Kum & Go Evolves ‘Better-for-You’ Fresh Food

 

Engaging customer trial with grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food has been a success clue with relevance in every sector of retail foodservice for the past 18 years according to Nielsen and Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Now Kum & Go is rolling out a new fresh food menu at convenience stores in Little Rock, Ark., and the surrounding metro area. The new menu items are fresh made-to-order items the ilk of grain bowls, premium meat and vegetables layered on fresh baked bread, blended smoothies, cold brew frappés. According to recent grocerant scorecards all of those items from the consumer perspective have the ‘halo’ of better for you according to Johnson.

Krum & Go’s goal is to elevate its food with a menu that is more on par with fast casual restaurants. Regular readers of this blog know that has proven highly effect for many other convenience stores.

Kum & Go CEO Tanner Krause, stated, "At Kum & Go, we've been listening to our customers who describe how difficult it is to find tasty, healthier foods while on the go. We were inspired to meet that need, offering better-than-fast food but faster-than-fast-casual food, and giving our customers a lot more choice.”… "People want delicious, high-quality food that leaves them feeling great. Our new menu offers customers distinctive, freshly made options that stand out from the crowd."

This new menu is designed to combine delicious, flavorful food with the speedy, excellent service for which Kum & Go is known, according to the company.

Kum & Go Chief Marketing Officer Tracy Ging, stated, "Everything's designed to go beyond what anyone would expect from a convenience store. We placed a lot of emphasis on great ingredients from braised meats to fresh toppings and added our own fresh perspective on how to eat healthier without sacrificing flavor and fun," ... "From a pulled pork bowl with mango salsa and crumbled Takis to a salsa verde chicken sandwich on freshly made bread, and even vegetarian options, people are going to find a lot more options to suit their tastes and cravings."

The new menu launched in the greater Little Rock area in August. Kum & Go did not comment on future expansion plans. However, if you are now wondering why Krum &Go is moving forward with this at this point in time let’s look at some industry consumer facts.

 

1.       Recent 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

So, you can now see why, Kum & Go Interim Vice President of Food Stuart Taylor, stated, "Food has always been a key part of our business, yet we recognize people want and expect so much more. We're in a perfect position to deliver that. We own and operate our kitchens, all of which have undergone a significant remodel. Not only do we have a great new food menu, we also have a huge beverage selection and interesting new snacks throughout the store," "By embracing an ongoing process of innovation that includes the entire store, we see Kum & Go as a food destination."

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

New Kum & Go Partnership Drives Grocerant Fresh Food Focus

Convenience store sector fresh food continues to attract new consumer growing sales at 9.6% a year according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  The convenience store sectors new focus on grocerant niche fresh food continues to garner chain restaurant customers much to the dismay of the restaurant sector.

Kum & Go has entered into a new three-year commitment with PHA that will, result in healthier offerings, including fresh fruits and vegetables, grab-and-go items, beverages and prepared items in its fresh food program garnering new customers, creating new electricity.

Last week Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and NACS announced that Kum & Go is committing to offer healthier foods at healthier prices throughout its 400 locations improving consumers fresh food touchpoints according to Johnson.

PHA, is a nonprofit that helps leverage the power of corporate America to improve the food supply, has now helped to expand healthier options in more than 2,500 convenience store locations nationwide.

Nancy Roman, President and CEO of PHA stated “One in two Americans visits a convenience store every day. The convenience store industry has recognized the important role they must play in providing healthy, nutritious options for customers,” … “We are excited to have Kum & Go’s commitment to expand healthier options throughout its 400 stores.”

Kum & Go’s three-year commitment with PHA will result in healthier offerings, including fresh fruits and vegetables, grab-and-go items, beverages and prepared items in its fresh food program. Kum & Go will also be offering special price promotions on healthier items and will include healthier options in its “&Rewards” customer loyalty program.

Kum & Go Chairman and CEO Kyle J. Krause  stated “Kum & Go is proud to announce these new commitments with Partnership for a Healthier America,” …“The partnership’s mission to ensure all families have access to nutritious foods is in lock step with our own goals to help make healthy choices convenient and accessible for all.” How is your brand driving new electricity?

NACS President and CEO Henry Armour stated “The convenience retailing industry is committed to making the healthy choice the convenient choice. Kum & Go’s commitment with PHA furthers the work of the country’s leading convenience retailers and distributors to help make a positive difference in millions of Americans lives every day,”.

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?

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, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant