Longo’s Focuses on Customer Meals

If success does leave clues it is clear that Canadian grocer Longo Brothers Market understands the undercurrent driving food customer migration according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® as they open a new concept store format focusing on meals and snacks.

The new concept called Pronto Eats, is a convenience-based grocery store is that opened Aug. 26 inside the Hudson’s Bay Centre shopping mall and office development in downtown Toronto. Longo’s said the outlet will carry a wide variety of ready-to-eat and semi-prepared meal and snack options, along with a specialized Longo’s Café service aka meals for the time starved urban consumer.

Longo’s said Pronto Eats caters to busy workers and commuters by offering a range of choices for each of the 35 meal and snacking occasions per week. The store also will offer delivery and free pickup through the retailer’s Grocery Gateway online service. So, these are meal solutions, most non-cooking meal solutions that save consumers time and money.

Rosanne Longo, brand ambassador at Longo’s, stated “For those who work inside or nearby, the PATH is a place where time, quality and convenience intersect, and this is at the core of what Pronto Eats plans to deliver,”.

Adding relevance for urban consumers, Pronto Eats will mark Longo’s first cashless store, allowing customers to skip the checkout line by paying for their items via the Ritual food app on their smartphones.

Longo continues “While the size of the store is a smaller scale than what our guests are used to, the fundamentals of the business remain unchanged. No matter the concept, location or size of the store, we are committed to carrying only the highest quality of food and merchandise, matched with excellent guest service,”

Pronto Eats was piloted earlier this summer at Longo’s Maple Leaf Square store, emerging from the retailer’s Meals Made Easy concept.  In the Meals Made Easy program, a centrally located kiosk merchandises the fresh ingredients needed for a meal. Shoppers hand-select their produce, meats, starches and garnishes to create a specific meal or follow a certain recipe. Recipes and step-by-step cooking guides are available at the kiosk and online.

Longo explained that “Our pilot test was designed to evaluate approachability and the depth of demand for this style of convenience,” … “The response from our guests was overwhelmingly positive, and we are thrilled to now bring this concept to life in an ideal location for our demographic and brand.”

Success does leave clues and fresh food fast where consumers can mix and match meal components into the perfect family meal is a hallmark of success within the grocerant niche according to Johnson.

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