Regular
readers of this blog know that Darden copied Maggiano’s Little Italy’s “Today and Tomorrow” grocerant niche
Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food offering.
They also know that Darden started and stopped its copied version called
buy one take one then restarted it without copying
Maggiano’s “Marco Meal for Two”.
Once Darden refocused the grocerant niche they began expanding sales.
Remember
in retail the old adage the trend is your friend and the grocerant niche
customer adoption in every sector of food retail is a trend with no end in-sight
according to Foodservice
Solutions®
team. One thing is clear that is it’s working for Olive Garden as year over year same-store
sales increased 1.4 percent in the period.
That by the way is the 10th straight quarter of growth for
Olive Garden and for a company in the middle of the casual dining sector that’s
a big deal!
The
facts are clear according to Olive Gardens CEO Gene Lee who stated “Olive Garden's to-go business is up 17% and 60% on
three-year basis. The fact is as
Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® says “success
does leave clues” and up 60% in three years is a sector of business you want to
capitalize on.”
Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared
food that can be Mixed and Matched then bundled into a customized, personalized
family meal continues to drive retail success in every sector of retail
foodservice today. Maggiano’s Little Italy’s only mistake was
thinking they could not out-perform Olive Garden after Olive Garden copied
them. They were wrong Maggiano’s Little
Italy’s has a qualitative point of differentiation in the minds-eye of the
consumer.
So,
can Darden do more than copy marketing positioning? Do they need to? One thing is sure the team at Foodservice
Solutions® continues to be busy helping retailers edify their brand offering
with Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru’s FIVE P’s of Food
Marketing.
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
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