Should Restaurants be Selling CBD Products?

 

Consumers are looing for companies that are doing good things, supporting a ‘better-4-you’ cause or selling products that are ‘better-4-you’. There is no doubt that restaurant brands that focus on what is important to consumers will add customer relevance, while elevating brand awareness according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Selling CPG products along-side grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared will drive top-line sales and bottom-line profits. The question become what products would give your sales the greatest ‘lift’?  Well, have you considered products with CBD? 

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Happy Customers are Good Customers

There is a new study out that you might just want to take a look at if customer relevance is important to you.  The new study by a  healthtech B-corp Radicle Science, was the largest real world evidence study evaluating effectiveness of CBD Products. Let’s look at just some of the key findings:

·         Participants experienced a 71% improvement in their well-being, on average

·         63% experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in anxiety

·         61% experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in sleep quality

·         47% experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in pain

·         61% reported an effect within one to four hours of taking their product

So, thirteen U.S. brands were included in the Radicle Advancing CBD Education and Science (ACES) study of nearly 3,000 participants to determine whether botanical products containing CBD deliver therapeutic benefits across five health outcomes, including well-being, quality of life, longer-term pain, feelings of anxiety and sleep quality. Do you think that’s not important to your customers?

The initial findings indicate a significant number of participants experienced clinically meaningful improvements, meaning they realized distinct and palpable improvements in quality of life through improvements in the respective health outcomes studied. Across all health outcomes, the largest improvements were observed within the first week.

Pelin Thorogood, co-founder and Executive Chair of Radicle Science, stated, “Our audacious mission is to create the new standard of trust and transparency consumers deserve and healthcare providers demand on these widely accessible potential therapies,” … “The large-scale and intentional heterogeneity of our studies can transform these consumer health products into democratized precision solutions.”

Radicle ACES, was launched in August and was completed in record time prior to Thanksgiving, employed validated, standardized health indices to gather real-world health outcomes from a diverse population across a variety of ethnicities, age groups, geographies, behavioral habits, and pre-existing health conditions. The four-week study leveraged a unique virtual, direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach to achieve the desired participant population heterogeneity and study execution speed.

The Radicle approach eliminates all physical infrastructure and instead collects data directly from participants as they go about their day-to-day life, in their real-world environment. A full report of the anonymized, aggregate findings will be released in early 2022. How can you drive up-sales while edifying customer relevance?

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

Get Ready CBD-Infused Menu for 4/20 at Wings Over

 

Yes, 4/20 is the unofficial holiday for the ‘cannabis culture’.  Some say ‘420’ was a code for police officers back in the day when people were smoking ‘pot’ in public. Now that 19 states have ‘legalized marijuana 4/20 has come to mark the day that many restaurants introduce a new menu item infused with CBD according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Better act fast for one day only, Wings Over is infusing its signature Garlic Parm with CBD. The new flavor will be served on its famous wings, tenders, and tots.

Wings Over is serving up a special lineup on 4/20 with CBD-Infused Garlic Parm! Wings Over will be serving CBD Garlic Parm on its crispy wings, tenders, and tots! The limited-edition CBD Lineup will only be available while supplies last on Tuesday, April 20th!

Wings Over Chief Wing Officer, Dan Leyva, stated, “In 2019, guests loved our CBD Garlic Parm Tots so much that we decided to not only bring them back this year but also expand the lineup to include crispy wings and hand-breaded tenders.”

So, the CBD Lineup consists of three items: Tots, 4 Tenders, or 6 Wings tossed in a CBD-infused version of Wings Over’s signature Garlic Parm dry rub. Guests can order the CBD Lineup online via order.wingsover.com or on the Wings Over app at participating locations. Local age restrictions and ID verification apply when receiving these orders.

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

Get this, Is Hemp What’s on the Menu Next

Our world is evolving fast.  It is at the intersection of food, alcohol, and marijuana that customer migration, attention can be found. So, if you live in a state that sells Marijuana with or without a prescription (‘legalized’) you no doubt have heard of Marijuana Edibles, Cannabis Edibles which are ‘THC’ infused.

Chef’s and food scientist have successfully created new products that are flavorful for home consumption and that trend will continue to grow according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Most of you have visited fresh&co, a healthy fast-casual restaurant by now.   Did you know that they have announced that they will introduce hemp and CBD-infused menu that will launch exclusively on the fresh&co app back in 2019?  Could Hemp be just a ‘buzz’ word or a consumer trend is it a brands new electricity?

How is your brand building new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new menu related products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, Hemp, developing brands, unique urban hemp clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different in Atlanta its all about ‘local’.  That is a very smart and good move on the part of Whole Foods.  

fresh&co executive chef at the time Craig Rispoli curated the menu in collaboration with Jeepney’s chef Miguel Trinidad. Together, Chef Rispoli and Chef Trinidad created an innovative and colorful menu that consist of the Half-Baked Salad (hemp cakes, mixed hemp greens, sea beans, red onion, carrots, beets, crispy onions, jalapeno s’chug, and CBD- infused ginger cashew aioli, 15mg cannabidiol); Blazed Beet Sandwich (hemp cakes, mixed hemp greens, sea beans, red onion, radish, jalapeno s’chug, and CBD-infused ginger cashew aioli served on beet bread, 15mg cannabidiol); and CBD Pink Honey Ginger’ade Lemonade (filtered water, lemon, wildflower honey, ginger, hibiscus, 10mg cannabidiol).

“fresh&co always strives to stay ahead of the food trends and invent new menus that are healthy, sustainable and nutritional that can’t be found anywhere else,” says George Tenedios, CEO of fresh&co. “By collaborating with Chef Trinidad, we have developed a creative way to incorporate CBD and Hemp, which has gained mainstream popularity because of its health benefits, into our newest menu items.” 

Chef Miguel Trinidad is the executive chef and co- owner of New York City restaurants Jeepney Filipino Gastropub and Maharlika.  He is also at the helm of 99th Floor, gourmet cannabis edibles brand renowned for its upscale private dinner events.  He is also a judge on the upcoming season of Vice’s show Bong Appetit, a competition where high-end cuisine meets high-end cannabis. 

“fresh&co was privileged to join forces with the distinguished Chef Trinidad to create an original, authentic, and inventive Cannabis menu that we believe our customers will enjoy,” says executive chef Craig Rispoli.  “By using wholesome ingredients for which fresh&co is known, we infused the finest CBD and Hemp into each dish. We are excited for our customers to try this special new menu.” Can hemp add relevance to your menu?

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

Kwik Trip Targets 7-Eleven with Automation

Regular readers of this blog understand the power of partnerships when it comes to creating new food products.  Many of you have reached out to our Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® for he continues “Looking A Customer Ahead” focus had help place a product or identify, quantify, and qualify a ‘new ideation or positioning opportunity.

Kwit Trip recently built a test kitchen to increase its ability to innovate new menus items as they teamed up with the Partnership for a Healthier America to expand the number of healthy options available to its customers, convenience store chain Kwik Trip Inc. has been working to improve its food and beverage offerings for years now.

Check out one of its latest initiatives, the Fresh Blends smoothie program, was prompted not by focus group testing or executive brainstorming, but rather by a weeknight trip to a Target store in the middle of winter.

"I'm watching people go to Starbucks and get smoothies and frappes when it's that cold outside in Wisconsin," recalled Paul Servais, retail foodservice director at Kwik Trip. "I'm thinking this is for real — we've got to do something with this."

However, being inspired by what he saw at Starbucks didn't mean becoming Starbucks.

"In our Kwik Trip world, we like to do everything self-service," Servais said. This meant the retailer wouldn't launch a barista program just to add smoothies, but the problem was the specific self-serve technology the Kwik Trip team had in mind didn't exist yet.

Servais and his team solved this problem by teaming with Welbilt Inc., which manufactures the machine it uses today, and Beverage Innovations Inc., which creates the drink mixes. Welbilt had already worked with McDonald's on blended cup technology, but that unit involved manual positioning of the cup. Kwik Trip sought a fully automated process.

Technology can drive fresh food sales according to Johnson, Kwit Trips Fresh Blends program provides a simple process for Kwik Trip customers, who only need to use the machine's touchscreen menu to select a drink category, flavor and cup size. Then, after placing the cup in the dispenser chamber, they stand back and watch as ice and smoothie ingredients are dispensed into the cup, the shuttle moves the cup into the blending chamber, and lastly the shuttle returns the cup to the customer for them to take and enjoy.

Joe Knauss, executive chef and director of innovation at Fresh Blends North America Inc., a brand of Beverage Innovations, praises Kwik Trip for being an eager but flexible partner.

"They adopted the program before the machines were even built," Knauss said. "They let me steer the way for what their menu should be." The Fresh Blends menu features a variety of smoothies with 100 percent all-natural ingredients, real fruit and real dairy, but no artificial colors, flavors or high-fructose corn syrup. The blends are kosher certified and made in the United States.  Are you looking a customer ahead?

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Hemp is What’s on the Menu

If you live in a state that sells Marijuana with or within a prescription (‘legalized’) you no doubt have heard of Marijuana Edibles, Cannabis Edibles which are ‘THC’ infused. Chef’s and food scientist have successfully created new products that are flavorful for home consumption and that trend will continue to grow according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Most of you have visited fresh&co, a healthy fast-casual restaurant.   Did you know that they have announced that they will introduce a special 4/20 hemp and CBD-infused menu that will launch exclusively on the fresh&co app?  Could Hemp be just a ‘buzz’ word or a consumer trend is it a brands new electricity?

How is your brand building new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new menu related products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, Hemp, developing brands, unique urban hemp clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different in Atlanta its all about ‘local’.  That is a very smart and good move on the part of Whole Foods.  

fresh&co executive chef Craig Rispoli curated the menu in collaboration with Jeepney’s chef Miguel Trinidad. Together, Chef Rispoli and Chef Trinidad created an innovative and colorful menu that consist of the Half-Baked Salad (hemp cakes, mixed hemp greens, sea beans, red onion, carrots, beets, crispy onions, jalapeno s’chug, and CBD- infused ginger cashew aioli, 15mg cannabidiol); Blazed Beet Sandwich (hemp cakes, mixed hemp greens, sea beans, red onion, radish, jalapeno s’chug, and CBD-infused ginger cashew aioli served on beet bread, 15mg cannabidiol); and CBD Pink Honey Ginger’ade Lemonade (filtered water, lemon, wildflower honey, ginger, hibiscus, 10mg cannabidiol).

“fresh&co always strives to stay ahead of the food trends and invent new menus that are healthy, sustainable and nutritional that can’t be found anywhere else,” says George Tenedios, CEO of fresh&co. “By collaborating with Chef Trinidad, we have developed a creative way to incorporate CBD and Hemp, which has gained mainstream popularity because of its health benefits, into our newest menu items.” 

Chef Miguel Trinidad is the executive chef and co- owner of New York City restaurants Jeepney Filipino Gastropub and Maharlika.  He is also at the helm of 99th Floor, gourmet cannabis edibles brand renowned for its upscale private dinner events.  He is also a judge on the upcoming season of Vice’s show Bong Appetit, a competition where high-end cuisine meets high-end cannabis. 

“fresh&co was privileged to join forces with the distinguished Chef Trinidad to create an original, authentic, and inventive Cannabis menu that we believe our customers will enjoy,” says executive chef Craig Rispoli.  “By using wholesome ingredients for which fresh&co is known, we infused the finest CBD and Hemp into each dish. We are excited for our customers to try this special new menu.” 

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