Honey Baked Ham Company Fresh Fast Holiday Meal Solutions

 

At the intersection of being time-starved and lacking the skill-set to cook a holiday meal from scratch, The Honey Baked Ham Company has a great set of solutions for anyone that is looking for a great holiday meal any time this holiday season according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

So, if you are an out-of-practice host or a first-time host, The Honey Baked Ham Company has you covered for all your holiday gatherings with simple ways to serve, gift and shop during the festive season. They have everything from delicious holiday meals with convenient ordering options to unique host gifts, HoneyBaked is dedicated to helping everyone spend less time in the kitchen and more time reuniting with their loved ones this Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving.

HoneyBaked's holiday meals, even have a brand-new full-flavored brunch option. HoneyBaked entrees are fully-cooked and undeniably delicious. They include savory hams, turkeys and sides, perfect for any and all Friendsgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s get togethers.

Here are some of your grocerant niche options:

·         For the Seasoned Host: Serving 12 to 16, the Signature Ham and Turkey Feast will feed all guests (with leftovers to follow). Enjoy the 24-hour slow smoked Honey Baked Ham, Bone-In Half, with the signature sweet, crunchy glaze. The meal also includes a lighter, more delicately flavored Turkey Breast that pairs perfectly with the Cranberry Walnut Chutney. It's not Thanksgiving without the sides. And this meal comes with four Heat 'N Serve Sides, two varieties of choice. Made from the finest and freshest ingredients, these include Green Bean Casserole, Maple Sweet Potato Souffle and Double Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese.

·         For a Small Party of Ham-Lovers: Try HoneyBaked's Bone-In Quarter Ham Meal. Slow cooked and glazed to perfection, this ham is just right for gatherings of four to six. The meal includes two Heat 'N Serve Sides – delicious complements to the savory ham.

·         For the Traditional Holiday Host: Take home the classic Turkey Dinner made with 100 percent premium white meat turkey breast, along with your choice of two or three Heat 'N Serve Sides.

·         But First, Brunch: For those who cannot wait until dinner, try the new HoneyBaked Brunch that comes with a quarter ham, two Heat 'N Serve Sides, HoneyBaked bacon and coffee cake. This will have you ready for a nap (and another slice of coffee cake) before the main attraction!

 

Ah, yes once again there is more, to gift fellow Ham Fan and foodie hosts, HoneyBaked has unique, and tasty ideas like the Southern Pecan Pie, signature sauces, or a gift card so they can pick their favorite dish.

JoAnn Herold, Chief Marketing Officer at The Honey Baked Ham Company, stated, "As people are opening up their homes again to those near and far, we want to help families and friends reconnect over the shared experience of a comforting meal – one without the stress that can sometimes come with menu planning and prep". …"HoneyBaked is here to help celebrate time together while making memories that will last beyond the holiday season."

Gen Z and Millennials will find incremental relevance in the fact that ordering this year's holiday meal has never been easier. Meals and gifts can be purchased in store or bought online and picked up at the nearest HoneyBaked location. Select products can also be ordered at honeybaked.com and be shipped right to the doorstep.

Looking one customer ahead, families planning ahead, The Honey Baked Ham Company is offering Gold Pick-Up Days. This special offer includes $5 off any Bone-In Half Ham or holiday meal for early pickup at retail stores between November 21 – 22, 2021 (coupon required).

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® 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 one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Restaurant Sales Slide as FMI’s National Family Meals Month Soars

 

What is it that prevents restaurants from understanding that the grocery sector under the tutelage and with the assistance of the FMI Foundation once again leverages September to target restaurant customers into grocery stores and away from them?  Who, knows an outsider might just think it is a combination of tunnel vision and sector capitulation? Success does leave clues and the grocery sector in September is doing all the right things.

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes ‘chain restaurants would rather spend marketing dollars where it’s easy, the Thanksgiving-Christmas season, and in March, April, May when comps will be up anyway so it easier to look like your advertising works.”  He, may be right, but that is simply an easy out.

FMI Foundation knows it’s stuff, 87% of U.S. consumers say that they are cooking with their families more than or the same as before the pandemic and 86% report they are having more or same amount of in-person family meals. Another survey conducted earlier this year by market research firm Acosta showed that 92% of families plan to continue eating together at home at least as frequently or more frequently as they are doing now. That said, there are 26 restaurants for every grocery store today and consumers still do not want to cook from scratch according to Johnson. It’s a fight for share of stomach and it should last all year. 

In a battle for Share of Stomach

Who is Winning in September?

FMI, created National Family Meals Month to raise awareness of the benefits of sharing frequent family meals. “We have always intuitively sensed that family meals are good for us,” said David Fikes, executive director of the FMI Foundation, citing FMI’s research tracking tool called “Staying Strong with Family Meals” barometer. “But when COVID-19 turned our worlds upside down, we tangibly discovered the benefits of family meals. When we were six months into the crisis, our barometer revealed that Americans were using family meals to stay strong – physically and emotionally – during the global pandemic. It is encouraging to see, now a year-and-a-half later, that Americans plan to continue this positive practice when the world establishes a new normal.” 

In addition to leveraging information and materials from FMI’s national campaign, several grocers are highlighting their family-friendly fare during National Family Meals Month. This is a great program?  Collective advertising focus on customers and meals.  It works year after year with no resistance only capitulation from the restaurant sector. Let’s see who is doing what:

SpartanNash

Speaking of family fare, the SpartanNash banner Family Fare is providing shoppers with a variety of recipes and meal ideas for National Family Meals Month. Among other resources, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer is sharing videos from its dietitians showing how to shop for and make family meals like baked chicken nuggets and overnight oats. SpartanNash's other banners, including Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery and Dan’s Supermarket, are also celebrating Family Meals Month with suggestions for shoppers.

Food City

Food City’s dietitians are featured in social media videos explaining how customers can find resources to make more meals together at home. The grocer, part of the Abington, Va.-based K-VA-T Food Stores, is also offering a free kids’ meal with the purchase of an adult hot bar item on weeknights during September.

The Giant Co.

The Giant Co., headquartered in Carlisle, Pa., is likewise sharing recipes from its team of nutritionists for meals and snacks, spotlighting in free classes on “Leisurely Lunches” and family meals. Additionally, the retailer is launching a sweepstakes for National Family Meals Month, offering a chance to win a free pantry makeover experience worth up to $150 when attending one of the free classes.

Hy-Vee

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee, Inc. is offering several activities and promotions for National Family Meals Month, including contactless drive-through giveaways of free mealtime dinners, kids-eat-free offers in its foodservice areas, live cooking demonstrations, family-friendly virtual classes, store tours and recipe and meal prep suggestions and recipes. Family-focused events will be held across the retailer’s eight-state regions, highlighting families from all cultures. Given the fact that September is also Hispanic Heritage Month, Hy-Vee is recognizing both occasions by spotlighting Hispanic family meal traditions.

Tops 

Tops Friendly Markets, Williamsville, N.Y., is sharing ideas for easy and affordable meal solutions and encouraging its shoppers to do to the same by submitting their favorite family recipes that can be featured on the retailer’s website. Tops also created a Pinterest board for family meal inspiration and is touting its pickup and delivery services that make family meal shopping and preparation easier.

CPGs

Consumer packaged goods and brands are rolling out their own programs for National Family Meals Month as well. Eggland's Best for example, just launched a “Share a Better Family Meal” campaign that includes live cooking demos, recipes, family activity ideas and a contest.

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. 

 

Mix and Match Grocerant Meal Components Drive Food Retail Success

 

You all know the famous quote from, Alice May Brock where she said: “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”

Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® stated “Convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization; are each Hallmarks of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche.  Once again that is the recipe for retail food success in 2021.  Interactive participatory fresh meal marketing is the new electricity driving foodservice sales.”

Consumers are looking for ‘What’s for Dinner’, they are looking more meals, menu ideas and menu components according to Johnson. Meal components allow customers to select from Italian, American, French, Russian or Greek and utilize the components at home any way they like. 

So, try to understand that the new American meal can be a composite of any prepared food components that the individual may want and they can mix and pair them any way as well.  The United States is a melting pot of people from all over the world, with different cultures, traditions and flavor preferences.  The new American meal is a melting pot of flavor and choice.  Meal components that can be mix and matched for home consumption are integral to retail success in every channel of retail foodservice today.

Fresh prepared and portable, Ready-2-Eat, and Heat-N-Eat foods are now available for all consumers from every walk of like.  They can be found at Convenience stores, Drug stores, Grocery stores, Restaurants, Mobile trucks all just waiting for the taking.  When developing new menu item do you consider where the food will be consumed?

Remember that consumers have been exposed to a plethora of flavors from around the world and have not had the time, or inclination garner the skill-set of cooking each flavor that they have come accustom.  The rapidly growing grocerant trend is empowering the consumer to establish new customs and traditions in eating better, more flavorful food.  The Grocerant niche is about convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  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