Food Retail Partnerships Deliver Success

Once again this year our team has been talking a lot about “The 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome” that Foodservice Solutions® Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson was the first to identify, quantify, and qualify for clients and the industry. Why, have we been talking about; simply it drives sales.

Foodservice Solutions® team loves leaving success clues and when we learned that Olo, a leading digital food ordering platform for the restaurant industry, announced that it is working together with Google to enable customers to order directly from restaurant brands across Google Search, Maps and the Google Assistant we has to share the news about the new electricity this partnership could drive for your brand.  

So, the integration allows Olo’s network of more than 70,000 restaurant brand locations to be enabled on Google’s platforms so that consumers can order directly on Google from Search and Maps. Users can also use their voice and ask the Google Assistant for help. On Android and iOS phones, users can say, “Hey Google, order food from [restaurant],” or “Hey Google, order food again from [restaurant].”

Olo’s platform called Rails, enables restaurants to efficiently process orders originating from third-party destinations, is now integrated across Search, Maps and the Google Assistant, transferring each order directly into the restaurant’s point of sale and ordering stream to improve operations efficiency and guest experience.

Brands working with Olo and Google enjoy efficiencies of a two-way integration, benefiting from accurate pricing, menu, and product availability, while inbound orders are automatically placed into existing point-of-sale (POS) systems. Rails makes it easy for restaurant operators to list menu items on third-party marketplaces and drive incremental sales without the need to manage multiple tablets on the restaurant counter and disparate order flows. This integration reduces lag, increases order success rates, and enables faster and more accurate ordering experiences.

Noah Glass, founder and CEO of Olo  stated “Search is increasingly becoming the path to purchase in the restaurant space and we are thrilled to team up with Google to make ordering easy while allowing restaurants to own the digital relationship with their guests,” …”Any consumer searching for a restaurant brand should have easy options to order from the restaurant directly with as few clicks as possible, which is what this integration enables.”

The integration is one of the latest tools to help restaurant brands receive online orders. Portillo’s Hot Dogs and Checkers & Rally’s were the first Olo brands to pioneer this integration with Google, providing enablement to their high-volume locations for customers. Is your brand ready to grow? Are you looking for some new electricity?

Consumers are dynamic not static how is your brand keeping up with consumer demand for fresh fast food? How are you driving new electricity into your 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, plant based  foods,  sampling, toy’s, beer, 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 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?

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, local 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

Today Fresh Food Start-Up’s Need Marketing First

Regular readers of this blog have heard of the old TV Shows that has been rekindled several time called “What’s My Line’. Today the world of food marketing and how to open a new restaurant or food Start-Up has changed from word of mouth too online back-stories. Consumers what to know “What’s Your Line online."

Both Gen Z and Millennials ‘need and want to know more about what your brand stands for which in turn requires that you do as consumers do turn to ‘Google Home’ or ‘Amazon’s Alexa’ building your brand story.  That will enable your customers to find your brand, your address, and what customer are saying about you on Yelp, YouTube, or Facebook well before they ever enter you store.

Today food start-ups must begin using e-commerce to get off the ground even before your fist store front ever opens according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. It about the back store, your story and the journey of you brand that Gen Z and Millennials require if you want them to buy-into you’re messaging.

Marketing technology platforms the ilk of Yelp, YouTube, Facebook, and smartphones connectivity have become ubiquitous, how consumers shop is changing. Rather than a focused, planned effort, shopping is ongoing with the consumer using all of the tools at his or her disposal to research and acquire products.

Technology specifically mobile phones are changing how food and beverage start-ups are going to market. While the days of introducing products at farmer’s markets, pop-up restaurants, food and then scaling up have yet to fade. 

Regular readers of this blog know that the traditional business model is being upended. Today, start-up brands including grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared foods are adopting direct-to-consumer and third-party e-commerce initiatives to gain customers and sales velocity and eventually fund distribution into brick and mortar.  Legacy food retailer need to take note of this as it is a trend not a fad according to Johnson.

In fact the Food Marketing Institute recently found that online grocery sale are expected to reach $100 Billion by 2022.  A good deal of those sales will be fresh prepared meals and meal components according to Johnson.

Direct-to-consumer brand building allows start-ups to build a strong connection with consumers and have total control over its message evolving the relationship personalizing products with and for customers. Direct-to-consumers marketing elevate’ return on investment (marketing) R.O.I.  as top of mind for brand managers and product managers simultaneously. 

Star-up’s quickly zone in on what is working and what is not working.  Direct to consumers sales create a platform where scalability is transparent throughout the company.  Having everyone on the same page is critically important for start-up food retailers.

Retail food brands leveraging direct-to-consumer digital marketing today can compete on an even stage with companies the ilk of Amazon Go, Walmart’s both multi-billion dollar companies that are still testing  of automatic pickup, retailer click-and-collect initiatives, and two-hour delivery in some regions.  Think Blue Apron, Hello Fresh both online only formats first.  So just What’s your Line and who Knows about it?  

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

Long Live Burger Kings Commercial’s and Gamification

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson has long encouraged retail foodservice operators from grocery store service deli’s, convenience stores, fast casual restaurants, fine fast restaurants, furniture stores, drug stores, and fast food restaurants to incorporate the FIVE P’s of food marketing into their brands with consumer focused interactivity and participation.

Burger King has a new interactive participatory TV commercial that does just that. Yes, the marketing team at Burger Kings has found a way to reach into your home and extend the TV commercial. (See the link to the AD below).  This is brilliant! It might also be a bit disturbing but brilliant none the less. It’s not they kind of gamification our Grocerant Guru® so often speaks of, but it is voice technology and interactive.

So basically Burger King is going to “Hack Your Google Home Device” press reports say.  I have a Google Home, I like it and have tried playing this AD and I can tell you it works some times.  I don’t know if  my laptop speaker was not loud enough or clear enough.  But I did not get the answer I or Burger King wanted.  My devise is still leaning.  I’m wondering if they should have started with Amazon’s Alexa? She is fantastic.

Burger King is leveraging voice technology and attempting “to highjack viewers’ voice-activated speakers to prolong the commercial” according to press reports.  Here is how it works according to press reports:

Prompted by an actor in the commercial saying, “OK, Google, what is the Whopper burger?” the intention is to trigger a Google Home device that would then begin to describe a Whopper from a Wikipedia entry, according to a demo.

“You’re watching a 15-second Burger King ad, which is unfortunately not enough time to explain all the fresh ingredients in the Whopper sandwich. But I’ve got an idea,” an actor says before asking Google to describe the sandwich.”  Like I said in my case playing the TV spot off my laptop it did not work as well as I would have liked”  but then again I’m kind of a nerd about this stuff.  Here is what is important.

In January as regular readers of this blog know we began with an blog titled Can Mobile Augmented-Reality Save Full Service Restaurants a couple days later we wrote a blog titled  Mobile Marketing + Virtual Retail vs Foodservice Brick and Mortar Retailers.  We wrote those blogs because the team at Tacoma, WA Foodservice Solutions® believes food marketing, food branding, and customer interaction has forever changed.  Technology and consumer adoption of that technology had driven that change.

Consumer’s overwhelming adoption and migration of smart phone technology including voice have driven rapid adoption of both Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Home devices. Burger Kings leadership in this marketing foray is to be commended. While it is not working perfectly nor is it understood fully how customers will react.  It is a stepping stone to a closer understanding of consumers, marketing reach, and voice ordering.  While this is an invasive tactic it is and will continue to garner consumer and industry buzz. 

Burger King would be well served to offer anyone who comments a free Whopper or by working with Google Home offer Google Home devise owners a reward for listening?  What else do you think Burger King should do to capture leader ship in this space other than partner with Amazon or Google for more proactive interactivity?  We have several ideations do you? 

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.