Showing posts with label Fine Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fine Food. Show all posts

Sunday, May 21, 2017

The Leading Aspirational Restaurant Brand in America is McDonald’s


Success does leave clues and McDonald’s does so many things right day in and day out that many don’t notice all that they do.  One key element of the undercurrents of McDonald’s ongoing success is the fact that they have never strayed too far from their roots offering consistent quality, service, and value. Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson notes that “McDonalds’s maintains the proper equilibrium with Price, Service, and Value.

Regular readers of the blog know that there are many reasons that McDonald’s has maintained it number one ranking as the most Aspirational brand in the United States as noted in Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards rankings. However while the food industry trade publications gloss over many important facts one key element continues to be the fact that 42,900 Million US consumers continue to receive food assistants as of May 2017.

Families with children receiving food assistance would like nothing more for their child to visit McDonald’s and has a kid’s meal with a toy and fruit.  A visit to McDonald’s may not seem like a treat or splurging too many but to nearly 43 million Americans today that continues to be the case. McDonald’s is has been and will continue to maintain leadership within the fine family food space.

Since 2008, chain restaurants have experienced -14.8 percent same-store traffic growth. Furthermore, throughout 2016, total food and drinking places saw over 2 percent higher sales than chain restaurants, according to Black Box Intelligence’s Market Share report. Essentially, chains are losing their customers to other independent restaurants and thus are suffering the decrease in traffic. We note with the exception of McDonald’s.

The undercurrents of a weak economy continue to haunt many restaurant chains in a new study from RetailMeNot Google Survey found:
1.       Four-fifths of customers say they are likely to visit a new restaurant for a discount, and nearly haf of all customers say they’d return to a restaurant even after a first poor impression if they were offered a deal.”
2.       Families are more concerned about cost saving than solo diners.
3.       Two-fifths of diners (40%) are most likely to search for deals when they are dining with the kids.
4.      Three in 10 consumers (31%) look for discounts when they are dining alone.
5.      When consumers seek out dining discounts, they tend to have certain types of foods in mind Pizza, Mexican, and Italian 39% of consumer want to see more deals available for those and 36% want more deals on burgers at restaurants.
6.      53% of consumers have at least one food and dining app on their phone.
7.      24% have restaurant review apps on their phone and use them.
8.      21% say they have a specific restaurant app on their phone
9.       20% have a third-party app on their phone.
10.   38% of consumers surveyed are willing to travel over 10 miles for a restaurant discount.

Is your brand Aspirational? Are you pricing your company, meals, or menu out of reach of most consumers?  Are your customer counts declining? Have your customers migrated to new non-traditional fresh food outlets simply for price?

Do your marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  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. 


Sunday, April 30, 2017

Hello Grocerants




Harkin back during the late Home Meal Replacement frenzy when grocery stores, C-stores, and restaurants all studied with excitement the successful developments fabulous sales at Phil Romano's Eatzi's. Growing once again Eatzi's is where Phil turned the page from restaurateur too foodservice retailer, food merchant extraordinaire.  Phil's experiment was a smashing success. It was and remains consumer interactive, participatory with visceral authenticity recording sales of 17 Million a year at the original store. Now in NYC Eatlaly is Eatzi's on steroids doing close to 60 Million a year in sales.

The legacy Home Meal Replacement focus quickly faded away in the Restaurant side of business. However in the Grocery, C-store, and Drug Store sector it continued to be studied, tested, and implemented. Today the grocerant niche is the strategic path of choice for non-traditional food retailers, targeted at restaurant customers, it is profitable, and expanding at an ever increasing pace.
 Grocerant Meal Components Drive Retail Customer Adoption
Wawa was once considered a convenience store.  Today Wawa positions it's brand as Fresh First, Built-ToOrder and Ready-To-Go with focus of serving Fast Casual Food- - To Go. At Wawa customers are now finding What's for Breakfast, What's for Lunch and now what's for Dinner. Wawa excels at offering consumer meal components that can be bundled into the perfect family mix and match family meal according to our own Grocerant Guru®.

Sheetz once a convenience store as well now calls themselves a restaurant that sells gas. Sheetz Made To Order food is a hit with customers. Sheetz is successful contemporizing legacy C-store products with differentiation, customization, and personalization. Consumer like Sheetz variety including a 24 hour menu serving all day parts - all day long with a wide range of consumer meal and snacking needs. Sounds and acts like a restaurant doing all the right things.

Rutter's Farm Stores is another convenience store in transition. Rutter's understands the unique balance between palate, price, pleasure, and the consumer's drive for qualitative distinctive differentiated new messaging and Rutter's is meeting that need set.

The food value proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blended into something with a twist. In industry speak, differentiated does not mean different to the consumer it means familiar. Rutter's is an example of brand identity extending beyond consumer expectations within the traditional conveniences store sector. Too the consumer Rutter's is a direct valued competitor within the QSR space.
Grocerants Today Drive Incremental Experimentation
Foodservice Solutions® identified, quantified, qualified, and coined the term Grocerant back in 1996 and was the first to have the term published in NRN and Foodservice Director in 1996. The grocerant niche is a result of the blurring of the line between restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores all selling fresh prepared, portable convenient meal solutions. Targeted at the time-starved consumer with Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food components that are "better for you", portable and portioned for one or two. All of these operators want a larger share of the retail food market. They want to take share from the restaurants.
Whole Foods is no longer Whole Paycheck.  Whole Foods 365 can be fresh food fast but they lost a bit of their focus in development yet it is still deemed "better for you" by consumers. They are driving customer frequency while building loyalty with Fresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat better for you food. Whole Foods focus is on convenient meal participation, better for you differentiation, and individualization.



Safeway's has integrated Mix and Match Meal Bundling marketing into daily and weekly iPhone app's and legacy print flyers. With a focus on Fresh Prepared Food, Safeway is leveraging Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P's of Food Marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price establishing contemporized consumer relevance. In what was once restaurant food space alone grocery stores, C-stores and Drug stores are now garnering consumer attention.
Duane Reade, Bartell Drugs, and Rite Aid Disruptive Food Force
Is Walgreens Duane Reade  the next Big Competitor in the retail fresh food space? Walgreens Fresh with Duane Reade has over 8,175 retail outlets. Who is selling what in your back yard? With Walgreens entering the fresh food area again with meats, wraps, soups "and other on-the-go grab-N—go meal component options, as well as convenient alternatives for tonight's family meal, it is clear that the future of fresh food retail leadership may be up in the air.

Bartell Drugs and Rite Aid are both offering more and more fresh prepared food options for consumers. From coast to coast increasing the drug store sector is adding fresh food options in the form of meal component options faster than any other sector except many the Dollar Store sector.
Food Retailers Stepping Up
Food Retailing never takes a step backward according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.  Consumers are dynamic not static always looking to save both time and money. The grocerant niche is propelling new quality points of fresh food distribution and competitors that are well financed. Remember, when it is 4pm, do you know what your customers want to make for dinner ?

Steven Johnson is the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, with extensive experience as a multi-unit operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit The Grocerant on LinkedIn or @Grocerant on Twitter


Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Amazon Branding Fresh Meal Kits for All Ages




Love her or not Martha Stewart is a brand name with 95% brand name recognition. The halo of quality food knowledge encompasses much of what Martha Stewart is doing today.  Regular readers of this blog know we touted the launch of the meal kit business.  Well here we go again as Martha is building sales with Amazon. 

When Amazon teamed up with Martha Stewart to sell meal kits no one should have been surprised. Introducing fine fast food or Martha’s Meal Kits, Amazon is edifying its own halo of ‘better-for-you’ fine fresh fast food. Once again legacy grocery stores are taking a wait and see approach to meal kits.
Many lagecy grocery chains, the ilk of Albertsons, Kroger, Publix and Wegmans, still don't offer meal kit services despite their adoption by millennials as ‘training wheels’ for cooking a ‘perfect or special occasion meal at home according to Steven Johnson www.FoodserviceSolutions.us Grocerant Guru®

Martha Stewart meal kits are available to Amazon Prime members through “AmazonFresh and include some of Stewart's favorite recipes broken down into six steps with pre-portioned seasonal ingredients to cook a meal for two. , Amazon customers don't have to commit to a certain number of meals or order a week in advance, which is what most of the meal kit subscription services require.”

Martha Stewart stated “I am pleased to collaborate with the most innovative retailer, Amazon, to bring better weeknight cooking solutions to all customers…..It is so important to cook wholesome, delicious, healthy dinners, and I believe people will enjoy the nutritious and seasonal recipes offered by Martha & Marley Spoon, coupled with the flexibility and convenience of AmazonFresh.”

Packaged Facts estimates meal kit services generated $1.5 billion in sales last year not having to sign up for an ongoing subscription and the one hour delivery time offered by Amazon in most major cities this could become a coup for both AmazonFresh and Martha Stewart.
Do your marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  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. 
 


Monday, February 1, 2016

Loyalty Programs be Dammed




Loyalty programs be damned in 2016 according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®. With food cost deflation at hand and consumers still recovering from the great recession there is a battle for share of stomach underway. Both Portability and Price are key drivers of customer traffic in 2016 according to Foodservice Solution® team.  

When Technomic edified Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of Food Marketing  the undercurrents of change and success within the food industry were forever changed.  That changed can traced back directly too Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food marketing. 

In 2016 the role of price and portability are being used with greater emphasis than ever before according to Foodservice Solutions® team. When they were first introduced back in 1994; then implemented, and integrated by foodservice companies including Full Service Restaurants, Chain Drug Stores, Grocery Stores,  QSR’s, and C-Store clients.  The 5 P’s are: 


After repeated successful retail food industry adoption of Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of Fresh Food Marketing, Technomic conducted qualitative and quantitative research then compiled the following infographic highlighting the importance and consumer relevance that portability play’s today.  The Technomic infographic is entitled Pertinence of Portability:


McDonald’s 2 for $2, Burger Kings 5 for $4 or Wendy’s 4 for $4 are targeting the 50% of consumers over the age of 18 that are single.  These are meals and priced to be pantry busters.  The simple fact is a single person cannot cook a hamburger at home for a $1.00.  Why would anyone cook from scratch and spend more money while earning less than they did before the great recession? 

With commodity deflation as a back drop, fast food retailers see an opportunity to drive solid customer counts increases in 2016 regaining customers lost to grocery stores and C-stores the past 7 years. You have all heard the old adage time is money.  Handheld food for immediate consumption is driving top line growth and bottom line profits while garnering market share in 2016 because time is money. 

Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  if you are interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization or you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant