A&W Renewed Success Clue

Legacy brands don’t become legacy brands by doing nothing.  In fact one success clues that Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® reminds regular readers of this blog is “consumers are dynamic not static and brands must be as well”.

A&W restaurants have been around since 1919. That’s right 1919. You cannot survive over 101 years if you do not evolve.  Well guess what.  Rethinking its growth strategy, A&W entered the C-store sector and guess what happened?

Same-store sales at A&W Restaurants’ franchised gas and convenience store locations jumped by double digits in June, although Americans were driving fewer miles and buying less gas than usual. Sales at A&W’s more than 90 C-store locations were up 10.5 percent, following an 8.3 percent increase in May. They were an average of 11 percent higher during the January-February period before falling off in March and April, the result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The strong performance comes as the iconic brand prepares to expand its convenience store and travel center presence from coast to coast with eight new franchised locations. 

“At a time when Americans were staying off the road, it’s remarkable that sales at A&W convenience store locations were so strong,” says CEO Kevin Bazner. “This shows the tremendous value that A&W brings to C-stores and travel centers.”

“A&W truly is an all-American business opportunity that performs very well in all areas of the country,” Bazner added. He noted that in a recent national poll of 15,000 respondents, 74% had eaten at an A&W.

To help new C-store owners succeed, A&W is lowering royalties in the first year of all new franchise agreements from the standard 5% to 3%. Second-year royalties are 4%. Initial fees on multi-unit agreements also are being discounted.

System-wide, A&W experienced double-digit comp-store sales growth in May and June, despite nearly all dining rooms being closed due to coronavirus. Average unit sales have increased by 38 percent since franchisees acquired the company from YUM! Brands in 2011.

“The pandemic is sadly forcing many stores, as well as independent and other chain restaurants, to close permanently,” Bazner says. “We expect more new franchisees will capitalize on these real estate opportunities and convert facilities that once housed other restaurant brands or businesses to A&Ws.” How are you evolving?

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.

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

Grocerant Niche Fresh Food Top Priorities for Summer

Restaurants must evolve or else they will continue to capitulate customer counts to non-traditional fresh food retailers according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson. Pilot Flying J understands that and with  66 percent of Americans plan to travel this summer, and 57 percent of traveling parents will hit the road feeling "stressed" about where they are going to stop along the way, fresh food will make the difference.

In a new study commissioned by Pilot Flying J found “of more than 1,000 U.S. parents who take family road trips and have children under the age of 18. The study found that when driving on a family road trip, finding a stop with clean bathrooms as well as fresh food is crucial to parents. Here is what they found:

1.       Nine in 10 parents (88 percent) say they would be "more likely" to stop at a particular travel center, if it were to offer fresh food options.

2.       Millennial parents are most interested in finding travel centers with fresh food options that will make everyone in the family happy, as 65 percent care about this, compared to 51 percent of Generation X parents and 42 percent of Baby Boomer parents.

Additionally, "where to stop to eat" is the top source of stress and family arguments when on a road trip, the survey found.

When thinking of the total experience, 85 percent of parents (and 91 percent of millennial parents) say they would be surprised to come across a travel center that has both great, fresh food options, and clean bathrooms and facilities.

Whitney Haslam Johnson, chief experience officer for Pilot Flying J.stated "Listening to our guests, and understanding their needs is a priority for us at Pilot Flying J,"… "If we can provide what families want to take some of the stress away, then hopefully it makes their experience with us enjoyable. As a mom of three boys myself, I understand how important that can be."

Pilot Flying J is offering a special road trip snack pack from now through Aug. 31. When customers purchase a 2.25-ounce bag of Smartfood Popcorn with an online coupon available at RoadTrips.PilotFlyingJ.com, they will receive a free 20-ounce bottle of Aquafina water.

Knoxville-based Pilot Flying J operates more than 650 retail locations in North America.

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.