Are Consumers Ready to Forget City Grocery Stores for Farmstead

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards have consistently shown that consumers prefer food that has the ‘halo’ of better for you around it according to Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®.  Recently digital micro-grocer Farmstead raised an additional $2.2 million venture round to help accelerate its nationwide expansion empowering incremental choice for consumer looking for fresh food that is ‘better-for-you”.

Farmstead is less than three years old.  They source and delivers fresh, local food from farm to fridge within 60 minutes, using its AI-powered predictive analytics models to accurately predict demand and supply accordingly to help minimize food waste. The company currently serves the Bay Area, where its customer base has been growing 20%-30% month over month with strong repeat business, according to a statement.

Mike Hirshland, general partner with Resolute Ventures stated “To replace a trip to the grocery store, so many things have to go right, from ordering the right inventory to last-mile delivery,” “Farmstead has cracked the code on making grocery delivery profitable and rapidly scalable—this could legitimately become a monster company.”

Legacy grocery store are still focused on driving customers into their legacy footprint grocery stores where consumers spend an average of 43 minutes in the store.  Let’s stop right here and just think about it.  From farm to fridge in 60 minutes or spend 43 minutes in a grocery store buying old food?

Legacy grocery stores reputation for innovation has not be stellar over the past 30 years.  If fact most grocery stores today look like those of 1970.  Why?  Legacy grocery stores must start looking a customer ahead rather than looking back.  Consumers are starving for grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  What are you selling and where are you selling it?

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.

Grocerant Niche Fresh Food Flourishes in 2018

What is Grocerant niche fresh food and where can you find it? Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson says “First Grocerant means any retail food item that is Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat and prepared fresh that can be made portable. Grocerant niche fresh prepared food can be found at Fast Food outlets the ilk of McDonalds, Burger King, Convenience Stores the ilk of Sheetz, Rutter’s, 7-Eleven,  Grocery Stores the ilk of Albertsons-Safeway, Wegmans, Kroger, New Seasons Market, Retailers the ilk of IKEA, Tommy Bahamas, Costco, and ABC Liquor stores.”

The word Grocerant is a result of consumer purchasing patterns blurring of the line between restaurants and grocery stores.  The specific word GROCERANT was created, defined, and first published as an Op-Ed article titled: Call Them Grocerants in August 1996 in Foodservice Director and again in 1996 by Nation’s Restaurant News authored by our own Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson to describe the undercurrents of food industry consumer changing eating a buying patterns.

On a side note Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® received a US Trademark for the word Grocerant in 1998, subsequently gave it up to become the Grocerant Guru®. Today Foodservice Solutions® is a retail food consultancy.  Foodservice Solutions® is the global leader within the grocerant niche, a strategic advisor to leading Food Manufactures, Chain Restaurants, Convenience Store, Grocery Stores and Retail companies around the world.

Today a grocerant can be found anywhere a consumer can find fresh prepared food positioned, placed, and priced for the time-starved consumer with Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meals or meal components that can be bundled into a meal and or packaged for at the location or Take-Out, Take-Away, or To-Go.

Grocerant meals and meal components have become a meal solution platform that retailers have found drives customer loyalty including in liquor stores, drug-stores (Walgreens), fast food restaurants, fast casual restaurants, full-service restaurants, and restaurants inside grocery stores, in legacy “deli” departments, furniture stores (Ikea), club stores (Costco) and clothing stores from Ralph Lauren Cafe, Macy’s, and Nordstrom's.

Using the word Grocerant in a blog byline has help drive daily views of our Grocerant Guru® blog from less than 50 a day back in 2009 to 25,733 unique views per day in 2017 across all our social media platforms. The number of daily views has driven our success, growth, and seemingly some industry competition.  Don’t worry we understand that imitating, copying, replicating our work is the highest from professional flattery we can imagine. We thank all of you, please keep it up. 

At noon your customers are just beginning to think about what's for dinner with 83.4 % not knowing what they are having for dinner. At 4PM 63.6 %of American consumers are still unsure about what's for dinner according to our most recent Grocerant ScoreCards.

Time Starved Consumers are looking for high quality Ready-2-Eat fresh prepared foods and Heat-N-Eat meal components. Today's time starved consumers have no desire to cook from scratch. They want to purchase fresh prepared meal components that they can bundle into a customized family meal that will please everyone without spending time cooking.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  the 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. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Farm Fresh Focus is on Grocerant Meals

Most of you know that Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy® was founded in 1957 as a neighborhood grocery store providing world class customer service. When a retailer focus is on customer service that retailer give consumers what they want and Farm Fresh is doing just that with Quick & Easy Meals according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today, Farm Fresh is recognized as the premier grocer in the Hampton Roads-area. Farm Fresh prides itself on providing its customers with competitively-priced products, clean stores, one-stop shopping services, and a large selection of quality national and regional brands. With Quick & Easy Meals Farm Fresh is adding customer relevance filling a consumer need-set while incrementally elevating differentiation according to Johnson

Farm Fresh’s Quick & Easy Meals are “Real Food in Real Time” according to the company.  Quick & Easy meals offers delicious and convenient meals at a price you can afford. This modern meal solution provides more variety and customization than a traditional meal kit.

The Farm Fresh Quick & Easy meals are prepared fresh in-store, Quick & Easy saves you time while providing a high-quality meal. There are no subscription fees, no cross-country shipping, and very little preparation required. Pick up Quick & Easy Meals at your local Farm Fresh store or order online for delivery.  

Leveraging a key driver of grocerant niche success Quick & Easy enables and encourages Mix and Match meal component bundling to create thousands of meal combinations. With a variety of meat, produce, and deli options, Farm Fresh always has Quick & Easy Meals for you.

The Quick & Easy Cooking Bags help you make a meal in minutes. These bags come prepacked with freshly marinated or seasoned meats. Microwave or oven bake for a quick, delicious meal that increases customer satisfaction while creating a platform for personalization and customization. 

 Farm Fresh has included pre-washed, pre-cut fruit and veggies eliminate prep work. They’re perfect for side dishes, on-the-go snacks, or recipes at home. The pre-cut, pre-washed vegetables provide a quick, healthy side dish. Just microwave in the steam bag, and they’ll be ready in minutes.

Consumers can pick up a stuffed, seasoned or marinated entrée in an oven-ready foil pan. Bake in the oven for a quick, restaurant-quality meal or stop by there deli and pick up a meal that’s ready to enjoy. With a wide range of main courses and sides, there’s something everyone can enjoy. Does your company have an integrated grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food focus?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  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.