Innovation can be disruptive to the existing
supply chain. Marks & Spencer is incrementally
disrupting the existing supply chain all the while bringing fresh food with
less waste to it stores according to Foodservice Solutions®
Grocerant Guru®,
Steven Johnson.
When Marks & Spencer introduced
a new partnership with the vertical farming company, infarm in several of its
stores once again elevating the customer experience and creating new electricity
for its brand according to Johnson.
Co-founder and CEO of infarm, Erez Galonska, stated, "London
represents many of the sustainability challenges that people will experience in
cities over the next several decades. ..By offering produce grown and harvested
in the heart of the city, we want to practice a form of agriculture that is
resilient, sustainable and beneficial to our planet while meeting the needs of
urban communities."
Yes, I know that ‘fresh herbs’ includes
Italian, Greek and Bordeaux basils, mint, curly parsley, and mountain coriander
are not huge sales generators for any grocery store but they do play an
important role within the mind-set of the consumer and fresh is top-of-mind for
consumers today according to Johnson; thus elevating the fresh platform at Marks
& Spencer creating new electricity.
State of art farm Infarm has combined
vertical farming units with the latest IoT technologies and machine learning,
to create a controlled eco-system with the optimum amount of light, air, and
nutrients for growing plants. So, each farming unit is connected to a
cloud-based platform that learns, adjusts and improvises the technique for the
next set of plants to ensure that each plant grows better than the previous
one.
Director of food technology at Marks &
Spencer, Paul Willgoss, stated, "Infarm’s innovative farming platform
is a fantastic example of what can happen when passionate agricultural, food and
technology experts work together….
"We operate as part of a complex
global food supply chain and want to understand the emerging technologies that
could help provide more sustainable solutions, whilst also delivering fantastic
products with exceptional taste, quality, and freshness for our
customers."
Why, well each vertical farming unit
consumes 95% less water and 75% less fertilizer compared with soil-based agriculture.
The pesticide-free produce is the equivalent of 400 square meters of farmland
output.
Consumers
are dynamic not static how is your brand keeping up with consumer demand for
fresh fast food? Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the
new electricity must be very efficient for the supply chain and includes such
things as fresh foods, plant based
foods, sampling, beer, unique
urban farming, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous
delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital
hand-held marketing.
All food and beverage retailers to
survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence
revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food and beverages that
are portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. Does your retail path forward look more
like yesterday than tomorrow? Why?
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
No comments:
Post a Comment