Stagnation Not at Whole Foods

Consumers are dynamic not static according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, Washington based Foodservice Solutions®.  The halo of ‘better-4-you’ that consumers place around Whole Foods continues to expand customer relevance creating new electricity for both Whole Foods and Snap Kitchen according to Johnson.

When Snap Kitchen announced its partnership with Whole Foods Market to launch Snap Kitchen's fresh, ready-2-eat meals in select stores throughout the Southwest region, regular readers of this blog asked if that meant Amazon Go would start selling Ready-2-Eat Snap Kitchen Meals as well.

Currently, Snap Kitchen meals are available for purchase only in all six Whole Foods Market stores in Austin, Texas, where both companies are headquartered.  Regular readers of this blog know that between 4:00PM and 7:00PM its crowded at all Whole Foods particularly in the fresh prepared food section as consumers continue migrating too grocerant niche fresh prepared food as the answer to the age-old question, ‘What’s for Dinner’.

Jon Carter, CEO at Snap Kitchen stated “Whole Foods Market was an early pioneer in changing the way consumers look at real food, mindful eating and healthy living," … "Similarly, our mission has always been to help improve the lives of others by making it easy to eat healthy, delicious meals made from well-sourced ingredients, with options to meet a variety of lifestyles and nutrition goals."

Expanding meal options Snap Kitchen's new lineup offered at Whole Foods Market stores features 35 fresh prepared meals and beverages, including plant-based offerings suitable for vegetarians and seafood-based meals—all of which are made without gluten and color-coded by lifestyle category, including vegan, keto, Whole30, and paleo.

Jessica Johnson, regional vice president of the Southwest region at Whole Foods Market stated “We understand people are busier than ever these days and we're excited to offer a new healthy line of ready-to-eat meal options that meet our high-quality standards and meet the need of our customers,"    

Battle for Share of Stomach

Focused on grocerant niche fresh fast foods that are ‘better-4-you’ Snap Kitchen meals are made fresh daily, never frozen, and do not contain any gluten, antibiotics, added hormones, or artificial preservatives, flavors or colors. Additionally, Snap Kitchen uses compostable containers with recyclable lids to help reduce waste.         

Carter continued "We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with such an iconic name that is essentially synonymous with healthy living and eating," …"This is a unique opportunity to grow Snap Kitchen's retail footprint on a significant scale and also introduce our nutrient-packed meals to a new set of health-conscious shoppers seeking a happy, healthy lifestyle."  Consumers are dynamic not static how is your brand keeping up with consumer demand for fresh fast food?

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, plant based  foods,  sampling, toy’s, 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 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?

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

More on Whole Foods dynamic focus Tomorrow

Consumers like Eating-In while Dinning-Out

Getting ‘butts in seats’ used too be the only worry for restaurant managers trying to drive top line sales and bottom line profits at their restaurant. Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® stated recently “The consumer is dynamic not static. If the consumer likes your restaurant they will want to eat your meals at their house.  Restaurateurs must oblige.”

In a new report Technomic found: “The boom in takeout, delivery and catering hasn’t cut into on-premise restaurant dining, validating operators’ contentions the newfound business is largely incremental, according to a new study of dining-out patterns.  While Foodservice Solutions® team identified and quantified this back in 2014 and again in 2015 we love the validation.

Technomic found “Eating inside restaurants remains the top choice of restaurant patrons, with the portion of customers opting for dine-in service holding steady at 82% for the last three months”. Technomic noted “the gap between in-restaurant and off-premise consumption of meals prepared outside the home is closing. Seven of 10 customers bought takeout meals or snacks in the last three months, and two of three used a drive-thru, according to the report. Delivery was the least used off-premise option, but half of patrons used that channel in the most recently concluded quarter”

So why should you begin to focus on new non-traditional meals as incremental revenue because Millennials and Gen Xers are particularly avid buyers of food and beverages for off-premise consumption. The Technomic report found that 56% of the total restaurant dollars spent by those age groups went toward takeout or delivery.

Marianne Quinlan-Sacksteder, director of insights at Acosta’s Center of Shared Business Intelligence: “While our research found that dining in at restaurants has remained flat year-over-year, U.S. diners instead indicated spreading their dollars across a variety of out-of-home channels," .. "Diners reported out-of-home food spending has increased significantly over the past two years, with increasing levels of diners indicating they are leveraging foodservice solutions beyond dine-in establishments.”

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, Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us