Legacy Grocer Store Relevance Continues to Decline

 

When a key food sector funded research project study shows a continued decline in key demographic customer loyalty one thing is obvious.  That is, usually things are much worse that then report found according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

So, currently supermarkets remain the go-to retail venue for fresh produce, but their pull is weaker among younger shoppers, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s  “The Power of Produce” study.

What other avenues of distribution are consumers migrating? Well, according to Johnson grocerant niche restaurants, dollar stores, and grocerant niche convenience stores.

Shockingly that report found that only 50% of all shoppers cited a full-service supermarket as their primary store for purchasing fresh produce. Wow, have things changed since I was a kid.  All that said FMI’s report gives traditional grocery stores a leg up on other retail formats, given that 55% of grocery trips include fresh produce. Ok, you know what I’ am going to say now.  We told you so! Yes, Grocerant niche fresh food sales continue to drive customer migration.

Here is where the FMI study edified what we have been saying for 1 years.  They found that the younger generation exhibits a greater affinity for buying fresh fruit and/or vegetables at supercenters and alternative retail channels, including online, dollar stores, convenience stores and farmers’ markets. Of consumers polled, just 34% of older Millennials named a supermarket as their primary store for produce.

 Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI, said in a statement. “Specifically, the study suggests a need for a renewed focus on strategies for continued growth, including organic, locally grown produce; value-added produce for time-starved customers; produce-based beverages and private branded produce.” What he meant to say is you DONING WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE AND DOING THE SAME WAY WILL NO LONGER WORK.

Here is some information from the study all food retailers will find useful.

1.  “Fresh fruit and vegetables also show potential to fit into more eating occasions. Although 36% of consumers polled said they eat fresh produce about three times a week or less, they would like to include it more frequently in meals or snacks, FMI found.
2. 56% of shoppers buy veggie shakes or fruit smoothies, and 53% buy cold-press juices. Those figures don’t include similar beverages people make at home or purchase from other areas of the store, such as kombucha.
3. Nordstroms, Ikea are both now selling fresh foods fast. 

Are you offering more fresh fruit and produce to your consumers as a Hand-Held Food for immediate consumption options?  If not Why? 

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant Niche.

At McDonald’s Partnerships Help in Looking A Customer Ahead

Success does leave clues. Regular readers of this blog understand that looking at relevant success clues provide a sound platform when looking a customer ahead to edify your brands relationship for the long term according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

So, when Ford Motor Company and McDonald’s USA announced a new partnership that will be giving vehicles a caffeine boost by using part of a familiar staple in the morning routine, coffee beans, in vehicle parts such as headlamp housing. Note:(This is the first time Ford has used coffee bean skins that will be upcycled for select vehicle parts.)

You knew that McDonald’s was looking far beyond today, with the goal of driving a deeper relationship around the ‘halo’ of ‘better for you’ that today’s consumers are looking for while creating a platform for new brand electricity.

Given that every year, millions of pounds of coffee chaff, (the dried skin of the bean that naturally comes off during the roasting process—are turned into garden mulch or charcoal in North America. Together, Ford and McDonald’s can provide an innovative new home to a significant portion of that material. The companies found that chaff can be converted into a durable material to reinforce certain vehicle parts. By heating the chaff to high temperatures under low oxygen, mixing it with plastic and other additives and turning it into pellets, the material can be formed into various shapes.

So, get this, the chaff composite meets the quality specifications for parts like headlamp housings and other interior and under hood components. Now who in the world would have ever thought of such a thing?  The simple fact is, someone looking outside the box.  If your brand doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Just, how is that working for you?

The resulting components will be about 20 percent lighter and require up to 25 percent less energy during the molding process. Heat properties of the chaff component are significantly better than the currently used material, according to Ford.

So, Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team has the ability to look outside the box.  Mielewski stated, “McDonald’s commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability,” says “This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products.”

McDonald’s is expected to direct a significant portion of its coffee chaff in North America to Ford to be incorporated into vehicle parts. “Like McDonald’s, Ford is committed to minimizing waste and we’re always looking for innovative ways to further that goal,” adds Ian Olson, senior director, global sustainability, McDonald’s. “By finding a way to use coffee chaff as a resource, we are elevating how companies together can increase participation in the circular economy.”

The collaboration with Ford and McDonald’s is the latest example of the innovative approaches both companies take to product and environmental stewardship. The project also involves Varroc Lighting Systems, which supplies the headlamps, and Competitive Green Technologies, the processor of the coffee chaff. Ford is progressing toward a goal of using recycled and renewable plastics in vehicles globally, with an increasing range of sustainable materials. How are you creating new electricity around your brand?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply chain and includes such things as fresh foods, plant based foods, sustainable supply chain, sampling, toy’s, beer, BMW in car online ordering,  unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All food and beverage retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food and beverages that are portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  Does your retail path forward look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Why? Do you need a new partnership?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  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/

In A Global 

Battle for Share of Stomach

Repositioning Sheetz sets sights on Evolving Success

Foodservice Solutions®, Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson stated “ Joe Sheetz and his team understand the undercurrents driving retail customer migration and that is why Sheetz was one of the first convenience stores to focus on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepare food.

The consumer is dynamic and Joe Sheetz and his team know that their company must be dynamic as well.  Millennials are embracing a ‘green’ economy and Sheetz is edifying it’s customer relevance with Millennials according to Johnson by installing Tesla's Superchargers at some locations that enable Tesla’s Model S and Model X cars to charge within minutes.

CS News reported that The discussions between Sheetz and Tesla Motors to add electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to the Altoona-based convenience store retailer’s sites began in June 2016. During this time, Michael Lorenz, Sheet’s executive vice president of petroleum supply, did not reveal how many Sheetz locations could be outfitted with Tesla chargers.

The c-store retailer already has several locations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina where EV owners can charge their non-Tesla vehicles. Sheetz joins Wendy's fast food restaurant in Somerset and Cranberry Township Residence Inn in becoming a Western Pennsylvania business offering Superchargers according to CS News.

Tesla stated that it is actively recruiting corporate partners as it seeks to double its charging network across the country, the news outlet reported. “We started 2017 with over 5,000 Superchargers globally and by the end of this year, Tesla will double that number to total more than 10,000 Superchargers and 15,000 Destination Charging connectors around the world. In North America, we'll increase the number of Superchargers by 150 percent, and in California alone, we'll add more than 1,000 Superchargers,” Tesla stated.

Is your company Looking A Customer Ahead? Is your company wining in the fuel race? Is your company wining in the grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food space? Why not?  What are you waiting for?  Success does leave clues and Joe Sheetz and his team have left you another clue.  What are you going to do with that clue?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant