Chick-fil-A Supporting Scholarships for Restaurant Employees

 

A brand who’s messaging just keeps getting better Chick-fil-A continues to expand branded options within the grocerant niche.  Once again success does leave clues and Chick-fil-A continues to expand the ‘halo’ of better for you around the brand with another grocerant niche offering.

So, when Chick-fil-A announced that bottles of its signature sauces will soon be available for purchase at retailers nationwide, with 100 percent of the royalties Chick-fil-A, Inc. receives from third-party retail sales supporting scholarships for Chick-fil-A restaurant employees.  Customers were edified as they have been asking for the sauces to be sold for years and the brand, its employees both get a boost by doing a good thing according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.

Starting soon, (mid-November), customers will be able to purchase 16-ounce bottles of the company’s signature Chick-fil-A and Polynesian Sauces at participating retailers, including Publix, Kroger, Walmart and Winn-Dixie stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, with a nationwide rollout scheduled for early 2021.

So,  clearly  Chick-fil-A has learned a lot from utilizing what the team at Foodservice Solutions® has time tested as a marketing template: Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat; Chick-fil-A will now offer Chicken Parmesan Meal Kits at participating restaurants nationwide.

Retail sales of the 16-ounce bottled sauces start around $3.49, and customers are encouraged to check with their local retailer on availability. With every retail store purchase of a 16-ounce bottled sauce, all royalties Chick-fil-A, Inc. receives will be donated to the Chick-fil-A Remarkable Futures Scholarship Initiative.

Note: since 1970, Chick-fil-A has helped nearly 60,000 Team Members pay for their education through a total investment of $92 million in scholarships, with $17 million in scholarships being awarded to 6,700 restaurant Team Members in 47 states and Canada just this year.

L.J. Yankosky, senior director of Innovation & New Ventures at Chick-fil-A stated, Chick-fil-A Sauce and Polynesian Sauce were offered as part of a pilot program in select Florida retailers earlier this year, and we’re excited to expand availability of our two most beloved sauces across the country,” … “Restaurant Team Members go above and beyond every day to care for our guests and the communities they serve. We’re thrilled that every 16-ounce bottled sauce purchased from a participating retailer will help provide additional scholarship opportunities to Team Members, who are a key ingredient to our restaurant experience.”

In addition to offering the bottled sauces at select retailers, 8-ounce bottles of signature Chick-fil-A sauces are available for purchase at participating restaurants. Bottled sauce gift sets are also available at select restaurants, while supplies last. Customers should check the Chick-fil-A App or contact their local Chick-fil-A restaurant to confirm availability.

Bottled sauces are available alongside other Chick-fil-A menu items under the Chick-fil-A Safe Service guidelines, which remain a top priority at restaurants as the holidays approach. The brand is committed to providing the high-quality food and service guests have come to know and expect from Chick-fil-A, while working to ensure the health and well-being of Operators, Team Members and guests.  How are you building the ‘halo’ of better for you around your brand?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. 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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Why do Grocery Stores Continue to Stumble with Fresh Prepared Food

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared has been the leading driver of top line sales and bottom line profits within every sector of retail foodservice for over 8 years yet grocery stores continue to stumble with it?  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® and his team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® understands why?  Do you?

Let’s look at the results from a recent survey of consumers on grocery store prepared food:

1.       When asked “What percentage of shoppers encounter incidences of failure in their grocer’s
prepared foods area when purchasing prepared chicken products? The Survey found 48%, which is a big number of miss-steps. 

2.       When asked to rate the meals that they picked-up at the grocery store deli they rated it a C, which we know does not drive repeat business.

3.       Of those who experience a problem in the prepared foods department, how many will stop shopping that retailer’s deli for a period of time?

4.       We were surprised that the number was only 38%, clearly most problems were resolved so I guess we found a bright spot. When asked What do real shoppers say about how to make a meal using products from the
grocer’s deli? The findings were a complete wake-up call consumers responded “We were lost – we didn’t know how to put the prepared foods together.”

Regular readers of this blog know that the line between food retail segments has become blurred in the minds-eye of the consumer.  Simply put grocerant offerings (the combination of grocery stores and restaurants) where consumer can buy food to eat while out and about or buy to take home).

Customer migration from the old cook from scratch and from sit-down restaurants combine to drive a shifting landscape we can expect many changes to the food and hospitality industry; it’s anticipated that by 2020, 70 per cent of restaurant businesses will be outside traditional walls, as customers migrate to prepared meals for home consumption.

Millennials in search of food discovery are leading the way for grocerant fresh prepared food as the seek out ethnic grocery store fresh prepared meals. These retail stores attract Millennials wanting to connect to their cultural roots and curious foodies interested in stepping outside their palate’s comfort zone all the while seeking authentic fresh food.

One thing is clear grocery stores must refresh service deli with true fresh prepare d food rather than continuing to try to make fresh prepared food a CPG product as they have done since 1997.  Cleary that has not worked as there are now 50% fewer traditional grocery stores today than just 12 years ago.

Consumers are not looking for innovation in new foods they are seeking authentic fresh food offering and currently the restaurant sector is doing a much beet job of that.  If success leaves clues and it does, grocery stores will need to not build restaurants but offer authentic fresh food faster in order to maintain market share.

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