Success does leave clues and
regular reader of this blog know that restaurants that are consumer interactive
and participatory continue to garner incremental customers. From TGI Friday’s wait staff, Texas de Brazil’s protein presentation,
Inn & Out Burger, and Benihana we could go on for hours but interactive
participatory entertainment drives sales according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®
Most of you have visited Eatzi’s and understand how a one-time restaurateur
turned groceranteur found success. Well,
at Stew Leonard’s, combining interactive participatory customer engagement since
1969. and entertainment.
If you run a restaurant and
have not been to Stew Leonard’s you should.
“There
are aisles filled with animatronic singing poultry and vegetables, stuffed
creatures that flip and, in a modern twist for today's consumer, there’s a
selfie station where customers can pose with Clover the cow in a replica of
Stew’s milk truck.
The
simple fact is the zaniness of the stores can overshadow how vital customer
service and product scouting is to the growing company. There are six Stew
Leonard’s locations now in New York and Connecticut, with a seventh planned for
New Jersey in the fall.
The
store has a traditional motto: The customer is always right. But here this
basic principle of retail gets the Stew Leonard treatment: outside of each
store sits a three-ton granite rock etched with the saying: “Rule #1—The Customer
is Always Right" and “Rule #2—If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Re-Read Rule
#1.”
Today,
many of you may take believe that but there is a reason that particular old adage
is still around. Stew Leonard, Jr., the president and CEO who took the business
over from his dad in the 1990s. “You’ve got to listen to the customers really
and hear what they have to say,”.
Customers’
opinions are a big part of “Stew’s Tank,” a new program the grocery is rolling
out. It’s Stew Leonard’s take on “Shark Tank,” the reality TV show where
entrepreneurs compete for funding. For Stew’s Tank, New York-based food
entrepreneurs will compete to have their products sold at the newly opened East
Meadow, Long Island, location of Stew Leonard’s. The company plans to choose
about 24 products to demo and sell for the month of June. Based mostly on sales
and customer feedback, the grocery will pick about six new products to sell at
all their locations.
Stew
Leonard’s has no slotting fees, which makes it easier for companies to get
their food in the door by selling only what customer want. Not what food manufactures are paying you to
place on the shelf.
Leonard
said. “We deal with a lot of local, small vendors, and a lot of them can’t
afford to have a slotting fee. Maybe that's one reason we get so many [new
products]. There's really not any barriers to entry, I would say.” Is your restaurant brand creating a platform of
fresh food discovery? How are you
extending your brand invitation? Grocery
stores can be better entertainment retailers if you take your eye of the consumer. 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, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant
Are you Winning the Battle for Share of Stomach
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