7-Eleven’s Competitive Breakout Foodservice Move

 

Consider this 7-Eleven is in only 17 countries but has over 70, 319 stores selling fresh fast food.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® stated, “as 7-Eleven increased fresh food offering by daypart delivery will add incremental top line sales and bottom line profits at the unit level around the world blurring the lines between food sector even more.”

Milk, Eggs, Beer, Wine, Pizza, Beef Jerky, Bread, Pepsi, Coke Cola, Coffee, chips and Slurpee’s create a grocerant niche mix and match fresh food delivery juggernaut the retail food industry has never seen the likes of, until now. Restaurants, grocery stores have one new conundrum, who to slow down 7-Eleven until they can figure out how to compete according to Johnson.

Price drives trail, and customer adoption and convenience store giant 7-Eleven continues its creep into the restaurant space, this time enticing diners with the offer of a free pizza, available through its app leveraging technology as good as or better than most restaurants of grocery stores.

So, the free cheese, pepperoni or extreme meat pizza is available only for delivery or pickup on Oct. 4 via the 7Now delivery app, the Irving, Texas-based company announced Thursday. Diners will still have to pay for delivery. I urge all of you to try it.

The offer is designed to “help loyal sports fans cheer on their teams and properly homegate,” 7-Eleven said in a press release. We all know that the gameday meal occasion, of course, has long been dominated by quick-service brands such as Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Wingstop.

There is no doubt that 7-Eleven is looking to one-up many restaurants with its convenience offerings, noting that customers can add items such as cut fruit, fresh-made salads, and bone-in and boneless wings, as well as beer or wine in participating areas.

Regular readers of this blog know that mix and match meal component bunding is the hallmark driving the explosive growth of the grocerant niche.  Raghu Mahadevan, the chain’s vice president of digital and head of delivery for 7-Eleven stated, "Our 7Now delivery app has proven especially popular as people choose to order-in their favorite comfort foods and snacks not only while watching sports games, but also when working at home, helping kids with schoolwork or binge-watching Netflix,", "We at 7-Eleven want to make life easier and convenient any way we can."

7-Eleven’s delivery app is currently available in about 1,300 cities, with a menu of fresh and hot foods, household items, groceries, over-the-counter medications and more. Most orders are delivered in about 30 minutes. Upsetting the price service value equilibrium even more the new 7Now customers can use a promo code for $50 in delivery credit until Nov. 3.

Regular readers of this blog know that this is not the first time 7-Eleven has tried to steal business from restaurants. The chain has been opening Laredo Taco Company restaurants inside its retail units for at least 18 months. The Mexican concept specializes in housemade tacos and other traditional street foods.

Regular readers also know that 7-Elven has also been experimenting with a new format, known internally as the Evolution concept, that features a designated area for on-premise food consumption as well as a section for craft wines and beers.

The consumer is dynamic not static.  Is your brand dynamic? Are, you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.