Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat is Popular

 

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to garner customer migration in every sector of retail food sales according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, deli’s and bodega’s all continue to elevate their grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food offerings, messaging, and marketing garnering the attention of time starve consumers looking for full flavored fresh fast meal and meal component options for dinner. Today more and more American consumers are looking for both convenience and variety in their on-the-go meal options, according to new research by NCSolutions.

 

Time starved American consumers despite all of the changes in the years since the start of the pandemic, the majority of consumers will still eat meals or snacks on the go at least sometimes.

Those findings came from a new consumer sentiment research survey commissioned by NCSolutions, a company focused on advertising effectiveness for consumer-packaged goods brands. 

So, of those surveyed, many quoted a hectic schedule as a key reason to rely on convenience foods for meals while traveling or commuting. Overall, 75 percent of respondents still eat meals or snacks on the go either "sometimes" or "always."

This is important if you are trying to build daypart sales, even with changes to commuting schedules and remote work becoming more common, the most popular times for grab-and-go foods remain the morning and midday. Lunch (52 percent) and breakfast (50 percent) are the most popular grab-and-go convenience item meals, followed by snacks (41 percent) and dinner (36 percent).

Yes, the report also found that customers often crave variety in their options, opening a possible channel of opportunity for c-stores and other retailers to tap into underserved markets. Just under half (48 percent) of Americans are only somewhat satisfied with the variety of flavors and options for convenience foods available, while almost one in three (31 percent) say they aren't satisfied with the options for diet-specific choices offered in the grocery store, such as keto or gluten-free. 

Consumer dining habits continue to react and remain in flux due to the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown even three years on. Recent research by US Foods found American adults still prefer to eat at home and will more often choose takeout or delivery options over eating out. In the meantime, customer satisfaction with convenience foodservice has risen overall by seven percent year over year even as those who consider themselves "very satisfied" with c-stores' prepared foods fell by 11 percent.

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

Portability, Packaging, Profits, Rutter’s Farm Stores Success

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson says “success does leave clues and Rutter’s Farm Stores expanding fresh fast food portability with new packaging empowers consumer choice while highlighting the key driver of the grocerant niche mix and match meal component bundling.”

Millennials in search of fresh food discovery will find the new Grab-and-Go pouch (bags) at Rutter’s convenient, transparency, elevating the halo of ‘better-for-you’ and elevating the food program once again at Rutter’s Farm Stores according to Johnson.

Mix and Match hot food meal component bundling is how Rutter’s will be "attacking snacking".  Consumers continue to eat smaller meals, smaller plates, and have smaller households according to our Grocerant Guru® these new grab-and-go pouches for hot fresh-food items elevate, accommodate, and integrate fresh prepared food ‘snacking, small plates in to the daily lives of consumers meal planning.

This new state-of-the-art fresh prepared food packaging, “the Rutter's-branded bag is breathable, microwavable and re-sealable, holds heat well, and has a handle for optimum convenience and freshness.”

Ryan Krebs, director of foodservice for Rutter's, stated “I think it’s a breakthrough”.  The team at Foodservice Solutions® agrees. Krebs continues "I've seen so many things people have tried that just don't seem to work," Krebs said of the bag's development process. Many kinds of hot food carryout packaging uses cardboard, with a plastic window for integrity, but results in greasy, soggy food due to a lack of ventilation.

It has been widely reported that “Rutter's new bag is "sturdy but incredibly thin" and has ventilation holes to avoid trapping steam inside, keeping the product crispy. The window allows customers to see the product, and the branding serves as a miniature walking billboard.”

Fresh, Fast, Portable Ready-2-Go the bag sits in the hot hold kiosk, offering the appeal of freshly cooked items such as chicken wings and mozzarella sticks, but without forcing customers to wait several minutes for their order to be freshly prepared.

Krebs continued, adding that he wants “Rutter's customers to visit the stores for "a hot snack, a quality snack," and not just packaged snacks like candy and potato chips.” "This one I am excited about even though it's a bag," Krebs said. "It just screams technology and advancement."

The new pouch /bag is driving change as Rutter's is adding 13 new items to its hot grab-and-go program: mozzarella sticks, BBQ beef short ribs, chicken wings, sweet corn bites, onion rings, fried sweet bologna, jalapeno and cheese bites, French fries, boneless chicken chunks, chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese bites, hash browns and fried pickles. Now that’s empowering mix and match bundling.

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 Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

‘Better-for-You’ Fast Food Fuels Growth at Eat Fit Go

The popularity of ‘better for you’ fresh prepared food is nothing new to regular readers of this blog. There is one fast food company that is about to breakout in 2017, and that company is Eat Fit Go.  The undercurrents of consumer migration to ‘better-for-you’ fresh fast food is about to revolutionize the way people eat on the go according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.

Eat Fit Go, opened its first store just last February, has now expanded to other states and is on track to open 80 more restaurants in 2017. Sam Vakhidov is the 30-year-old co-founder, co-owner and CEO of the ‘better-for-you’ fast food chain, where healthy, fast food is the whole concept.

Vakhidov  stated “Not having a sit-down restaurant helps us pass down the savings to our customers. The idea is to make healthy food available and accessible to anybody in the country,”  The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that Eat Fit Go, will continue to garner new customer adoption as Gen Z’s, and Millennials continue to seek food discovery, fresh fast food, and healthy food options.

Meals at Eat Fit Go range from $4 to $11, and customers can either eat them immediately, or keep them in the fridge up to seven days. Steven Johnson Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® commends Eat Fit Go for filling the void that other fast food retailers have not.  That void is targeting both grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meal simultaneously.

Eat Fit Go understands that 50% of Americans over the age of 18 are single and the ability to obtain ‘better-for-you’ fresh food options is important and providing drive-thru service elevates the customer relevance in the minds-eye of the consumer according to Johnson.

Eat Fit Go’s chief attitude officer, Erik Bird, stated “From the minute (the food) it gets cooked, it gets cooled, and it gets packaged the right way, which extends the shelf life,” Menu variety is key to success Eat Fit Go as a menu with more than 40 options, from kids’ meals to vegetarian dishes.

Fresh Fast Food that is ‘better-for-you’ is a grocerant niche platform that will drive change not only within the fast food sector it will drive change within every sector of food retail as many c-store are currently testing both Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food options and legacy grocery stores will simply be forced to follow or risk incremental market share capitulation.

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing 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:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Sears goes shopping for groceries.



Target, Walgreens, CVS, 7 Eleven, Rite Aid and Sears are all shopping for grocery products and new consumers. Each is hopping too increase brand loyalty, build customer frequency while building top line sales and bottom line profits. Within the retail food sector however the only sector showing solid positive growth is the grocerant niche with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food.

Will Sears capitulate and follow the two low price leaders Walmart and Royal Ahold and get caught playing catch-up and missing the wave. That would be a very dumb move given the dollar stores sector has gutted any profitability from legacy grocers “center of the store”, with no signs of letting up on that strategy.

Given the mall and urban opportunity Sears could find room in the profitable grocerant niche with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food. Walgreens early stumble in this sector created an opening. The stumble was driven in large part of legacy category managers protecting turf, not focused on consumer demand or demand growth. Success does leave clues and lets hope Sears pick a few up.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant