Sheetz Mix and Match Bundling is Customer Focused

 

One the hallmarks driving the successful adoption and growth of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is consumers ability to mix & match meal components including both food and beverage products into a customized family meal according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Sheetz Inc. has teamed up with third-party delivery service DoorDash to celebrate the start of summer by offering a delivery deal. Now through June 28, all orders placed through the Sheetz mobile app or the Sheetz website will be charged $0 for delivery.

Ryan Sheetz, vice president of marketing and brand at Sheetz, stated, "Customers don't have to travel to get their hands on our mouthwatering menu," …. "Thanks to our partnership with DoorDash, customers don't even need to get out of the pool. Just open the Sheetz app or website, choose from our extensive Made-to-Order menu including breakfast, appetizers, lunch, dinner and more, customize it just how you want, and have it delivered right to your door — or pool."

Empowering customer choice and the unofficial start of summer, customers can order a variety of summer items off of the retailer's signature Made-to-Order menu. These include burgers, hot dogs, iced drinks, milkshakes, smoothies and more, the company said.

This delivery deal is only available at participating Sheetz locations when ordering via the Sheetz app or website. In case you did not know, Sheetz operates more than 630 c-stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina.

Sheetz partnered with DoorDash empowering consumers and too drive new electricity into its brand with on-demand delivery from more than 560 c-stores in December.

At first Sheetz only offered delivery through the DoorDash website or mobile app before adding the ability to order through Sheetz's website or mobile app in January. Customers can have their items delivered exclusively through DoorDash Drive, DoorDash's white-label fulfillment platform that powers direct delivery for any business.

Sheetz continued, "This new partnership with DoorDash allows Sheetz to significantly expand delivery options and further fulfill our mission to give customers what they want, when they want it, how they want it," …"Customers can still order from our extensive Made-to-Order menu and select custom options with the touch of a finger, and now, they can do it from the comfort of their home."

Growing a Larger Share of Stomach

Is easy when you follow success clues. 

Consumers can mix and match a variety of offerings from Sheetz's MTO menu and the Sheetz Brothers Coffee lineup can be ordered for delivery. Convenience items such as bottled drinks, energy drinks, candy, snack bars, chips and medicine are also available for purchase and delivery through the platform.

DoorDash connects consumers with their favorite local and national businesses in more than 7,000 cities across the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Germany.

When you think brand relevance in an evolving world, what 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.” 

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.

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Choice Market Leaves Labor Shortages for Profits

Regular readers of this blog know about Choice Market the Denver, CO based convenience store that does not compete with restaurants, grocery stores, or other convenience stores for labor.  Without skipping a beat with freshness with it come to Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food Choice Market is a mini-mart in a vending machine according Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.

Choice Market is a 2,500-square-foot grocerant outlet filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that opened in 2017.  Choice Market focused on one of the hallmarks of the grocerant niche food that is ‘better-4-you” that are made locally.  They offer made-to-order sandwiches and meals and a product mix that is “90% better-for-you products; 10% traditional c-store and large CPG brands,” according to founder and CEO Mike Fogarty.

Reducing labor is key to keeping prices down so Choice has found an even smaller, more convenient way to reach customers. “The Choice Mini-Mart vending program combines quick service, fresh quality food from local vendors and the latest technology in a machine that is kept at the perfect temperature and is stocked with fresh, local snacks, fruit, sandwiches, salads, jerky and more. Prices range from $3 to $6 for snacks and drinks and $7 to $11 for meal solutions.” That is fresh food fast according to Johnson.  

Currently there are two Choice Mini-Mart vending machines in operations at Denver’s newest music venue, the Mission Ballroom. Here is how it works; “customers slide a credit card to unlock the door and access the food and drinks inside. Once they’ve taken an item and shut the door, they will be charged for the items removed. Users have the option of entering their email to get a receipt.”

Fogarty continued “Choice Mini-Mart is a natural extension of our omnichannel strategy and fully aligns with our mission to make good food accessible and convenient,….These vending machines are a perfect fit for airports, hospitals, breweries, offices and other institutions that are looking to provide their time-constrained customers and employees with fresh and delicious food.”

Fogarty’s business model was inspired by growing up going to East Coast-based Wawa convenience stores and spending time in Europe with where small-format grocery stores are popular. “I would frequent these small markets that were on almost every corner,” he said. “They were thoughtfully curated, and full of great local products. When I came back to the States, I felt this format was missing in our growing cities and really started to rethink what a convenience store can and should be.”

Choice Mini-Marts, elevate possibility to grow the brand’s reach fast and for less and looks very promising. Are you selling fresh food fast?  Does your retail outlet look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Why?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food 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 have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

At RaceTrac New Made-to-Order Food is the Future

RaceTrac entered the Florida market expanding its’ brands reach and recently they edified that reach with a new template concept convenience store that feature a full made-to-order, fresh prepared food program elevating freshness and brand relevance.

Regular readers on the East Coast of the US the battle for a larger share of stomach in the retail food space has nearly created consumer choice over-load according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® as 7-Eleven, Sheetz, Rutter’s, and Wawa have all targeted restaurant customers with new and improved fresh food offerings.

RaceTrac’s elevated fresh food includes sandwiches, wraps, a specialty hot and cold beverage bar with barista-style smoothies and shakes, and all-day breakfast items. Guests customize and order their meals on a touchscreen kiosk, and then can watch the store staff prepare their food.

To be sure this new ‘deli-based’ food concept replaces RaceTrac’s previous venture into made-to-order foodservice with the Speedy Avocado Mexican Grill getting more in line with customer expectations and grocerant niche industry norms according to Johnson.

The new concept RaceTrac is a meal 5,500-square-foot unit where customers can customize their breakfast sandwiches at an electronic kiosk. Other offerings include three different types of subs, four sandwiches, and one wrap; and made-to-order whole pizza, personal pan pizza and pizza slices. In addition, an extensive grab-and-go offering includes items from three roller grills the mainstay of convenience stores of yesterday.

Race Trac with this new concept store is moving more in-line with grocerant niche customers empowering choice, adding more and more fresh food and deemphasizing the roller grill. Is your brand evolving with consumers? 

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.

Sheetz is Primed with Voice-Activated Ordering

Driving customer relevance is but one of the clues to the continued success of Sheetz convenience Stores according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Another of the clues too Sheetz on-going success is its unique ability to leverage partnerships cultivating long term relationships.  That’s just what it has down with Amazon according to Johnson. 

Talk about edifying the relationships with its customers.  Now the Sheetz customers have a new way of ordering their favorite Made to Order food and they can do that from the comfort of their couch.  All they have to do is ask Alexa.

The Sheetz help created a new skill for Amazon’s Alexa, an interactive, voice-activated personal assistant, which allows customers to place an order just by voicing the command. Customers who have a Sheetz online ordering account and an Alexa-enabled device can use the new Sheetz skill for Alexa by:

1.       Logging into their account on the Sheetz website and selecting their favorite order and preferred store for pickup;

2.       Searching for and enabling the Sheetz ordering skill through any Alexa-enabled device or Alexa app;

3.       Saying, “Alexa, start Sheetz,” or “Alexa, order my favorite from Sheetz”; and

4.       Letting Alexa guide the rest of the way.

Ryan Sheetz, associate vice president of Brand Strategies for Sheetz  stated "We could not be more excited to bring this next generation of innovation to our customers and industry," said . "From the inception of our MTO menu more than thirty years ago, to the introduction of touch-screen ordering in 1993, to the launch of the voice-activated ordering today, our goal has always been to continue to innovate and reinvent ourselves in order to provide the ultimate convenience to our customers."

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

December 17, 2017

Restaurants need to Double Down on Delivery

Driving top line sales and bottom line profits while consumer’s path to purchase is evolving faster than most legacy restaurant brands has created a quagmire that stagnates customer count growth according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In a recent Digital Commerce Survey from BRP found that same-day delivery has tripled in the past year with more growth to come. Here are some specifics:

1.       Currently, 51 percent of retailers indicate they offer same-day delivery, a sharp jump from 16 percent last year.

2.       Within the next two years, 65 percent plan to offer this service.

3.       Delivery through third-party services, such as Uber or Lyft, also rose from 20 percent last year to 32 percent this year, as retailers try different ways of offering customers the flexibility to shop, purchase and receive goods on their own terms, the survey found.

Jeffrey Neville, vice president at BRP  stated "With Amazon offering same-day delivery in some markets, the push is on for retailers to get items delivered to customers as soon as possible," said. "Autonomous delivery and distribution are the next step with self-driving vehicles soon a reality and a few food delivery start-ups already testing the concept."

The path to purchase is evolving fast driven by consumer behavior and mobile technology each are dramatically changing the traditional retail model, according to the BRP report. Within Foodservice  Amazon continues to disrupt brick-and-mortar retail through the acquisition of Whole Foods, restaurant franchise bankruptcies and company owned store closures are changing the landscape for food retailers.

What’s next according to the report, key customer imperatives for the future are:

1.       Combining behavioral, historical and customer profile data aids retailers in delivering tailored and relevant content to meet customers' individual needs. Thirty-eight percent of retailers indicate that improving personalization is a top digital customer experience priority.

2.       Customer expectations for a personalized, seamless experience require retailers to follow customers' journeys as they research and shop from anywhere. Nearly half (49 percent) of retailers will offer customers the ability to 'start anywhere, finish anywhere' within the next five years.

3.       Retailers' technology, processes and organization need to be unified and aligned across channels to offer a seamless and consistent customer experience. More than half (54 percent) of retailers indicate that creating a consistent brand experience across channels is a top priority.

Are you Looking A Customer Ahead 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