Starbucks Partnership too Drive 'At-Home' Coffee In The US

When Starbucks formed a partnership with Nestle to drive incremental sales in retail aisles, the goal was simple, drive ‘at-home’ branded Starbucks sales while creating new electricity for the brand and product line according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Nestle’ is known as a manufacture of ‘better-for-you’ family foods in grocery stores that has it’s foundation in innovation and ‘health & wellness will this February in the US rollout more new Starbucks products.

The new Nestle’ line will strengthen Starbucks' coffee offering by giving customers the option to enjoy the beverage in the comfort of their homes. It includes, among others, cold brew concentrate, fresh brew coffee, and blends of Starbucks coffee with essential vitamins and golden turmeric extending the ‘halo’ of better for you with relevance for Starbucks into the home according to Johnson.

The new products extend the range, and will build upon the portfolio of innovation of the global coffee alliance, formed in August 2018, to create a revolutionary coffee experience for consumers. In 2019, Nestlé launched a range of 24 Starbucks products across various platforms, including coffee creamers in the US.

Success does leave clues and Starbucks is driving both relevance and new electricity with this partnership. 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, Online ordering, delivery, plant based foods, sampling, toy’s, beer, developing new brand relevance,  fortified coffee, 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? Outside Eyes can delivery Inside Results.  

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 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.

Biggby Coffee Expands Points of Distribution

Opportunities within the grocerant niche today are endless when it comes to driving top line sales and bottom line profits according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru®, at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Consider Biggby Coffee’s new partnership with Guernsey Farms Dairy to roll out three Ready-2-Drink beverages inside Biggby locations as well as at select grocery stores.

The three new Ready-2-Drink beverage flavors are Caramel, Chocolate, and Slightly Sweetened cold brew and they have started to make their way into Meijer locations with plans to continue folding in other grocers. Guernsey Farms Dairy is based in Northville, MI and was an easy choice for the partnership due to their local ties, their family-owned structure, and of course, their award-winning milk.

Stephanie Schlichter, Best Sphere Director stated “Innovation is a BIGG part of our overall model and we were thrilled to be able to launch a competitive ready to drink product for our customers,”.. “Guernsey has an amazing product and the same family feel that our company embodies, so when we paired up with them it just felt like a natural fit!”

 Biggby Coffee also has an in-house Product Developer, Brandon Trudelle, who stated “We have many things in the works and launching ready to drink for the warmer months was an awesome accomplishment so far this year,” .. “Keep your eyes peeled for our future rollouts and don’t forget to visit your local Biggby Cofee to see what our awesome baristas can craft for you.”  Who is your company partnering with?  Where is your new electricity  to drive sales and customer relevance coming from?

The unique and eye-catching “milk container” packaging is due to the fact that the product actually moves down a dairy production line, but a lid was added so you can drink it on the go! They’re the perfect buy now and drink later option for a group event or a road trip! A fresh product with limited ingredients also means shorter expiration dates and less time sitting on a shelf in-store.

In case you did not know Biggby Coffee has over 270 cafes open or under contract across nine states including: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida, and Texas. In 2018, Biggby Coffee launched an Area Representative Program and currently has 4 area representatives in 3 states.

So, just what is your brands 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, urban clothing, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice 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.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

 So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Royal Cup Coffee & Tea Expands Brand Relevance

Success does leave clues and companies the ilk of Royal Cup Coffee & Tea has collected many clues since 1896 creating a platform for success according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

To that end simply look at Royal Cup Coffee & Tea’s home page here is how it starts: “with appreciation and reverence, we acknowledge the past with excitement and optimism, we work toward the future” The simple fact is since 1896 Royal Cup Coffee & Tea have evolved with successfully with consumers.

Now they are diving head first into the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat beverages and food.  Royal Cup Coffee & Tea, has found new electricity with a new line of shelf-stable, ready-to-drink cold brew coffees the company’s first liquid product introduction following its acquisition of Icebox Coffee.

Johnson believes there is one dominate element that will power success within retail foodservice over the coming years.  Johnson calls it the new electricity that is partnerships specifically strategic partnerships.   The new electricity must be very efficient for the supply which includes

Restaurants, supermarkets, conveniences stores, dollar stores, and department stores selling fresh food and drinks.  Retailers the ilk of Royal Cup Coffee & Tea  that want to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food. 

That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships that create incremental points of distribution more now than ever before according to Johnson. The new cold brew line at Royal Cup Coffee & Tea includes three flavors: French Roast, French Roast Lightly Sweetened and Rain Forest Bold, a Rainforest Alliance (RFA) Certified cold brew. Each flavor profile carefully was selected through extensive research and testing of multiple cold brew blends and competitive products.

Bill Smith, CEO at Royal Cup  stated “We are thrilled to reveal the launch of Royal Cup’s first shelf-stable, ready-to-drink cold brew line—the result of many months of hard work, impressive collaboration and timely execution,” .. “As an organization, we are committed to innovation and to identifying new ways to produce, market and sell the coffee and specialty beverages our customers have come to know and love.”

What new avenues of distribution is your company looking at?  Are you evolving with consumers?  Is your brand ‘looking a customer ahead’? Do you have the partnerships in place to drive incremental sales and long term profits? Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us has done just that.  Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

At Starbucks Cold is Hot

Starbucks has been leading in restaurant industry in sales growth and unit growth for over 20 years with little competition or challenge.  All the while Starbucks continues to expand it retail partnerships around the world selling ‘’kyan coffee” (canned) and selling  lots of it elevating the Starbucks brands relevance with consumers according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Soltuions®.

Starbucks partnership have been and continue to be the right fuel to drive new electricity into Starbucks  top line sales and bottom line profits according to Johnson.  In the minds-eye of Johnson, there is one dominate element that will power success within retail and foodservice over the coming years and that is partnerships. 

Johnson calls it the new electricity that is partnerships specifically strategic partnerships.   The new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh food, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

Retailers the ilk of Starbucks in order to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable in some form.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Starbuck’s investments with cold CPG beverage products have now driven it in store focus to revolve around cold beverage offerings as they continue to expand its lunch menu edifying a grocerant niche mix and match meal bundling opportunity that is second to none in the industry according to Johnson.

Rosalind Gates Brewer, chief operating officer and group president of Americas, stated Starbucks plans to continue investing in cold beverage innovation and expanding its afternoon menu offerings.… Cold isn’t just for summertime anymore,”

Brewer continued “Five years ago, cold was about 37% of our beverage mix, and now it’s over 50%. With 2017, total cold beverage sales in the U.S. company and operated stores reaching nearly $5 billion. So, we’re building multibillion-dollar platforms within cold.”

Ms. Brewer called Starbucks the “market leader” in the cold brew coffee category and announced the company will be expanding the availability of its Nitro Cold Brew platform from 2,300 stores around the world to 4,000 by the end of the year.

Grocerant niche mix and match bundling drives sales.  Brewer Stated “…the biggest opportunity for food innovation is for lunch,” …we will offer customers more of what they are expecting and elevating our current Bistro Box line, which has grown at a rate of 20% in each of the past two years. We will also continue to roll out Mercato regionally, with more than 1,000 stores by the end of the year.”

All good retailers understand that selling hot food hot and cold food cold is job one.  Success does leave clues and remembering that evolving food retail includes both hot and cold foods.  Are you evolving your retail food platform to include fresh? Or are you evolving your restaurant platform to include branded CPG products?

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

Dunkin’s Mobile Grab-N-Go Drive’s Customer Flow

Regular readers of this blog understand the strength and key drivers of grocerant niche growth and Dunkin Donuts new prototype emphasizes those attributes.  The team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes that Nancy Luna of Nation’s Restaurant News captured some of the visceral customer touch points in her recent NRN article. We have added out view and included some of Nancy’s NRN article photos to drive home our points.

Dunkin’s store of the future edifies consumer increasing demand for fast service, quick payments, and grocerant niche mix and match meal component bundling all while edifying customer choice with relevance according to Steven Johnson our Grocerant Guru® convenience, takeout and tech

The relevance comes in as pointed out by Nancy in the form of a pickup counter for mobile orders, nitrogen-infused cold brew and tabletop outlets to power devices all focused on convenience, takeout and technology that edifies speed of service. 

Dunkin’ Donuts plans to open 50 of these store of the future units by the end of 2018 according to the company. While calling itself a beverage first company these new units underscoring the interplay between food and beverages creating a platform that enables mix and match meal component bundling superiority to that of McDonald’s and Starbucks.  

The new eight-tap beverage system empowers choice including cold-brew coffee infused with nitrogen which continues to garner new customers. This new display will prove inviting to consumers and elevate product sampling according to Johnson.

The Donut display puts the doughnuts out front, instead of behind the counter like in traditional locations.  Combine that with an expanded to-go section is stocked with a variety of snacks and merchandise, such as bottled drinks, yogurt parfaits, nutrition bars, coffee mugs, beef jerky and mints the grocerant niche mix and match bundling will enhance the consumer experience.

Mobile order and pay add relevance to Gen Z and Millennials as the mobile pickup counter enable consumers to simple skip the line when they pay online. How is your brand expanding consumer choice?

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