Enmarket’s New Mobile App Empowers Consumers

 

Do things seem to complicated to you in these ever-evolving times?  According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “Consumers are demanding more, migrating to new mobile technology faster and faster, foodservice operators must evolve as fast as consumers or risk losing customers.”

Johnson, continued, “consumers are dynamic not static and your brand must be dynamic as well. … Grocerant niche adoption is unpresented in both size reaching into every sector of retail foodservice today at its core is CONVENIENCE.  In consumer’s minds-eye convenience is embolden with technology. “

Regular readers of this blog are familiar with Enmarket, a foodservice company that operates 129 convenience stores, 14 quick-serve restaurants, and two fast-casual restaurants in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Enmarket knows it hard to keep up with customers but they are doing a very good job.  Let’s look at some NPD data points for of the reasons they are evolving:

1.       From March 2020 to March 2021 restaurant digital orders grew 124 percent compared to prior year.

2.       Digital orders for carry-out, which represented 62 percent of all digital orders, increased by 130 percent, and digital orders for delivery grew by 140 percent in the period compared to year ago and held 38 percent share of total restaurant digital orders.

3.       Digital ordering offered full-service restaurants, which operated under varying degrees of mandated dine-in restrictions throughout the pandemic, much needed support. Prior to the pandemic full-service restaurants represented 10 percent share of digital orders, as of the year ending March 31, the segment held 16 percent share and saw a 237 percent increase in digital orders during the period versus year ago.

4.       Quick service digital orders, which represented the remaining 84 percent share, also realized triple-digit growth of 111 percent.

5.       Restaurant apps and websites are the most used channels for digital ordering, representing 62% of all digital orders. However, digital orders through third-party apps, like DoorDash or UberEats, grew by 207 percent in the period over year ago compared to the 98 percent increase in digital orders through restaurant apps and websites.

That said, Enmarket has released a new mobile app that focuses on reducing customer touchpoints inside stores. The app's mobile payment option allows customers to pay for fuel or in-store merchandise directly and securely, eliminating the need to touch the PIN pad or swipe a card.

So, as an alternate touch-free option, customers can bypass the cash register entirely by using the app's Scan and Go technology, powered by Skip Checkout. The feature allows shoppers to scan products using their smartphones and pay for the purchase directly from the app.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Technology Matters

Consider that both mobile pay and Scan and Go are fully integrated with Enmarket's Enjoy Rewards loyalty program, allowing customers to earn points and redeem rewards regardless of the transaction type you can see they are doing things right.

Enmarket President Brett Giesick, stated, “Enmarket is dedicated to innovative technology that drives convenience for our customers," .. "Our new app continues that tradition. Customers can leave their credit cards in their wallet — or at home — and pay directly from our app without worrying about security. It also enhances the benefits of our loyalty program, Enjoy Rewards, so that our customers save money as well as time."

Get this, in addition to offering touch-free payment options, the app includes features such as finding the nearest Enmarket location, viewing current fuel prices, checking an Enjoy Rewards point balance, and monitoring progress on frequency clubs and fuel rewards. App users can also sign up for enPay, Enmarket's proprietary payment card that saves 10 cents per gallon on fuel. Not bad, a valued reward.

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. 

Hy-Vee Don’t Cook Tonight We Have Fresh Meals To-Go

The lines between grocery stores, restaurants and convenience stores continue to blur in the minds-eye of food marketers and brand managers. Food retail channel lines do not blur in the minds-eye of the consumer according to the Grocerant Guru®.

Consumers ask but one question ‘What’s for Dinner’.  The question for all food marketers is; how does our brand meet, or exceed consumers expectations when they ask ‘What’s for Dinner’.  Hy-Vee has stepped up to address consumers needs, elevating fresh fast food, with a consumer relevant touchpoint, technology.

Deli fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat grocerant niche food and more are now available online or on Hy-Vee's Aisles Online App for free pickup in as little as 30 minutes. According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® grocerant niche fresh Ready-2-Eat meals and meal components are top of mind when consumers are asking What’s for dinner.

IRI Nielsen reports grocery store ‘prepared food’ is by far garnering the most attention by category increases across all income groups, inside the store. So, when Hy-Vee introduced its online ordering for prepared food for curbside pickup at more than 200 locations. Answering the questions ‘What’s for Dinner’ just become much easier according to Johnson.

In short through Hy-Vee’s Mealtime to Go offerings, customers can order hot, prepared foods as well as take-and-bake meals for free pickup in as little as 30 minutes or for a scheduled pickup time. That’s just as good or better than most restaurants. Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards continue to reflect that consumer rate grocery store deli food as ‘restaurant quality’.

Here is how it works:

Customers can order online at hy-vee.com/mealtime or via Hy-Vee’s Aisles Online app. Options will vary based on offerings available at each Hy-Vee store. Meals will include selections from Asian, Hickory House, sandwiches, breakfast, sushi and take-and-bake items. Several meals will come with one side option included. Customers may also choose to add on additional food items to their orders.

A confirmation email provides customers with a designated phone number to call once they arrive at the store, and employees will deliver the food to the customer’s car. How is your company evolving?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com 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.

Casey’s General Stores Expanding Grocerant Options

In a world where brands struggle to build the halo of better for you options Casey’s General Stores move into the grocerant niche has been filled with success steps driving top line sales, bottom-line profits all while edifying their relationship with consumers according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Casey’s General Stores is integrating both low-contact and no-contact steps to reduce contact to keep customers and employees safe during COVID-19, including updated store hours, low-contact in-store checkout and a ‘no-contact’ delivery option. Let’s see what they have done:

1.       Customers are now able to request a no-contact delivery experience online, in the app, or when they call:

2.       If ordering online or in the app, they can choose ‘Pay Online’ and enter ‘No Contact’ in the delivery instructions at checkout. To order by phone, they can simply let the Casey’s employee know that they’d like no-contact delivery and pay over the phone.

3.       Customers can also add a tip for the driver when placing the order to skip handling cash at the door.

4.       When the driver arrives, they will place the order in a clean location right at the customer’s doorstep and knock. The driver will move to a safe distance while the customer retrieves their order.

5.       For those who would rather pick up their pizza, Casey’s has options for no-contact carryout, too, that will get customers in and out quickly.

6.       When they order online or with the Casey’s app, they can choose ‘Pay Online’ at checkout to use a credit card, debit card, gift card or Casey’s Cash balance. They can also pay over the phone if they’re calling the store to order.

7.       Once the customer arrives at the store, they can grab the order and head right out the door. No need for unnecessary interactions or handling of cash at the register.

8.       For those who are shopping in-store, Casey’s made some adjustments to keep contact to a minimum. To reduce contact at checkout, customers can pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay or a credit card to keep cash handling to a minimum.

9.       Most Casey’s stores have shifted their hours to be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and many are reserving 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. for shoppers who are at higher risk for illness, including guests over 60, pregnant women or those with underlying health conditions.

How are you extending the ‘halo’ of ‘better-for-you’? 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

Papa John’s Please Don’t Call Our Stores

Technology has replaced the phone almost.  Papa John’s in an effort to drive operational efficiencies wants to take the phone out of the restaurant and replace it with more relevant technology. Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru®, at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® knew this day would come when he sold the first 7 national chain restaurants cyberslice / Food.com online ordering back in the day and Papa John’s was the first.

Today, about 30% of orders at a typical Papa John’s now come in through the old-fashioned method, but it’s still disruptive enough that the company is introducing a call center to take those orders in a system called Papa Call.

CEO Rob Lynch said in an interview with Restaurant Business, “Phone answering is almost always a secondary piece of the operating model,”. “It can be something that takes away from what a driver is supposed to be doing and it can increase delivery time by a few minutes. Or it may increase the time it takes to get a pizza in the oven. This removes all that.”

Here is the point, the Papa Call center eliminates the need to take phone orders inside the restaurant, which frees up employees to do deliveries or make pizzas. The company is rolling it out to all company restaurants and plans to have it available systemwide by the second half of the year.

 More than just the phone there is a new piece of equipment. A new dough spinner that they tested inside of its company restaurants.  It reduces about 80% of the labor involved in flattening and stretching out pizza dough. That saves time and money driving incremental operational efficiencies.

Are you looking a customer ahead?  What steps are you taking to drive customer relevance and operational efficiencies?  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.

Technology Adoption Drives Sales at Wingstop

Do chain restaurants have an advantage when it come to adopting new technology or independent restaurants? That is the question that posed to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® during a recent industry presentation.

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that chain restaurants do have an advantage over independent restaurants simply because they are targeted by technology companies’ sales teams in an effort to expand their ‘install base’ faster.

In the case of Wingstop they are looking for ‘operational efficiencies’ in an effort to reduce the time it takes to service each consumer. Consider this 80% of Wingstop orders are for off-premise consumption. With 40% of sales arriving through digital channels.

Operational efficiencies matter because the consumer is dynamic not static and brands need to be dynamic as well according to Johnson.  At Wingstop sales via digital channels for carry-out and delivery continues to grow, with those making up 39% of sales in December and growing to 40% in January.

Wingstop has about 160 of our restaurants have exceeded 50% carryout with some units have now passed 60% of all orders as carryout.

In an effort to continue speeding up off-premise orders, Wingstop is testing pick-up order lockers in four Dallas locations. If you are a chain restaurant or not remember that your customer is dynamic not static.  Don’t do what you have always done and expect the same results.  If your customer is on the move your company must move with them or risk losing customers.

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 Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant