At Kum & Go Technology is Cleaning-Up

 

Are the front door windows clean at your restaurant, convenience store, or grocery stores?  That is the minimum benchmark for cleanliness that my mother drilled into everyone in our family before she will enter any retail food or beverage establishment.  

Did you know that 33% of every customer that enters your retail food establishment is there for the very first time?  It is really hard to get customers back if the price, value, service equilibrium is out of line.  Cleanliness is a qualitative attribute of service that can and is quantified by you customer every day.  

According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® 83.2% of consumers responses in January 2023 grocerant scorecards stated that they “want foodservice outlets clean.”

Convenience store retailer understands its customers want clean stores, they also know it hard enough to get employees and keep them.  So, Kum & Go is adding cleaning robots to all of its 400+ outlets.  In short integrating Cobi 18 cleaning robots will allow Kum & Go employees to spend more time interacting with customers, delivering fresh food options and more.

Cobi 18, is a floor-cleaning cobot.  That will allow Kum & Go to continue to live out its purpose to ‘make days better’ by freeing up associates to deliver more of the exceptional customer service its known for.

Marty Roush, vice president of operations at Kum & Go, stated, “Kum & Go’s continuous improvement culture drives us to find equipment and process improvements that make it easier for our store associates to execute,”. “The choice was easy given the full support model ICE Cobotics provides. We are excited to participate in the development of the Cobi 18 to support stores during times of staffing challenges. Our associates and customers think Cobi is fun, which means it gets used more than any scrubber we have utilized in our stores to date. We’re glad to have Cobi helping us elevate our associate and customer experience.”

Understanding that leveraging autonomous technology like Cobi 18 helps free up associates from repetitive work and allows them to focus on keeping shelves and coolers fully stocked, focus on delivering fresh food offerings and increasing engagement with in-store customers. All of this enhances the customer-centric community Kum & Go is known for.

In case you did not know, the Cobi 18 is designed for small spaces and easily navigates tight aisles around moving and stationary objects. It is an inexpensive way for convenience stores to innovate their focus on facility cleanliness. Cobi can easily be deployed multiple times per day to clean floors, ensuring customers experience a clean environment every time they walk through the door.

Kum and Go takes pride in its clean stores, and ICE Cobotics is committed to healthier environments through autonomous cleaning solutions. Together, the partnership takes cleaning to a whole new level.

Chris Wetmore, vice president of sales at ICE Cobotics, stated, “ICE Cobotics is proud to work with partners like Kum & Go who exhibit a commitment to innovation and enhance the guest experience in their impeccably clean stores,”… “The partnership and adoption of Cobi is a natural fit due to Cobi’s ability to help increase efficiencies and productivity by freeing up staff in busy convenience stores. We are excited to continue to work with Kum & Go and their amazing people as they implement cleaning automation across their footprint nationally.”

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com 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.

CLEAN is a ‘Halo’ of Better-for-You for Foodservice Operators

Are the windows on your restaurant clean? Is your front door inviting free of grime, free of fingerprints, with a clean open sign? Those are just some of the basics that consumers are demanding as retail foodservice companies begin to reopen according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

There is a battle for Share of Stomach underway and clean is the new minimum standard according to Johnson.  Back in the day every restaurant in America knew that QSC stood for.  Here I will remind those of your who were not around back in the day Quality Service and Cleanliness. QSC were top of mind for anyone wanting to build a chain restaurant and a standard not forgotten by industry insiders or chain leaders today.

According to a new study by Magid,  “Almost half of consumers—47%—trust restaurants and bars to take the necessary steps to ensure their health and safety in the future.  But near-term confidence is lower, the survey found, with only 31% of consumers planning to dine in within the next three months.”

Let’s see what else they found:

1.       57% of respondents said they expect to visit a restaurant by the fall. The study revealed that certain sanitation and safety protocols may influence a decision to dine in sooner.

2.        64% would consider an earlier visit if a restaurant installed automatic doors.

3.       56% would like restaurants to provide personal sanitation kits at each table.

4.       55% would feel more at ease if visible hand-washing stations for employees were installed.

5.       39% will avoid ordering beverages that are not served in the original can or bottle.

6.       41% will avoid exchanging cash when dining at restaurants, bars or cafes.

Those are telling numbers.  So, I ask once again is your restaurant clean? Are your windows clean?

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.