HelloFresh Authentic ‘Guardians’ Snack Kit

 

If you like “Guardians of the Galaxy” you are going to like this.  HelloFresh is introducing a limited-editionGuardians Snack Adventure kit containing Zarg Nut Bites, as seen in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, and Mango Milky Fizz, as seen in the most recent Guardians trailer, along with a Guardians Recipe Adventure recipe series. Both products were inspired by Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which premieres in theaters on May 5. 

Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes that “the marketing team at Hello Fresh is going to hit a home run with this promotion. It is interactive and participatory food marketing at its best.”

In case you did not know, the kit offers pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step recipe cards to make two servings of Zarg Nut Bites and Mango Milky Fizz at home, in addition to collectible milk cartons and a jar. Zarg Nut Bites are crushed pretzels, salted cashews, sweet Thai chili sauce and chocolate chips combined in a salty, crunchy snack with a bit of sweet heat, while Mango Milky Fizz consists of apricot jam, coconut milk, seltzer and mango bits for a bubbly, subtly sweet drink. 

Consumers can purchase the kit on a first-come, first-served basis, with no HelloFresh subscription required, starting April 17 at 12 p.m. EST by going online, with additional kits arriving on April 24 and May 1 at 12 p.m. EST. 

The recipe series of six, with two recipes featured per week, is now available for HelloFresh customers: 

• Terran-Style St. Louis Sandwich with Sliced Dill Pickle and Potato Rounds
• “Destroyed” Thai Chili Coconut Smash Patties with Coconut Lime Rice and Roasted Green Beans
• Galactic Beef Melts with Blue Corn Chips
• Galaxy Greens Ricotta Ravioli with Lemony Zucchini and Toasted Panko & Parsley 
• Fire-Blasted Vegan Coconut Curry Soup with Tomatoes & Cauliflower
• Crispy Orloni-Style Tilapia Tacos with Chipotle Mayo, Cilantro Cabbage Slaw, Pickled Jalapeños & Radishes

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Kroger Elevates Home Chef with Racheal Ray

 

Success does leave clues and Kroger needs more that Albertsons and Safeway to get it self out of being a brand that is stuck in the middle at best.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®; “Racheal Ray will elevate brand relevance within Home Chef’s grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared customer focused meal kit category.”

Johnson continued, “Solutions to the age of question; What’s for Dinner can be found in meal kits which are a platform food solution for customers.  Home Chef meal kits at local branded Kroger stores are a desired quick solution Gen Z and Millennials are looking for. Racheal Ray will add incremental relevance and new electricity to Kroger’s meal solution options.”

At Kroger, meal kit solutions remain a fast grower in retailer’s own-brands portfolio. Now Home Chef meal solutions subsidiary has made co-branded meal kits with TV chef Rachael Ray available in stores.

he new meal kits with Rachael Ray recipes will roll out monthly to more than 1,300 stores across Kroger Co. supermarket banners through March 17. More Rachael Ray recipes also can be ordered online for home delivery directly from Home Chef at homechef.com/rachael.

Dan De La Rosa, group vice president of fresh merchandising at Kroger, stated, “Rachael Ray, widely known for her quick, easy-to-prepare recipes, popular cooking shows and best-selling cookbooks, and Home Chef have come together to offer a series of meals from new Rachael recipes that are simple, convenient and delicious. “Personalized food experiences do not have to be complicated. We know customers have busy schedules, and we’re excited to offer special meal kits that even the most inexperienced home cook can prepare, offered in collaboration with Rachael Ray.”

How does this sound, the first Rachael Ray Home Chef meal kit hitting stores guides customers through an easy-to-follow recipe for a steakhouse burger with dijon mushrooms and onions. Besides the burger, other recipes available both in stores and online include Pork Lo Mein with carrots and bok choy as well as sausage, pepper and onion pasta bake with ricotta.

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.” 

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, smaller footprint, developing brands, fresh flowers, 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 according to Johnson. 

Other selections in the Rachael Ray meal lineup include buffalo-style turkey chili with blue cheese crema and tortilla strips, pork chop with sweet onions and apple and cheesy crushed loaded potatoes, tilapia piccata with lemon spaghetti, deviled chicken with cheesy butternut squash, steak pizzaiola with fresh grape tomatoes, wedding soup with turkey ricotta meatballs and ditalini pasta, maple-mustard glazed chicken with apple and pear and cheesy mashed potatoes, a pub-style burger on a pretzel roll with roasted fingerling potatoes, and spicy sloppy joes with oven fries.

Home Chef, part of Kroger’s own-brands portfolio, unveiled the partnership with Rachael Ray in September, noting that the weekly rotation of meals will cover 26 recipes over six months.

Rachael Ray stated, “I am so excited to partner with Home Chef to bring tasty, easy-to-prepare meals to homes nationwide,” …. “Teaching others how to cook has always been a passion of mine, and this collaboration allows me to help people build confidence in the kitchen with my own recipes delivered straight to your door.”

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

HelloFresh Celebrity Re-Fresh

 

Meal Kit magic for HelloFresh may very well be found in a new partnership with actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, professional chef and cookbook author David Burtka, to promote the ease of cooking with meal kits. The partnership provides HelloFresh customers access to new family-friendly recipes developed exclusively by Burtka, in addition to comedic content featuring the pair and their twins, Gideon and Harper, enjoying meals in their own kitchen.

Regular readers of this blog know that Hello Fresh continues to lead within the meal kt category for freshness, flavor, and family fun. According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® recent grocerant scorecards.

So, Burtka collaborated with HelloFresh to create a limited-time recipe series of meals inspired by his cookbook Life is a Partyand flavor profiles enjoyed by his family. Through Sept. 4, HelloFresh customers can have the recipes, including all of the ingredients and step-by-step instructions, delivered directly to their homes. Part of HelloFresh’s Premium Picks menu options, the recipe series offers Cheesy Chicken & Bean Enchiladas with Tomato Rice, Pico de Gallo & Lime Crema; Herb-Roasted Chicken Legs with Brown Butter Veggies & Rice; Zesty Shrimp & Slaw Tacos with Creamy Guac, Salsa & Blue Corn Chips; and Grilled Steak & Asparagus Salad with Farro, Mushrooms & Lemony Ricotta.

Harris, stated, “Our lives move a million miles a minute so finding time together as a family or with our friends — ideally over a meal — is super important to us,”  Burtka added: “Whether we’re planning dinner for the twins or entertaining friends, HelloFresh has something for everyone, any night of the week, no matter how busy our schedules are! I’m excited to bring even more family-friendly, tasty recipes to their menu through this partnership.”

Michelle Olson, HelloFresh’s culinary development manager, stated, “HelloFresh is designed to be the perfect solution for families like Neil and David’s, who don’t have a lot of time to prep but want to get the kids involved and put their own spin on classic recipes,” … “It was an honor to have Chef David Burtka in our kitchen to collaborate on these limited-edition recipes that incorporate his favorite flavors, family-friendly cooking techniques, and inspiration from his own professional cooking experience.”

Here is why the team at Foodservice Solutions® thinks this will ‘re-fresh’ Hello Fresh, because along with the recipe series, consumers can view vlog-style content featuring Harris, Burtka and their kids across OTT, linear TV, social media, paid social, and more.

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 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 us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Battle for a Larger Share of Stomach

Celebrity Endorsements Help

Home Chef Personalization and Customization Will Drive Adoption

Partnerships that edify a brand with its customers make a difference.  In the competitive meal kit space, it is nice to see that Home Chef is getting back to its roots, within the grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared space adding options that are customer focused with customization and personalization according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Home chef has evolved from just a meal kit company to a meal solution provider.  It is a small distinction, that expands the brand back to its original ‘space’ grocerant niche solutions with a much broader array of options with it comes to points of differentiation all adding relevance to a much broader customer base according to Johnson.

At Home Chef sharing meals for the holiday season goes beyond gathering around a table. The company, is introducing a new digital gifting program that allows shoppers to share meals with others through personalized e-gift cards and physical gift cards.

This new partnership will drive new electricity within the brand, as the digital offering, integrated with Synchrony’s GiftNow platform, gives consumers the opportunity to customize cards with video messages, photos and personal notes.

Yet there is more, E-cards can be sent to individuals or groups by email or text, delivered instantly or scheduled up to three months in advance. People also can use the digital service to have physical gift cards mailed to recipients. All cards are available in a range of seasonal and evergreen designs.

Eric Dean, senior director of marketing partnerships for Chicago-based Home Chef, stated, "We're excited to elevate our digital gifting operations and offer customers more opportunities to personalize and send gift cards," …. "By partnering with GiftNow, we have transformed the gifting experience at homechef.com, making it more experiential, customizable and accessible for both gifters and recipients."

Pari Raccah, general manager with GiftNow, said that the gift cards were created to provide consumers with a more seamless and personalized option. "The gift of food is always one that people cherish as the kitchen remains the heart of the home, and Home Chef's meal kit delivery service is an ideal gift," she remarked. How is your brand driving 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. 

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 

What’s for Dinner? More and More it’s Meal Kits

Tired of staying home and cooking from scratch, consumers are seeking and faster fresher way to get a full-flavored meal than cooking from scratch.  Today, consumers are seeking out meal components and meal kits to save time, money, while adding flavor to their menu according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In case you did not know close to 66% of consumers purchase grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat prepared food meal or meal components items from a retail location at least three times a month. Let’s look at some more recent facts:

 

1.       Our new 2021 Grocerant ScoreCards found 82.3% of consumers don’t know what’s for dinner at Noon, and 61.1 don’t know what’ s for dinner at 4PM %.

2.       83.1% all dinners have at least 1 grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meal component and 68.4% have two meal components.

3.       When asked if they wanted to cook dinner from scratch or assemble dinner from fresh meal components 90.4 % of Gen Z chose assemble from Fresh Prepared Meal Components and Millennials 82.7% chose meal components.

4.       Seventy-three percent of retail prepared food purchases are taken to go

5.       Prepared food purchases are frequently a planned purchase among 59% of shoppers, while 41% of shoppers said they buy prepared foods on impulse. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food buys with 79% of respondents making purchases for that meal, while lunch comes in at 77% and breakfast at 62%.

6.       55% of consumers would like to try autonomous EV delivery

According to Nielsen research, the 52 weeks leading up to Jan. 4, 2020 only saw 0.6% growth of retail meal kit sales. During the 52 weeks leading up to Jan. 2, 2021, however, the meal kit category grew by 18.7%, totaling nearly $132 million more in sales year over year. Importantly, a vast majority—77%—of consumers say they expect to maintain or increase their frequency of meal kit purchases after the pandemic, according to Technomic’s May 2021 Industry Insights report.

It is at the intersection of lack of skill-set to cook or prepared many new international full-flavored menu entrees are side orders and What’s for Dinner. That we find consumers more than willing to keep purchasing meal kits, meal components or fully prepared meals.  By focusing on consumers’ current shopping habits and occasions, retailers can develop strategies to tailor their grab-and-go meal kit selection to perfectly suit their shoppers’ preferences.

Identifying shopping occasions that drive grocerant visits can also be a key consideration as retailers craft their grab-and-go meal kit selection. For example, here are some top occasions that Technomic’s team found that include:

·         After work and school: Around the evening rush hour, retailers can highlight family-sized meals with kid-friendly options for busy parents stopping by the store on their way home.

·         Entertaining: Near holidays, retailers can offer seasonal dishes in extra-large meal bundles for consumers feeding a crowd.

·         Daily visitors: With more shoppers purchasing prepared meals from the grocerant on a daily basis than in the prior year, offering variety on the menu is crucial.

Restaurant meal components, fresh prepared meals, and meal kits can be designed to be weeknight meal solutions or they can be picked up at the last minute and become a branded meal solution with craveability.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared continues to drive growth in every sector of food retail today.  Are you saving customer time? Money? Do you have craveable food that is full-flavored? Gen Z and Millennials are in search of food discovery and new avenues of distribution?  Where are you selling food?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter 

Making Money with Meal Kits Partnerships

Regular readers of this blog know that Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® called 2018 the year of foodservice partnerships. He also believes that there is plenty of room for growth in the meal kit sector moving forward given the proper partnerships.

Recently the CEO of Marley Spoon told Reuters he expects the Berlin based meal kit company to be profitable by the end of next year. Fabian Siegel said the company hopes to raise about $53 million when its stock starts trading July 2 on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Today Australia represents approximately 37% of Marley Spoon's revenue, according to TechCrunch, with the U.S. and Europe slightly behind that level. Siegel told TechCrunch the company has broken even in Australia and expects to hit profitability there in the second half of this year.

Marley Spoon is quite optimistic about its prospects through the upcoming IPO. It's been focused on innovations, including a Thanksgiving dinner partnership with Martha Stewart.  Regular readers of this blog know the team at Foodservice Solutions® was first to call this partnerships a success  Martha & Marley Spoon and Dinnerly, is a less-expensive meal kit option with fewer ingredients a set of differentiation points that are still relevant..

Partnerships are the new electricity driving retail foodservice success today according to Johnson. 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.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, voice and visceral mobile ordering, Geo-based hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice 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.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson. Let’s look at the meal kit sector as an example.

Blue Apron and Costco, have formed a partnership and both teamed with Airbnb, pop-ups and various advertising channels  to acquire and retain customers and boost its bottom line.  HelloFresh recently acquired Green Chef, an organic meal-kit company, and placed meal kits inside then formed a partnership with 600 Ahold Delhaize stores, to drive sales.

A 2017 Packaged Facts report noted the meal-kit market had hit $5 billion in sales, and Food Business News reported it could achieve $35 billion by 2025, so there's a lot to gain if retention, marketing and delivery problems can be overcome.

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that partnerships specifically non-traditional partnerships will drive incremental growth within all sectors of retail foodservice.  What is your new electricity? Do you need Outside-Eye’s to drive inside sales?

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 www.Facebook.com/StevenJohnson www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

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Virtual Grocerants & Restaurants are the undercurrent of industry restaurant sector Disruption

Once again the restaurant sector is facing challenges from outside the restaurant sector and inside the sector just as pizza store fronts (delivery only) branded outlets displaced many Italian restaurants, they also replaced themselves companies the ilk of Pizza Hut once had over 2,000 ‘red roof’ full-service restaurants.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

All regular readers of this blog have driven by a virtual restaurant, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s and most of you have virtual restaurant meals delivered right to your door from companies the ilk of Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Plated sure you have to prepare them at home but time and time again Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards indicate consumers consider them first to be ‘restaurant quality or better’ and second ‘a restaurant meal replacement’ and third ‘special occasion dinning’. Now for the undercurrents of disruption:

1.       HelloFresh said it more than doubled its number of active customers, meals delivered and orders in the U.S. in 2017. The number of active customers increased 105.7%, to 890,000; the number of orders rose 118.6%, to 3 million; and the number of meals delivered increased 114.4%, to 20.7 million.

2.       Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the National Restaurant Association's research and knowledge group stated “There were 189.8 restaurants for every 100,000 Americans in 2016. In 2001, that number was 165.1”.

3.       According to the Nielsen report, in-store meal kits generated $154.6 million in sales in 2017, an increase of more than 26% over year-ago results.

4.       Hudson Riehle believes ‘Booze delivery is inevitable’ and this is why: “Half of all 21- to 34-year-olds would use it,” he said. “What the consumer wants comes to fruition.”

5.       The market for meal kits is not very saturated as companies the ilk of UberEATS, DoorDash and Postmates continue to delivery from new non-traditional fresh meal delivery companies like Whole Foods, IKEA, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Taco Bell, etc.

Just as the lines between retail sectors have grown thinner so have storefronts.  Today a storefront and can include your neighbor’s kitchen, Pop-Up shipping-container-size kitchens, grocery stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, and restaurants the ilk of Red Robin, Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

In a world where meal component assembly has become the new form of meal preparation with 83.7% of family meals having at least one fresh prepared meal component, the facts are clear cooking from scratch is a bygone era.  Our question today is does your food retail outlet look more like yesterday or tomorrow?

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? Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Foodservice Solutions® Steven Johnson identified, quantified, qualified, and named the Grocerant Niche.  Our teams global efforts have been noted around the world.  We now know what’s happening in this niche next do you?  Are you prepared for success?