Did Amazon Go Drive Packaged Sandwiches Growth

When Amazon Go opened up foodservice professionals from around the world including our own Grocerant Guru® visited the new stores to try to better experience cashier free check out. That experience was eye opening it was also great.  It was seamless, saving time, while simultaneously reintroducing the consumer and food retailers on how to evolve fresh sandwiches, salads, and snacks with relevance according to Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The simple answer is no; Amazon Go did not drive consumption of fresh sandwiches on its own.  .  However, Amazon insights into consumer data clearly showed that today’s consumers have migrated to handheld food for immediate consumption and restaurant industry pointed to an opening, in large part driving by lack of innovation according to Johnson.

According to Sandelman research “over the past decade, (the sandwich segment) as share of all QSR occasions has trailed off, down by more than 20% from its 2010/2011 level. Fast Casual sandwich chain share of growth has stalled after a steady share gain trend through 2014.

While pre-prepared sandwiches arguably might be the foodservice legs in the sense that packaged sandwiches were one of the original grab-and-go foodservice options identifiable with the industry there is no doubt that Amazon Go has driven incremental relevance to the category.

A new Nielsen study finds almost half of the shoppers (46%) see grocery shopping as a chore and only 10% of those surveyed plan ahead as far as the meal they’ll be having later that day. That means that 90% of consumers don’t know what’s for dinner the next day and are looking for a GROCERANT solution according to Johnson. 

Consumers are going to migrate to retailers that provide that solution according to Johnson. In the year ending June 2018, prepared sandwich servings at c-stores alone rose 3% compared to same period year ago, according to a NPD Group/CREST report published recently. In total number of servings, that’s 5.1 million.

Restaurant sandwich sales are falling, grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores sales of handheld food for immediate consumption and sandwiches are growing.  If you are a retailer selling fresh prepared food at a restaurant it just might be you brand looks more like yesterday than tomorrow?

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