratch, authentic food, which has been extremely well received by an appreciative base of loyal enthusiasts who happily share feedback with the store’s culinary teams.

Gerry Kettler, director of consumer affairs. Harvest Market stated  “Consumers help guide our menu, which plays heavily off peak-season specialties and farm-fresh ingredients sourced by local food makers and producers,”.

Interactive and participatory Harvest Market’s in-store Kitchen elevates the shopping experience as shoppers can smell the aroma and select from a wide variety of fresh food simmering on the stove, including a large selection of made-to-order, fresh prepared foods and fresh brewed coffee.

Expanding on the consumer interactive  Harvest Market’s  offers an instructional and educational space which houses many types of events, including food demonstrations, taste-testing and cooking classes. Interestingly, Kettler stated “ the twice-weekly cooking classes, priced at $10 per session, have been wildly popular with customers –  so much so that they’re sold out two to three months in advance.”

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.

Repositioning Sheetz sets sights on Evolving Success

Foodservice Solutions®, Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson stated “ Joe Sheetz and his team understand the undercurrents driving retail customer migration and that is why Sheetz was one of the first convenience stores to focus on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepare food.

The consumer is dynamic and Joe Sheetz and his team know that their company must be dynamic as well.  Millennials are embracing a ‘green’ economy and Sheetz is edifying it’s customer relevance with Millennials according to Johnson by installing Tesla's Superchargers at some locations that enable Tesla’s Model S and Model X cars to charge within minutes.

CS News reported that The discussions between Sheetz and Tesla Motors to add electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to the Altoona-based convenience store retailer’s sites began in June 2016. During this time, Michael Lorenz, Sheet’s executive vice president of petroleum supply, did not reveal how many Sheetz locations could be outfitted with Tesla chargers.

The c-store retailer already has several locations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina where EV owners can charge their non-Tesla vehicles. Sheetz joins Wendy's fast food restaurant in Somerset and Cranberry Township Residence Inn in becoming a Western Pennsylvania business offering Superchargers according to CS News.

Tesla stated that it is actively recruiting corporate partners as it seeks to double its charging network across the country, the news outlet reported. “We started 2017 with over 5,000 Superchargers globally and by the end of this year, Tesla will double that number to total more than 10,000 Superchargers and 15,000 Destination Charging connectors around the world. In North America, we'll increase the number of Superchargers by 150 percent, and in California alone, we'll add more than 1,000 Superchargers,” Tesla stated.

Is your company Looking A Customer Ahead? Is your company wining in the fuel race? Is your company wining in the grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food space? Why not?  What are you waiting for?  Success does leave clues and Joe Sheetz and his team have left you another clue.  What are you going to do with that clue?

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

McDonald’s Where America Eats

There is no doubt that America eats at McDonald’s.  However  as Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has pointed out repeatedly that Grocerant ScoreCards show that McDonald’s continues to be a aspirational brand driven in large part a halo of ‘better-for-you’ consumer perceptions.

So, last week when McDonald’s responded to Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich’s challenge to the CEO’s of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King to eat exclusively from their kids menu for a week or to rethink what there restaurants were serving.  The team at Foodservice Solutions® knew that was not a problem for McDonald’s or it customers.  

Here is how McDonald’s responded “We’re proud of how we’re continuing to raise the bar on food we serve at McDonald’s.  Our recent announcement that we’re adding Honest kids Juice Drink to our Happy Meals joins other positive changes we have made, such as removing artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets, which also don’t have artificial colors or flavors. 

They continued ‘Since 2012, McDonald’s has served more than 2 Billion servings of fruit and low-fat dairy products like Go-Gurt and automatically offering apple slices in Happy Meals.”  Success does leave clues and when it comes to industry leadership McDonald’s is doing all of the right things. 

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

Retail Foodservice Partnerships Drive Adoption

Do you have a retail foodservice brand?  Is your brand garnering new customer year over year? Is your brand growing customer counts week after week? Does your brand practice ‘brand protectionism’? Today if you are practicing brand protectionism your brand most likely looks more like yesterday than tomorrow according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

If you are in retail foodservice today partnerships matter according to Johnson. You need to ask yourself could we sell more meals, meal components, fresh food, if we did something different?  If the answer is yes than you need to consider who can help you do just that.  Recently Amazon expanded their reach in restaurant meal delivery when they teamed up with Olo.

Why is that important? Well an Olo is a network that includes 200 chain restaurant brands and about 40,000 locations each of which offers fresh food for delivery.  We are talking about consumer favorites the ilk of Jamba Juice, Which Which, Shake Shack, and many more.

In case you have not yet figured it out Amazon is a Marketing company when it comes to retail foodservice and an outstanding aggregator of eye-balls to your menu, food products, branded apparel.

Count delivery as part of Amazon’s plan to infiltrate the foodservice industry. The e-commerce giant announced Friday a partnership with Olo, an online food ordering company armed with a star-studded client list.

Amazon has dabbled, tested and explored meal delivery with Amazon Restaurants, but hasn’t made any serious ground. However this partnership with Olo could give Amazon access to the brands that consumer want delivery most.

Noah Glass, founder & CEO of Olo stated  “We’re thrilled to work with Amazon to provide Olo’s base of restaurant customers with a new delivery sales channel that drives increased visibility,”. “Amazon’s obsession with providing great customer and restaurant experience supports the evolving expectations and behaviors of today’s consumer.”

Why do food delivery partnerships matter?  It is a consumer driven in fact at Olo alone more than 60 million consumers use Olo to order ahead or use its Skip the Line technology, as well as get meals delivered from brands. Clients include: Applebee’s, Chili’s, Chipotle, Denny’s, Five Guys, Jamba Juice, Shake Shack, Noodles & Company, Red Robin, Sweetgreen, and Wing Stop.

Additionally this means that if you are an independent local restaurant this new Amazon avenue of distribution is kinda like a new ‘highway’ that you need a location as well.  Here is the good part Amazon will let you have a spot right next to everyone else.  Are you looking for a new location?  Think Amazon.

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

Taco Bell Grows-UP

Branded chain restaurants either evolve or fade away according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Consumers today are dynamic and branded restaurant chains must be as dynamic as consumers. 

Yum! Brands Taco Bell unit is evolving with consumers, well at least in urban centers according to Johnson.  Millennials grew up with Taco Bell as a fresh food staple, enjoyed the flavor profiles, adopted branded menu items as ‘favorites’.  Now Taco Bell is going to expand selling Alcohol from test too hundreds of new units. 

Under the expanded brand name “Taco Bell Cantina” Taco Bell plans to open between 300 and 350 “Cantina” locations by 2022, bringing its alcohol-focused concept to urban areas around the country.

Taco Bell has said in a recent article that it will focus on large cities, like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, and New York, as it looks to expand the model, which doesn’t have a drive thru. In the Big Apple alone, Taco Bell aims to open at least 50.

Mike Grams, Taco Bell’s chief operating officer is quoted as saying “The “urban in-line” units will serve wine, sangria, beer, and Twisted Freezes—alcohol smoothies with tequila, rum, or vodka.”

Grams continued “One of the cool things happening in America right now is the revitalization of urban areas, and we’re seeing millennials moving into downtown areas,” Taco Bell Cantina came to life in October 2015. The hip design debuted in Chicago and San Francisco, and was geared toward locals, millennial consumers, and those looking to go out for drinks.

So we ask if Taco Bell can evolve with its consumers can you?  Where are you selling your fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meals and meal components? Are you Looking–A-Customer Ahead?

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

Consumers, Convenience, Corner Stores and Technology

At the intersection of technology, foodservice, consumers, and convenience is one start-up that is quite possibly the next big headache for legacy grocery stores and convenience store operators according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan, both former Google employees, joined to start Bodega with the aim of bringing the corner store to the consumer. "At Bodega, we're combining the convenience of online ordering with the instant gratification of real world retail. We're building hardware, software and supply chain operations to create delightful automated stores that are only a few feet away and always stocked with what you need," the company stated on its website.

That places Bodega within the front lines of the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  Fresh food fast with added benefit of those one off items you ran out of that you need now according to Johnson.

Let’s pause here for a moment to make sure you understand just I’m saying.  Success leaves clues and regular readers of this blog know that McDonald’s sells more toys than any other retailer in the world. You also know that Starbucks foundation of success was built on Mix & Match bundling of retail products from coffee Machines, coffee cups, music, movies and more with coffee. Regular readers also know that mix & match bundling is a key driver of the growth of the grocerant niche.

According cofounder McDonald  stated "With Bodega, we're bringing that same ease and convenience to those of us that don't have a corner store by putting one right where you live and work,"… "We've created small, automated stores stocked with the essentials you need, right where you need them  — whether it's snacks at the gym or toiletries and household goods in your apartment's lobby."

Currently there are 30 live Bodega locations in the San Francisco Bay area.  McDonald continued Bodega,  wants to bring commerce to places where commerce currently doesn't exist.” According to our Grocerant Guru® “faster, fresher, and convenient each resonates with consumers today, when you add in technology it elevates relevance edifying a ‘halo’ of better for you with the consumer.”  Are you evolving with consumers?

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

Farm Fresh Focus is on Grocerant Meals

Most of you know that Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy® was founded in 1957 as a neighborhood grocery store providing world class customer service. When a retailer focus is on customer service that retailer give consumers what they want and Farm Fresh is doing just that with Quick & Easy Meals according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today, Farm Fresh is recognized as the premier grocer in the Hampton Roads-area. Farm Fresh prides itself on providing its customers with competitively-priced products, clean stores, one-stop shopping services, and a large selection of quality national and regional brands. With Quick & Easy Meals Farm Fresh is adding customer relevance filling a consumer need-set while incrementally elevating differentiation according to Johnson

Farm Fresh’s Quick & Easy Meals are “Real Food in Real Time” according to the company.  Quick & Easy meals offers delicious and convenient meals at a price you can afford. This modern meal solution provides more variety and customization than a traditional meal kit.

The Farm Fresh Quick & Easy meals are prepared fresh in-store, Quick & Easy saves you time while providing a high-quality meal. There are no subscription fees, no cross-country shipping, and very little preparation required. Pick up Quick & Easy Meals at your local Farm Fresh store or order online for delivery.  

Leveraging a key driver of grocerant niche success Quick & Easy enables and encourages Mix and Match meal component bundling to create thousands of meal combinations. With a variety of meat, produce, and deli options, Farm Fresh always has Quick & Easy Meals for you.

The Quick & Easy Cooking Bags help you make a meal in minutes. These bags come prepacked with freshly marinated or seasoned meats. Microwave or oven bake for a quick, delicious meal that increases customer satisfaction while creating a platform for personalization and customization. 

 Farm Fresh has included pre-washed, pre-cut fruit and veggies eliminate prep work. They’re perfect for side dishes, on-the-go snacks, or recipes at home. The pre-cut, pre-washed vegetables provide a quick, healthy side dish. Just microwave in the steam bag, and they’ll be ready in minutes.

Consumers can pick up a stuffed, seasoned or marinated entrée in an oven-ready foil pan. Bake in the oven for a quick, restaurant-quality meal or stop by there deli and pick up a meal that’s ready to enjoy. With a wide range of main courses and sides, there’s something everyone can enjoy. Does your company have an integrated grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food focus?

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.