Stew Leonard's Grocerant Growth Success

 

Stew Leonard’s grocery stores are the best in the grocery store sector at being consumer focused and interactive according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Regular readers of this blog know that Stew Leonard’s ability to evolve with consumers, providing both Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food with the ‘halo’ of ‘better-for-you’ is key to their continued success and brand electricity.

Consumer want solutions to meal time that save time without having to give up bold new flavors or food quality according to Johnson. Now Stew Lenard’s is bringing its catering business online, with a seamless extension of its in-store operation, from catering order placement through checkout and preferred pickup method.

Wanting a more personalized customer experience than other food retailers are offering currently, Stew Leonard’s enlisted e-commerce specialist GrocerKey to bring its catering business online. Regional chains can benefit from a partnership with a technology platform specialist rather than try to build out a solution on their own. These partnerships can save both time and money for the retailer, while building customer relevance and new brand electricity.

The GrocerKey online grocery platform now drives StewLeonardsCatering.com, (Stew Leonard’s new catering website). With the solution, Stew Leonard’s goal is to enhance the end-to-end catering experience for customers, from more responsive and personalized ordering to improved order management, fulfillment and analytics according to a GroceryKey spokesperson.

So, get this, GrocerKey developed specialized functionality for catering meal solutions, including the ability for customers to choose side dishes, indicate whether they want items hot or cold upon pickup, and make off-menu requests. Then on the service side of the equation, GrocerKey bolstered its order management and fulfillment system with a mobile app to push out text message alerts with order and customer updates to the culinary and catering staff as well as to store greeters, enabling them to better assist Stew Leonard’s shoppers with order pickup.

GrocerKey developed specialized functionality enabling Stew Leonard's catering customers to choose side dishes, specify items to be hot or cold upon pickup, and make off-menu requests.

According to President and CEO Stew Leonard Jr., GrocerKey’s technology provided a seamless extension of its in-store catering operation, from order placement through checkout and preferred pickup method.

“GrocerKey customized our new catering site from the ground up," Leonard said in a statement. “More importantly, they helped to translate our legendary in-store customer service onto an e-commerce platform.”

Regional powerhouse Stew Leonard’s is known for its fresh and prepared foods and “family fun” interactive participatory shopping experience, Stew Leonard’s operates seven supermarkets in three states, including in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington, Conn.; Yonkers, Farmingdale and East Meadow, N.Y.; and Paramus, N.J.

In a Battle for 

Share of Stomach

Get this, GrocerKey noted that integrated analytics and reporting allow Stew Leonard’s to better track catering business performance and optimize operations and the customer experience. In addition, the platform facilitates digital merchandising of meal offerings, including special events and promotions; expansion of the online assortment and menu options; and more convenient checkout. Extended fulfillment windows enable customers to order up to six months in advance and edit orders up to 24 hours before pickup.

Jeremy Neren, CEO and co-founder of GrocerKey, stated, “Catering is a complex e-commerce offering, especially when delivering hot and cold meal items,” … “With Stew Leonard’s, we collaborated to develop an e-commerce platform that guides customers seamlessly through ordering to pick up and provides an optimal online experience that keeps the retailer top-of-mind for their catering needs.”

Going forward, Stew Leonard’s plans to offer local delivery for online catering orders and implement “smart kitchen” technology for more efficient catering operations, GrocerKey said, adding that it’s also working with the chain to launch an online gifting platform with similar capabilities. How are you creating 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, unique urban clothing, 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.

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

Can a Grocery Store Beat a Restaurant at Entertainment

Success does leave clues and regular reader of this blog know that restaurants that are consumer interactive and participatory continue to garner incremental customers. From TGI Friday’s wait staff, Texas de Brazil’s protein presentation, Inn & Out Burger, and Benihana we could go on for hours but interactive participatory entertainment drives sales according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

Most of you have visited Eatzi’s and understand how a one-time restaurateur turned groceranteur found success.  Well, at Stew Leonard’s, combining interactive participatory customer engagement since 1969.  and entertainment.

If you run a restaurant and have not been to Stew Leonard’s you should. “There are aisles filled with animatronic singing poultry and vegetables, stuffed creatures that flip and, in a modern twist for today's consumer, there’s a selfie station where customers can pose with Clover the cow in a replica of Stew’s milk truck.

The simple fact is the zaniness of the stores can overshadow how vital customer service and product scouting is to the growing company. There are six Stew Leonard’s locations now in New York and Connecticut, with a seventh planned for New Jersey in the fall.

The store has a traditional motto: The customer is always right. But here this basic principle of retail gets the Stew Leonard treatment: outside of each store sits a three-ton granite rock etched with the saying: “Rule #1—The Customer is Always Right" and “Rule #2—If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Re-Read Rule #1.” 

Today, many of you may take believe that but there is a reason that particular old adage is still around. Stew Leonard, Jr., the president and CEO who took the business over from his dad in the 1990s. “You’ve got to listen to the customers really and hear what they have to say,”.

Customers’ opinions are a big part of “Stew’s Tank,” a new program the grocery is rolling out. It’s Stew Leonard’s take on “Shark Tank,” the reality TV show where entrepreneurs compete for funding. For Stew’s Tank, New York-based food entrepreneurs will compete to have their products sold at the newly opened East Meadow, Long Island, location of Stew Leonard’s. The company plans to choose about 24 products to demo and sell for the month of June. Based mostly on sales and customer feedback, the grocery will pick about six new products to sell at all their locations.

Stew Leonard’s has no slotting fees, which makes it easier for companies to get their food in the door by selling only what customer want.  Not what food manufactures are paying you to place on the shelf.

Leonard said. “We deal with a lot of local, small vendors, and a lot of them can’t afford to have a slotting fee. Maybe that's one reason we get so many [new products]. There's really not any barriers to entry, I would say.”  Is your restaurant brand creating a platform of fresh food discovery?  How are you extending your brand invitation?  Grocery stores can be better entertainment retailers if you take your eye of the consumer.  Are you Looking A Customer Ahead?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

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