Antone's Famous Po' Boys Finding Grocerant Growth Success

 

Where is your customer buying food today?  Are they at the ‘Frozen Food Court? Are they at McDonalds, or are they at 7-Eleven ordering online?  When you are a regional brand with a loyal following you might want to drive incremental brand loyalty in a new avenue of distribution like Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys has been doing so successfully.

Expanding your brands reach while not getting stuck with building new buildings adding to your current footprint cost and obligation should be top of mind for all restaurant companies today according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Houston, Texas based Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys is well on its way to feeding hundreds of thousands of Texans across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys has begun to drive growth in the fastest growing sector of retail foodservice today, the grocerant niche. The Houston-bred brand has rolled out its operations across the Dallas-Fort Worth and Shreveport, Louisiana areas in more than 100 supermarkets in North Texas and East Louisiana. Antone’s is a perfect fit as they offer fresh full-flavored food fast at retail.  Now that is a meal solution time starved consumer continue to seek.

Recently the Houston based company po’ boy company expanded to select Kroger, Tom Thumb, Albertsons and Market Street Stores just ahead of the holidays.  The famous po’ boy brand has been a Houston institution since it opened in 1962.  The expansion comes on the cusp of the company’s 60th anniversary.

Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys is most famously known for its iconic, cold, white-wrapped grab-and-go style sandwiches, including these popular, signature offerings:

·         The Original: Ham, Salami, Provolone, chow chow relish, mayo, and pickles

·         Super Original: Same as original but with extra meat and cheese

·         The Piggy: A blend of chopped ham, salami, pepper jack, and provolone with mayo, pickapeppa sauce, and dill pickles

·         Tuna: House-made tuna salad, provolone, and pickles

·         Turkey & Swiss: Oven roasted turkey, swiss cheese, mayo, and sweet & spicy pickles

·         Premium Roast Beef: Roast beef, sharp white cheddar, creamy horseradish, and sweet and spicy pickles

 

Craig Lieberman, CEO of Antone’s Famous Po’ Boy, stated "We are excited to finally make our po’ boys available to folks in North Texas. It's been a matter of expanding our production facility, which gives us the ability to deliver a consistent, fresh product daily – one that Texans in other parts of the state have come to enjoy," …. "We are hoping to provide Antone’s to more locations in the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex by the end of 2022 as we celebrate our 60th Anniversary."

In this case, Lieberman has an extensive background in the consumer-packaged goods industry, serving as the Co-Founder and CEO for 23 years of Sunbelt Distributors, Inc., Texas's largest independent distributor of premium ice cream and specialty frozen food products. He hopes to use his expertise to continue to expand Antone’s presence throughout Texas and beyond. You can learn from his example according to Johnson.

So, get this, in addition to the DFW footprint, the beloved sandwiches are also sold in grocery stores across Houston and Central Texas including H-E-B, Randalls, Brookshire Brothers and airports including Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), and in Houston at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Customers can use this Po’ Boy Tracker to find the closest Antone’s Famous Po’ Boy. Are you ready to grow your brand in a new non-traditional avenue of distribution?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869