Dickey's Virtual Franchise Driver

 

Virtual restaurants are garnering attention from everyone including chain restaurants the ilk of Brinker with Just Wings, Lazy Dog with Jolene’s Wings, Bloomin’ Brands with Tender Shack, Nathan’s Famous with Arthur Teacher’s.  

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is just might be taking over as the next big deal in the virtual concept space with the launch of its newest delivery-only brand and it’s not a wings concept. That’s a good thing according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In a focused effort to create a new revenue stream for its franchisees, the world’s largest barbecue concept recently added Big Deal Burger to its growing virtual brand portfolio.  Dickies knows that differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist.  So, the virtual burger and sandwich concept first launched in Dallas and has since expanded to 45 locations across 12 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming with five more locations opening this month. Since introducing Big Deal Burger, Dickey’s has tripled average weekly volume by store.

Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, stated,  “As the world’s largest barbecue franchise, Dickey’s is actively creating innovative opportunities for our Owner/Operators to yield additional revenue.” …“After seeing success with our first virtual brand, Wing Boss, we started exploring other delivery-only concept ideas. Big Deal Burger makes perfect sense for us. Our franchisees already have the right equipment to execute it, so it’s a convenient way to capitalize on the growing delivery trend. We can’t wait to see how guests respond as we continue to expand this concept across more markets.”

Chain restaurants that franchise need to drive top line sales and bottom-line profits for their franchisees and creating a new avenue of distribution via a virtual brand is a great way to do that according to Johnson.

Consumers can build their own all-star burger or sandwich by choosing a protein – a single or double all-beef patty, Impossible Burger patty, pit-smoked marinated chicken, Polish sausage or spicy cheddar sausage – then adding toppings and a mouthwatering sauce to finish, all served on a buttery, toasted brioche bun.  Once again interactive and participatory customer touchpoints are so very important as regular readers of this blog know.

A key Hallmark of the grocerant niche is mix and match meal component bundling at Big Deal Burger’s you can pair your delicious creation with one of savory sides: seasoned, brisket cheese, Cajun or buffalo ranch fries; coleslaw; or mac and cheese.

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com 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.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Are You Winning? 

QuickChek Partnership with Online Lottery Service will Drive Frequency

How are you going to drive adoption of your app by consumers?  Once you garner trail on your app how can you keep you brand and app top-of-mind with consumers? According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® new partnerships can help drive app trial, adoption, while increasing frequency of use.”

In an effort to drive customer frequency with their app, QuickChek Corp. and Lotto.com Inc. are partnering to deliver customers a secure and contactless online lottery experience. This will drive new electricity into the QuickChek brand according to Johnson.

So, Lotto.com is a web-based platform that allows consumers to buy lottery tickets on any device without downloading a mobile app or depositing money into an account. As exclusive retail partner, QuickChek will enable the startup to reach consumers across the chain's convenience stores in the Garden State. It’s that simple.  Most of our regular readers will know that once again, Johnson, is highlighting a great example of customer focused interactive, participatory marketing.

QuickChek Vice President of Marketing and Operations Don Leech, "We are no stranger to today's digital world as we have been providing consumers with convenience through mobile ordering, our mobile rewards app, and the ability to order delivery online. Our partnership with Lotto.com will enable us to further meet the needs of consumers who prefer to shop and play online." 

Get this, Lotto.com is a registered courier of the New Jersey Lottery and is the second licensed lottery courier in the United States. The company's dual mission is to modernize how the lottery is played while increasing its benefit to the public by aiding state funding and bolstering the proceeds that benefit many New Jersey state-run programs.

Lotto.com CEO Thomas Metzger, stated, "Our team is here to promote the lottery in a way no one else imagined — a digital-first, user-centric way that requires no app downloads or deposits.”… "At Lotto.com we are on a mission to increase contributions to good causes, tying them to every ticket sold. To help us achieve this, we’ve partnered with QuickChek, a leader in convenience and service. Coupling this offering with our best-in-class lottery distribution platform, we are able to deliver a seamless online experience for players in the most secure way possible." Lotto.com operates an e-commerce platform based on four key pillars:

1.       Convenience: Those ages 18 and older can pick their lucky numbers manually or use the platform's Quick Pick random number generator.

2.       Security: Payment information is managed by industry leading payment partners who comply with all PCI standards and physical lottery tickets are stored in Lotto.com's fire-proof vault that is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

3.       Safety: To encourage partakers to play responsibly, the platform provides controls to set spending limits and schedule self-exclusion. It also performs age verification and geolocation checks to ensure proper use of the platform.

4.       Peace of Mind: When players purchase a digital ticket, they own it. The platform will notify players if they've won so they don't have to set "check your numbers" reminders.

This is a good thing, by supporting user participation in U.S. state lotteries, Lotto.com helps fund state-run programs across education, parks, emergency responders, veterans' health, and other vital services. Depending on the state, up to 50 percent of all lottery ticket sales support these initiatives, according to the company. Lotto.com plans to expand nationally.

How is your brand building new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new menu related 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, music, developing brands, unique urban hemp clothing, grocerant positioning, EV Charging Stations fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable.

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. 

Burger King and Popeyes both begin Installing EV Charging Stations

 

That’s right, looking a customer ahead, Restaurant Brands Iberia (RB Iberia) is going to install 400 charging points for electric cars at almost 200 Burger King and Popeyes shops in Spain. Later, the cooperation could be extended to Portugal. Now that’s some new electricity.

According to a press release and news reports, “The Spanish energy supplier Iberdrola has reached an agreement with the company.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, “Restaurant companies need to think like Amazon, everyday is ‘Day One’ Electric Vehicles are here.  It’s time to invite them and the owners into your restaurants.  There is no better welcome than having a EV charging unit available for them.”

Burger King and Popeyes will get a mix of DC chargers with 50 and 150 kW and AC chargers with 22 kW capacity is planned, according to the company. The new agreement is part of Iberdrola’s plan to build a total of 150,000 charging points by 2025, mainly in Spain. The exact distribution of DC and AC chargers is not clear from the announcement. However, with 400 charging points at 200 branches, it is likely that there will only be one charging point per car park with two charging points each – i.e. either AC or DC, probably not both.

Since this agreement that has now been concluded; it is exclusive for the next ten years, meaning that no charging points from other operators may be built at RB Iberia. Iberdrola will take over the installation and operation of the charging points. Customers will be able to use the chargers via the Iberdrola Public Charging App, which will also be used for billing.

According to the Iberdrola announcement, RB Iberia also plans to install up to 100 charging points per year at newly built restaurants. However, the possible expansion to Portugal in a second step is only mentioned in the communication and not backed up with exact targets.

Alfonso Calderón, commercial director of Iberdrola Spain, described RB Iberia as an “excellent ally to move forward in implementing solutions for the electrification of transport”. Are you looking a customer ahead?

How is your brand building new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new menu related 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, music, developing brands, unique urban hemp clothing, grocerant positioning, EV Charging Stations fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable.

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 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 us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Are you Growing 

Share of Stomach

Nathan’s Famous Growing at the intersection of Yesterday and Today

 

Author Stephen King famously wrote “Sooner or later, everything old is new again.’ Well, Nathan Handwerker started Nathan’s in 1916 and Nathan’s Famous has continued to find ways to drive new electricity into the brand while keeping customer coming back according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

When Nathan’s Famous announced that they were adding Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips to its portfolio as a virtual brand and updating their menu to include more proteins, including a focus on shrimp you could hear the cash piling up in the till driving incremental revenue.

Back in the day, Arthur Treacher’s was a major quick-service fried seafood chain founded in Columbus, Oh. that hit its peak in the 1970s with more than 800 locations. The UK-style fish and chips chain was named after British actor, Arthur Treacher, who was known for playing butler roles.  

So, looking a customer ahead, in 2002, Nathan’s acquired the rights to market and co-brand Arthur Treacher’s products. As of 2018, there were only three original Arthur Treacher’s restaurants left in North America, with all three located in Northeastern Ohio, according to Cleveland.com. The remaining stores have become a pilgrimage for those who remember the brand, particularly during Lent.

Nathan’s wants to bring the once-prosperous franchise back to life through virtual restaurants.

James Walker, senior vice president of restaurants at Nathan’s Famous, stated, "We are thrilled to provide operators across the country with the opportunity to add Arthur Treacher’s to their portfolio.”…  “Nathan’s Famous and Arthur Treacher’s have a long-standing relationship and we have worked diligently to keep the brand’s traditional menu items while also evolving the menu to fit the Nathan’s mantra of the ‘craveable, memorable and Instagrammable’ product that we believe both operators and customers will love.”

Back to Stephen King’s now old adage, “Sooner or later, everything old is new again.”  The updated menu will include a fish and chips sandwich, fish and chips platter, the Captain’s Dinner with a little bit of everything, shrimp and chips basket, chicken platter, shrimp and fish basket, Boom Boom Shrimp platter, Boom Boom Fries, and a few Nathan’s Famous products including Nathan’s Famous hot dogs as well as the brand’s newly released chicken sandwiches. How are you driving top-line sales and bottom-line profits with relevance?

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com 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.

In A Battle for Share of Stomach

Are you a Player? 

The Fresh Market Meals, Menus, Magic

 

There are roughly 29 restaurants in the United States for every grocery store today. During the past 12 years roughly 50% of legacy grocery stores have closed.  Consumers are dynamic not static and according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® if you are a legacy grocery store today unless you evolve you may not be around in five more years.  

Regular readers of this blog know that The Fresh Market is working hard at focusing on today’s consumers not yesterday’s retail metrics.  Currently consumers at The Fresh Market are getting a head start on summer celebrations with a variety of grocerant niche fresh prepared foods, from an Ultimate Summer Picnic to Father’s Day meals and a backyard barbecue meal kit for the Fourth of July.  The Fresh Market has created a platform for meal solutions to rival those offered in the restaurant space.

Dan Portnoy, chief merchandising officer of The Fresh Market, stated, “As a sense of normalcy begins to return, we wanted to ensure we had everything our guests need to enjoy the season from holiday meals to new and innovative seasonal items and grilling essentials. There’s something for our guests to discover in every department this summer.”

If success does leave clues, and it does, you can see how the new, Ultimate Summer Picnic for four people at $49.99, which includes a Petite Bistro sandwich tray, a charcuterie tray, The Fresh Market Fig and Olive Crisps, a mixed melon cup, The Fresh Market Sparkling Mineral Water, and a dessert bar sampler box, is garnering attention. The Ultimate Summer Picnic can be ordered from The Fresh Market online for pickup the next day all summer long.

Meals for many mean meal kits, not to worry at The Fresh Market they have an all-in-one meals that are ready to cook. Start thinking ahead as for Father’s Day, The Fresh Market is offering a Tomahawk Meal for $99.99. It serves four and includes two premium choice Tomahawk Steaks, four veggie kabobs, a shrimp cocktail tray, 1 pound of smoky mozzarella pasta salad and a chocolate fudge pie.

Not done yet, new this year is an Ultimate Kabob Meal for $49.99. It serves four and includes a choice of Ultimate Steak Asada Skewers or Ultimate Salmon Skewers (choose four steak, four salmon or mix and match with two of each), four loaded twice-baked potatoes, a rustic apple tart, and a pint of Talenti Tahitian Vanilla Bean Gelato. The Father’s Day meals can be ordered online through June 15, and then picked up in-store June 18-20.

Empowering summer meal solutions, The Fresh Market is offering a Fourth of July Ultimate Backyard Barbecue. The barbecue serves six to eight people and comes with three racks of baby back ribs, 2 pounds of mild Italian sausage, The Fresh Market Sweet BBQ Rib Rub, The Fresh Market Thick & Sweet BBQ Sauce, four veggie kabobs, 2 pounds of Mediterranean pasta salad, an old-fashioned apple pie and Homemade Brand Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. The Ultimate Backyard Barbecue can be ordered through June 29 for pickup from July 1-5.

Note: In addition to the convenient holiday meal offerings, The Fresh Market is promoting its Gourmet Burgers that are made in-store with fresh ground meat and are only sold the same day they are made. Guests can expect to find at least eight varieties every day, such as Bacon Cheddar Burger, Bleu Cheese Burger, Portabella Gouda Burger, Three Cheese Burger, Philly Cheesesteak Burger, Garden Fresh Turkey Burger and Spinach & Feta Greek Chicken Burger.

Mix and match meal components are the hallmark of the Grocerant Niche and The Fresh Market is also offering seasonal citrus desserts and baked goods, including a new Lemon Cake Roll; Summer Bliss Chiffon Cake; Lemon Supreme Cream Pie; and Coconut Pineapple Mini Muffins.

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.

Entrepreneurs, Home Chefs, Mom’s, Dad’s, and Kids Sell your Meals on Shelf

 

Working from home is a big thing right now.  Well in-case you did not know, Shef, is a digital platform that allows home cooks to sell their meals, they have raised $20 million in funding, and just might be able to help you work from home forever, according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Shef was founded in 2019 and currently has a waitlist of more than 12,000 potential cooks. The cash infusion will allow the company to expand into new markets while also lobbying for laws to allow home cooks to safely sell their creations in more cities and states, San Francisco-based Shef said in a statement.

Johnson believes that this platform will empower entrepreneurs too pruse their dreams by selling fresh food fast, testing menu ideations, garnering top-line sales and bottom-line profits all from the comfort of their own home. Why, looks who is help back this firm, notable investors such as TV host Padma Lakshmi, actors Tiffany Haddish and Orlando Bloom, singer Katy Perry, chef Aaron Sanchez and NBA player Andre Iguodala.

Get ready here they come.  So, Shef hired Danielle Merida, former general counsel for TaskRabbit, to work with policymakers around the country on the issue. In the last year, 44 new bills related to home cooking have been introduced in 29 states, the company said. More than 85% of the cooks on Shef’s platform identify as people of color, the company said.

Alvin Salehi, Shef co-founder and former White House senior technology advisor, stated, “We’re excited to continue advocating for the safe expansion of home cooking laws to help underrepresented communities land on their feet after the pandemic.”

Shef currently operates in the Bay Area, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Houston, Austin and Boston so check them out.  Order some meals help a home cook stay home.

Get this, I’m sure you can find what you would like to eat or sample, as the company’s website features a wide assortment of global dining options, searchable by zip code, from Indian curry to Japanese pork katsu to African cassava pottage and Caribbean jerk chicken. Shef’s cooks frequently prepare dishes from their home countries.

Thai chef Saowanee Flores said in a statement, “I used to work in the restaurant business,”. “When COVID-19 hit us, Shef saved me. It has been over a year now and I am doing so well on Shef. It has changed my life and impacted my future … I am now able to share my authentic recipes and passion for cooking while making money at the same time.” Buy a meal or sell your meals in any case check out Shef.

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.

Papa John's Pizza, Couture, and Music Equal Relevance

 

When it comes to handheld food for immediate consumption pizza comes to mind first for every generation of consumer. While restaurant chains work very hard to get their brand in front of their primary consumers Papa John’s may just have found the right note according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In a unique, fashion, meets food, collaboration, the Papa X Cheddar campaign is a bold marketing departure for Papa John’s.  Enlisting big time director, Josh Cohen (known for his work with brands like adidas and Nike) and featuring an instrumental ‘Cheddar’ track from hip hop artist, B Zino.

The Papa X Cheddar campaign takes satirical cues from Gen Z street culture that are befitting of the brand’s urban footprint and customer base. Mouthwatering food content of the new cheddar pizza range is juxtaposed with fashion shots of models interacting with the pizza, whilst wearing a combination of authentic streetwear and original Papa John’s delivery driver uniform.

So, here is where this campaigns focus is so important it expands consumer focused interactive participatory messaging of the brand. The campaign also allows Papa John’s fans globally to shop the Papa X Cheddar pizza range in restaurant or online, but also shop the ‘cheddar look’ on global fashion marketplace, Depop. 

30 original items from the advertising campaign and customized items of deadstock delivery driver uniform will be available from 1 June on Depop at: www.depop.com/papaxcheddar.

In homage to pizza delivery drivers and their efforts as key workers over the last year, the Papa X Cheddar collaboration features authentic items of Papa John’s delivery driver uniform with an uncanny resemblance to both high street and high-end street wear.  Upcycled and customized visors, parkers, polos, and statement pieces, like an original delivery driver helmet, are amongst 30 hot items of clothing available on a first come first served basis from the price of a large pizza. 

Jo Blundell, International Marketing VP of Papa John’s stated: “This bold campaign where food meets fashion is a real departure for our marketing globally. Its satirical humour and references to Gen Z street collaboration culture nicely propels Cheddar back into fashion.  It’s a first for us but also for fans who can get their hands on both the collaboration’s pizza and exclusive items of delivery driver clothing.”

So, the new Papa John’s Cheddar range includes five new tasty pizzas where Cheddar gets star billing over mozzarella. The launch of the Cheddar range follows the Plant Love campaign from earlier this year, where Papa John’s increased the menu choice for flexitarian customers with more plant based or inspired products. How are you garnering relevance?  Partnerships work.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information.