Will an Autonomous Store Replace Grocery Stores, Restaurants, and C-Stores?

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® At Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® team believes the migration from inside dining at restaurants, the 40 minute grocery shopping trip, and the quick stop at the C-store on the way home will within 7 years be replaced by branded autonomous retail stores selling meals and meal solutions.

After reading an article by Isabelle Gustfason about an Artificial intelligence (AI) technology company AiFi that had announced that it’s on track to deploy 330 new and retrofitted autonomous stores by the end of 2021, Johnson and his team began to speculate that a smaller footprint, fewer emplyees, and fresh food fast how could that not work in the ever expanding world of Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.

She wrote “Today, AiFi’s OASIS, the Orchestrated Autonomous Store Infrastructure and Services, is already powering 10 futuristic stores in a variety of sizes in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and San Antonio in the U.S., in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Paris, and Poznan in Europe and in the city of Shanghai in Asia.

In addition to the publicly known partnerships with Albert Heijn, Carrefour, Żabka, and Loop Neighborhood, AiFi is also actively deploying autonomous stores with several prominent companies listed among the top 10 grocery retailers — both nationally and internationally.

The 330 AiFi OASIS-based autonomous stores range from 800-square-foot convenience stores and travel shops to 10,000-square-foot grocery stores. They are located primarily in the U.S. and Europe, with additional stores coming to Australia, Asia and South America.

“We are going to see explosive growth in autonomous stores. With the onset of COVID-19, the need is even more urgent for a contactless and autonomous retail store where you can shop and feel safe in a physical environment,” said Steve Gu, CEO and co-founder, AiFi. “The 10 deployed stores are operational or in advanced stages of testing. These stores have proven to be stable, accurate and popular among shoppers who love the lightning speed and fluid retail experience.”

For new stores being deployed, AiFi has developed three tiers of its OASIS Autonomous Store Platform: AiFi Enterprise, AiFi Business and AiFi Lite. The AiFi Enterprise allows for a customizable solution with a superior checkout-free experience including flexible payment methods, an advanced shopping journey design, and value-added operational tools for smart inventory management. All three tiers can provide a return on investment in less than one year, as well as fast and easy deployment.

“The whole world is moving towards being autonomous,” said Gu. “AiFi is proud to be working with the most renowned retail brands in the world to bring the best user experience to shoppers for the new era of autonomous shopping.” We ask are you looking a customer ahead?

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Restaurant Leadership Complacency is not a Solution to Drive Sales

Our Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson while reading about restaurant business complacency found this on Quotabulary.com  and he thinks you will like it. “Complacency is a rigid illusion nursed by those who embrace mediocrity as a way of their life. A dangerous disguise, it also deprives people of opportunities and brings growth to a standstill”.  Is your restaurant brand stuck?

So, back in the day (2009), Domino’s awoke from a long period of brand protectionism practices, self-imposed rules that contributed to stifling sales growth, product quality, and a loss of customer relevance i.e. complacency.  Domino’s was the first major retail brand to discard it core product for and completely new one since the failed rebranding of Coco Cola. It was a huge risk.  Guess what Domino’s won. Today, Domino’s is described as a ‘Tech’ company selling pizza. That my friends is not complacency.

Domino’s did what I call Ground Branding.  It is not back to the basic’s, it is a macro step, not a micro step, it’s a step into the future of brand marketing, positioning essential for legacy brands they want continued consumer relevance.

Ground Branding means repositioning a product or a company focusing on the core foundation of the legacy product or companies’ value with a dramatic shift in contemporized customer relevance.  Simply put incremental steps are not enough today. 

In Seth Godin's book Purple Cow where an entrepreneur wants to recapture some of the magic that the brand at one time had. Godin suggests that the key to success is finding a way to stand out and be remarkable, like a purple cow in a field of regular cows. That’s what Domino’s did and the company has never looked back.

Rebuilding customer relevance is important if a brand somehow grows out of touch.  In the case of Domino’s one macro ground branding move contributed driving customer relevance and sales momentum that continues today.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Domino’s chose to resetting the Price, Value, Service equilibrium within pizza space with technology.  While Johnson was the first to reveal, reevaluated, and re-engineer the Price, Value, Service equilibrium and here is that new formula:  Price + Quality + Social + Portability = Value.  Domino’s has shown everyone how to look outside the box to drive relevance.

The challenged for any food retail within the Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche is the ability to see and understand the customers focus at its core evolve, not your brands core. Success does leave clues and companies leading the charge in 2020 will be leaders within their niche for years to come.

Food retailers that do not evolve be warned that the rest of will be reading headlines that C-level change is coming or came at your company. Without bold new leaders many legacy retail food brands may simply become non relevant. In the event that they are more about their brand than the consumer they will simply fall to the way side. Do you need outside eyes to help drive top line sale and bottom-line profits?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions Five P’s of Food Marketing 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:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Chipotle Dials in on Digital

Back in the day everyone wondered which fast food chain was the fastest? Ah, but that was a simpler time. Today, the question is which fast food restaurant chain is the ‘smartest’ according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Chipotle is not letting McDonald’s become the only fresh fast food company to continue looking a customer ahead they are entering the artificial intelligence space with some ‘human-backed machine learning’ of their own.

Retail has evolved automated customer service phone systems and chat bots are common among pharmacy, utility, retail and e-commerce companies; even restaurants chains the ilk of Dunkin' and Domino’s Pizza have also deployed bot and voice-enabled ordering.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, is trying to keep a customer ahead by turning to more sophisticated versions of voice assistants to process orders. Nicole West, vice president of digital strategy and product at Chipotle stated “It’s human backed machine learning,”.

It looks as if it is working, as Chipotle reported blockbuster digital sales, as it quietly began testing AI-powered voice assistants for phone orders in early 2018. Kind’ a makes you think that it is working according to Johnson.

The 10-unit test has now grown 1,800 locations according to West said the 2,500-unit chain plans to expand the AI voice system to its remaining U.S. stores by the end of the year.

Here is an example: “In Orange, Calif., a customer dialing a local store is greeted by a female voice. Chipotle has yet to give her a name, West said. Her responses extend beyond standard dispassionate bot programming. She actively listens and makes suggestions when she thinks a customer might have omitted a topping on a bowl or burrito.

 A sample suggestion: “Would you like to add salsa or sour cream?”

With each transaction, she learns the idiosyncrasies of how people order. She might stumble if someone responds “combo” when requesting a mix of pinto and black beans. But, once she figures it out, her algorithm remembers. 

“The more orders that come through the system, the more she learns,” West said.

This is not a labor reduction move. West said it’s about “convenience for our customers” because the system allows them to order, pay and skip the line when grabbing their food from a pick-up shelf. Pay ahead is not available for manual phone orders. 

Automating phone orders also reduces the amount of time managers and employees spend on the phone”, according to West.  So, we ask; are you looking a customer ahead?

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

Starbucks Looking A Customer Ahead

Customer service has always been an attribute that Starbucks exceled at according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.  It’s continues to dumfound most of the restaurant industry that Starbucks is over 46 years old and continues to expand locations, drive top lines, and bottom line profits better than most chains over five years old.

Now Starbucks wants to prove how well it really knows its customers or at least, how well its artificial intelligence can get to you know you.  That’s true especially if you are a Starbucks rewards member. Starbuck’s new cloud-based Digital Flywheel program that it is rolling out this fall is all about “The getting to know you (getting to know all about you)” 

Starbucks in an 'Artificial Intelligence' program the ‘Digital Flywheel’  goal is to seek out the patterns in customers’ orders and try to make sure they have what they want (when they want it) — as well as solid suggestions for what to try next.

Here is an example how it would work according to reports, this is a very specifically targeted system.  When it rains, customers will see one offer — and it might well be a different one if they happen to go to Starbucks when the sun is shining. The AI can also take into account whether it is a weekend or a holiday or your birthday.  Yes, apparently users do get special options on their birthday, Ok so what’s not to like.

Well for starters are you buying at your regular Starbucks? Yes, the app knows that too. If you are not at you’re regular store the app will know that as well. Starbucks is growing because they prove to customer’s year in and year out that they have relevance. 

The Digital Flywheel program will only enhance that relevance with consumers edifying brand, user and real time consumer experience between digital, mobile according to the team at Foodservice Solutions®. How old is your brand?  How fast are you evolving? Does your company look more like yesterday than tomorrow?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.