Eatzi’s Whole Foods Evolving Growing Grocerant Success

Cooking from scratch is on most consumers’ wish list.  The fact of the of the matter is according to Foodservice Solution®, Grocerant Guru® “they don’t have the time, the skill-set, or the desire to cook from scratch, clean the kitchen or do dishes”. 

Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb said the chain expects an "explosion" in prepared foods targeting non-cooks”.  He went on to say in an interview with the Wall Street Journal "You’re going to see an explosion in food service and prepared foods and beverages, an explosion of choices for those who don’t want to cook," Robb said. "And they’ll be able to get it on-demand. Ultimately [customers] are looking to the food store not just for food that they can cook but for food they can eat right now."

Regular readers of this blog know it was Eatzi’s that inspired our own Grocerant Guru® to coin the term Grocerant back in the day.  Eatzi’s was America’s first grocerant according to Foodservice Solutions® team. Today, Eatzi’s leads the industry in selling chef crafted Fresh Food not recycled pre-made CPG products, and that may be one reason that they are able to expand this year opening new stores in three states not including Texas.

Whole Foods understands that consumers simply do not to cook their own meals.  That may be why they prepared as much or more fresh food as any other grocer in the fresh food space.  Today, the grocery sector fresh food space is estimated to be at $27 Billion dollars and is expected to grow at 8.5 % a year reaching $35 Billion by the end of 2017. 

Wegmans does a great job with meal focused Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according to our Grocerant Guru® Winn Dixie’s new concept store is more than a step in the right direction.  Winn Dixie is consumer interactive and participatory focused squarely on the grocerant niche. Kroger’s new concept store is more a reflection of yesterday’s fresh food retail than tomorrow’s food retail.  Obviously Kroger has room to work.  

Success does leave clues and companies the ilk of Eatzi’s, Whole Foods, HEB, Wegmans, and Winn Dixie are picking up all the right Grocerant niche clues and  are helping the industry meet the pent-up demand for Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  

BrickMeetsClick.com chief Architect Bill Bishop said “the supermarket share of grocery sales has declined from 62% in 2000 to 46% in 2014, while the super center/mass market retail and club store share has risen from 26% to 40% in that period”, Is your retail format ready for the grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food of today and tomorrow? Are you looking a customer ahead? Or are you doing what you have always done, and doing it the same way?  So, how is that working for you?

See how you can drive success within the grocerant niche. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Scorecard or a Grocerant Program Assessment excel, expand, and extend, your brand.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us