Technology will continue to Drive Restaurant and Grocery Service Deli Growth in 2022

At the intersection of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food we are finding the convergence of consumers, restaurants, grocery service deli’s, convenience stores, and technology according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

It’s at that intersection that we find an evolving price, value, service equilibrium according to our own Grocerant Guru®. The old formula for the price, value, service success was: Price + Quality + Service + Portability = Value. 

That formula has evolved with Gen Z and Millennials today.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® has once again retooled, reevaluated, calculated then evolved the formula and here is the new formula:  Price + Food Quality + Social + Portability + Technology = Value.

To that end, Olo recently announced a partnership with Lyft through Olo’s Dispatch solution to deliver digital orders for Olo’s network of restaurant brands. We know that in 2022 both C-stores and grocery service Deli’s will be ready to delivery grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat as well.

In case you did not know, Olo's Dispatch product allows restaurant brands to accommodate delivery for orders generated through their own website and apps by providing a network of third- party delivery service providers, such as Lyft.

Empowering localization, the Olo solution seamlessly selects service providers, including in-house couriers, based on optimal price, timing, availability, and other criteria. Olo’s automated matching technology enables restaurants to get food out the door and into the hands of the guest faster and in the most cost-efficient way. Dispatch enables brands to rapidly deploy delivery at a national scale with a service fully integrated into their point-of-sale (POS) platform and kitchen production systems, all the while strengthening direct guest relationships through their own channels.

“Shalin Sheth, VP and GM of Dispatch for Olo, stated, Direct digital orders continue to make gains in the restaurant industry as brands recognize the need to protect direct relationships with guests, and effective management of these orders is a critical component to success,” … “With Dispatch, we help our customers enable delivery on their owned channels, using trusted partners like Lyft for local delivery. The addition of Lyft to the Dispatch network not only expands delivery coverage for our brands, but drives competitive pricing at the benefit of guests and brands alike.”

Justin Paris, Head of Lyft Delivery, stated, "We’re excited to enable local delivery for merchants with Olo Dispatch,”…. “As a transportation-focused company, we aren't interested in building consumer-facing marketplaces for groceries or food, but we can add real value in delivery both for drivers and partners via Dispatch's frictionless process and the scaled national network of drivers on Lyft's platform.”

Adam Griffith, VP of Information Technology at Original ChopShop, stated, “We're excited to see Lyft partner with Olo to expand the impact of Original ChopShop's and Bellagreen's delivery programs running through Olo Dispatch,” ... “Each delivery order on our own sites is one more direct guest relationship we can keep, and the availability of drivers and competitive pricing from Lyft we experienced during its Dispatch pilot ensured our guests got their food quickly and at a competitive delivery price. We look forward to continuing this partnership with Olo and Lyft to grow both the Original ChopShop and Bellagreen delivery programs.

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success. 

What’s Better than a Drive-Thru? Drive & Order

That’s right times they are a changing once again.  Fresh food fast changed the automobile industry back in the day as fast food restaurants began installing drive-thru’s and consumers love the drive-thru so much auto manufactures added cup holders.  Yes, back in the day you could buy a car and they did not come with even one cup holder. 

Currently, select BMW owners, allow drivers order by pushing a button, before being given driving directions to pick up their food.  That my friend’s make’s fresh food fast even faster according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The select BMW owners can now order Nekter Juice Bar and Portillo’s from their cars with the push of a button, part of a test conducted by food ordering platform Olo. Now that’s putting some new electricity and customer relevance in automobiles, restaurants, and grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food.

Eligible customers can order and pay by pushing a button, and are then given driving directions to pick up their food. Steve Schulze, co-founder and CEO of Nekter stated; "Since day one at Nekter Juice Bar, it's been our mission to make our menu of fresh and nutritious juices, Superfood smoothies and acai bowls easily accessible to everyone on their individual paths to wellness,"  "Collaborating with innovative and forward-thinking brands such as BMW and Olo will help us expand this accessibility while also supporting our speed-of-service initiatives for people on the go."

The test, is available on compatible BMW vehicles made after 2015, runs through the remainder of the year. Here is how it works; consumers can log on to the BMW Labs website to check their eligibility and preconfigure an order. The service allows drivers to order favorites and repeat orders.

How are you driving new electricity into you brand?  Is your ordering process getting faster? 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, BMW in car online ordering,  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? Do you need a new partnership?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Food Retail Partnerships Deliver Success

Once again this year our team has been talking a lot about “The 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome” that Foodservice Solutions® Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson was the first to identify, quantify, and qualify for clients and the industry. Why, have we been talking about; simply it drives sales.

Foodservice Solutions® team loves leaving success clues and when we learned that Olo, a leading digital food ordering platform for the restaurant industry, announced that it is working together with Google to enable customers to order directly from restaurant brands across Google Search, Maps and the Google Assistant we has to share the news about the new electricity this partnership could drive for your brand.  

So, the integration allows Olo’s network of more than 70,000 restaurant brand locations to be enabled on Google’s platforms so that consumers can order directly on Google from Search and Maps. Users can also use their voice and ask the Google Assistant for help. On Android and iOS phones, users can say, “Hey Google, order food from [restaurant],” or “Hey Google, order food again from [restaurant].”

Olo’s platform called Rails, enables restaurants to efficiently process orders originating from third-party destinations, is now integrated across Search, Maps and the Google Assistant, transferring each order directly into the restaurant’s point of sale and ordering stream to improve operations efficiency and guest experience.

Brands working with Olo and Google enjoy efficiencies of a two-way integration, benefiting from accurate pricing, menu, and product availability, while inbound orders are automatically placed into existing point-of-sale (POS) systems. Rails makes it easy for restaurant operators to list menu items on third-party marketplaces and drive incremental sales without the need to manage multiple tablets on the restaurant counter and disparate order flows. This integration reduces lag, increases order success rates, and enables faster and more accurate ordering experiences.

Noah Glass, founder and CEO of Olo  stated “Search is increasingly becoming the path to purchase in the restaurant space and we are thrilled to team up with Google to make ordering easy while allowing restaurants to own the digital relationship with their guests,” …”Any consumer searching for a restaurant brand should have easy options to order from the restaurant directly with as few clicks as possible, which is what this integration enables.”

The integration is one of the latest tools to help restaurant brands receive online orders. Portillo’s Hot Dogs and Checkers & Rally’s were the first Olo brands to pioneer this integration with Google, providing enablement to their high-volume locations for customers. Is your brand ready to grow? Are you looking for some new electricity?

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?

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, local educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call 1-253-759-7869

Retail Foodservice Partnerships Drive Adoption

Do you have a retail foodservice brand?  Is your brand garnering new customer year over year? Is your brand growing customer counts week after week? Does your brand practice ‘brand protectionism’? Today if you are practicing brand protectionism your brand most likely looks more like yesterday than tomorrow according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

If you are in retail foodservice today partnerships matter according to Johnson. You need to ask yourself could we sell more meals, meal components, fresh food, if we did something different?  If the answer is yes than you need to consider who can help you do just that.  Recently Amazon expanded their reach in restaurant meal delivery when they teamed up with Olo.

Why is that important? Well an Olo is a network that includes 200 chain restaurant brands and about 40,000 locations each of which offers fresh food for delivery.  We are talking about consumer favorites the ilk of Jamba Juice, Which Which, Shake Shack, and many more.

In case you have not yet figured it out Amazon is a Marketing company when it comes to retail foodservice and an outstanding aggregator of eye-balls to your menu, food products, branded apparel.

Count delivery as part of Amazon’s plan to infiltrate the foodservice industry. The e-commerce giant announced Friday a partnership with Olo, an online food ordering company armed with a star-studded client list.

Amazon has dabbled, tested and explored meal delivery with Amazon Restaurants, but hasn’t made any serious ground. However this partnership with Olo could give Amazon access to the brands that consumer want delivery most.

Noah Glass, founder & CEO of Olo stated  “We’re thrilled to work with Amazon to provide Olo’s base of restaurant customers with a new delivery sales channel that drives increased visibility,”. “Amazon’s obsession with providing great customer and restaurant experience supports the evolving expectations and behaviors of today’s consumer.”

Why do food delivery partnerships matter?  It is a consumer driven in fact at Olo alone more than 60 million consumers use Olo to order ahead or use its Skip the Line technology, as well as get meals delivered from brands. Clients include: Applebee’s, Chili’s, Chipotle, Denny’s, Five Guys, Jamba Juice, Shake Shack, Noodles & Company, Red Robin, Sweetgreen, and Wing Stop.

Additionally this means that if you are an independent local restaurant this new Amazon avenue of distribution is kinda like a new ‘highway’ that you need a location as well.  Here is the good part Amazon will let you have a spot right next to everyone else.  Are you looking for a new location?  Think Amazon.

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 the clue you need to propel your continued success.