Panera Gambling on Catering to Drive Sunday Sales

 

Panera understands why its sales are slow on Sunday’s, most of the urban core where stores are located office are closed.  Foodservice is not complicated according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

If a brand the ilk of Panera wants to drive top-line sales and bottom-line profits they have to expand their reach into non-traditional hours of operations. Sunday is a perfect focus the bakery café chain to focus on driving new electricity into the brand. The best way to do that is with a new partnership according to Johnson.

Today at Panera there is a new type of You Pick Two from Panera…in the form of a free to play pool available now on DraftKings. 

You know that today nothing says Sunday Gamedays more than delicious food, and Panera knows delicious food so this football season, they are teaming up with DraftKings to host a contest series where users have a shot to win free Panera for a year –in the form of $1,200 in gift cards – and $45,000 in cash prizes. 

Yes, that’s right. Panera is jumping into Sunday Football this year and collaborating with digital sports entertainment and gaming company, DraftKings, to launch the “Panera You Pick Two Football Challenge.” This partnership marks Panera’s first fantasy sports collaboration as the brand looks to inspire football and food fans. 

The exclusive, free-to-play nationally available prediction contest will take place over the course of nine Sundays throughout the regular season, it started on Sunday, October 8. Customers can play free for a shot at a share of $5K cash prizes every week and free Panera for 1 year, in the form of $1,200 in gift cards, awarded to the first-place winner of each contest. 

Inspired by Panera’s You Pick Two Menu, a fan-favorite offering that lets you mix & match you order for a combination of two entrees, players will predict the outcomes of questions highlighting dynamic duos on the gridiron from the day’s 1PM and 4PM games to score points and win prizes. Panera and DraftKings will challenge fans to pick topics such as which duo accumulates the most points, has the most yardage, and many other game-day outcomes.

Is 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, free food / sampling, beer, 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.  Consumer like Eating-Out when Eating-In. It’s time to call the Grocerant Guru®

 

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Domino's Fresh is Fast Once Again

 

What goes a round comes around. Domino’s rose to become an industry disruptor and consumer favorite with 30-minute guaranteed delivery times back in the day. Brands that set new standards of service, quality, and price have and will continue to lead the industry while defining it according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Domino’s true to its original brand messaging is edifying a service standard once again. This time adding incremental customer relevance with a partnership with draftfkings.com a dynamic gamming app that is attracting new customers at a record pace. 

When announced, Domino's Carside Delivery 2-Minute Guarantee Over/Under Challenge is free to play and is taking place now through July 12, 2021, at draftkings.com/dominos and on DraftKings' Daily Fantasy app there was little doubt from industry insiders that time starved consumers would be knocking on Domino’s door to save time once again.  This branded messaging will once again be disruptive according to Johnson.

So, Domino's launching a new guarantee will garner customer migration from both other pizza players and other restaurants that offer curbside pick-up according to Johnson. Domino's Carside Delivery 2-Minute Guarantee is simple: order Domino's Carside Delivery online, check in when you arrive, and as soon as your order is ready, a Domino's team member will head to your car in less than two minutes or your next pizza is free. Ah, but that's not all.

Yes, Domino's and DraftKings Inc., a leading sports entertainment and technology company, have launched Domino's Carside Delivery 2-Minute Guarantee Over/Under Challenge as well, giving customers the chance to predict if Domino's Carside Delivery nationwide will be quicker than two minutes, more or less than 80 percent of the time, for the chance to win a share of $200,000. Once again readers of this blog will think about customer focused interactive, participatory, food marketing one of the hallmarks of grocerant nice success.

Art D'Elia, Domino's executive vice president – chief marketing officer, stated, "While Domino's is no stranger to guarantees, this is the first time DraftKings has created a betting pool based on a company's performance,". "We want to make every delivery to customers' cars an easy and fast experience, and if we don't, we're going to make it right. As a company that prides itself on transparency, and to show how much we believe in our franchisees and stores across the country, we're giving customers the opportunity to predict how we'll do and have a little fun, for free!".  This is the best example in the food industry of interactive participatory food marketing to date. We congratulate the team at Domino’s.

Yet, there is more; Domino's Carside Delivery 2-Minute Guarantee Over/Under Challenge is free to play and is taking place now through July 12, 2021, at draftkings.com/dominos and on DraftKings' Daily Fantasy app. Those who correctly predict Domino's performance will split the cash prize of $200,000 at the end of the challenge.

D'Elia continued, "Did Domino's just ask America to predict the over/under on our new two-minute guarantee? Oh yes we did,". "We want customers to put our guarantee to the test.". This is how you lead an industry while establishing, defining, new standards according to Johnson.  The partnership with DraftKings will drive new electricity for both brands.

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products and or service, when you edify your core brand message you elevate a platform driving new electricity.”  That said, what are you waiting for?

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, 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.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information.