800° Pizza adds Technology to Drive International Growth

 

Everyone wants fresh pizza fast, but few can compete with 800° Pizza quality, consistency, service, and flavor that will drive incremental growth and success in an evolving world short on employees according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Have you heard that, Piestro, the robotic pizzeria that’s crafting high-quality artisan pizza, announced it is partnering with 800° Pizza, the international pizza brand by world-renowned chef Anthony Carron, to offer consumers a fully automated culinary experience, equipped with an authentic, custom pizza recipe designed for Piestro’s unique cooking technology?

That’s right proprietary pizza fast with less labor involved. Think brand relevance in an evolving world, that will edify brand value with relevance and new electricity. According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”  That said, what are you waiting for?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, 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 retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

In A Battle for Share of Stomach

If you know Chef Carron, you know he has always taken an imaginative approach to pizza making. When establishing the first 800° Pizza location in 2012, he set forth to pair fresh, great-tasting ingredients with a woodfired oven to produce artisan pizzas in just 90 seconds. The success of 800° Pizza continued with national and international expansion into 2020, but as the pandemic hit, the entire restaurant industry faced new customer service constraints and the acute challenge of keeping up with the exploding demand for delivery-based dining. 

So, once again the new dynamics of delivery/takeout culture and increased consumer pressure for more convenient food choices put a strain on restaurants’ access to labor and their ability to maintain high levels of quality and consistency. 

That’s right, even with 800° Pizza’s impressive cooking speed, Chef Carron and the team believed they needed to do more to future-proof the brand and maintain the standards of excellence the chain has come to be known for. With his forward-thinking mindset, Chef Carron saw the promise of automation when a trusted industry colleague, Massimo Noja De Marco, reached out to discuss his latest venture – automated pizzeria, Piestro. 

Chef Carron, stated “When Massimo and I first connected about Piestro’s technology, I saw both the immediate and long-term impact automation could have on our business,” ... “Knowing Massimo’s exceptional background and the emphasis he places on quality and consistency in his machines, I knew this was a partnership we needed to make happen. We immediately began the process of developing recipes using the same imported, fresh and flavorful ingredients that made 800° Pizza so successful, and we were off to the races.”

Let’s talk growth, this partnership will bring a completely new version of the 800° Pizza brand to high-traffic, easy-to-access locations through “800° by Piestro” machines. The partnership, which is kicking off with a projected order volume of 3,600 units to be produced and sold by Piestro over five years, will allow customers everywhere to experience the best ingredients and a perfect bite of consistently delicious artisan pizza – designed by two world-class pizza aficionados – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

De Marco, CEO of Piestro, stated, “This partnership is a clear indicator of the interest and potential for automation within the pizza industry,” … “I’ve known Chef Carron for years, and he exemplifies the spirit of operators dedicated to their craft, committed to delivering customers an unforgettable dining experience. The contactless cooking capabilities, fresh taste, speed and consistency that our automation and breakthrough oven technology brings instantly aligned with the values of 800° Pizza to provide customers an exceptional culinary experience. We can’t wait to give customers everywhere access to an international pizza brand with a robotic twist.”

Regular readers of this blog know that Johnson insist that differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist.  This partnership delivers on that industry leading fact.

With this new partnership, Piestro continues to see traction with investors in their crowdfunding campaign, which is currently underway on StartEngine. The platform gives more everyday investors an opportunity to capitalize on the $46.3 billion U.S. pizza market and be a part of shaping the future of the industry by investing in Intelligent Automation. The campaign is set to end September 30. (Take a look, it might be well worth it.)

Piestro is backed by experts in the food automation space. Its lead investor, Wavemaker Partners, is a global venture capital fund with over $550M assets under management, and its studio, Wavemaker Labs, focuses directly on automation.

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson 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. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869

Hungry Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat Grocerant fresh prepared Food is for You

Cooking from scratch is something you read about in history books more than you see in today’s world according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. While   the US unemployment rate hit a 50 year low last month Americans continue to crave traditional meals but don’t the time to cook them from scratch or the still-set to cook from scratch.

Today, Millennials are starting families and tech-savvy.  However, they lack the motivation to prep food, cook food, or do dishes according to Johnson.  This has become a huge problem for grocery stores as consumer drift away from raw, food to seeking fresh prepared meals and or meal components that are either Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat components that can be mix and matched into a customized family meal.

So, let’s look at some facts:

1.       63% of all restaurant traffic is now ‘off-premise’

2.       69% of U.S. adults have viewed a restaurant menu online is the past year

3.       50% of U.S Millennials are more likely to have restaurant food delivered than they were two years ago

4.       43% of U.S. adults are more likely to incorporate a restaurant prepared meal component into their home meal than they were two years ago

5.       44% of U.S. adults have placed an online order for restaurant takeout/delivery in the past year

There is no secret here Millennials are living a fast-paced life full of instant gratification, it is understandable why Millennials would prefer to buy Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meals and meal components.  It’s not just Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers are also seeking solutions to simplify an increasingly complex world fill with more technology than most can use, understand or want.

While the price of food purchased at restaurants is twice that of food purchased at grocery stores, and have more than double the general inflation rate. A study shows that in 2018, grocerants witnessed over 11 billion dollars in sales. It is key to note that over 40 percent of the U.S. population purchases prepared foods from grocery stores.

Remember Millennials seek convenience over most other aspects of meal planning.   That fact alone will drive continue customer migration from traditional avenues of fresh food distribution too new non-traditional avenues of distribution for meals and meal components.  Does your retail outlet look more like 1990?  Are you doing what you have always done?  How is that working for you?  Are your customer counts growing? If they are not, you might want to call the Grocerant Guru®.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson 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. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call 1-253-759-7869

Snacking with Fresh Fruit can Drive Fast Food Sales

Consumers have placed a ‘halo’ of better-for-you on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  All retailers should remember that fresh fruit is convenient, portable, ‘better-for-you’ on the minds-eye of the consumer according to Johnson.  Don’t let your restaurant look more like yesterday than tomorrow.

In new research from PMA found that “People eat fruit because it’s sweet, juicy, crisp, portable, filling, satisfying, shareable and good for you”.  To increase sales of cut fruit, PMA further recommended offering precut fruit snack packs with a side of dip and adding precut fruits to salad bars to make fruit more accessible to the lunch crowd.

And to capture the younger consumers who tend to snack more throughout the day, consider featuring exotic, nontraditional fruits such as lychee or passion fruit; offer portion sizes geared towards one-person households, and feature ready-to-eat snack options to be eaten on the go or throughout the day.

 Nielsen says in its report Booming Snack Sales Highlight a Growth Opportunity in Emerging Markets. “Consumers are eating up this ‘on-the-go’ snacking subcategory, to the tune of U.S. $1.1 billion,”

Naturipe Farms of Salinas, Calif. is going after the on-the-go market with its Naturipe Snacks fresh fruit cups that include several flavor combinations of blueberries, grapes and apples. “Our fruit cups are packed in a unique cup design with a built-in spork and 5 ounces of fresh fruit,” says Steven Ware, VP of value-added fresh. “Heat-sealed for plastic reduction and a secure closure, these cups are ideal for convenience stores, grab-and go departments and catering operations.”

According to Chicago-based IRI Fresh, while total fresh-cut fruit is up 38% since 2013.  Now think how that number would look if more fast food outlets offered fresh fruit. Regarding the top five fresh-cut fruits adding the most dollars to the category since 2013, IRI finds that berries are No. 1, with 82% in dollar sales growth.

When it comes to increasing sales of fresh-cut fruit, Greg Wilson of Reichel Foods advises grocers to think of their youngest shoppers. “Merchandising fresh-cut products low in the set helps increase sales because they are more visible to children,” he says. “Also, merchandise standing up so the consumers can see what is in the package.” Reichel Foods’ best-selling line is its Dippin’ Stix brand of kid-friendly cut fruit with dips, such as apples and caramel.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/

Fresh Food Leads the convenience store industry’s forecast for 2018

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food once again leads the CSNews Forecast Study for 2018; thus empowering convenience store operators to continue elevating the quality of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food they offer in search for incremental sales and profits according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The CSNews study found that heading into 2018 operators project an overall 3.9-percent increase.  The category leading all other categories way with a projected 6% gain was of course foodservice. Participants were asked to predict 2018 sales per store for a variety of product categories, as well as to share their opinions on overall business, economic and consumer trends.

As noted this year’s category standouts are predicted to be foodservice and alternative snacks. Conversely, 2018’s category strugglers are expected to be cigarettes and edible grocery, both of which were also ranked as the bottom two in last year’s Forecast Study.

Consumers continue to migrate to Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food and any retailer or food manufacture that want to sell more must address the unmet need of the consumer and as regular reader of this blog understand the undercurrents driving trend continue to expand.

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

Grocery Shopper Migration Benefits Restaurateurs

Yes, regular readers of this blog know that the line between restaurants and food retailers is growing ever thinner. The fight for America's food dollars continues to intensify as consumers find grocerant niche fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat food options at a wide and growing array of outlets across almost every channel including convenience stores, chain drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, club stores, vending and even more non-food traditional fresh food retailers like dollar stores but the restaurant sector just may benefit the most from grocery store customer migration according to Steve Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

While manufacturers, retailers, and restaurants worry about choice overload, consumers have embraced their new choices and show no signs of returning to the old ways. This fight is taking place in what is called the grocerant niche.  In 2012 there were 27 restaurants for each legacy grocery stores. Today there are 30 restaurants for every one legacy grocery store and the numbers continue to grow according to Johnson. 

Nielsen’s Symphony Retail Ai has pointed out what our Grocerant Guru® has been pointing out since 1991 that in its new “Supermarket 2020” report that market forces “are driving radical disruption in supermarkets”.  Symphony Retail Ai’s research identified key trends that include:

• Large weekly shopping trips being displaced by online shopping and preferences for prepared foods. The weekly “pantry-loading” shopping trip to the local grocery store is declining, with a 3-4% decrease in large baskets from just a year ago. Consumers are increasingly turning to online shopping when purchasing 15+ items, and online grocery shopping has risen 14% in the U.S. In addition, 76% of consumers report that they are increasingly buying prepared food instead of cooking dinner.
• Amazon’s disruption through its acquisition of Whole Foods. Whole Foods immediately lowered prices on many products on Day One of the Amazon acquisition, and together, Amazon and Whole Foods have a huge logistical advantage. Eighty-one percent of Whole Foods shoppers represent the same demographics as Amazon Prime customers, and 95% of Amazon Prime customers now have refrigerated Amazon distribution centers within 10 miles.
• Growth of private label brands. CPGs are feeling the pressure, too, facing increasing competition from private label brands. Private label is up 18% in the U.S., leading to revenue losses and lower margins for major CPGs and creating headwinds for future growth.
• Continued, fierce competition from discounters such as Aldi, LIDL, Walmart and others. Aldi and LIDL are turning up the heat on traditional supermarkets by rapidly increasing their store count in the U.S. Far more than just discounters, they are expert product curators with highly efficient stores that feature higher-margin private label brands and low overhead. Adding to this, Walmart has declared a “price war” on grocery SKUs, asking CPGs to move all trade promotion dollars into “Everyday Low Price.”

Pallab Chatterjee, Chairman and CEO, Symphony Retail Ai stated “Supermarkets face unprecedented competitive pressures today,” … “In order to compete and win, grocery retailers must transform their outdated store models and become ‘stores of the future’ that are agile and aligned with today’s consumer preferences.”  Hello, the Grocerant Guru® has help retail leaders do that disruption.  What are your waiting for? Is it time for you to Look-A-Customer-Ahead?

Symphony Retail Ai has identified the distinct characteristics of “Supermarket 2020” stores, including the following:

• Stores will have fewer than 10 aisles instead of today’s 15+ aisles, with an average product range of fewer than 10 highly curated SKUs per category to meet consumer needs for convenience and quality. Stores can support this in-store model by offering a million SKUs online as part of their multichannel strategy, offering shoppers virtually unlimited product access.
• Stores should remove the center store aisles to make room for prepared foods, taking advantage of shoppers’ intentions to spend 3-4X more on prepared foods compared to other areas. Symphony’s research indicates that year-over-year growth in prepared foods is 8-9% annually for supermarkets.
• A special products aisle can offer a “surprise and delight” section that engages shoppers with products that change twice a week.
• Grocers can recreate a farmer’s market in every store, supplied by local and regional farms and suppliers that meet strict requirements.
• Private label will represent a much higher percent of SKUs, increasing to 40-45% compared with today’s 18-20%.
• Stores will offer shoppers convenient tools such as click & collect, 3D store-navigation that allows shoppers to connect their shopping list to store layout on their mobile phones and AI-enabled, real-time basket cost reduction offers.

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.

7-Eleven the Retail Foodservice Equilibrium is Resting Once Again

 

Time and time again Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® has outline the undercurrents that are driving the retail food, service, price equilibrium all of which continue to fuel the growth of the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.

 When 7-Eleven  CEO Joseph DePinto  was asked recently what the future of convenience retailing looks like and he’ll reach into his pocket and pull out his smartphone. He said “Click-and-collect, on-demand delivery, frictionless payment, the now factor. Our opportunity is to connect the digital to the physical store locations,”  “The KPI [key performance indicator] for today’s consumers is how quickly can it be at my door. People call it ‘the last mile.’ I call it ‘the last block.’”

 Consumers continue to be time starve, lack the cooking skill-set to master the varying international full flavor food that have come to appreciate, and want according to Johnson. The retail foodservice equilibrium has evolved according to the team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

 From: Mobile Transparency +Price + Quality + Service + Portability = Value 

 Incremental Value = Constantly Changing Menu (Seasonally / Sustainability with creditability).

 Digital Push Marketing + Branded Meals Components + Portability  + Speed of Delivery or  Pick-Up = Value

 Incremental Value = Constantly Changing Menu (Seasonally / Sustainability with Transparency).

 

DePinto continued saying that “Consumers are changing as fast as I’ve ever seen them change. They want now, simple, easy. They’re completely redefining what ‘convenience’ is.”  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards monitor consumers evolving demands thus our new retail foodservice formula for success.

So just how is DePinto for his positioning for the future? Well with of cutting-edge technology and services that are redefining convenience. The 7-Eleven list includes: drone delivery, partnerships with third-party delivery companies like Postmates and Tapingo, click-and-collect, Amazon Lockers, UPS Lockers, KeyMe self-service locksmith kiosks, Amazon Cash and PayPal Cash. There’s also the 7-Eleven mobile app and 7Rewards loyalty program, which has 9 million members.

 DePinto  stated that “In our delivery business and click-and-collect tests, we see the transaction size is actually larger than the in-store transaction. Our delivery ticket is three times our in-store ticket,” he said.

7-Eleven is ramping up its digital team to be able to innovate faster.

 DePinto rejects the idea that brick-and-mortar retail is dying. Rather, he says the golden ticket lies in uniting brick-and-mortar with digital. On that the team at Foodservice Solutions® is in complete agreement.

 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.