Pilot Flying J Social Media Sweepstakes

 

Social Media is a key tool in every food marketer’s tool kit according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “inviting customers into you brand while asking for input is an effective way to drive new electricity into your brand while edifying you customer base”.

Pilot Flying J has partnered with both HEINZ and Oscar Mayer Foodservice for a celebration of the all-American hotdog and the moments that bring people together with the #ShareaDogSweepstakes and an exclusive offer for a free hot dog at Pilot Flying J on National Hot Dog Day.

So, beginning July 13 through August 10, customers are encouraged to post a photo sharing a moment or memory with loved ones and enjoying hot dogs for a chance to be one of 10 lucky “wieners” receiving a $500 Pilot Flying J gift card.

Here is how it works; to enter the contest, simply tweet or post the photo on Twitter or Instagram and include “#ShareADogSweepstakes” and tag @PilotFlyingJ. Winners will be notified via Twitter or Instagram on or around August 11, 2021.

This current celebration continues on National Hot Dog Day, Wednesday, July 21, with a free hot dog at Pilot Flying J. Download or open the myRewards PlusTM app for an exclusive offer on July 21 to redeem for one free roller grill item, including 100% all-beef Oscar Mayer Foodservice hot dogs, at any participating Pilot or Flying J Travel Center. Guests can top their free hot dogs with all of their favorite HEINZ condiments, or try a new HEINZ Dip Cup for a twist on the classic with a variety of sauces including Barbecue, Ranch, Sweet & Sour and Honey Mustard.

Brian Ferguson, Chief Merchant for Pilot Flying J, stated, “This year, it’s such a great feeling to enjoy being with family and friends that we haven’t seen in a while,”… “Nothing says summertime quite like a backyard BBQ or a road trip with loved ones and an Oscar Mayer hot dog, especially a free one!”

Patricia Keller, Marketing Director at Oscar Mayer Foodservice, stated, “After the pandemic kept so many of us apart, it’s time to celebrate being together again, and nothing sparks more smiles in the summer than delicious Oscar Mayer hot dogs,” ...  “We at Oscar Mayer know you can’t go wrong when you start with a better dog, and we’re proud to continue to be an American tradition since 1883. We hope that everyone who stops by Pilot Flying J this summer and bites into an Oscar Mayer hot dog remembers to take life a little less seriously and enjoy the delicious side of summer.”

Get this, to top off the celebration with some extra relish, the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile will be making appearances at two Pilot Flying J locations in Newark and Carney’s Point, New Jersey on July 21 and 26, respectively. Each Wienermobile is piloted by a team of Hotdoggers, who buckle their “meatbelts” and travel in a giant rolling hot dog to spread miles of smiles to fans everywhere. Today, the giant hot dog on wheels can be measured as 60 hot dogs long and 24 hots dog’s high (which is 27 feet long and 11 feet tall). How are you building new electricity this summer?

Today, new partnerships can drive sales in foodservice today as your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. Ask yourself do I need a push our brand forward in search of 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.”  That said, what are you waiting for?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, social media, 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, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? 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.

Convenience Stores Focus of Foodservice Freshness

The convenience store sector continues to drive top line sales, bottom-line profits and incremental year over year customer counts garnering new and repeat customer from the grocery store sector, dollar store sector and the restaurant sector according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

With new guidelines and restrictions on restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, somedays C-store fresh food retailers are moving one step forward others it seems they are taking one step back. However,  their foodservice has become a safe and reliable source of fresh, delicious and convenient meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner for all according to new research from Nielsen.

Brian Ferguson, vice president and chief merchant for Pilot Co., stated, “While some guests will gravitate toward grab and go, our freshly prepared hot food is especially popular for professional drivers who are on the road for long periods of time and look forward to a warm meal while away from home,”

Ferguson continued adding “that Pilot Flying J stores added back self-service options such as roller grills and soup bars in June, offering single-use disposable paper sleeves for guests to use when handling tongs and ladles. Details like this emphasize the company’s focus on “keeping health and safety top priorities,” Ferguson said.” While roller grills are one step back, Johnson noted that hot fresh food from a visceral display roller grill rings true for many seeking comfort foods.

Exploiting new expanding daypart opportunities Pilot Flying J is promoting availability of  bold flavored and new flavored selections with daily, weekly and monthly deals, which are communicated via digital coupons through its app, special prices through its loyalty programs and seasonal limited-time offers (LTOs).

Among the promotions are ‘Thungry’ (buy one snack get one free with purchase of beverage) and the professional driver-oriented ‘Hungry Driver’ (savings on freshly prepared meal bundles including five-piece wings or tenders meal with beverage purchase).  

Get this Flying J is not alone as the Nielsen report noted, during the four-week period beginning in mid-June, food sales “exploded” for Kwik Trip and Kwik Star, according to Paul Servais, the company’s retail food service director. Sales from that period were ahead of those during the same time the year before.

C-stores are filling a gap by adding technology, for marketing, messaging, and delivery.  Servais continues “new customers were pleasantly surprised to find that the stores’ shelves were always well stocked with basics such as milk, butter and eggs from their own dairy, commissary and bakery” “In many cases, we were the only game in town,” he said. “We also offer home delivery in some areas by partnering with two third-party services.” 

The stores have resumed normal foodservice operations including self-service condiment bars, dispensed beverages and single-serve bakery. In the works are promotions through the company’s loyalty program and the development of take-home family meal offerings.   

Joshua Clark, category manager for fresh foods at Nouria noted “Switching popular self-service foodservice items such as pizza and hot dogs to prepackaged or full-service. Pizza slices and, in some locations, hot dogs on buns are prepackaged in bags. At some stores, roller grills were moved to the back for service by associates. Clark described breakfast as “the canary in the coal mine.” Which regular readers of this blog understand well.  How are you repositioning your brand, products, to garner new customers?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? 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

Travelers in a Hurry are Welcome at Pilot Flying J

Battle for Share of Stomach

When your driving up and down the highways of America and looking for a place eat remember the old adage ‘eat where the truckers eat’.  According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Pilot Company is doing a great job evolving its meal options with relevance.

Americans have been in love with handheld food for immediate consumption and burritos for breakfast are hot, hot, hot right now.  Thus edifying its relationship with consumers Pilot has introduced Jumbo Breakfast Burritos at more than 300 of its Pilot and Flying J travel centers.

The burritos come in two options in both smoked beef brisket and pulled chicken, the burritos also include scrambled egg, tater tots, a blend of cheddar and Monterey jack cheese, and fire roasted peppers and onions.

On Feb. 26, Pilot is bringing back its fish sandwich and entrée to 270 Pilot and Flying J locations. This item will be available throughout the Lenten season until mid-April, while supplies last. Even better both of these news items apply to the ongoing 25% off deli food exclusive pro-driver deal through March.

Technology helps build relevance while speeding up customer service touchpoints so using the Pilot Flying J App on iOS and Android, makes lie just a little easier for those travelers in a hurry. How are you edifying your relationship with consumers?  Are you saving them time, offering new flavors?

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.

Pilot Flying J’s Food First Footprint Fuels Success

Success does leave clues and grocerant niche fresh food has been the platform of success that most food retail choose when they decide to evolve their brans with customer relevance and Pilot Flying J has made the right choices according to Steven Johnson, Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru® at Foodservice Solutions®.

When it comes to homestyle comfort foods PJ Fresh offering at Pilot Flying J are filled with grocerant grab-n-go fresh food options that make the ‘pit-stop’’ well worth it according to Johnson. In an effort to drive incremental growth Pilot Flying J developed a third branded footprint called Pilot Express unit as a way to enter areas where a typical major travel center won't fit from a land and acreage standpoint.

Pilot Flying J Chief Merchant Brian Ferguson describes the Pilot Express concept as a "Food first" unit. Pilot Express stores spotlight the retailer's commitment to food and beverage innovation, offering homestyle meals, grab-and-go and made-to-order sandwiches and salads, premium beverages, a bean-to-cup coffee experience and weekly limited-time offers.

Ferguson continued "We want you to walk in to an experience that you've never [had] at a Pilot before. We created a store environment that's about getting you fueled quickly, giving you tremendous options in food and beverage, and getting you out quickly," 

 Pilot Flying J's Vice President of Food Innovation Shannon Johnson said Pilot Express stores have found a sweet spot by offering a variety of food offers that meet different needs. The winning equation includes:

·         Anticipating guest need — both immediate transaction and relaxing destination; 

·         Being varied and flexible — in the same store, you can see a hot homestyle offering that allows a guest to eat and relax next to a grab-and-go item for the person of the go; 

·         Splitting grab-and-go into two categories: hot and chilled; and

·         Tying in authenticity and quality.

"We went out to market with a variety of food offers all at the same time and what we found was somewhat unexpected: that the blend of all those things was how we’re going to win," Shannon Johnson shared. "It really differentiates us in the marketplace because a lot of our competitive set doesn’t have the mix of offers that we do. We learned so much from Pilot Express." Is your business ready to evolve?

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

Pilot Flying J Partnerships Drive Sales

Success does leave clues and in retail foodservice there are very few things that work better than Limited Time Offers (LTO) of unique branded products according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

Pilot Flying J’s new LTO Cinnabon French Toast Sausage Bites are perfect for breakfast or snacking on the road that fit in to its branded messaging creating ‘new electricity’ according to Johnson. The bites feature sausage wrapped in fluffy dough inspired by the world famous Cinnabon dough which are then rolled in Cinnabon French toast seasoning and served with a side of maple syrup.

New partnerships can drive sales in foodservice today as your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward according to Johnson. So, just what is your brands 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, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

Foodservice retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Pilot Flying J has codeveloped a s fun food combo that is only $3.09 for a three count ($4.29 for a five count) and sold exclusively at select Pilot and Flying J Travel Centers. Try them with Pilot Flying J’s exclusive line of delicious coffee varieties brewed for those who drive America.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. 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

Pilot Flying J Fresh Food Fast

Fresh food fast dominates within the restaurant sector with 80.7 % of all restaurant sector visits occurring at fast food restaurants. It’s no wonder that all foodservice retailers are expanding fresh food fast formats with increasing success according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Fresh food fast and flavorful is top of mind at Pilot Flying J as they continue to expand Pilot Express units with a heavy emphasis on food and service.  Conceptualization of Pilot Express began at the end of 2016, with "earnest developments" rolling out at the start of 2017 as regular readers of this blog know as we excel within this space. 

The smaller-format concept particularly spotlights Pilot Flying J's commitment to food and beverage innovation, in line with the company's Facility Enhancement Plan (FEP). Introduced at the start of 2017, the FEP is the travel center operator's $500-million, five-year commitment to reimage existing locations through total facility image, menu and retail environment enhancements, and the addition of new services.

Pilot Flying J Chief Merchant Brian Ferguson explained  "Our Pilot Express locations have a smaller footprint compared to our traditional travel centers, just compressed to focus on food and beverage because that’s what our guests want, what they need and what they’re asking for,"

Built around the retailer's PJ Fresh Marketplace program, Pilot Express stores offer homestyle meals, grab-and-go and made-to-order sandwiches and salads, premium beverages, a "bean-to-cup, make-it-your-way, you-are-your-own-barista" coffee experience, and weekly limited-time offers. I bet that sounds familiar to many of you and you think about Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P’s of Food Marketing.

Ferguson continued, additional Pilot Express locations will open in 2018 and continue to play a strategic role in the success of its FEP, which is now in phase two. Pilot Flying J is targeting 50 locations this year for reimaging. Projects were completed at 50 locations in 2017 as part of phase one.

Furguson added "Our mission is deliver care and a smile at every stop, so when drivers are making the decision to get off the interstate to stop at a Pilot, Flying J or Pilot Express, we want guests to say, 'Pilot Flying J has tremendous service hospitality, amazing food,”

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.

Grocerant Niche Fresh Food Top Priorities for Summer

Restaurants must evolve or else they will continue to capitulate customer counts to non-traditional fresh food retailers according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson. Pilot Flying J understands that and with  66 percent of Americans plan to travel this summer, and 57 percent of traveling parents will hit the road feeling "stressed" about where they are going to stop along the way, fresh food will make the difference.

In a new study commissioned by Pilot Flying J found “of more than 1,000 U.S. parents who take family road trips and have children under the age of 18. The study found that when driving on a family road trip, finding a stop with clean bathrooms as well as fresh food is crucial to parents. Here is what they found:

1.       Nine in 10 parents (88 percent) say they would be "more likely" to stop at a particular travel center, if it were to offer fresh food options.

2.       Millennial parents are most interested in finding travel centers with fresh food options that will make everyone in the family happy, as 65 percent care about this, compared to 51 percent of Generation X parents and 42 percent of Baby Boomer parents.

Additionally, "where to stop to eat" is the top source of stress and family arguments when on a road trip, the survey found.

When thinking of the total experience, 85 percent of parents (and 91 percent of millennial parents) say they would be surprised to come across a travel center that has both great, fresh food options, and clean bathrooms and facilities.

Whitney Haslam Johnson, chief experience officer for Pilot Flying J.stated "Listening to our guests, and understanding their needs is a priority for us at Pilot Flying J,"… "If we can provide what families want to take some of the stress away, then hopefully it makes their experience with us enjoyable. As a mom of three boys myself, I understand how important that can be."

Pilot Flying J is offering a special road trip snack pack from now through Aug. 31. When customers purchase a 2.25-ounce bag of Smartfood Popcorn with an online coupon available at RoadTrips.PilotFlyingJ.com, they will receive a free 20-ounce bottle of Aquafina water.

Knoxville-based Pilot Flying J operates more than 650 retail locations in North America.

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.