Picnic Works Partnerships with a Larger Domino’s Franchisee is more than Interesting

 

Domino’s the chain restaurant that delivered fast fresh food first, with a ½ hour guarantee back in the day has its largest franchisee of Domino's stores outside of the USA testing technology in stores that will help it save both time and labor cost according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru®, at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “if anyone can help drive new electricity into a brand it is Picnic Works and Domino’s Pizza.”  

In case you have not heard, Picnic Works, a Seattle-based innovator of food automation technology, has officially announced a new partnership with industry-leading Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd, the largest franchisee of Domino's stores outside of the USA, to explore how restaurant automation can enhance customer and employee experiences around the globe. Both companies are coming together in Berlin, Germany as part of an innovation demonstration of the Picnic Pizza Station in a Domino's store.

Pretty cool ha? So, the two companies are trialing the Picnic automated pizza assembly system in a functioning Domino's store in Germany; the Picnic Pizza Station can assemble the most popular pizzas by applying sauce, cheese, freshly sliced pepperoni and other ingredients.

This trial demonstration's goal is to understand how automated pizza assembly can assist Domino's employees in producing fresh, consistent pizza as efficiently as possible. This program is part of an initiative between Picnic and Domino's that started in 2021 that has included research, product testing and multi-national planning.

Don Meij, Group CEO & Managing Director of Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd, "Our mission is to deliver customers hot, fresh meals, safely, at an affordable price, and we want to explore how we can empower team members by giving them the best tools and resources to make their jobs more efficient and rewarding,".

Meij continued, "Over the next decade we intend to more than double the number of stores Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd and our franchisees operate, which means we will need an additional 100,000 team members working across Europe and the Asia-Pacific – the key question will be 'how do we make their roles as rewarding as possible so they can deliver the best possible service for our customers?'"

"Our team has been working with Picnic to understand and fine-tune how assistive technology can be used to make their jobs easier without compromising on the quality, consistency, or taste that our customers know and love." 

This just might be the right approach, as the foundation for this multi-year partnership began with shared goal setting, planning, customer research, global opportunity investigation, and ingredient testing from a combination of top strategists, technicians, and food scientists from both companies. With the Picnic Pizza Station installed in the Berlin restaurant, the partnership moves to a new phase of collaboration to help both Picnic and Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd assess, define and refine potential food automation solutions for the future.

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

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Clayton Wood, CEO of Picnic, stated, "As a global leader in pizza with more than 3,400 stores in 10 markets, and the recent announcement it intends to acquire three more markets, Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd has long been a pioneer in restaurant innovation," …. "After many months of laying the groundwork for a robust and fruitful partnership, we're thrilled to continue applying our award-winning food automation experience to help Domino's further explore the benefits of automation."

The collaborative research conducted to date by both companies in Germany showed that consistent quality was the most important attribute when ordering pizza. More than 85 per cent of German respondents noted that they are curious to see the robotic equipment in action.

Understanding the team helps drive success, so Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd leaders from Europe, Asia and Australia have visited Picnic headquarters in Seattle numerous times to plan and test ingredients from Domino's worldwide kitchens. A global team of innovation experts, country managers, and executives have worked together to choose the Berlin demonstration location.

Then the in-store demonstration phase began by installing a Picnic Pizza Station in the busy Domino's Tiergarten store, training employees and maximizing system operations. Through daily check-ins and real-time online performance monitoring, both companies will assess the impact of assistive technology and the results of the trial.

Now when you consider that the Picnic Pizza Station is autonomous and completely customizable for each order – after loading the dough, the Picnic station takes care of applying the sauce, cheese, freshly cut meat, and additional toppings. The finished pizzas are then loaded into the store's ovens for cooking. Each hour, the Picnic station can assemble up to 100 pizzas with one operator. Not bad!

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, 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 GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869

Mezli Tomorrows Restaurant Today

 

At the intersection of robotics technology, restaurants, cloud computing, fresh fast food, and labor saving solutions is a new retail restaurant called Mezli.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® “Mezli is ushering in a new platform for growth in both urban and rural locations.”.  

A recent article about Robotic technology stated that at retail robotic technology is not itself a new trend, but summer 2022 saw one quick service retailer leveraging robotic automation in a very novel way. “Mezli, a fully-autonomous robotic restaurant that resembles a large refrigerated container, opened in the Spark Social food park in San Francisco in August. The high-tech eatery is described by its founders as the “first of its kind in the world.”

While other automated restaurants have opened in San Francisco and other select locations, Mezli is the first to offer a customizable, hot menu to customers— with no on-site workers, according to its founders. (Staffers will load the pre-prepared ingredients into the site once a day.) 

The automated approach, which significantly cuts labor costs, will allow Mezli to offer its menu of Mediterranean grain bowls, sides and beverages at a significantly lower price point than similar fast-casual restaurants, the company said. In addition to the ready-made bowl offerings, customers using touchscreens can assemble their own from available ingredients, creating around 64,800 possible combinations. Now once again empowering consumer choice, but we wonder if that is just a bit to much choice?

Yes, there is more technology, in June, global fast-fashion retailer H&M Group began partnering with Google Cloud to leverage the platform’s data analytics capabilities and global enterprise in an effort to enhance its customer experience and supply chain operations.

Now this cloud-based enterprise data backbone will include a core data platform, data product, and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities. H&M also plans to establish of a new data mesh to make all types of data and events more accessible from multiple sources, including in-store, online, and third-party brands and suppliers. 

Then as its enterprise cloud partnership with Google develops, the retailer hopes to optimize its internal supply chains. The company also intends to obtain the ability to deliver next-generation customer experiences across a variety of physical and data sales channels. In addition, H&M wants to enable further development of data science and AI capabilities throughout its global enterprise.

Even grocery stores are using an increasingly innovative variety of smart technologies to cut food waste by improving in-store freshness. In July, Wisconsin-based regional grocer Festival Foods announced it was ensuring food safety and minimizing shrink with Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

The retailer utilizes Bluetooth IoT sensors from SmartSense to automatically and continuously monitor the temperature of coolers, refrigerators, and chilled cases in all of its stores. Festival Foods placed SmartSense Bluetooth IoT sensors in all chilled and frozen product shelving units in all of its stores.

The Bluetooth sensors continuously take in temperature data, which is then transmitted to gateways that collect the data and send it to a centralized SmartSense database. Gateways operate with battery backup and cellular technology, so that even in the event of a power or network outage, they can still collect and transmit data in real time.

Restaurants, retail, and grocery are all leveraging technology more and more.  Does your brand look more like yesterday or tomorrow?

Don’t over reach. 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

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

Technology Helps

Robotics at Wing Zone Drives Labor Down and Profits

 

It’s Friday night and orders are coming in fast and furious and two of your key employees have not arrived at work.  Now what?  Sales, slip, service slips, and customers are turned away.  That is not what a way that you can sustain top line sales and bottom-line profits over time. 

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® “every restaurant during this inflationary period needs to look for every piece of technology that can help drive down cost and elevate profits while smoothing out operational pain-points.”

So, most regular readers of this blog have heard of Wavemaker Labs.  Wavemaker is the corporate innovation and product development incubator that launched Miso Robotics.   Wavemaker announced the launch of Wing Zone Labs in close collaboration with Wing Zone.

So, Wing Zone Labs is a new franchisee that will focus on driving innovation for the company, helping Wing Zone restaurants unlock their full potential with end-to-end automation. Wing Zone Labs has exclusive rights to the Southern California region covering Los Angeles and has signed a development agreement to open twenty Wing Zone stores there. The company is aiming to raise up to $10M in seed capital via equity crowdfunding site WAX.

David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer of Wing Zone, stated, "At Wing Zone, we live by the motto 'flavor really fast,' and this partnership will help us deliver on that promise to our customers," ... "Bringing in an innovation juggernaut like Wavemaker Labs to not only establish a one-of-a-kind franchisee but also help expand the use of tech and automation within our company is a huge step for us in our quest to create the franchise of the future."

You guessed it, Wing Zone Labs aims to open its first Wing Zone location this year, with plans for initial restaurants to deploy Miso Robotics' flagship product, Flippy 2, to handle the frying station for chicken wings and other fried menu items. Over time, Wing Zone Labs intends to fully automate its franchise stores in order to give customers a truly tech-forward experience.  

Kevin Morris, president of Wavemaker Labs and CFO of Miso Robotics, stated, "Partnering closely with Wing Zone is a huge opportunity to be part of an incredible brand and showcase our technology at scale,". "We're excited to help the brand maximize its output and customer experience. As a franchisee, we will also be able to evaluate and test new software and hardware in real restaurant environments to seamlessly integrate across locations."

Check this out, Wing Zone Labs will primarily be funded through its crowdfunding campaign, which gives everyday investors an opportunity to capitalize on the $787.7 billion franchise industry. Capital raised is solely for Wing Zone Labs and not the overall Wing Zone Corporation.

Foodservice Solutions® team is here to help you drive top line sales and bottom-line profits. Are you looking a customer ahead? Does your messaging look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Freebirds World Burrito Thinking Like the Smartest of College Students

 

Taking about customer relevance, college students are targeted by every sector of foodservice for their ‘life time value as a customer and propensity for eating out while a student according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

That said, today’s college students are digital natives, and technology is as normal for them as wearing shoes.  Ok, I’m old but back in my day most students sat in the grass, with grass and most did not wear shoes.  So, Freebirds World Burrito is not testing robotic takeout stations. That I believe will be a home run with college students.

So, Now Cuisine and Freebirds World Burrito, known as Texas’ No. 1 Burrito, have entered into a strategic partnership including a pilot program to bring Freebirds’ beloved and craveable bowls to new locations throughout the Dallas area using Now Cuisine’s robotic Takeout Stations.

Now Cuisine’s Takeout Stations are compact, fully-automated, AI-enabled kiosks that can be placed nearly anywhere to serve freshly made-to-order hot meals in minutes, 24/7. Freebirds has issued a purchase order to Now Cuisine which will allow its food to be served in multiple Takeout Stations in Texas as part of the pilot.

According to Now Cuisine Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adam Lloyd Cohen, “Forward thinking leaders and companies like Alex and Freebirds are experimenting with technology to bring their great food much closer to the people they serve, making it more convenient to eat a delicious hot meal wherever one happens to be, any time of day or night.”

Restaurant-branded Takeout Stations will likely initially be placed in multifamily and office buildings, with plans to later expand to college campuses, airports, hotels, and other locations.

Alex Eagle, Chief Executive Officer for Freebirds World Burrito added, “We’re continuing to invest in new technologies that give people the option to have Freebirds’ craveable bowls whenever and wherever they want them. It’s just cool that a Texas-based AI and robotics company can help a Texas-based burrito company expand in ways we could only imagine just a few years ago.”

As part of the partnership, Eagle is joining Now Cuisine’s advisory board, where he will provide strategic guidance on marketing Now Cuisine and expanding operations throughout Texas.

Now Cuisine is bringing to market a new category of foodservice that addresses the fundamental mismatch between the distribution of people (who are nearly everywhere) and that of restaurants (which tend to be clustered, for example, in retail locations). The result is that enjoying a good meal—if it’s available at all—too often requires people take the time to travel to a restaurant or pay extra for someone to make the trip for them. Through its vision of Distributed Dining™, Now Cuisine seeks to democratize access to delicious, healthful, affordable food, making it ubiquitous and always nearby: wherever people live, work, and play. Through a connected network of Takeout Stations, Now Cuisine is working to improve nutrition, shrink food deserts, save precious time, and reduce waste, traffic, and emissions.

As Texas’ No. 1 Burrito and consumer choice for “Most Craveable Brand,” Freebirds uses certified Master Grillers to ensure its single-cut meats are marinated and grilled to perfection. With the most flavorful marinades and sauces in Texas, Freebirds is consistently craveable. “It’s Your World” at Freebirds where burritos and bowls are customizable and personalized with signature ingredients, including premium meats, guacamole, legendary Queso Blanco and other delicious options you won’t find anywhere else.

The partnership with Now Cuisine is just one of many investments in technology that is fueling Freebirds’ dynamic growth. Freebirds recently announced a new partnership Qu unified omnichannel ordering platform to integrate a wide range of systems and give guests their Freebirds favorites faster wherever they want to order or pick up their meal. Qu’s cloud-based design will let Freebirds experiment with additional mobile and non-traditional outlets. Freebirds is planning to double its total number of locations over the next 5 years, if not faster.  The main areas of expansion will be across Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, though the growth will see locations open across the state. The brand has already announced new restaurant openings in the pipeline in Kingwood, Spring, Katy and Dripping Springs. With its current growth rate, Freebirds will solidify its position as Texas’ second largest burrito chain.

Don’t over reach. 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

Will Albertsons Focus on Grocerant Meals

Optimism returns to the foodservice industry as COVID-19 vaccinations pick-up steam all around the U.S. according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Hotel and restaurant workers can’t wait for the full reopening of locations.  There are 29 restaurants for every grocery store in the U.S. and grocery store,. Grocery employees are eager for their workload to return to post pandemic levels so they can catch a break.

Back in the day my friend Ron Paul founder and President of Technomic coined the term, home meal replacement (HMR) to describe why the outstanding success of Boston Chicken / Boston Market and why they had driving sales and customer migration success.  At that time Technomic had industry leading insights, did the work, that laid the laid the foundation for what is now termed the Grocerant niche.

Back in the day (1993- 1999) food Industry research focused on HMR.  While industry leading conferences and seminars all touted the newest, hottest, HMR research insights to garner participants. Ron Paul’s team insights would receive high marks from Titians of the Grocery store sector, leaders in the convenience store sector, and accolades from chain restaurant C-suites.

There was one common undercurrent of discontent from every sector at the time.  That was it was too expensive to adapt too the recommendations. Given the CEO’s moto, do no harm, they did little, but talk loudly, and talk it up. However, few back in the day moved forward with any seriousness while slowly testing the 'HMR' sector. 

Today, grocery store rotisserie chicken has taken center stage in most grocery stores service deli’s as a grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat staple.  Our own Grocerant Guru® continues to be disappointed with the quality of the product, and price at most grocery stores but believes it is the foundation for continued growth within that sector for the grocery store sector. 

Johnson credits both Ron Paul (Technomic) and Scott Beck (CEO 1991 of Boston Chicken / Market) for encouraging him to focus on Grocerant niche meal solutions.  Johnson did, and now Foodservice Solutions® and Johnson are both recognized as the global leaders.  Beck understood the consumer touchpoints driving customer migration better than anyone back in the day or today according to Johnson.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Albertson’s like all grocery stores at the time entered home meal replacement niche halfheartedly and failed, the slipped back doing what they always did, accepting slotting fees, and placed items on the shelf. 

Then came the next wave of HMR as grocery stores learned some were succeeding, then they all rushed to reentered once again. This time the research industry evolved as well creating a new name for the niche convenient meal solutions  (CMS)  It was simply updated HRM data repacked to garner increased food industry excitement and incremental attendance at industry conferences and seminars according to Johnson.

2021 will be challenging for all grocery stores including Albertsons Cos. Now after 28 years Albertsons President and CEO Vivek Sankaran agrees that meals are an increasingly important driver of growth in grocery.   Sankaran stated, “We are going to get into the meals business. [And] I think you’ll see more of the restaurant business and the supermarket business converging,” Yes, once again they realize customer touchpoints matter. 

Outnumbered by 29 restaurants for every grocery store, full of with consumer tired of being forced to cook at home during the pandemic Albertsons own consumer insights must point to the grocerant niche.  That said, when the HMR info was replaced with CMS, convenient meal solutions, that was because rather than offering fresh prepared food, grocers wanted to sell CPG food.  They wanted to do what they always did.  So they made fresh prepared food into a packaged product. 

That did not work.  Researchers tailored studies to give grocers the what they wanted.  That’s how some research companies stay in business at the time.  They tailored the info too focus on CMS, simultaneously down playing the fresh prepared food focus. Guess what that did not help anyone consumer continued to migrate to fresh food fast driving growth in the restaurant sector. 

The team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® did not do that.  The question everyone has to ask today is will Albertson’s talk fresh but deliver a CPG product?  If you look at companies the ilk of Kroger or Hy-Vee the odds are the messaging will be there but the grocerant niche fresh prepared food in large part won’t be according to Johnson.

Regular readers of this blog know that Sally the Robot is a compact salad-making machine. About the size of a vending machine, Sally dispenses a full menu of salads, along with customizable options. Spurred by a need for safer self-serve experiences in vertical markets like grocery, Hayward, Calif.-based Chowbotics has also developed a mobile app for fast, contactless ordering through Sally edifying relevant consumer touchpoints. 

The team at Foodservice Solutions® wonders out loud if Sally the Robot will do a better job with delivering grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food than Albertson’s.  Will slotting fee’s once again derail the grocery sectors success selling meals? 

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 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant Niche. 

New Technology Brings Fresh Food to You

Food trucks have delivered fresh food to work sites, workers, and offices for 100 years or so.  However, like everything else technology has evolved and one company is now using advacned robotics to drive incremental success according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Ono Food Company, is launching later this month the first of a fleet of mobile food trucks powered by advanced robotics that’s right advance robotics in a food truck. 

Ono Blends, is billing its smoothie shop on wheels, as the first mobile restaurant in the world that uses cutting edge technology and advanced robotics to power everything from ordering to food production. The company plans to launch Ono Blends in late October at a popular Venice, Calif. food truck lot, where it will share space with Roy Choi’s pioneering food truck, Kogi BBQ.

Regular readers of this blog know that “differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist” well  Ono Blends Co-founder and CEO Stephen Klein stated  “There’s no one else doing this,”

Klein, worked at grocery delivery company Instacart and robotic coffee bar Café X in San Francisco, clearly garnering the insights, for his innovative, incremental food platform, Ono Foods that launched in July 2018 with his business partner Danny Fukuba. Fukuba previously led robotic assembly for SpaceX and worked at Zume Pizza, which uses robot pizza cooks. Johnson says this guys know food, technology and portability all hallmarks of the grocerant niche.

Ono Foods, focus is on state-of-the art food trucks that move around and feed people in so-called food deserts. “We believe the future of robotics is modular. It can be placed in different locations,” Klein said.

Garnering $2 million in capital raised from investors, the team spent the past several months developing a menu of healthy but affordable custom blended smoothies. Signature and customizable shakes are made by an assembly line of machines outfitted in a 56-square-foot space inside a 23-foot long Mercedes Sprinter.

 Interactive and participatory the team built a viewing window is built at eye-level so customers can watch their smoothie being prepared. Klein stated “Ono’s robotics system resembles the automation at fast-casual bowl concept Spyce in Boston, which made national headlines when it opened in May. Famed chef Daniel Boulud is an investor.”

Let’s talk making fast food fast and fresh, Ono robots can crank out a 20-ounce avocado & matcha smoothie in about 60 seconds. The cost: $5.95. Klein said the price is a bargain when compared to brick and mortar shops in the Los Angeles area.

Consider that Moon Juice, which has three shops in boujee Los Angeles enclaves, sells its wellness-centric shakes for $12 to $14. Klein continued “Fast-food options usually fall into two buckets: fast, healthy, and unaffordable, or fast, unhealthy, and affordable and nothing in between,”. “Combining our backgrounds in tech, automation, and culinary fine dining, we knew we could fill this void to give more people access to healthy, high-quality food.”

While technology is crucial to the business model, Klein said food quality is paramount. “The quality of the food is still the most important thing. Automation is the means to the end,” he said. Every drink is “designed to keep people energized and rejuvenated throughout the day,” the company said.

Technology is important for all food retailers according to Johnson.  Ono Blends said advanced robotics improves order accuracy, minimizes food waste, reduces water usage, and improves speed of service.  Food safety is also enhanced with self-cleaning technology.

Is you brand getting faster, fresher, or closer to you customers? Are you focusing on relevant customer touchpoints that are both interactive and participatory?

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