Foodservice Moving from Mealtime to All-Day Meals

The U.S. labor force participation rate stands at 63%.  With only 63% of consumers working meal time has moved to anytime according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Consumers are dynamic not static and they are adapting to how things are today and are not trapped in the past.  They like, cash machines, digital payments, food delivery and they want to eat meals and snacks all day long according to Johnson.

The simple fact is consumers these days are eating differently, eating in different places (in front of the 65 inch HDTV) —than they used to. Gone are standard breakfast lunch and dinner dayparts.  Today more and more consumers are simply eating whenever they get hungry or are craving breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Grocery store service delis continue to add menu options for all dayparts driving sales growth to 9.02% year over year garnering restaurant customers according to Johnson.  According to the Technomic’s 2017 Retailer Meal Solutions Consumer Trend Report, 80% of consumers report purchasing prepared meals at least once a month, and more than half—55%—eat prepared foods within an hour after purchase.

Snacking is also a leading reason for consumers purchasing more prepared foods and supports the notion that consumers are eating simply when they are hungry, not because there’s a traditional timestamp involved. According to Technomic’s 2018 Snacking Occasion Consumer Trend Report, 43% of consumers say the reason they purchase a snack is because they’re hungry and it’s not time for a meal yet. Afternoon snacking is the most common, with 75% of consumers saying they snack then, compared to 26% who snack in the morning, 42% at night and 27% late night.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is a solution for meal time that does not require time to cook or do dishes.  If success leaves clues selling fresh prepared meals and meal components in new non-traditional locations is a clue for all retailers.  Are you looking for a new point of distribution?  Does your restaurant look more like yesterday than tomorrow?  Why?

Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Digital Natives Gen Z & Millennials Drive Complexity Free Foodservice

Digital natives Gen Z and Millennial consumers expect frictionless checkout as a standard not as something special.  Complexity free food retail today must include an ‘auto’ –‘digital’ payment option according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Regular readers of this blog know we have been touting the success of Starbucks digital payment system and the rapid customer adoption since 2015.  So, we ask what have you been doing to speed service and integrate digital payments?

As restaurant year over year customer counts continue to fall “c-store chains including Cruizers in North Carolina, Ricker's and Family Express in Indiana, and Parker's and Enmarket in Georgia, as well as convenience giant 7-Eleven Inc. are testing some type of frictionless checkout in their stores. That said they are also adding new fresh prepared meals and meal components to drive incremental business according to Johnson.

Kimberly Otocki, convenience store marketing specialist for Paytronix Systems, noted that mobile is a huge component of a consumers' day-to-day lives. On average, Americans spend 2.8 hours a day on their mobile devices, which accounts for 51 percent of their total digital media time.

 "They are spending a lot of time on their mobile devices and we see it day to day because we know when we walk down the street or our customers come into our stores, they most likely have their mobile phones out and are using them," she said.

 Mobile has become so big that the average person checks their phone 157 times a day. In addition, 90 percent of consumers use their phones inside stores while shopping.

Smartphones have changed the way we interact, the way we experience life and, because mobile devices enable consumers to get what they want in an instant, convenience views have shifted as well, Otocki said, calling it "the now factor." The numbers speak to that. For example:

·         86 percent of shoppers avoid going into stores with long lines;

·         74 percent of shoppers will shop at a competitor rather than a store with a long checkout line; and

·         41 percent of shoppers will change their minds about a purchase if there is a long checkout line. 

 "That's a lot of customers who will gladly avoid going to your store if they know they are going to be greeted with a long line or if they go in and see a long line, they will purposely avoid it," she said. "We want to make sure our line speeds are down to make sure they continue shopping with us."

This ongoing shift in consumer expectations and their definition of convenience is driving frictionless engagement.  Are you looking a customer ahead?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  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

Snacking with Fresh Fruit can Drive Fast Food Sales

Consumers have placed a ‘halo’ of better-for-you on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  All retailers should remember that fresh fruit is convenient, portable, ‘better-for-you’ on the minds-eye of the consumer according to Johnson.  Don’t let your restaurant look more like yesterday than tomorrow.

In new research from PMA found that “People eat fruit because it’s sweet, juicy, crisp, portable, filling, satisfying, shareable and good for you”.  To increase sales of cut fruit, PMA further recommended offering precut fruit snack packs with a side of dip and adding precut fruits to salad bars to make fruit more accessible to the lunch crowd.

And to capture the younger consumers who tend to snack more throughout the day, consider featuring exotic, nontraditional fruits such as lychee or passion fruit; offer portion sizes geared towards one-person households, and feature ready-to-eat snack options to be eaten on the go or throughout the day.

 Nielsen says in its report Booming Snack Sales Highlight a Growth Opportunity in Emerging Markets. “Consumers are eating up this ‘on-the-go’ snacking subcategory, to the tune of U.S. $1.1 billion,”

Naturipe Farms of Salinas, Calif. is going after the on-the-go market with its Naturipe Snacks fresh fruit cups that include several flavor combinations of blueberries, grapes and apples. “Our fruit cups are packed in a unique cup design with a built-in spork and 5 ounces of fresh fruit,” says Steven Ware, VP of value-added fresh. “Heat-sealed for plastic reduction and a secure closure, these cups are ideal for convenience stores, grab-and go departments and catering operations.”

According to Chicago-based IRI Fresh, while total fresh-cut fruit is up 38% since 2013.  Now think how that number would look if more fast food outlets offered fresh fruit. Regarding the top five fresh-cut fruits adding the most dollars to the category since 2013, IRI finds that berries are No. 1, with 82% in dollar sales growth.

When it comes to increasing sales of fresh-cut fruit, Greg Wilson of Reichel Foods advises grocers to think of their youngest shoppers. “Merchandising fresh-cut products low in the set helps increase sales because they are more visible to children,” he says. “Also, merchandise standing up so the consumers can see what is in the package.” Reichel Foods’ best-selling line is its Dippin’ Stix brand of kid-friendly cut fruit with dips, such as apples and caramel.

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, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/

Rutter’s Convenience Stores Customers Love the Fast-Casual Food

Johnson, identified, quantified, and qualified ‘The 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome’ in 2011 and the cultural evolution driving the undercurrents of consumers eating habits continue to expand in favor of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food. Regular reader of this blog know that the food business is not brain surgery.  Odd as it may seem, chain restaurant trade publications want to profess it is and no one can do it better than a chain restaurant executive.  Well, Ikea, Costco, Wawa, 7-Eleven, Wegmans, and New Seasons Market along with Rutter’s are all building sales off restaurant customers according to Johnson.

Rutter's Director of Foodservice Ryan Krebs know the food business is not brain surgery. Krebs understands that developing a standout menu item doesn't have to mean starting from scratch. It's possible to take a product that already exists, reposition how it's offered and marketed, and create a success story, as recently found out.

When “Krebs began looking into why the convenience store chain's Chicken Pot Pie was experiencing poor sales. The locally made, 12-ounce item, which was stored in the cold case and positioned as something to grab and heat up at home, wasn't moving despite Pennsylvania Dutch-style Chicken Pot Pie being very popular in Rutter's operating area.

"It wasn't resonating with customers as something they'd pick up and heat later," Krebs told Convenience Store News. The rates at which the packaged pies were being thrown out for reaching spoilage dates would have justified removing the product, but he decided to experiment first by making a simple change: heating it up in-store. "I used all my culinary background," Krebs joked.

Rutter's began offering the same Chicken Pot Pie as both a made-to-order menu item and a grab-and-go product from the hot hold. For packaging, the retailer put it in the soup cups it already used. The difference in format made an immediate difference.

Virtually overnight, sales jumped from a couple of cases per week to thousands. Rutter's distributor even added another line just to keep up with the product demand. "It elevated the entire program," Krebs said, noting that even the Chicken Pot Pie's cold version saw increased sales afterward, growing by more than 100 percent compared to what they were before.

Today, the product "just crush[es] it in fall and winter," he said, and still sees high buy-in during the spring and summer months. What was nearly a failed menu item became a success story with dedicated promotional support and its own TV commercial.

One interesting and unexpected aspect of the item's spike in popularity is that despite the recipe being a particular regional style, the Rutter's store that ranks No. 1 in Chicken Pot Pie sales is not located in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

The entire experience taught Krebs that format matters as much as the actual product, and that the right product can stretch beyond cultural barriers. Above all, he's glad he didn't opt to drop the item and be done with it.  When the customer moves retailer must move with them. 

Consumers are dynamic not static.  Does your restaurant brand look more like yesterday than today or tomorrow? Brand protectionism is dead according to Johnson.  If your brand is not evolving it is dying? 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  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

Have you Heard there is a Battle for Share of Stomach

Are you winning or losing new customers?

Is your Restaurant Social Enough?

Success does leave clues and engaging customer via social media is a necessity for brand awareness, product trial, and sales according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Do you invest enough in in social media to drive sales?  Remember when industry ‘buzz’ would drive sales for a branded product or how a newspaper review would drive sales for a new restaurant?  Well, today you need that and even more in the way of social media according to Johnson.,

In a new survey by MGH determined that nearly half (45 percent) of U.S. diners said they’ve tried a restaurant for the first time because of a social media post made by the establishment itself, while 21 percent claimed posts could be a deterrent. Further, 22 percent said a restaurant’s social post enticed them to return.

Note: Of respondents who actively follow and engage with restaurants on social media, 74% say they are more likely to visit or order food from those establishments.  Here are some other notable stats:

·         42 percent of U.S. diners say they have interacted with restaurants on at least one social media platform. Of that group, 66 percent said they are more likely to visit or order food from the restaurant.

·         13 percent of U.S. diners say a restaurant’s social media post has discouraged them from returning to a restaurant.

·         36 percent of U.S. diners follow restaurants on social media, and 39% of that group mainly do so to help determine if they want to dine in or order food from the restaurant.

·         89 percent of U.S. diners have a social media account.

·         62 percent of U.S. diners say they log on to their social media accounts several times per day.

Don’t over look the importance of messaging to your customers via social media even if you only have one unit, five units, twenty units, or 44 units. Success does leave clues and evolving is one of them.

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  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

Battle for Share of Stomach

Restaurants are Clueless When it Comes to Continued Customer Count Declines

Industry icon Larry Miller founder of the ‘MillerPluse’ report the largest restaurant industry benchmarking tool wrote “Traffic remains an irritating industry issue, falling 0.2% in the first quarter of 2019, to -2.4%. That marks the twelfth consecutive quarter of negative traffic, not that we’re counting.”

Convenience stores, grocery service deli’s, and dollar stores are counting new fresh food customers?  Why because according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® they are focused on the customer of today and willing to evolve their business model where restaurants are simply doing what they have always done and doing it the same way?  How is that working for them? 

Twelve consecutive quarters of negative traffic, I would say not so good.  Ikea, and Costco continue to evolve expanding fresh food options and continue to drive top line sale and bottom-line profits garnering former restaurant customers while simultaneously becoming dinning destinations according to Johnson.

Think about this, the year over year food wholesale prices were up 0.06% so far in 2019 and year over year restaurant prices are up 3.0% the gap has been growing wider year after year.  McDonald’s is removing the ‘crafted sandwiches’ from the national menu.  Why according to Johnson PRICE resistance, cook times, and packaging cost.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive sales in every sector or food retail including the restaurant sector.  The problem is there are to many legacy chain restaurants unwilling to evolve their business models.  Fast is they are capitulating customers to other non-traditional fresh food retailers willing to change. 

Are your customer counts growing? Does your restaurant look more like it did in 1980, 1990, or 2000? Is your brand filled with customer relevance looking more like today than last year? The restaurant industry is not brain surgery it is the food industry.  Quit driving customers away? Quit driving customers to others.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Nestle and Starbucks Partnership is Full of Flavor

Foodservice Solutions®, Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson reminds regular readers of this blog that partnerships matter. Two of the most successful international companies Starbucks and Nestlé are introducing Starbucks by Nespresso, the first product jointly developed since the companies formed the Global Coffee Alliance/Partnership in August 2018 elevating a ‘new electricity’ for each brand.

Every coffee pod combines the high-quality, 100 percent arabica Starbucks coffee that customers know and love with the premium at-home coffee experience of Nespresso delivering on a promise of full-flavor.

Tony Matta, president of Nestlé Starbucks Coffee stated “Starbucks by Nespresso is a product that we have been very excited about since the formation of the Global Coffee Alliance,” .. “Within this partnership, we are constantly searching for ways to elevate the at-home experience, and Starbucks by Nespresso is the perfect way to bring a new, exciting coffee experience into the homes of our customers.”

Focusing on consumers desires Starbucks and Nespresso share a commitment to sustainability. These capsules are made of aluminum and are recyclable as a part of the Nespresso recycling program.  In addition, the coffee is made with 100 percent high-quality arabica coffee, ethically sourced adhering to Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices.  These coffee capsules can be found on Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Jet.com starting in early May. Is your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward.

So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food 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, free food / sampling, beer, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, 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, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Are If you looking for a new partnership to drive sales consider Acosta? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Wayback Burgers is Out Front

Last week while traveling for work I visited my first Wayback Burger restaurant.  That said with all objectivity aside the experience, food, and service were exceptional. Personally, it was the best burger I have had in a very long time.  Wayback Burgers while delivering on the taste, quality, and service of a bygone era was a buzz with Gen Z and Millennials. Success does leave clues.

Franchisees buy the future not the past but delivery on the attributes of the past Wayback Burgers is also hip, current and relevant today by revolutionizing the food delivery market with Viddl-It—a compact, electric vehicle and app that combines the convenience of delivery with on-site cooking. This new initiative is Wayback Burger’s CEO John Eucalitto’s solution to the “soggy fries” problem. Wayback is driving a new electricity the Viddl-it.

From packaging solutions to cars with miniature ovens, restaurant owners and managers have long battled the challenge of delivering quality food to customers located miles away from a restaurant’s kitchen.

Partnering / working with Tropos Technologies, Wayback Burgers has created a new solution to this perennial challenge—a 5-and-a-half by 8-foot mini electric food truck that brings the kitchen to its customers. Using the Viddl-It app, customers can reserve a vehicle (with the same name) for catering needs or simply order a meal that will be delivered to them and cooked on the spot.          

“It’s basically private catering on demand,” says John Eucalitto, CEO of Wayback Burgers. “The food is made fresh on the spot,” he says, and added that it addresses the two biggest complaints from customers about quality or that a driver forgot something.

The Cheshire, Connecticut-based burger franchise tested the first Viddl-It vehicle near its headquarters before unveiling the new program to franchisees at the Wayback Burgers Convention in October of last year. The compact vehicles will cost franchisees who choose to include Viddl-It in their operations around $35,000, come outfitted with refrigerators, freezers, griddles, fryers, etc. and run on electric and propane with a battery that gets about 80 miles per charge. They are striving to have this service more widely available by Q3.

Consider this by revolutionizing Viddl- It delivery vehicle, Wayback Burgers is going on a cross-country tour elevating nee electricity for its brand. The Wayback team will depart from the headquarters in Connecticut, trek across the U.S. to Vegas to attend the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference and then return home again. The truck will be making pit stops along the way so Wayback Burgers fans will have a chance to experience Wayback’s legendary fresh burgers at their convenience.

Is your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food 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, free food / sampling, beer, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, 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, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call 1-253-759-7869

Dinner America’s Melting Pot Forces Change for All Food Retailers

Most of you have hear this quote from Guy Fieri “Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.”

Today the U.S. multicultural population is projected to grow by 98 million people in the coming decades, multicultural shoppers will continue to have significant influence in determining what’s for dinner; according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Recent research titled Multicultural The Why? The Behind The Buy™ provides insight into the preferences of U.S. Hispanic, African American and Asian American shoppers that will continue to drive change.  Here is some of what they found:

·         More multicultural shoppers enjoy grocery shopping. Seventy-two percent of African American shoppers, 65 percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers and 61 percent of Asian American shoppers reported this versus 56 percent of White/Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) shoppers.

·         Shopping with other people is more common among multicultural groups. Seventy-two percent of Asian American shoppers, 67 percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers and 63 percent of African American shoppers reported shopping with others during their routine, regular grocery trips versus 55 percent of White/Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) shoppers.

·         Multicultural shoppers purchase groceries across more channels than total U.S. shoppers. Twenty-three percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers reported shopping in a Hispanic/Ethnic grocery store in the past six months versus three percent of total U.S. shoppers.

Multicultural Shoppers Are Engaged with Brands

·         Forty-nine percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers and 46 percent of Asian American shoppers agreed that they buy grocery brands that are authentic to their ethnic heritage.

·         Sixty-five percent of African American shoppers and 59 percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers agreed that they are passionate about their favorite grocery brands.

·         Compared to total U.S. shoppers, more multicultural shoppers agreed that they buy brands that are socially responsible.

Convenient Meal Solutions Are Important

·         More multicultural shoppers brought grocery prepared foods home in the past thirty days. Seventy-six percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers reported doing this in the past month versus 59 percent of White/Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) shoppers.

·         Seventy-six percent of Asian American shoppers reported ordering from a restaurant for pick-up/carry-out in the past 30 days versus 53 percent of White/Caucasian (Non-Hispanic) shoppers.

Multicultural Shoppers Comfortable with Grocery Digital

·         Forty-four percent of U.S. Hispanic shoppers reported reading a digital grocery flyer versus 35 percent of total U.S. shoppers.

·         Thirty-eight percent of African American shoppers reported using a search engine to find recipes online versus 28 percent of total U.S. shoppers.

·         Thirty-seven percent of Asian American shoppers reported using a shopping list on their mobile device versus 26 percent of total U.S. shoppers.

If you are looking for a new partnership to drive sales consider Acosta? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.