What’s for Dinner is the age
old question was once the foundation that fueled the growth of the restaurant
industry. Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has been tracking when consumers start planning
dinner
since 1991 and continues to find that at 4PM today 62.73% of consumer still do
not know what’s for dinner. However we
know now that consumers are opting for options other than restaurants.
The simple fact is consumers
have more options to select from and many do not include going out to eat at a
restaurant. Much of the desire not to
dine out can be traced back to the 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome according to Johnson. Competition for the restaurant industry
customer is coming from Drug Stores, Furniture Stores, Clothing Stores,
Convenience Stores, and Grocery stores.
You know it a serious threat
with 60,173 unit 7-Eleven is investing heavily in grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat
and Heat-N-Eat fresh food. 7-Eleven is testing 15 new prepared food items that
range from Italian to Asian and Mexican flavors.
7-Eleven meal offerings look
a lot like the prepared meals that are selling fast in the frozen food court at
your local grocery stores except they are fresh prepared. In fact they resemble
the meals and meal components offered by Pret A Manger, fresh&co, Snap
Kitchen. In fact today 160 million
consumers visit a convenience stores every day in the US and 76% of convenience
store customers purchase foodservice items with a drink according to Coca Cola
USA.
Recently the NPD Group found,
about two-thirds of consumers buy premade meals at least once a week. And
that’s up nearly 70% from the firm’s 2010 data, when one in five consumers
purchased a prepared meal in a given week.
Food industry research icon
Bonnie Riggs of the NPD Group stated “Consumers use QSRs, convenience, and
grocery stores interchangeably for fast food, particularly when they find the
same quality and variety,” “The lines between retail foodservice
and QSRs are blurring for consumers, and these channels are competing
for visits from consumers looking for a quick meal or snack.”
Regular readers of this blog
know that’s what our own Grocerant Guru® has been pontificating since 1991. One
things that 7-Eleven does better than more other food retailer is leverage the
size of the chain to drive chain restaurants nuts with a threating price point
according to Johnson. The new meals
begin at $3.99-$4.99 and cover the spectrum of trendy flavors and dayparts
Kelly Buckley, 7‑Eleven vice president of
fresh food innovation stated “Younger demographic groups, in particular,
are constantly snacking throughout the day versus eating three traditional
meals.” Buckley, formerly from Applebee’s and Pizza Hut, represents
another existential threat. As c-stores try to gobble up the prepared food
market, they are pulling talented executives from the restaurant industry.
Albertsons, the 2,600- unit
grocery chain, is acquiring meal kit company Plated. This deal will make Plated
the first onmichannel meal kit with national scale. So at 4 PM when
your customer is looking for dinner we ask Why will they continue to come to
you?
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
