Yes, Walmart’s Relevance is Big, Small, Customer Focused

One foodservice clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® insist is “successful companies that focus on customer pain point, provide solutions, win time and time again.

You are going to love reading how Walmart the retail behemoth has the ability to understand it customers and provide service. Here we go, Walmart partnered with Getaway, a company that rents very small camping cabins, on The General Store by Walmart, which will sell curated goods for vacationers.

Yes, that’s right Walmart teamed up with Getaway, a hospitality company, to open tiny retail stores at its out-of-the-way vacation spots.

So, the General Store by Walmart is described as a “mini-retail experience” that will sell outdoor-focused products like s’mores fixings, cast iron skillets, hiking gear, lip balm and disposable cameras, as well as goods made by local small businesses.

This is not a just none off, Walmart’s first general store is slated to open next month at a Getaway location in Wimberley, Texas, with more tiny stores planned to open throughout the year in Moodus, Conn.; Running Springs, Calif.; Roscoe, NY; and Osceola, Mo.

In case you did not know, Getaway builds collections of super-small cabin two hours from major cities, which it calls Outposts. The cabins have kitchens and running water, but no WiFi or cell service, to help campers … get away from the modern world. The company currently has 19 Outposts with a total of more than 784 cabins.

Walmart VP of Brand Marketing Casey Schlaybaugh, stated, “Walmart’s partnership with Getaway furthers our mission to help people live better no matter where they are,” We are going beyond just saving people money by enabling guests to maximize Getaway’s experience and empowering them to spend more quality time with those who matter most.”

Exactly as you would expect, the General Stores will be located in small, wooden, slope-roofed cabins on wheels. Walmart’s name and starburst logo is in yellow, in smaller print, under signage saying The General Store. The store’s tote bags say, “Quality Goods, Great Outdoors,” with Walmart in a smaller font. Inside are rustic wooden shelves displaying a very small, heavily curated selection of goods.

The items sold at The General Store will also be sold on Walmart.com via a special Getaway shopping page. And those who visit Outpost over the next year will receive a free trial of the retailer’s membership program, Walmart+.

Carlos Becil, chief experience officer at Getaway, stated, “At Getaway, our mission is to help people disconnect and spend time in nature. In partnering with Walmart, we are able to amplify our efforts to a larger audience and provide our guests with more free time, helping them prepare for their stays and enjoy the comforts of nature once they arrive.”

Are you looking a customer ahead?  Don’t get stuck in a rut doing what you have always done.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a 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 

Saladworks Expands with Robotics

Technology has driven down cost for grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants regular readers of this blog know that virtual restaurants are fast becoming the growth vehicle of choice for chain restaurants and entrepreneurs. Robotics are a platform for new electricity with a brand.

Robotics are helping drive down the cost of operating a restaurant, opening new restaurants and maintaining restaurants profitability according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. So, back to Foodservice Solutions® time tested marketing template Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat clearly that is complete as both Chowbotics and Saladworks are moving forward.

Here we go, Saladworks is set to expand its reach into hospitals, universities, grocery stores, and more with the world’s first fresh food robot, Sally.  Regular readers of this blog know that as part of a recent partnership with the robot’s creator, Silicon Valley-based Chowbotics.

The two companies have joined forces to offer a version of Sally the Robot that will exclusively serve Saladworks’ rotating, seasonal menus. Purchasers of the fresh food robot can now take advantage of Saladworks’ culinary expertise and established brand to offer their patrons healthy, delicious meals at any hour.   

Here is how it works, in just a 3’x3’ space, the fresh food robot utilizes precision robotics to assemble customizable salads made from up to 22 ingredients that are sealed for safety and freshness in an airtight refrigerated container. Users can select from SaladWorks’ chef-crafted menu or build their own bowl with their favorite ingredients. Each selection is accompanied by instant nutritional information, making it possible to compose a meal for unique dietary goals or needs. 

The opportunities offered by this technology amplify Saladworks’ mission to provide a healthy alternative to other fast food fare. With over 30 years of experience in crafting appetizing, imaginative salad offerings, Saladworks sees the fresh food robot as an opportunity to further elevate the experience for its health-minded customers and reach them at new times and places.

Kelly Roddy, CEO of Saladworks  stated, “It is our mission at Saladworks to be original in everything we do, and this partnership with Chowbotics to offer a unique version of Sally the Robot certainly takes our brand to the next level,"… "We are excited to bring our healthy and delicious salads to all kinds of new guests across hospitals, universities and beyond. The possibilities are endless."

Beyond brand recognition and menu expertise, food service operators who purchase the Saladworks branded robot will also benefit from SaladWorks’ operational and training support, loyalty program integration, and the Saladworks’ website where consumer-facing menu information and nutritional data is displayed.

This partnership comes at a time when the demand for safe, fresh meal solutions has been heightened by food safety concerns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Chowbotics has already deployed more than 100 robots that have served over 185,000 meals to date, and the company is thrilled about the possibilities that will now be opened for potential fresh food robot customers.

CEO Rick Wilmer says, “We’re excited to partner with a brand that has been so successful at leading the way in health-forward menu development. Together, we’re opening up new revenue streams for foodservice providers looking to expand their footprint, at a fraction of the cost needed to open a new restaurant location.” How are you driving new electricity into you brand?

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, online ordering, delivery, plant based foods, sampling, toy’s, cereal, developing brands,  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 GrocerantGuru.com 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.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach 

Technology & Robotics 

Drive New Electricity  

Faster Fresh Legal Seafood

Consumers are dynamic not static and chain restaurants need to be as dynamic as consumers according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Boston-based casual-dining seafood chain Legal Sea Foods is evolving with its customers with dynamic relevance.

In an effort to offer fresher, faster, seafood Legal Seafood is opening a 850-square-foot space in the Quincy Market Building.  It will feature six signature bowls, customizable bowls and a “liquid bowl,” which is Legal’s signature clam chowder.

Empowering customer choice customers can select a base of brown rice, jasmine rice, mixed field greens, zucchini “noodles”, or lo mein noodles. Then they can top it with hoisin glazed salmon, marinated organic shrimp, tuna poke, salmon poke, spicy tuna, soy-ginger chicken or kung pao tofu. The seafood proteins are $5 and the others are $3. Customers can also get the bowls without protein for $7.95.

With that price point consumers get up to three toppings, the ilk of roasted cauliflower and shallots, grilledlemon kale, seaweed salad, edamame, rainbow carrots or shaved Romano cheese. Additionally they have a choice of one crunchy toppings: spiced seeds and nuts, wasabi peas, sunflower seeds, nori furikake or sesame seeds. Finally they have a choice of dressing: sesame ginger, cider Dijon, orange chipotle, olive oil and vinegar, tahini, or poke sauce.

The signature bowls are $13.95 except for the Chicky Chicky Bang Bang, which is $11.95 and features soy-ginger chicken over jasmine rice with grilled lemon kale, spicy roasted sweet potatoes, charred broccoli, sunflower seeds and orange-chipotle dressing. The other bowls are:

Tunanimous Choice: Sesame ginger tuna poke, jasmine rice, seaweed salad, charred broccoli, kimchi, radishes, nori furikake and poke sauce

Salmon Poke-Manna From Heaven: Sesame ginger salmon poke, brown rice, avocado, marinated tomatoes & cucumbers, rainbow carrots, scallions, spiced seeds and nuts, and poke sauce

Noodle it Over Shrimp: Marinated shrimp, lo mein noodles, marinated mushrooms, rainbow carrots, spicy roasted sweet potatoes, cucumbers, scallions, basil, cilantro, mint and tahini

Pick Your Hoisin: Hoisin-glazed salmon, grilled lemon kale, charred broccoli, zucchini noodles, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, avocado and cider Dijon dressing

Tuna Spiced Nice: Spicy tuna, sushi rice, avocado, edamame, cucumber, wasabi peas, tobiko and tamari

Legal Fish Bowl also offers three house-made drinks for $2.50 each: lemonade; organic green tea with mint, basil and elderflower syrup; and Haymaker’s Punch with raw honey, apple cider vinegar and ginger. How are you improving service, reducing cost, and selling fresh food faster? 

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food 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 have the clue you need to propel your continued success

Kohl’s & Aldi Customer Commonality Equals Partnership

Success does leave Clues and understanding your customers is a clue that Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® at the top of your list. When sales are lagging more often than not it’s because you are not listening, seeing, or understanding your customers well enough according to Johnson.

Kohl’s is showing signs of renewed strength as its Q4 earnings per share (EPS) came out to $1.99, well ahead of the $1.77 estimated. Revenue was $6.78 billion as opposed to the $6.74 billion expected by Wall Street, and same-store sale growth was up 6.3 percent compared to the anticipated 5.7 percent.

Kohl’s CEO Kevin Mansell in a statement that they are “committed to rethinking how it uses physical spaces, right-sizing its retail footprint and considering how to rent portions of its stores to grocery and convenience stores, among other options. The company revealed during its earnings call that it would tap grocery retailer Aldi as its first partner to sublet space in downsized stores.”  Kohl’s may have found its ‘new electricity’ to fuel traffic while reducing its footprint overload according to Johnson.

The simple fact is Kohl’s has a common understanding about today’s customers just like Aldi Kohl’s understands that “poor people must save and rich people like to”.  It’s that consumer commonality that has positioned Kohl’s to entice Aldi to lease space in some of its locations. Aldi is a master of success utilizing non-traditional locations and garnering customers from every walk of life into their stores.

Kohl’s Aldi partnership me be the right fuel to drive new electricity into Kohl’s top line sales and bottom line profits according to Johnson.  In the minds-eye of Johnson, there is one dominate element that will power success within retail and foodservice over the coming years and that is partnerships.

Johnson calls it the new electricity that is partnerships specifically strategic partnerships.   The new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh food, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

Retailers the ilk of Kohl’s to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable in some form.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

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.