Wawa Much More than a Fast-Casual C-Store

With close to $4.621 Billion in annual sales there is no doubt that Wawa continues to drive customer interaction with a leave of branded service, fresh food, and fresh beverages that few can mimic according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Wawa intends to offer drive-thru service for the first time at a new store.  So just what does that mean.  Well according to Johnson it is the next level of service that Wawa is exploring extending to its customer based in an effort to expand fresh food and beverage sales while garnering new customers.

The new drive-thru location  have three parking spaces reserved for curbside pickup as well. While the drive-thru hours would run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a limited menu of food and beverage items, including hoagies, Sizzli breakfast sandwiches, soup, coffee and smoothies to start.

Wawa said the new unit should be open by the end of this year. Its reported that the current planned model for the drive-thru will allow up to 19 vehicles to line up at an 88-square-foot drive-thru window.

Terri Micklin, Wawa's head of construction stated "We are hoping to learn from the layout, workflow and traffic flow at this location, as we continue to explore alternatives for longer term application to our stores post-COVID-19,".  Note to accommodate the drive-thru, the site will have a smaller number of standard parking spaces and fuel islands.

Wawa predicts that 30 to 50 percent of the store's customers will utilize the drive-thru. Who are you selling what and how?  What can you learn from Wawa?  What is your AUV’s? Can you compete with Wawa?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Food Channel Blurring Bah Humbug Customer Migration is On

Who moved?  Consumers are dynamic not static and they are in search of food discovery, new fresh food products, packaged in new avenues of distribution, that have the ‘halo’ of better-for-you around them according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Consumers have not moved.  Consumers today want Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food fast.

Having spent all of my career in the foodservice niche, never have I seen a study that says there is any channel blurring consumers think meals, food, and eating-out or eating-in.  In the minds-eye of the consumer it is not about what channel the food is sold. 

It is about when the consumer wants to eat, what they want to eat and where they want to eat. Increasingly consumers want to Eat-Out while Eating-In.  At the retail level the question is not about what channel to sell a product but how do we increase our ‘Share of Stomach’ according to Johnson.

Brand and channel protectionism are relics of brand marketers of the 1980’s, 1990’s according to Johnson. Does your sales building strategy look more like 1980 than tomorrows strategy?  The real question brand marketers should be asking is not how to protect the brand or channel but how to not isolate the brand in a footprint or channel of a bygone era.

Consumers are dynamic not static brands must be as well if not they will slowly capitulate customers until they get to the point they cannot survive according to Johnson.  Do you believe that if the consumer is in a different channel of foodservice, then should your brand be available as an option? This includes retailers that are selling grocerant Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared, portable foods in new non-traditional avenues of distribution.

The “brand experience gap”, that is to say the gap in time between customers visiting their restaurants and enjoying a great meal within the four walls of their homes or autos. Restaurants today need to strongly consider entering new food channels with branded product which includes some legacy products revisited, revived, and renewed if cultivating brand relevance is important to them according to Johnson.

Do you have a Grocerant niche understanding? Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared portable branded food sales can edify your customer base, drive top line sales and bottom-line profits might just require a grocerant opportunity assessment. http://www.FoodserviceSolutions.usof Tacoma, WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche providing Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Grocerant ScoreCards. 1-253-759-7869

Battle for Share of Stomach