Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Bottled to Sell

Mix and Match meal component bundling continues to drive success in the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food space.  Today young multicultural and GenX shoppers are interested in staying fit the most frequent drinkers of bottled water. Are you selling more than soda fountain beverages?

In a recently report from research firm Packaged Facts found that, “the younger generation, particularly the 35 to 44 year-old age group, shows the highest likelihood of consuming bottled water.…Additionally, adults who drink large quantities of bottled water are more likely to be part of a multicultural population segment -- 31 percent more likely than average to be Hispanic and 36 percent more likely to be African-American.”

The multicultural makeup of those who drink bottled water also implies a larger household with children under the age of 18, according to Packaged Facts. In terms of lifestyle, those who drink bottled water are more interested in staying physically fit and more likely to drink thirst quencher/activity drinks as well.

Because bottled water consumers fall within a younger age range and thus have above-average receptivity to advertising messages, the Packaged Facts report  suggest manufacturers and retailers to leverage social media and cell phones as avenues to promote such products.

The study, Bottled Water in the U.S., was conducted among 60 million adults who consumed an average of one glass of bottled water per day within the past seven days. 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way.  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? via Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information. 

Non-Traditional Points of Fresh Food Distribution Flourishing

Visiting the United Kingdom and London is a treat.  Riding the London’s underground transportation system the Tube is one of the best ways to get around the city.  However what most visitors don’t know is that 10 months ago buying groceries and picking them up a service called Click and Collect has become a hit.

Tube’s click and collect grocery service reports that 10,000 orders have now been placed and collected. Yes, passengers riding the Tube have placed 10,000 orders for online groceries in the first 10 months since London Underground introduced click and collect services. Non-traditional points of distribution are growing.

The online grocer Ocado today said it would begin offering click and collect at four Tube stations from next week and waitrose.com will be the first to install refrigerated lockers in three station car parks so passengers can collect their orders on their way home.

As the retail revolution gathers pace, Tesco, the largest online supermarket on the Tube, will offer click and collect at eight more stations, taking their total to 14. To date 42 stations on  London’s Underground network now offer click and collect services with Asda and Sainsbury also signed up.

Graeme Craig, Transport for London’s director of commercial development, said: “Our click and collect partnership with the retailers has been a tremendous success, and we are delighted to be expanding. Where do you sell fresh food?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way.  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? via Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information. 

McDonalds Leaders, Legends, and Legere

McDonalds Corporation is a global icon, industry sector leader that has been resting on legends.  Leaders lead.  It’s time that Donald Thompson create some new legends. I believe that he is about too.  Don’t forget McDonalds owned, honed and positioned Chipotle Mexican Grill for outstanding success. That is a success clue no one should forget.

Thompson is well aware of the industry responsibility, leadership role, and market position McDonalds has cultivated.  We think Thompson should remove some of the gentlemanly gloves and come out to dominate first the QSR space, secondly the fresh prepared food space.  In fact Foodservice Solutions™ Grocerant Guru™ believes Thompson should act more like T-Mobile’s hard-charging CEO John Legere. Who is eating legacy industry leaders lunch.  I know McDonalds is not in fourth position rather they remain in first, however it’s time to step and stand out once again.

It’s time McDonald’s leveraged its locations, and product mix to displace copy-cat brands that simple follow the leader.  It’s time to put Burger King, Wendy’s, 7-Eleven, Starbucks, Wawa, and Subway on notice.  The once compliance, capitulating, compliant McDonalds is about to stir things up.

Here are what we think are the five things Thompson will integrate into McDonalds globally to drive top line sales and bottom line profits while edifying the entire system. 

1. New Products (Food, Menu, Non-Food)
2. New Packaging  (Less and Green)
3. New Placement (Points of Distribution)
4. New Portability  (Delivery-Hot-N-Cold)
5. New Pricing (Higher Minimum Wage yet Maintain Price Value Leadership)

One thing that T-Mobile has taught us is leadership drives success.  Ray Kroc upset the status quo, created disruption, evolving retail foodservice into what we have today.  Look what the McDonald’s team helped create with Chipotle Mexican Grill.  They knew enough to allow the Chipotle vision to flourish and it has.  McDonalds vision is about to be reborn.

Foodservice Solutions® believes that Thompson is the one to take off the gloves, rekindle the fire and reclaim, the respect that McDonald’s has and continues to earn. Copy-cat concepts be forewarned. 

Outside eyes can deliver top sales and bottom line profits.  Invite www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Have you completed a Grocerant Scorecard? Contact: 253-759-7869 or Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Technology Once Again Driving Fresh Food Sales

Non-traditional fresh food locations continue to grow.  Once seen as outdated and home of junk food only vending machines are making a comeback. Pantry, is a smart vending machine that stores fresh, healthy snack options, raised $1.3 million to let businesses offer employees more than candy bars and bags of chips. 

Each vending machine comes” equipped with a Google Inc. Android tablet attached with a credit card reader so hungry customers can swipe and pay for food, TechCrunch reported. Through radio frequency identification technology, Pantry can detect what item was taken out and automatically charge the user’s card. From a food monitoring and re-stocking standpoint, Pantry’s technology tracks snack inventory to let companies know when machines should be restocked.”

Pantry already launched successful pilot programs at two Hospital’s Stanford and UCSF, which want to deploy more of the fridges.  Unlike other companies Pantry plans to eventually move into fast-casual restaurant spots where it will dispense recently made salads and sandwiches to help ease the lunch-hour rush.

Is your company ready for automated salad and sandwiches?  Could you expand your brands fresh halo with the Pantry? I know one company that is Marriott International, Inc is offering healthy vending machines in select Chicago locations featuring handcrafted salads, sandwiches and snacks made fresh everyday using local ingredients.

Items curated and prepared daily by Marriott’s Farmer's Fridge will be offered for sale in distinctive packaging, ranging in price from $3 to $12 dollars and include:

·         The Detox Salad (also known as the Junk Food Eraser) made with organic Kale and Quinoa with fennel, fruits and beans served in white balsamic vinaigrette.

·         Greek Yogurt and Berries (also known as Breakfast of the Gods) made with low-fat Greek Yogurt, berries and locally sourced honey.

·         Lemon Pepper Chicken made with chicken breast from chickens that have been humanely raised without antibiotics, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.

Outside eyes can deliver top sales and bottom line profits.  Invite www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Have you completed a Grocerant Scorecard? Contact: 253-759-7869 or Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Food Loyalty Programs Falter

How much are you paying for or investing to maintain your company’s loyalty program?  It simply might be too much.  Today, fresh prepared food is driving frequency more than legacy loyalty programs according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson. 

Kurt Jetta, Ph.D. CEO and founder, TABS Group stated that “The evidence is pretty compelling, though, that there are fewer incremental sales and profits being generated”.  Jetta, when on too outline eight reason why retailer loyalty programs do not work as they once did.  Here are the eight reasons:

1. The offers are confusing

2. The offers are deceptive

3. The offers are less.

4. The offers are exclusionary

5. The offers are unrealizable

6. They are not "Loyalty" programs anyway

7. They are expensive to execute

8. They breed complacency

Fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food is compelling. It does drive top line sales and bottom line profits while driving frequency because it is simple for the consumer to understand while satisfying the urgency of I want it now. 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way.  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? via Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information. 

Takeout Dinning Grocery Store Vs Restaurants and More

Shopping for dinner? While some speculate that takeout dinning is the result of undercurrents of a shift in cultural behavior others like Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ simply calls it a logical evolution driven by time starved consumers.   Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food from grocery stores is up 30+ percent since 2008 according to the NPD Group. 

If you were to add in the increase in Take-away from grocery stores and takeout from restaurants it would be closer to 50% increase according to the Grocerant Guru™.  However new non-traditional fresh food retailers the ilk of C-stores, liquor stores, and chain drug stores are all selling fresh prepared meal components today. Foodservice Solutions® team estimates that sales of Takeout Dinning are up over 120% since 2008.

Foodservice Solutions® proprietary research found the shift into grocery fresh meals, restaurant takeout, and Drug store fresh food was not driven by the bifurcated economy rather it is driven by the 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome.

Grocerant Takeout was once considered a disappointing product call simply bulk ‘prepared food’ in sections of the grocery stores.  Today, consumers refer to it as ‘restaurant quality meals’ many made to order.  All have Mix and Match meal component bundling as an integral aspect.   

Household’s multi-tasking at dinner time is nothing new.  The ability of consumers to bundle components for multiple meals, at one stop, fast is a driving factor propelling success within the C-store sector and other non-traditional fresh food retailers.  Takeout from any point of distribution today can be Pad Thai, a gallon of fresh tap beer, hoagies, hot protein bar, vegetarian wraps, beef chow Mein, green Chile pork, chicken Parmesan and soup-and-salad bars to customized sandwiches.

The advantage many non-traditional retailers have they offer expanded choice in fresh food flavors targeting multigenerational, multiethnic, families and households. Technology, simplicity, and choice are enhancing the shopping experience today.  Retailers that edify marketing messaging with the 5 P’s of food marketing are garnering positive results.  The Grocerant Niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food drives sales.

Outside eyes can deliver top sales and bottom line profits.  Invite www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Have you completed a Grocerant Scorecard? Contact: 253-759-7869 or Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

McDonald's Bundling Meal Components for Fall Success

Mix and Match meal component bundling is a hallmark of the fastest growing sector in retail foodservice today the Grocerant Niche according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson.  McDonalds the highest volume Fast Food Chain Restaurant in the world continues to garner top line sales and bottom line profits with customer relevance.

Meal bundling is nothing new for McDonalds targeting multi-meals with multiple components however is. Given that McDonald’s leadership is grounded with the knowledge brand equity is not a constant continued success in growing customer counts, and sales are never taken for granted.  McDonalds does not believe in brand protectionism.  The consumer is dynamic and so is McDonalds.  

This fall McDonalds is infusing contemporized customer relevance with Tailgating Meal deals. This edifies several points of relevance with consumers.  First, it reinforces relevance with high school, college, and professional sports fans. Secondly, it deals a blow to start-up non-traditional food retailers targeting the same niche with brand familiarity and price competitiveness thus upsetting the price value equilibrium. Thirdly, they invite family and friends to share a meal; a McDonalds meal, garnering a personal endorsement from a trusted family member or friend.  That’s an indorsed brand invitation.

In addition, McDonald’s is launching the national McDonald’s Tailgate Photo Sweepstakes. Participants have a chance to win the ultimate McDonald’s tailgate experience, all for a grand prize they’ll never forget in their hometown, with the McDonald’s mobile restaurant rolling up with enough food for 200 friends, family members and neighbors. Here is how to enter McDonald’s Tailgate Photo Sweepstakes:

The McDonald’s Tailgate Photo Sweepstakes from Sept. 2 through Oct. 6. Fans are invited to enter in three ways, showing their passion for football and McDonald’s by:
1.       Tweeting a picture using the #McDTailgateSweeps to @McDonalds
2.       Sharing a picture on Instagram using #McDTailgateSweeps and tagging@McDonalds
3.       Posting a Vine video to Twitter using #McDTailgateSweeps

Grocerant niche bundled meal components drive sales and garner consumer attention.  Success does leave clues.  Don’t keep doing what you have always done or your brand will become static and you will your brand will move from an invitation to uninviting.

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche since 1991