Grocerant Fresh Prepared Food Disrupting Legacy Grocery Stores

Change is coming to your local grocery store faster than you may want it.  However the problem is it is coming much faster than your local grocery retailer wants it as well.  Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive customer acceptance and incremental adoption driving change at an ever increasing rate according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Here is but one example from Canada. Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois in food distribution and policy says consumers are becoming "obsessed with convenience". Regular readers of this blog know the ability of the consumer to save time drives convenience and fresh prepared meal components do just that.

In a recent article in Retail Insider, Sylvain Charlebois stated "The most disturbing of the recent statistics are the retail sales generated by the food sector," … "Supermarket and grocery store sales decreased 3.1%, in a single month (in Canada). Food retail sales dropped by $221 million in May." 

According to Charlebois, that's enough to force the shutdown of "almost 30 decent-sized stores and put nearly 2,000 people out of work". Charlebois continued “that food sales rose six percent at convenience stores and jumped 10 percent at specialty stores.”

The increased availability of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food in the form of meal components offered for takeout from restaurants, convenience stores, grocery deli’s and dollar stores has created a platform we call the grocerant niche one that consumer adoption has progressed from sampling to adoption creating new avenues of fresh food distribution and solutions to the daily questions What’s for Dinner according to Johnson.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us, the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaker will leave success clues for all. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Five Success Clues for 2018 Grocerant Growth

Five undercurrents of growth are driving the continued expansion of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food marketplace in 2018 according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson. According to Johnson to win in 2018 food retailers need a new Electricity integrated strategy.

Foodservice Solutions® field team headed by our own Grocerant Guru® has conducted in excess of 8,375 Grocerant ScoreCards. Non-client specific information garnered from those Grocerant ScoreCards during 2017 was the source for our findings. The five undercurrents driving grocerant growth are:

1. Increase in competition for share of stomach: Companies the ilk of McDonald’s  EveryTable, New Seasons Market, Eat Fit Go, Munchery, Hello Fresh, and Plated.
2. Expanded Mix and Match Meal Bundling : Restaurants the ilk of  Essen Slow Food Fast, Freshii, Moaz, Native Foods Café, Veggie Grill, Safeway, Publix, Rutter’s Farm Stores, Sheetz, and Wawa.
3. Customization and or Personalization of menu items drive’s Gen Z and Millennial adoption. Without doubt retailers that edify there retail food brand are creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization and customer adoption.
4. Small plates, Bold flavors, and Catering / Portability: Takeaways, and ToGo menu items sold in a restaurant, c-store, drug store, club store, furniture store, or grocery stores via a drive-thru, online, mobile, featuring authentic ethnic flavors regardless of the type of retail outlet for quick pick-up or delivery continue to drive adoption.
5. Price : maybe Aldi said it best “Poor people must save, rich people like too”

Simply put Grocerant ScoreCards provide real-time customer relevance in our data dependent intelligence age according to our own Grocerant Guru®. Do you understand the undercurrents of change driving foodservice growth in 2018?  Do you understand the importance of integrating consumer relevance into your brand messaging? What’s your new electricity for 2018?

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  the 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. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Restaurant Sector Customer Power Outage

January comes around every eleven months without fail and as usual January is colder than most moths of the year.  Winter storms cannot be blamed for continued declining same store sales within the restaurant sector according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Only Neanderthal chain marketing executives and industry analyst out of touch with today’s consumers would suggest such a thing. The consumer is dynamic not static and brands must act or react faster to consumer evolve path to purchase foodservice patterns or risk continued customer capitulation according to Johnson. After nine years of declining or flat year over year customer counts the restaurant sector has host it mojo, energy, its swag. 

 According to the latest index from Black Box Intelligence in January restaurant sector same store sales once again declined by 0.3%.  However customer traffic, declined 3% year-over-year in January.  That is a big problem requiring restaurant sector business model change according to Johnson.

The restaurant sector needs to regain its swag, its mojo, its energy and our own Grocerant Guru® believes that in 2018 the best way to do that is too leverage branded strategic partnerships. If there is there is one dominate element that can power incremental success within the restaurant sector over the coming years it is what Johnson calls it the new electricity that is strategic partnerships.   

The new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as regional fresh foods, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), local wine, and local beer, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing and outside-eyes.

Food companies the ilk of chain restaurants that want to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are your customer counts increasing? In 30 seconds or less can you tell everyone what is fueling your growth? What is your new electricity? Customer relevance is a brand moving with consumers not one practicing brand protectionism. Consumers are dynamic not static is your brand dynamic?

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Consumers more Satisfied with C-Stores than Quick Service Restaurants

The Grocerant niche is all about time  as regular readers of this blog know and according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Fresh food fast is the mantra of those tasked with preparing dinner across the US according to Johnson.

Recently Sheetz Convenience stores turned to SMG's customized market intelligence tool BrandGeek to understand the thoughts and motivations of fuel- and food-focused convenience store customers compared to quick-service restaurant (QSR) customers. Behavioral data was captured from 12.7 million c-store visits and 15.8 million QSR visits in a 12-month period.

The overall review of the data showed that customers are far more satisfied at c-stores than at QSRs, and they rate their experiences even higher when they purchase both food and fuel. Additionally, food-focused c-store customers are "far more motivated" by speed of checkout and a past good experience, while fuel-focused customers are motivated by speed of checkout, a past good experience, and the selection of merchandise.

Restaurants need to retool and be aware that in-store sales are the largest growth area for the convenience store industry, and foodservice is the second-largest inside sales category behind tobacco, with double the growth margin, according the data.

The BrandGeek data highlighted that many of the c-store brands that over-index on speed of service are also known for their foodservice, including QuikTrip, Wawa and RaceTrac. The data also showed that even fresh, made-to-order food can cause consumer ratings to fall during the lunchtime hours due to slower speed, reflecting that it's worth the time and effort to focus on speed of service.

It is important to note that food-focused customers who have negative experiences are more likely to talk about inattentive store associates, overlong wait time, preparation errors or a lack of urgency.

When customers perceive a good attitude and helpfulness from associates and also experience speedy service, that's when they're most likely to return.

There is a battle for share of stomach brewing between fast food restaurants and convenience stores and the Price, Value, Service Equilibrium is continually redefined by consumers according to the Grocerant Guru®.  

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

Gatti’s Pizza Expands Grocerant niche Offerings

One after the other restaurant chains are expanding their offerings of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Gatti’s Pizza is rolling out take-and-bake pizzas as a permanent addition to its menu expanding customer relevance. 

Kicking the program off Gatti’s Pizza has two shapes, “Jack,” a jack-o-lantern-shaped pizza and “Frank,” a Frankenstein-shaped pizza, you guessed it October and Halloween perfect timing.  The pizzas will be prepared fresh daily and wrapped on a tray with cooking instructions. Customers can order online and pick up at their nearest location.

Michael Poates, president of Gatti’s Pizza stated “It was an idea that was spooky good,”…“The take-and-bake product allows our guests to enjoy Gatti’s pizza on their own time by baking it fresh in their oven at home. With Halloween being one of the busiest pizza delivery nights of the year, we thought it was the perfect time to debut this product. Skip the wait, pick up the pizza at a time that works for you, have it ready to go that evening, and then the kids can trick-or-treat.”

Are you edifying your relationship with your customers?  Is your brand growing within the fastest growing sector of foodservice today?  Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to garner customers from every sector of food retail.  Foodservice Solutions® has Grocerant Experts.

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