While Luby’s lays lifeless

 

Hand held digital Technology could have saved Luby’s.  You know success does leave clues and Luby’s looked more like yesterday than tomorrow there was no reason for that according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Johnson continued Hand Held Food Marketing is a clear undercurrent driving brand adoption putting a new electricity in brand relevance for many younger consumers.

Today, new partnerships can drive sales in foodservice today as your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. 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, developing brands, unique urban 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. 

Luby’s new many employees continue to work remotely, the traditional company cafeteria model has been broken for years and that they had the perfect platform to drive online sales reaching new consumers with food make for takeout and delivery.  

Employees working at home missed all of those chef-driven onsite foodservice programs—many of which are positioned as a perk to lure workers to companies such as Google, Apple and other corporate giants? Luby’s was the perfect fit to pick-up when they were closed.

Ali Sabeti, CEO of ZeroCater, a corporate catering and snack platform stated “You don’t need a 3,000-square-foot cafeteria or several onsite restaurants when only 20% to 25% of the workforce is there at any one time,” .. Additionally, head counts are going to be unpredictable and can vary greatly from day to day, he believes.”  So, where was Luby’s?  What were they thinking? Let’s keep doing what we always did and keep doing it the same way?

So a couple of weeks ago, Sabeti rolled out CloudCafe, a digital solution for the new hybrid workplace. The platform is populated with hundreds of restaurants and caterers, which prepare meals out of central commissaries in various cities.

“One commissary can feed up to 2,000 people for $6 a meal,” he says, “but groups of any size can sign on.” Like the corporate cafeteria, CloudCafe offers employers the opportunity to pay for all or part of their employees’ meals.

Sabeti said the platform currently offers 120 different cuisines and 35,000 items, but he intends to add more as it evolves. “We’re ramping up offerings to include healthier options and more portable foods, like burritos and bowls,” he says. “There’s a shift from the traditional plate of an entree and sides.”

As businesses and office buildings began reopening after the first wave of the pandemic, onsite feeding options were still limited and many employees turned to third-party delivery platforms.  Sabeti sees CloudCafe as a more economical and efficient alternative for the employee and a way to provide a consistent benefit by the employer.

“Going forward, there won’t be one corporate feeding model, even within one company,” Sabeti believes. “There will be the office evangelists and the work-from-home evangelists. Engineers and finance people may prefer to work in isolation, while those in sales may be more productive in teams.” Luby’s what are you doing?  Do you want to drive top line sales and bottom line profits tomorrow?

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.

 

Both Lunchbox and C3 are Looking a Customer Ahead

Technology companies provide platforms that drive customer adoption for less money to operate than current platforms or business models within the food space including for restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and food trucks according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Does your business model look more like yesterday that today or tomorrow?

Lunchbox, is one of the next-gen online ordering engine for restaurants, and C3, is the innovative culinary direct-to-consumer ecosystem that manages and operates award-winning global brands, today announce their partnership to develop the very first virtual food hall for sbe subsidiary c3’s digital kitchen brands. Say, What, that’s right digital kitchens. Now that’s looking a customer ahead, creating new electricity for your brands growth.

So, here is how it is going to work. c3 (Creating Culinary Communities) will use Lunchbox’s patent pending technology through the virtual food hall; to solidify its leadership as the fastest growing virtual kitchen company by accelerating its nationwide expansion as the restaurant industry continues to embrace a digital-first approach to serving customers. Cutting through the crap you can grow your brands geographic presents for less than ever before.  Now, just think about that.  Are you growing your brand or closing units?  Growing customers, or losing customers?  Is your brand on a digital side road or a digital highway?

So, C​3​ was launched by Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of sbe, and a visionary in defining the future of global lifestyle hospitality, to meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers has emerged as a revolutionary way to approach food halls, digital kitchens, and mobile delivery.

Through C3, Nazarian has built a first of its kind brand incubator where consumers can order from some of the best chefs and quick-service culinary brands in a single transaction. The C​3 portfolio which includes Krispy Rice, Sam's Crispy Chicken, Plant Nation, Ella Mia, and Umami Burger, is poised to grow rapidly with a pipeline of 7 new brands that will launch in the coming months through their digital kitchens that will number over 200 by then end of 2020.

The virtual food hall, developed in partnership with Lunchbox, will unite all C3 brands under one next-gen app and web experience. Through this unique, industry-first solution, users will be able to group orders from multiple C3 restaurants into one bag and checkout. This is about growing your brands SHARE OF STOMACH:

 In a Battle for Share of Stomach

The brands the ilk of chefs like Masaharu Morimoto and Dani Garcia that offer higher-end meals that can withstand 30-minute delivery routes. The virtual food hall is designed to seamlessly serve diners with varying and eclectic tastes. 

“We are excited to be leading the much-needed wave of innovation within the restaurant industry and the virtual food hall will provide consumers a seamless solution for ordering high quality food from multiple C3 restaurants without needing to visit a physical location. Lunchbox has been a critical partner in developing and executing this solution and we’re excited to continue working together as we prepare for our next stage of growth,” says sbe Founder & CEO Sam Nazarian. 

By developing the platform for c3’s virtual food hall, Lunchbox is helping the company seize the opportunity for ghost kitchens as the restaurant industry continues to rely on delivery orders to drive revenue. With Lunchbox as its digital platform, c3 will be able to decrease their reliance on third-party apps to fulfill orders and own most of the revenue generated. The virtual food hall will be an integral part of the company’s next stage of growth as they aim to open more than 250 ghost kitchens by 2022. 

Nabeel Alamgir, CEO and Co-founder of Lunchbox stated, “It’s important now more than ever to shift the restaurant industry towards a digital-first model, and we’ve been impressed with c3’s leadership on this initiative. Our partnership will set the standard for how ghost kitchens and mobile solutions will evolve moving forward and we’re thrilled to be a key partner in realizing those opportunities,”. Is your brand looking a customer ahead?  Are you building brand relevance with digital natives, you know Gen Z, Millennials and the like or do you units look more like yesterday that today or tomorrow?

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, virtual restaurants, sampling, toy’s, cereal, developing brands,  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?

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, local educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869