Boston Market Messaging Buy Easter Dinner from a Grocery Store

Foodservice Solutions® team was one of the first to extol the industry leadership and customer focus of ‘Boston Chicken aka Boston Market’.  Even after Boston Market of acquired by McDonalds our Grocerant Guru® lauded the increase focus on driving customer touchpoints.   

However, the team at Foodservice Solutions® has been pondering if there was ever a chain restaurant that misinterpreted the undercurrents of consumers dinning behavior and ignored trends opting to focus on short term fads as a way to move forward than the team at Boston Market for the past six year?

The one thing that is clear Boston Market has closed more units than they have opened during the past six years.  That is a clear indication the one-time grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat disruptor has lost its way according to Johnson.

Boston Market’s 2019 Marketing focused Easter Meal is a perfect example how they missed the mark once again capitulating more meals to grocery stores the ilk of Albertsons and Kroger. Boston Markets $119.99, Heat & Serve Easter Meal for 12 that features a spiral-sliced ham or either a boneless honey-glazed ham or boneless roasted turkey breast (or a combination of both).

Here is what you can get a spiral-sliced ham or either a boneless honey-glazed ham or boneless roasted turkey breast (or a combination of both). Each meal also includes an array of home style sides such as mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed spinach, cinnamon apples or sweet potato casserole, plus fresh-baked cornbread and two apple pies. As an after thought they added a bit of relevance with a couple of other choices that include:

·         Heat & Serve Meals for 4 or 6: Complete Easter meal include ham, turkey or both starting at $69.99 and consist of everything a host needs to serve a complete feast, including entrees, sides, cornbread and dessert. Essential Easter dinner for 4 or 6 is also available and contains an entrée, sides and cornbread.

·       Feast for Three: For only $34.99, enjoy a boneless ham with three large sides, three pieces of cornbread and a whole apple pie.

·         A La Carte: Enjoy chilled, fully cooked main dishes, individual sides or desserts, which can be picked up in restaurant between April 19 and April 21.

·         Individual Easter Meals: Join Boston Market on Easter Sunday (April 21) for a honey-glazed, hand-carved ham meal served with a choice of two sides, fresh-baked cornbread and a slice of apple pie for $12.99 while supplies last.

Why is this important, first Boston Market is a Chain Restaurant, customer’s know it.   What Boston Market forgets is 64.3% of all U.S. households consist of one or two people. Why would they abandon the focus of their primary target market for groups of 12?  The only reason would be to drive a wall street metric of yesterday, check-average up at the cost of customer focus. One thing is clear to the team at Foodservice Solutions® Boston Market’s messaging has elevated the platform for Kroger, Publix, and Safeway all will have an advantage selling Easter Dinner.

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/

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