Ever Eaten at a Food Truck? You Will.

Ready-2-Eat meals are rolling your way.  If you have yet to try a meal from a food truck the odds are you will.  Grocerant niche ready-2-eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive new points of fresh food distribution and customer adoption is driving growth according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™.

Food trucks are not just for Millennials new research shows that food trucks are on track to be nearly $3 billion industry by 2017 according to a study conducted by The National Restaurant Association that found today “food trucks generate $650 million in annual revenue. By the year 2017, it’s expected to be a $2.7 billion national industry.” 

Growth has just begun for the food truck sector. Saint Leo University Polling Institute indicated that nearly half of respondents both nationally and statewide have never purchased food from such trucks. Of the 1,022 adult respondents in the nationwide poll “48 percent said they had never had a meal food from a food truck.

Another 24 percent only frequent a food truck once or twice a year, while 3 percent purchase food there once or twice a month. Only 11% buy lunch or dinner at a food truck from one to three times or more a week. The institute’s statewide poll of 535 adults yielded a similar result: 45 percent had never eaten food from a food truck.”

When asked Why they Buy? What is the most important reason why you get meals at food trucks?

	National		Florida
45%	Convenience	46%	Convenience
14%	Affordability	13%	Affordability
21%	Quality of the food	23%	Quality of food
6%	Healthy choices	4%	Healthy choices
12%	Something else	11%	Something else
1%	Don’t know / not sure	2%	Don’t know / not sure

Non-traditional points of fresh food distribution are growing in number of outlets, number of new points of distribution and customers.  Simply put Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food is becoming a disruptive force in food retailing. 

Does you brand need a Grocerant Scorecard?  Have you had a Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared niche food assessment?  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us specializes in help companies, brands, and start-ups establish a strong footing in the Grocerant niche.  Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Peach Drives Success Catering Lunch

The Ready-2-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche is simply booming.  Cash if funneling in and companies continue to grow top line revenue and bottom line profits while expanding points of fresh food distribution according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. 

When Peach raised $2.7 million launching just a about a year ago it partnered with different restaurants each day and delivering boxed lunches to offices around the Seattle area. Each day Peach members receive a text in the morning for that day’s selected dish and leaning what restaurant would be supplying the meal.  Customers have about an hour to place an order by responding with a “yes” text then their food shows up an hour later at a pre-determined office space.  Then was then.  

Start-ups experiment and now the 25-person startup is also finding success with a new catering service and “Peach Perks” program that utilize the company’s technology and logistics platform. The new business model includes catering. 

Today companies can order platter style meals or the traditional Peach boxed lunches, depending on preference and size of the group. Peach Catering Product Director Chet Kittleson told Geekwire that the service has grown revenue by 100 percent in the past two months.

“We’re able to provide the convenience of a traditional catering company — one point-of-contact, one invoice, we know the ins and outs of your catering needs, etc. — but can provide a huge variety of cuisine types all from local restaurants,” Kittleson noted.

“Peach Perks” is another new offering that lets companies subsidize lunch for their employees. Many tech companies have their own in-house chefs to cook food for workers, and Peach allows startups without a kitchen or cooking staff provide a similar perk.

Success does leave clues and Peach is growing quickly with its lunch delivery service, now serving mid-day meals to more than 250 offices in the Seattle region and began service in San Diego, California.

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 Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Amazon is Getting Closer to Your Food Customers

Last week Amazon announced it was rolling out a new program to drive incremental discovery, reward customers, while getting closer to its customers.  The program is called Treasure Truck.  It is only available on the Amazon App on your smart phone. 

Treasure Truck is a deals program that Amazon is launching soon to allow customer to buy a heavily discounted through the Amazon’s mobile app and then pick up the item directly from that truck at an announced designated location in and about Seattle as a test program. 

The first launch item has been announced as well it is a great deal a $99 inflatable stand-up paddleboard set that normally sells for more than $475.  The designated pickup location was near Amazon’s headquarters and the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle. The company had even suggested that people buying the paddleboards could try them out right away on nearby Lake Union.

Fresh Food is on the agenda as well.  Are you Ready-2-Eat or looking for Heat-N-Eat fresh food?  You just might start thinking more and more about Amazon’s Treasure Truck.   Amazon’s says “Remember your neighborhood ice cream truck? It was a four-wheeled joy machine that excited you every time you heard it roll through the streets. Why should this excitement end just because you’re all grown up? Good news—it doesn’t have to.”  

When the Treasure Truck pulls up in your neighborhood the next time it just might have Prime Ribeye Steaks, Copper River Salmon, or even Ice Cream! The Treasure Truck is full of incremental surprise, delight, and discovery.  In other words everything you expect from Amazon. Follow Amazon’s Treasure Truck on Twitter.com @treasuretruck. 

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. 

Foodies Driving Change

The undercurrents of change in the food world are everywhere according to a new report by Packaged facts called Opportunities for Restaurants and Retail, 2^nd Edition. The Packaged Facts data reveals a striking trend in the way American consumers think about food based on industry growth between 2007 and 2014. 

In the report, Packaged Facts “pinpoints a subsection of foodies identified as the Trendsetter Foodie segment, consisting of foodies who “agree a lot” with the statements that “I like to try new recipes” and “I like to try out new food products. Trendsetter Foodies total around 29 million and represent about 12 percent of the adult population. 

The Trendsetter Foodies consist of “Millennials, Gen-Xers or Boomers, Trendsetter Foodies share a common underlying desire not only to seek out new food experiences and products, but to try new things of all kinds, whether shopping at a new store, wearing new clothing styles, or buying new gadgets. Moreover, there is a noteworthy similarity in the eating habits, food preferences, food shopping habits, and attitudes toward cooking at home of Trendsetter Foodies of all ages.”

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ points out “that the ‘Trendsetter Foodies’ are early adopters of new points of fresh food distribution, Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food, and cheerleaders for the evolving grocerant niche.” 

David Sprinkle, research director, Packaged Facts stated: “Undoubtedly, one of the threads running through the food culture today is an unending quest for new and exciting food products and experiences… Foodies in particular are deeply immersed in searching for the next big thing in the food world.”

The changing face of retail food customers was revealed by the Packaged Facts National Online Survey data that found: “foodies have an above-average likelihood of being under the age of 35 and thus falling within the Millennial generation, and Millennials account for around 36 percent of the Trendsetter Foodie segment.”

The report went on to sound like our Grocerant Guru™ finding that “Millennials have a preference for globalized food styles, a quest for intense and exciting flavors and textures, an unending search for what’s trending in the restaurant world, an attachment to farm-to-table restaurants, a cascade of Instagram posts of “what we’re eating right now,” the food truck fad, and locavore food shopping habits are just a few of the hallmarks of Millennial foodie fixations.” 

Not to worry Boomers the report found that you (Baby Boomers) “represent 32 percent of Trendsetter Foodies and thus are nearly as important as Millennials in this consumer segment. So not too much has changed.  Clearly what was reveled was 30+ percent of the population is in search for new, different points of fresh food.  Regular readers of this blog know where they are looking and finding it! Within the GROCERANT NICHE.

At home or school today’s consumers are informed, seeking ‘better for you’ Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food for breakfast, lunch, snacking or dinner.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  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