Grocerant Success Drives Retail Innovation

Once again Success does leave clues this time those clues have been picked up by more non-traditional fresh food retailers that want to drive customer relevance according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Those retailers are Ralph Lauren, Lululemon, and Crate & Barrel.  They operate at the intersection of customer consumer relevance and cultural trend adoption.  Each is a leader all are continually evolving giving consumers what they want more grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food options according to Johnson.  Each is looking less like a retailer of yesterday and more like a retailer of today and tomorrow.

You know that Lululemon, is an athletic apparel company known for its yoga gear.  Well they have opened a restaurant called Fuel  in their flagship flag ship store in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The restaurant will be selling find healthy (acai bowls, smoothies, salads, protein boxes), beefy (an 8-ounce burger), and draft beer.) Sounds like Lululemon understand today’s consumer according to Johnson who stated “consumers are dynamic not static and retailers must be as well.

Not to be over looked Crate and Barrel, opened its first full-service restaurant. Table for Crate opened inside Chicago which has clearly become a hot sport for grocerant growth with companies the ilk of Eataly that continue to do well.

Crate & Barrel’s first full-service restaurant, called The Table at Crate, is a collaboration with Cornerstone Restaurant Group. The Table is the retailer's first full-service restaurant and the restaurant group's first foray into retail. James Beard-nominated chef Bill Kim will lead the eatery. 

Get this, The Table guests can take signature cocktails into the adjacent Crate & Barrel retail space as they shop. Now that is consumer interactive and participatory as regular readers of this blog know are hallmarks driving grocerant niche adoption.

Regular reader also know that Nordstrom is launching a flagship store in New York that will include six food and beverage concepts rather than the typical Nordstrom Cafe. Nordstrom teamed with James Beard Award-winning chef Tom Douglas and Seattle-based chef Ethan Stowell to create the in-store restaurant experiences.

Yes, and regular readers know that Ralph Lauren's Coffee Shop Returned to New York City and it’s mobile what can we say.  The customer adoption of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is driving retail innovation, top line sales and bottom-line profits.  Does your retail outlet look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Buy the way don't for get IKEA. 

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 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues Foodservice Solutions® is the leader in the Grocerant Niche.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Competition for Food Relevance Heats Up Among Retailers

Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Dollar Stores are battling Ikea, Costco Wholesale, Ralph Lauren, and Nordstrom’s for a larger Share of Stomach according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.   Established food retailers and start-up fresh food retailers both strive to create or maintain consumer relevance while evolving their own food brands.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® believes that the following ten clues to build a contemporized food brand can help any food retailer maintain relevance.

Purpose:   Why you are there contemporized relevance! The most successful brands are inclusive include values greater than themselves. A lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion a point in time today that means better for you.

A story: Most major brands have a story. Examples: if you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nike's, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created.

Consumer interaction: When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers. Consumer will build the brand and the story for you.

Trust: When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have.  Would you buy a Toyoda today? Maybe so, but how long do they have to rebuild that trust?

Consistency:  When a consumer chooses a product or service because of brand association, he or she is buying an expectation. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner. The expectation must be met time after time.

Differentiation: Expectation is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Imitators: Imitation is the sincerest of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you. Do what you do best and lead your niche don’t follow.

Market leadership: Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in. Own the space, and understand why you do.

Grow:  The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping and reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Brands are either growing or dying. Consumers are not static!  Your brand must be dynamic and grow, change and adapt over time.

A strong marketing presence: The information super highway is evolving; your message must follow the traffic.  Don’t get stuck on the road less traveled

For corporate presentations, confidential engagements, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions at: Linkedin.com/in/grocerant Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us