At Choice Market Gen Z and Millennials Can Save Time

 

Growing brands need their actions and words to resonate with consumers and Choice Markets is doing a very good job focusing in on its prime targeted customers today and for tomorrow Gen Z and Millennials with a fresh fast footprint and messaging that resonates according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Choice Market is driving new electricity into it brands as it launched an exclusive partnership with Adroit Worldwide Media (AWM) as its provider of frictionless technology solutions for the future of shopping. This will allow Choice Market to rapidly scale its automated Mini-Mart format across multifamily developments, campuses, festivals, electric vehicle charging destinations and hospitality properties nationwide. That my friends is how you integrate branded actions with messaging.

Mike Fogarty, founder and CEO of Choice Market, stated, "We selected AWM as our preferred frictionless checkout and tech development partner because they share our vision for the future of retail and can support our rapid pace of innovation," ... "AWM's expertise in Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence, coupled with their commitment to deliver real time data and actionable insights made them the ideal partner. This partnership will accelerate Choice's plans to roll out a new digital experience with disruptive features and functionality."

Most of our regular readers know that Choice Market launched its first Choice Mini-Mart store model on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in October 2022. In March 2023, the retailer announced plans to expand the Mini-Mart store format following a funding round led by the Denver Angels, Kimco Realty, Jogan Health and other private investors.

How do you plan to garner new customers? What is your cost of customer acquisition?  Do you want to keep your current customers while building new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food 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, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing. Don’t limit you ideations to just a new menu item. Think local, grow with others that are successful around you.

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. 

So, Choice Market selected AWM for its expertise in powering smart spaces with cutting-edge technology, delivering end-to-end business automation and valuable insights across retail, industrial supply and healthcare sectors.

AWM's CEO Kevin Howard, stated, "We are thrilled to embark on this groundbreaking journey with Choice Market as their chosen frictionless technology provider," ... "AWM's commitment to innovation aligns seamlessly with Choice Market's vision for the future of shopping. Together, we aim to revolutionize the retail landscape by providing customers with unparalleled convenience and a seamless, technology-driven shopping experience."

Choice Market and AWM teamed up at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show to showcase a Quick Drop Unit that demonstrates the transformative technologies and frictionless solutions that will redefine the retail experience, according to the companies.

Choice Market new electricity combines quick service and user-friendly technology with fresh quality food from local vendors and a practical product selection. The company has plans to expand in Colorado and beyond.

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

Choice Market’s New Electricity is Electric Vehicles

 

Choice Market is looking a customer ahead.  Brand messaging matters and Choice Market is looking for the next generation of C-store shoppers begins by listing the price of electricity and fuel on its outdoor digital signage and that is a good thing according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA base Foodservice Solutions®.

There can be no doubt that Choice Market is targeting electric vehicle (EV) consumers and giving a nod to the future of mobility through the digital signage of its convenience store in the Denver neighborhood of City Park. So, the retail site, located at 2200 East Colfax Ave., lists the price of electricity right below the price of gas so EV consumers know what they'll pay, reported The Drive.

Price matters and citing reports from PlugShare, charging prices normally hover at around 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. It's highly competitive for the area, with others nearby charging significantly more.

Choice Market Chief Operating Officer Ben Kipfer, stated, "It's a pretty good rate, honestly, for charging up at 15 cents,". "It's something different and we want to get people inside the four walls, obviously, as well."

According to Kipfer, typical users stop to charge for 30 to 50 minutes. It's then the aim of the convenience store to welcome those customers inside for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Now think about this, "People walk in here, they always say, 'This is the nicest gas station I've ever been in,'" Kipfer said. "That grab and go case ... all again, it's organic, non-GMO, and local. I think people love it."

Kipfer notes that charging fees "probably should be a little bit higher," but the charging isn't a loss for the retailer. Instead it is "a profit center." Remember brand messaging is an invitation to visit your brand.  How are you extending your brand invitation? 

So, in addition to gas pumps, the Colfax Avenue Choice Market features two high-speed 50 kW DC chargers. Each is fitted with a standard CCS connector as well as a CHAdeMO plug for charging Nissan Leafs and similar models. The station also uses a Nissan Leaf as a delivery vehicle.

Online digital messaging matters as well, Choice Market highlighted its digital signage that listed the price of gas and electricity in a Facebook post on Earth Day. The post read, "Happy Earth Day! This past week a simple tweet of our sign on #colfaxave was shared around the world. @thechoicemarket is happy to see folks taking notice of the shifting #mobility landscape and the very real financial incentives with transitioning to an #electricvehicle. Sea change indeed. #chargingforward"

In case you did not know, the Colfax Avenue Choice Market opened in 2020. The 2,700-square-foot format features fuel pumps, EV supercharging, a bike share terminal, electric scooter charging stations and solar collection on the canopy. It also offers autonomous checkout, order and pay ahead via the Choice mobile app, and traditional checkout.

Continuing to evolve, Choice Market is partnering with Health Hospitality Partners, headquartered in St. Louis, to develop a new format, Choice Mini-Mart. The model was slated to launch at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus during the second quarter of 2022, as Convenience Store News previously reported.

The new format — which was specifically designed for non-traditional retail spaces such as hospitals, airports and campuses — will feature Choice: NOW, a technology that uses artificial intelligence and cameras to checkout customers without the need for a cashier, prepared food and natural groceries, as well as everyday necessities.

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food 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, smaller footprint, developing brands, fresh flowers, 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 according to Johnson. 

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 leader in the Grocerant niche.

Choice Market’s Grocerant Fresh Prepared Food with an Expanding Base

Choice Market is a grocerant niche fresh prepared food retailer that is crafting a uniform experience across multiple avenues of distribution by investing in cutting-edge technology, including its own delivery service, and vision-based autonomous checkout, and that a success clue according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

All food retailers know that COVID-19 has increased consumer demand for seamless delivery of convenience products, fresh prepared foods and autonomous, contactless checkout, and Choice Market is doing something about it.

Now with two locations in Denver, and two more set to debut this year, Choice Market is making a name for itself by leading with an upscale fresh grocerant niche menu and cutting-edge technological advancements. 

With its third c-store, Choice will launch its second-generation design and omnichannel platform that updates its mobile app and e-commerce website to allow customers to order not only prepared foods, but the c-store chain’s entire SKU selection of convenience products for delivery, empowering mix & match meal component bunding.

Keeping an eye on the future, the third location will feature electric vehicle (EV) charging, a bike share, a new interior layout and a revamp of Choice’s prepared-food ordering kiosks. Mike Fogarty, owner and founder of Choice Market stated, “One of the big things we’re working on is a full digital transformation for our app, e-commerce website and in-store kiosk,”  Integrating brand messaging with relevant technology with a uniform experience for customers, so shoppers receive the same experience regardless of how they shop will work well according to Johnson. 

Looking a customer ahead, Choice has joined forces with a strategic tech partner to pilot “full-vision self-checkout” at its fourth store, which it also plans to extend to future sites. The fully autonomous checkout experience will be driven by artificial intelligence (AI) vision-based technology that tracks products as customers select them and will have the look and feel of an Amazon Go store with simply walk out technology.  

How important is grocerant niche fresh prepared food for Choice? Prepared food represents 50% of Choice’s sales. “We’re as much a restaurant as we are a market,” Fogarty said. 

“We have a full scratch kitchen (where everything is produced from raw ingredients), and we’re cooking with products like organic produce and greens that are grown in an aeroponic farm about a quarter mile away,” Fogarty said. “All of our proteins are antibiotic free, hormone free. All of our breads are baked daily by local bakeries.”  How is your company look a customer ahead?  Are you selling fresh food fast?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 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 us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Choice Market Leaves Labor Shortages for Profits

Regular readers of this blog know about Choice Market the Denver, CO based convenience store that does not compete with restaurants, grocery stores, or other convenience stores for labor.  Without skipping a beat with freshness with it come to Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food Choice Market is a mini-mart in a vending machine according Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.

Choice Market is a 2,500-square-foot grocerant outlet filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that opened in 2017.  Choice Market focused on one of the hallmarks of the grocerant niche food that is ‘better-4-you” that are made locally.  They offer made-to-order sandwiches and meals and a product mix that is “90% better-for-you products; 10% traditional c-store and large CPG brands,” according to founder and CEO Mike Fogarty.

Reducing labor is key to keeping prices down so Choice has found an even smaller, more convenient way to reach customers. “The Choice Mini-Mart vending program combines quick service, fresh quality food from local vendors and the latest technology in a machine that is kept at the perfect temperature and is stocked with fresh, local snacks, fruit, sandwiches, salads, jerky and more. Prices range from $3 to $6 for snacks and drinks and $7 to $11 for meal solutions.” That is fresh food fast according to Johnson.  

Currently there are two Choice Mini-Mart vending machines in operations at Denver’s newest music venue, the Mission Ballroom. Here is how it works; “customers slide a credit card to unlock the door and access the food and drinks inside. Once they’ve taken an item and shut the door, they will be charged for the items removed. Users have the option of entering their email to get a receipt.”

Fogarty continued “Choice Mini-Mart is a natural extension of our omnichannel strategy and fully aligns with our mission to make good food accessible and convenient,….These vending machines are a perfect fit for airports, hospitals, breweries, offices and other institutions that are looking to provide their time-constrained customers and employees with fresh and delicious food.”

Fogarty’s business model was inspired by growing up going to East Coast-based Wawa convenience stores and spending time in Europe with where small-format grocery stores are popular. “I would frequent these small markets that were on almost every corner,” he said. “They were thoughtfully curated, and full of great local products. When I came back to the States, I felt this format was missing in our growing cities and really started to rethink what a convenience store can and should be.”

Choice Mini-Marts, elevate possibility to grow the brand’s reach fast and for less and looks very promising. Are you selling fresh food fast?  Does your retail outlet look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Why?

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 have the clue you need to propel your continued success.