Grocerant Guru: AI Meets Appetizers at Re-Up Convenience Stores

 

Technology is important but it never replaces flavorful fresh food service fast according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.   Johnson is your one-stop source for all things Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared at grocery stores, convenience stores, and within the restaurant sector. Today, we're shining a spotlight on Re-Up, the world's first AI-powered convenience store chain, and their exciting partnership with Nala Robotics.

Get ready for a revolution in convenience food! Re-Up is integrating Nala's "The Wingman" - an autonomous fry station powered by cutting-edge AI. This means freshly prepared, customizable fried chicken, fries, and potentially more, all cooked by robots and ready to satisfy your cravings in no time.

Here's the breakdown:

·         Faster Service, Fresher Food: Imagine ordering your favorite fried food combo at a kiosk and having it cooked to perfection by a tireless robotic chef. The Wingman promises both speed and consistency, ensuring a quality experience every time.

·         Human-free Doesn't Mean Flavorless: Nala's AI chefs utilize advanced sensors, precision cooking, and machine learning to deliver delicious results. Plus, Re-Up's focus on healthy alternatives means you can indulge without compromising your well-being.

·         Convenience Amplified: Re-Up's already seamless shopping experience gets even better with The Wingman. Order on-site or integrate it with online delivery platforms for ultimate convenience.

·         Growth on the Horizon: Re-Up is rapidly expanding, with plans to add 25-30 new stores by the end of 2024 and over 200 in the coming years. The Wingman integration is a key component of their modernization strategy, ensuring efficiency and quality around the clock.

This partnership between Re-Up and Nala Robotics is a game-changer for the convenience store industry. Get ready for a future where robots whip up your favorite comfort food while you grab a healthy snack and a gallon of gas, all in one stop. Grocerant Guru is excited to see how this unfolds!

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

AI is Quickly Coming to Convenience Stores

 

It is not often that the team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® turns and looks at their Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson with bewilderment. However, every time he brings up the topic of AI all heads turn to him and say more?  He then nods and says yes there is more and will be a lot more to come!

If success does leave clues and it does, it’s AI that will be uncovering those clues for you very soon.

Recently there was  an exclusive CStore Decisions webinar hosted by editor-in-chief Erin Del Conte, our team thinks it was so full of good insights we wanted to share it with you.  Here it is:

“AI is among topics in the c-store world (and the world in general) that are virtually impossible to avoid in common conversation. Now, convenience retailers are learning how to harness the power of AI to their benefit.

In an exclusive CStore Decisions webinar hosted by editor-in-chief Erin Del Conte, industry professionals Derek Gaskins, chief marketing officer, Yesway; Richard Crone, CEO, Crone Consulting LLC; and Scott Smith, director of IT, Parker’s, discussed several topics revolving around the idea of AI.

Gaskins kicked off the webinar by noting that Yesway — which operates over 420 stores across the U.S. — is currently using AI mainly by its marketing and merchandising groups for content creation, personalization within its loyalty program and customer experience management.

He noted that Yesway uses AI for “measuring the sentiment, harnessing and listening to feedback that we get in an omnichannel fashion and then responding to it and closing out those tickets.”

He added that the technology is also used within merchandising, whether it’s dynamic pricing, management, writing cogent summaries and making sure jobs have detailed descriptions for the roles and responsibilities of category managers.

For Parker’s —which operates 78 locations mainly throughout Georgia and South Carolina — the chain is exploring AI and computer vision to assist its team in automating daily tasks.

“We think of AI as more of an intern,” said Smith. “So, the more data you feed it, the
better questions you ask it, the more it learns and evolves. So, we think of it as a partner in helping us do our daily tasks and we’re really just watching it to see where it goes.”

Richard Crone offered also his perspective on the future of AI in c-stores, which provides a different angle on the technology. To Crone, the true value of AI lies in the data that can be collected through it.

“AI is about data. Your data, and the most monetizable of that data is your customer data. The
biggest challenge for c-stores, grocers, petroleum marketers, any retailer, is harvesting that data, interpreting that data at scale and protecting it and monetizing it,” he said. “That’s what artificial intelligence does. It allows you to harvest the data about your customers and use it to personalize and improve the experience.”

From a retailer’s perspective, specifically Smith with Parker’s, the most relevant application of AI for the chain right now is with customer service.

“We find a lot of our customers are asking questions about a loyalty program, about offers, about things that we’re doing in our stores, and most of the time they either have to send us an email (or) give us a phone call,” he mentioned. “So, instead of having someone on our team answer that call and deal with the customer directly, kind of augmenting that team member with AI in a chat bot to really answer those questions that can easily be answered and really just reduce the time that we’re spending doing manual things like that.”

Gaskins noted that Yesway shares a similar belief and is cautiously implementing AI to save employees’ time and make certain processes easier. He also mentioned, however, that his team needs to be skeptical and keep a close eye on the technology, so as not to damage the integrity or image of the brand with content that is produced by someone (or something) that is outside of it.

Crone emphasized that AI could make life for a c-store retailer much easier, and it can also lead to a more seamless customer experience. One example of this is Just Walk Out technology, which has been implemented by companies like Amazon to allow customers to skip the checkout lane and buy products without the entire checkout process.

“The existential threat to c-stores as they exist today is the rapid deployment of that technology by your competitors, because if your goal, given the convenience store mantra, which is fast, easy, instantaneous convenient shopping for those items at that touch point, nothing beats Just Walk Out,” said Crone.

Whether AI is being used to simplify operations, sift through data or increase customer service availability, it is becoming clearer every day that AI is going to continue to evolve and be used in different ways across all industries.

Other topics discussed in the webinar were check-in strategies, how AI can decipher customer intent, AI’s role in loyalty programs, concerns and challenges for AI integration, theft control and much more.”

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

Food Retailers Looking A Customer Ahead with Voice AI Integration

 

Technology matters and if you are ‘Looking A Customer Ahead’ you should be looking at Voice AI Integration into you retail foodservice operation, according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive customer migration in all sectors of food retail. As the popularity of diverse pickup preferences rises, quick-service restaurant employees must simultaneously manage drive-thru’s, mobile orders, curbside pickup, and dine-in service. Today, your employees are expected to manage these points and maintain consistent and welcoming service across all touchpoints, presenting a considerable challenge.

If you want to continue to deliver the outstanding service that customers expect, it is important for operators to invest in technology that bridges gaps among touchpoints. Restaurants gain increased efficiency when staff are more connected, leading to faster, more accurate service, and an overall better customer experience.

Scott Mullica, senior director of product management and innovation for HME Hospitality & Specialty Communications, stated, “Communication platforms must provide technology that seamlessly integrates with voice AI.

Mullica continued, “Choosing a communication platform with voice AI integration helps future-proof a restaurant, setting it up for success whenever the time comes to upgrade,” ... “Other communication solutions on the market need additional audio boxes or conversions to integrate with your voice AI provider, but NEXEO | HDX provides for a seamless integration for both on premise and cloud-based solutions.” Plus, advanced telemetry continuously monitors and evaluates the system interconnection to ensure it is always operating at peak performance.

Effective restaurant communication plays a pivotal role in ensuring customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, and NEXEO | HDX takes it to the next level. “Unlike other platforms on the market, our solution enables seamless communication across critical areas of your entire operation,” says Mullica. “Even if you’re not quite yet on the market for AI-driven ordering, NEXEO | HDX provides the ability to communicate one-to-one with custom defined groups and individuals, get critical alerts from the timer, and more,” Mullica says.

NEXEO | HDX is uniquely designed to improve efficiency at every customer touchpoint, offering a total solution for inside and outside the restaurant. Group communication, for example, allows employees to have a separate conversation between the kitchen team and the front counter without disturbing drive-thru communication. “Independent group conversations are custom defined to your restaurant needs, reduce the noise clutter, and improve team collaboration,” says Mullica. Additionally, one-to-group calls allow employees to be fully engaged in their roles while remaining connected to other areas of the restaurant through their own private channel, which has demonstrated to be invaluable to drive-thru line-busting teams.

One-to-one communication is well-suited for coaching new employees. Managers can privately speak with trainees to offer additional guidance and celebrate progress. “Discreet coaching improves real-time performance and customer satisfaction while maintaining higher staff morale,” says Mullica. The platform also sends alerts and reminders only to particular team members or groups, ensuring that critical information is delivered to the right person every time while eliminating interruptions to others.

Technology in the restaurant industry is undergoing rapid evolution to meet consumer demands for fast and efficient service across multiple order and pickup points. “Restaurant operations have evolved and so should the solutions that support them,” says Mullica. “The NEXEO | HDX platform continuously evolves to help operators stay on top of technology change and future-proof their entire store base. As their business and technology needs grow, NEXEO | HDX grows with them delivering advanced technology and functionality to support their ever-changing needs.” –Olivia Schuster

To learn more about the NEXEO | HDX platform, check out hme.com/nexeo.

Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant   Call: 253-759-7869 or Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  

Consumers Crave Technology for Consumables

 

It is at the intersection of time starved digital native consumers and food sales that there is a battler for share of stomach between Grocery Stores, Restaurants, and Convenience Stores all seeking the best technology to edify their brand with targeted customers Gen Z and Millennials according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Recently, grocery and convenience store professionals got a crash course in all things tech at the kickoff of Winsight’s first annual RetailTEC conference in Dallas, with presentations from industry leaders and a robust interactive conversation between conference attendees.

Some of the topics ranging from omnichannel shoppers and digital loyalty to artificial intelligence took center stage with presentations from Dave Weinand, chief customer officer at data analytics firm Incisiv, and retail strategist Art Sebastian, founder of c-store and grocery consulting firm Nexchapter.

Weinand presented attendees with the findings of Incisiv’s "Driving Digital Excellence in Convenience: 2023 Digital Maturity Benchmark" study, which revealed insights into convenience and grocery shoppers.

The study of customer trends showed that while digital sales have retreated from their pandemic-era highs, representing 14.4% of all grocery sales in 2022, 81% of all retail sales were digitally influenced last year. Those brands with a strong digital presence were most desirable to shoppers, irrespective of whether they were purchased through a digital channel, he said.

Nearly three-quarters of grocers said in the Incisiv survey that they believe digital shopping has made customers less loyal, and nearly nine out of 10 grocers (88%) believe a poor third-party experience, such as from a delivery service, negatively impacts customer loyalty.

That makes loyalty hard to win and easy to lose, according to the report. Incisiv found that it only takes two bad experiences for a shopper to leave their preferred brand, but roughly seven positive experiences are needed, on average, for shoppers to adopt a brand, Weinand explained.

The research also highlighted the importance of cross-selling opportunities for grocers, showing that nearly half of shoppers (49%) have made unplanned purchases after receiving personalized recommendations through apps and online purchases. “Offering cross-selling product recommendations enhances the shopping experience by suggesting complementary items, simplifying choices and encouraging additional purchases based on shopper behavior and preferences,” the report noted.

The Monday forum also featured a presentation from Sebastian of Nexchapter, who as a former tech guru with Meijer supermarkets and Casey’s convenience stores, brought a nuanced understanding of both retail formats.

He said the traditional lines between grocery, c-stores and restaurants are blurring with the rapid rise of native digital players like Instacart and DoorDash. “DoorDash used to be just a food delivery company, and now they're delivering everything from every retailer,” he noted, adding, “Someone asked the question earlier, ‘What do we do if we don’t modernize and add tech?’ [Native digital players like Instacart and DoorDash] are going to continue to add technology and reshape how consumers live.”

He advised attendees to take a broad view of the restaurant, grocery and convenience industries to get a better understanding of the larger trends. “I've always thought that no matter where I worked, whether it was at Meijer or at Casey's, in grocery or convenience, it's always smart to lift your head up and look broadly and understand all the trends because again, everything that's happening around this impacts the business one way or another,” he said.

Had advised grocers and convenience store operators to start by determining the role of technology in their companies. “Step two, once you know the role, make sure you have an operating model. Do you have the right organizational structure? Do you have the right resources? Do the resources have the right job descriptions? Do you have the right meeting cadence to review the business impact of the technology?” he said.

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

Checkers and Rally’s bilingual drive-thru voice AI ordering Works

 

Success does leave clues and at Checkers and Rally’s restaurants focusing on their customer comes first.  Given the demand on drive-thru’s to increase and ease the speed of service Checkers and Rally’s have looked at and adopted new technology to increase drive-thru times according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In case you had not heard Checkers, Rally's Drive-in Restaurants, and Hi Auto revealed the addition of Spanish drive-thru voice AI ordering, representing a momentous development both for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry and for North America’s more than 50 million Spanish and bilingual speakers. Already operational at more than 350 of the restaurant group’s locations, Hi Auto’s is the world’s most widely deployed drive-thru voice AI ordering technology, and today’s announcement signifies the first of its kind for bilingual drive-thru voice AI ordering.

So after a successfully beta testing over the past two months at five of their drive-thru’s, Checkers and Rally’s is ready to expand the Spanish drive-thru voice AI rollout to more franchises and stores.

Liliam M. Lopez, president and CEO of the non-profit South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, stated, “Seventy percent of Miami Dade’s population are of Hispanic descent, so I congratulate the leadership of Checkers, Rally’s and Hi Auto on being pioneers and leading the way for other companies to follow,” … “It gives me such satisfaction to see that Checkers, Rally’s and Hi Auto are implementing a policy that their drive thru employees speak Spanish. Thank you to their leadership team, and we look forward to working with them.”

Leveraging Hi Auto’s AI and automation technologies and real-time human supervision capabilities, the new bilingual feature enables drive-thru restaurants to accurately take spoken orders and inquiries for Spanish speaking customers in real-time, further enhancing the customer experience. In fact, the Hi Auto system automatically detects the language spoken by the customer and immediately responds in that language to carry out the ordering process.

Minh Le, Chief Information Officer at Checkers & Rally’s. stated, “At Checkers & Rally’s, we understand the importance of creating an inclusive environment and meeting our customers where they are,” ... “With the addition of Hi Auto’s Spanish translation capabilities to our AI voice ordering technology at the drive-thru, we’re further enhancing guest interactions, increasing order efficiency and embracing our welcoming culture. We’re excited to partner with Hi Auto as we continue to implement Spanish translation technology to our AI-powered drive-thru’s nationwide.”

This new technology is designed to provide a seamless interaction with customers, Hi Auto’s solution allows restaurants to take orders from vehicles through a virtual assistant, permitting customers to conduct a natural conversation at ordering stations. Hi Auto is the only company that has scaled drive-thru voice AI to hundreds of stores, and Checkers is the only chain that has scaled drive-thru voice AI to hundreds of locations. Hi Auto has integrated unique customization capabilities that allow the franchisee community to support this scale.

Consider that you can now add Spanish to its extensively installed English drive-thru voice AI ordering, Hi Auto takes customers’ orders, recognizes each item, offers additional upsell suggestions and sends the order to the restaurant's Point of Sale. The company’s advanced AI technology understands complex menus, half-sentences, diverse accents, detailed requests, as well as mid-order changes made by customers.

Hi Auto’s CEO and Co-Founder Roy Baharav, stated, “To best serve our communities, restaurants need solutions that speak to all customers, and the United States is the world's second largest Spanish speaking country. Our expanded partnership with Checkers and Rally’s represents a huge breakthrough for the country’s Spanish-speaking and bilingual communities, and allows every restaurant to cater to the Spanish speaking population at any time.”

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that this is a very good step forward as Hi Auto’s conversational AI has revolutionized how QSRs serve their customers. The company’s solution streamlines the ordering experience, through fast and accurate automated order processing, helping to improve average speed-of-service, reduce operational costs and drive ROI. With over 95% order accuracy rate, Hi Auto enables restaurant employees to focus on other tasks to drive efficiency and reduce multitasking and stress, helping make the company’s solutions the most scalable across large numbers of restaurant locations.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

Is Artificial Intelligence Better than Operator Intelligence

 

Restaurants, Convenience Stores, and Bodegas have long relied on the imagination and innovation of their founds, owners, or savvy marketing professional.  Those days are not all gone but there are fewer and fewer food retailers that can honestly say they have their pulse of the consumer.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® “crunching the numbers today more often than not means analyzing data, big data about customers, menu items, and sales trends simultaneously. That requires software using what is known now as artificial intelligence.  That intelligence is not artificial at all.  Today, it is insightful, informative, and filled with fact-based relevance.”

Yes, artificial intelligence (AI) may sound futuristic, but AI is here today and the technology can help convenience store retailers with their marketing campaigns. Ryan DiLello, content specialist for Paytronix Systems Inc., stated, "Using AI saves you time, effort and money," … "It ensures you do not have one-size-fits-all campaigns. It allows you to learn more about your customers and meet their needs."

DiLello continued, “Specifically, AI can help c-store retailers learn more about their customers' behavior and value; segment customers in more exacting ways; make more compelling, personalized offers; maximize channel efficiency; and, find ideal customers in the marketplace using AI-constructed profiles. AI-driven marketing operates through four stages, They are:

1.       Segmentation

2.       Predictive Analytics

3.       Campaigning

4.       Analysis

Then speaking about C-stores DiLello went on to say; “One thing AI can do is provide data regarding how likely customers are to visit a c-store, as well as open emails with provided targeted offers. The data can, for example, show which days a customer is visiting a store. If a customer visits exclusively on weekdays, AI can generate targeted offers to try to encourage consumers to visit on the weekend.”

Consider this, AI can also help launch "Missed Visit Campaigns," which recognizes individual lapses in guest behavior and identifies guests "out of their rhythm." Now according to DiLello, results from the first seven days of a Missed Visit Campaign revealed guest visits increased by 42 percent and in-store spending rose by 19 percent.

This is an example of how proactive AI can be. Geofencing, when AI notices when a customer is near a store and provides targeted offers and promotions, is another way to draw in-store traffic. "We have seen great results using geofencing," DiLello said.

Many C-store retailers have also used K-Means Clustering. Through this method, AI looks at popular pairing items and makes recommendations based on trends in the data. Further, K-Means Clustering helps develop unique and personalized guest experiences intended to keep customers returning to the store.

"AI recommends coupon offers," DiLello said. "It is a low-risk way to win back customers."

More than just marketing, AI can help c-store retailers beyond just marketing, making their implementation well worth the investment, DiLello stressed. The technology takes it one step further by helping to determine a key metric: customer lifetime value (CLV). AI calculates how long a person has been in a loyalty program, what the average visit cadence looks like, when the most recent visit was, how much customers spend per visit and how long the consumer is likely to stay active. These data sets are important to identify top customers, segment more effectively, optimize acquisition and realize lift — or a customer's lifetime journey.

So, the objectives of CLVs are to identify and reward most valuable customers, and find lower-value customers and boost their CLV.  "People often ask what a good CLV to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio is. We often say a three-to-one ratio is good," DiLello explained.

Retailers can lower CAC by retaining customers longer, reducing media and advertising expenses, and reducing third-party marketplace fees, he added.

Looking a Customer Ahead, DiLello expects AI to provide c-store retailers with practical uses in operations. For example, robotic servers, kiosks with facial recognition, food waste reduction management, inventory management and smart routing for delivery are ways AI can benefit c-store operators down the road.

"Inventory management is big for c-stores," he said. "AI will allow retailers to cruise through an unsteady supply chain to order items months in advance." Once again the team at Foodservice Solutions® would like to recommend you visit Paytronix Systems Inc more information on AI Or simply contact us for a referral.

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter