Bahama Buck’s Takes the Taste of Paradise Beyond Its Four Walls: Why SnoBlast Could Be a Big Growth Step After 35 Years

 

After 35 years in business, the biggest challenge for any restaurant or foodservice brand is not simply staying relevant—it is finding new ways to make the brand relevant more often, in more places and for more occasions.

That is why Bahama Buck’s launch of SnoBlast deserves more attention than a typical new-product announcement according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The frozen-treat chain is taking its signature Sno experience outside its restaurants and putting it into a grab-and-go format designed for little league tournaments, summer camps, school fundraisers, amusement parks, neighborhood celebrations and other group occasions.

That is not just a new flavor strategy.

It is a channel-blurring growth strategy.

For the Grocerant Guru®, that distinction matters.

The Big Idea: Stop Thinking Like a Restaurant

Restaurants traditionally think about growth in terms of opening more restaurants, increasing same-store sales, adding dayparts and improving throughput.

Smart restaurant brands increasingly understand that there is another question to ask:

Where else can the consumer experience our brand?

SnoBlast is Bahama Buck’s answer.

The product allows consumers to enjoy the brand away from a Bahama Buck’s location. That creates an opportunity to capture consumption occasions that a traditional restaurant cannot easily reach.

Think about the occasions:

·       Youth sports

·       School events

·       Summer camps

·       Fundraisers

·       Festivals

·       Amusement parks

·       Neighborhood parties

·       Family gatherings

·       Community events

These are all high-density food occasions where consumers are already looking for something convenient, fun and refreshing.

SnoBlast essentially turns those occasions into potential Bahama Buck’s occasions.

That is powerful.

From Store-Centric to Occasion-Centric

The restaurant industry has spent decades building businesses around physical locations.

But consumers don't organize their lives around restaurant locations.

They organize their lives around occasions.

That distinction is increasingly important as consumers move seamlessly among restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, food trucks, delivery, takeout, entertainment venues and other food channels.

The Grocerant Guru® calls this Food Channel Blurring.

The winning brands increasingly ask:

"How can we put our food where the consumer already is?"

Rather than asking consumers to make a special trip to a restaurant, SnoBlast gives Bahama Buck’s an opportunity to travel with them.

The Packaging Strategy Is Particularly Interesting

One of the most important details in the announcement may be the least glamorous:

ambient storage.

SnoBlast pouches can be stored at room temperature until they are ready to be frozen.

Then they are placed in a freezer for 24 hours before serving.

That seemingly simple operational decision could dramatically expand the potential distribution footprint.

Why?

Because frozen products traditionally create a supply-chain challenge.

Cold storage costs money.

Frozen transportation costs money.

Frozen inventory requires freezer space.

SnoBlast's ambient-storage format creates a different proposition: store it now, freeze it when needed.

That makes the product easier for organizations to manage and potentially easier for Bahama Buck’s to sell through additional channels.

This is where product innovation becomes business-model innovation.

Convenience Is Part of the Product

Consumers increasingly value food that removes friction.

The same principle applies to organizations buying food for groups.

A school fundraiser does not want a complicated foodservice operation.

A youth sports organization does not want a product that requires extensive preparation.

A camp does not want to build an entire frozen-dessert infrastructure around one product.

SnoBlast addresses those problems with a relatively straightforward proposition:

Store it. Freeze it. Serve it.

That is the kind of operational simplicity that can help a food brand move from an individual restaurant transaction toward institutional, group and event-based consumption.

The Flavor Strategy Is Built for Both Familiarity and Discovery

Another smart move is the breadth of the flavor portfolio.

Bahama Buck’s is offering familiar flavors such as:

·       Cherry

·       Blue Raspberry

·       Pink Lemonade

·       Mango

·       Tiger’s Blood

But the company also introduces more adventurous choices, including Best Maid Pickle SnoBlast and Warheads Extreme Sour.

That creates two different consumer strategies.

The familiar flavors reduce trial barriers.

The unconventional flavors create conversation.

And conversation is valuable.

In today's food marketplace, a product does not have to be consumed by everyone to generate attention. Sometimes the flavor that creates the most social conversation can help create awareness for the entire brand.

The "Better-for-You" Positioning Also Matters

SnoBlast is being positioned with a number of ingredient attributes that today's consumers increasingly notice.

The company says the product contains:

·       No artificial flavors

·       No artificial colors

·       No high fructose corn syrup

·       Allergen-friendly positioning

That matters because consumers are increasingly balancing indulgence with ingredient expectations.

Frozen treats remain an indulgence.

But consumers increasingly want indulgent foods that fit within their personal definitions of better eating.

This creates what I call the "better-for-you indulgence" opportunity.

Consumers don't necessarily want to eliminate treats.

They want treats that make them feel better about the choice.

Fundraising Could Be a Particularly Interesting Growth Engine

One of the most intriguing applications for SnoBlast is fundraising.

Fundraising gives Bahama Buck’s something traditional restaurant advertising cannot always deliver:

a built-in reason for organizations to sell the product.

A booster club, school organization or youth sports program can potentially turn a frozen treat into a fundraising occasion.

That creates a three-way value proposition:

Bahama Buck’s gets brand exposure.

The organization gets fundraising potential.

The consumer gets an enjoyable product.

That is exactly the type of ecosystem that can help a restaurant brand grow beyond its traditional four walls.

SnoBlast Is Also Hand-Held Marketing

The Grocerant Guru® has long argued that food can become one of the most powerful forms of Hand-Held Marketing.

Every time someone carries, consumes or shares a branded food product, the brand can travel with the consumer.

SnoBlast has that potential.

Imagine 100 kids at a baseball tournament.

Imagine dozens of parents, coaches and spectators.

Now imagine the product packaging carrying the Bahama Buck’s brand throughout the event.

The food is no longer just the product.

The product becomes the advertising.

That is an important distinction.

Why 35 Years Matters

There is also a bigger lesson here.

After 35 years, Bahama Buck’s isn't simply trying to become a different company.

It is extending what it already does well.

The brand has built equity around tropical flavors, frozen treats and its "Taste of Paradise" positioning.

SnoBlast takes those existing brand assets and makes them portable.

That is often a smarter growth strategy than creating something completely unrelated.

The strongest brand extensions frequently answer three questions:

1.       What do consumers already love about us?

2.       Where can't consumers currently get it?

3.       What format would make it easier to consume?

SnoBlast has a compelling answer to all three.

The Grocerant Guru® Growth Equation

I see a larger foodservice lesson here.

The next generation of restaurant growth will not necessarily come from simply building more restaurants.

It will come from building more consumption occasions.

A restaurant brand can grow through:

Restaurants + Takeout + Delivery + Retail + Events + Fundraising + Foodservice + Portable Products

That is the new growth equation.

And this is precisely where restaurant brands can learn from grocery and convenience stores.

Grocery has spent decades learning how to put food into consumers' homes.

Convenience stores have learned how to put food into consumers' daily routines.

Restaurants have traditionally focused on bringing consumers into restaurants.

The opportunity now is for all three channels to learn from one another.

SnoBlast Could Become More Than a Product

If Bahama Buck’s executes well, SnoBlast could eventually become more than a seasonal frozen product.

It could become a brand platform.

The company could potentially explore additional opportunities around:

·       School fundraising programs

·       Youth sports partnerships

·       Corporate events

·       Theme and amusement parks

·       Grocery and retail distribution

·       Convenience-store placement

·       Catering

·       Festivals

·       Stadium and venue concessions

·       Large-scale community events

The important point is that the brand doesn't necessarily have to own every location where the product is consumed.

It simply needs to own the experience.

That is a very different growth philosophy.

Three Insights From the Grocerant Guru®

1. Growth Comes From Creating More Occasions, Not Just More Locations

After 35 years, Bahama Buck’s is demonstrating that a restaurant brand can grow by expanding its occasion footprint.

The question every restaurant CEO should be asking is:

"How many times can consumers encounter our brand when they are not inside our restaurant?"

SnoBlast is an excellent example of answering that question.

2. Convenience Is a Competitive Weapon

The ambient-storage format is strategically important.

The easier a product is to store, transport, prepare and serve, the more places it can potentially go.

Food brands should stop thinking about convenience as merely a consumer benefit.

Convenience is also a distribution strategy.

3. The Future Belongs to Brands That Travel With the Consumer

The restaurant of the future does not necessarily have four walls.

It can be a restaurant, a pouch, a grocery item, a convenience-store product, a catering program, a fundraiser or an event experience.

SnoBlast demonstrates how a 35-year-old restaurant brand can take something consumers already love and give it a new life outside the restaurant.

That is not abandoning the restaurant model. It is expanding the brand model.

And in the increasingly blurred foodservice marketplace, the brands that can move from place-based consumption to occasion-based consumption may ultimately have the greatest opportunity to grow.

The Grocerant Guru® Bottom Line: Bahama Buck’s SnoBlast is a smart example of what happens when a mature restaurant brand stops asking, "How do we get more people into our stores?" and starts asking, "How do we get our brand into more people's lives?"

After 35 years, that may be exactly the kind of next-generation thinking required to create the next 35 years of growth.

Tap into the Foodservice Solutions® team for greater understanding of New Electricity or for 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