Listening to consumers and giving them what they want is important
according to Steven
Johnson, Grocerant
Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice
Solutions®. When asked if they wanted to cook dinner
from scratch or assemble dinner from fresh meal components 91.1 % of Gen Z
chose assemble from Fresh Prepared Meal Components and Millennials 83.6 chose
meal components. Johnson noted that both wine and beer are meal components deemed
an important to complete a meal by 69.7% or respondents.
The alcohol test is part of the
introduction of the Panera Tonight: Beer, Wine & Dine program that
premiered exclusively at the five Pan American franchised stores on Oct. 28,
which coincided with the nationwide launch of Panera’s new flatbread pizzas. Ok, we all know that beer and pizza is like a one to punch for online
ordering.
Since this is the first time that any
Panera Bread café is serving alcohol. Pan American Group is partnering with
Boulevard Brewing Co. and Napa Valley’s Ménage à Trois Wines. The program will
start out at two cafes in Overland Park, Kan., and will expand to three other
Kansas City cafes. Customers at these locations will be able to try
out and pair a variety of wines, beers and hard seltzers from 4 p.m. until
closing, including Boulevard’s pale ale, unfiltered wheat beer, and Quirk
Spiked and sparkling strawberry lemon and basil seltzer, along with Ménage à
Trois’ red blend, gold Chardonnay and Limelight pinot grigio.
Randy Bates, senior director, head of
marketing at Flynn Restaurant Group told NRN, “We are targeting our dinner and
evening guests that are looking to pair a beer or wine with our great products
like our new flatbread pizzas,”. “Given the environment over the last 6 months
we’ve been challenged to think differently about our business. This is
one of the areas we believe is a growth opportunity for our brand. We
always like to give our guests choices.”
While the alcohol menu is only available
for dine-in customers, though Bates said that they “will continue to evolve to meet
the demands and requests of our guests.” He also said that depending on the
success of the pilot program, that they could add to their alcohol offerings or
expand the program to other stores. Johnson noted the benefits of increasing
ticket size for delivery while meeting the unmet demand for convenience by
consumers is obvious.
“It’s honestly up to our customers,”
Bates said. “If they show us that they want a beer with their flatbread or a glass
of wine with their salad, I think it likely that others will jump on board.” If
you want beer and wine from your Panera start asking every time you visit,
call, or order Online according to Johnson.
Panera Flatbread pizzas are available in cheese,
margherita, or chipotle chicken & bacon.
They start at $7.59, while beer and wine prices range from $4-$6 at the
participating Kansas City area Panera restaurants.
Are you ready for
some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday
than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your
retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient
meal participation, differentiation and individualization? Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of
the following links: Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter
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