Baseball is Back Trading Cards are ‘IN” LankyBox Kitchen’s Trading Cards are Fun

 

What is the best food marketing job in the foodservice sector?  It has to be a food marketing director at a virtual kitchen.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “virtual restaurants, virtual brands start with a blank sheet and are not restricted to a set of self-imposed branding limits.”   

I’m sure many of you have not heard of Lankybox Kitchen, the delivery-only restaurant brand created by the popular entertainment brand, LankyBox, in partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts, announced the launch of its exclusive collectible trading cards.

So, fans place an order for Lankybox Kitchen’s menu of kid-friendly comfort foods, like pan pizzas and deep-dish mac-and-cheeses, they will receive one pack of three unique trading cards. Ranging from common, rare to super rare, guests will find beloved LankyBox characters, including Foxy and Boxy on the collectible items, plus LankyBox Kitchen’s tasty menu items. Available while supplies last, the cards feature 20 different eye-catching and vibrant designs. 

Stephanie Sollers, CEO of Virtual Dining Concepts, stated, “We are delivering a moment beyond food by offering our fans one-of-a-kind collectible items to accompany the exclusive content they receive when ordering from LankyBox Kitchen” …. “We know how loyal the fans are to LankyBox creators Justin and Adam, and how much they love to immerse themselves in the LankyBox universe, so these trading cards are the perfect addition to the overall experience we offer to our guests.”

Now consider this from the kitchens of Chuck E. Cheese, LankyBox Kitchen is VDC’s first-ever kid’s influencer virtual restaurant inspired by vloggers Justin Kroma and Adam McArther, offering a menu of great-tasting, family-friendly menu items, including personal pan pizzas, twice-baked wings, boxy mac-and-cheeses and salads, plus fun desserts, like colorful churros dusted with cotton candy, sour apple and blue raspberry sugar.

Lankybox Kitchen also offers food and fun for the entire family with its Family Meals. Guests may choose from a selection of pizza, wings, salads or desserts to create a meal perfect for families of two to four. Each order comes in signature Lankybox packaging, plus a QR code that links to a special video for fans to enjoy while indulging in a variety of creative and kid-friendly dishes.

For more information on Lankybox Kitchen and the exclusive trading cards, please visit lankyboxkitchen.com. LankyBox Kitchen is available for delivery in select cities across the U.S. Follow @lankyboxkitchen on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for continued updates on all offerings.

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

Virtual Restaurant Brand Managers find Success in Sweepstakes

 

Virtual branded restaurants have become a platform for food brand managers to excel according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. One virtual concept Smack Wings recently launched a monthly $500 Sweepstakes contest.  The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes it will pick up steam and drive top-line sales and bottom-line profits for the growing brand.

The owner of Tijuana Flats, announced   recently that its sister brand, Smack Wings, a delivery-only virtual brand, has launched a $500-per-month sweepstakes for guests who order and leave a review on Uber Eats or DoorDash.

Here is how it works, from August 2022 - April 2023, one winner will be selected and notified at the end of each month, for a total of nine winners. Each winner will receive a $500 Visa gift card. Guests must be 18 years or older to enter.

How guests can enter the sweepstakes:

o    Order Smack Wings from Uber Eats or DoorDash

o    Leave a review on Uber Eats or DoorDash

o    Complete and submit an entry form on https://www.smackwings.com/sweepstakes

Tijuana Flats Executive Chef, Joel Reynders, stated, “Our Smack Wings virtual brand is all about delivering bold flavor to our guests,” … “With the chance to win $500 every month, our guests are in for an even more exciting experience every time they order Smack Wings. We do everything we can to deliver craveable flavors to our guests with each and every bite, and our hope is that these sweepstakes will help us expand the excitement to even more guests.”

In case you did not know, Smack Wings menu features flavor-packed, jumbo-sized wings tossed in deliciously bold sauces and rubs like Chipotle BBQ, and traditional Buffalo which are inspired by Tijuana Flats’ popular line of Smack Sauces. Guests can pack on the flavor-fest with extras like Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Bites, Tater Totchos (tater tot nachos), and Donut Bites.

Smack Wings is available exclusively for delivery. With no physical locations for in-restaurant dining, Smack Wings guests must order food and leave reviews directly through Uber Eats and Door Dash platforms for the sweepstakes.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a 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. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Potbelly’s New Electricity Delivery Based License with REEF

 

Have you been trying to reinvent the wheel?  Is your chain restaurant looking more like yesterday that today or tomorrow’s chain restaurant? Why?  Is it because you are still waiting for things to go back the way they were before COVID?  Well, that’s not going to happen according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

You might want to see how others are driving new electricity into their brands.  Take Potbelly Corporation for example they recently announced their first delivery-based license with REEF, the largest operator of virtual restaurants, logistics and proximity hubs in North America. The delivery kitchens are expected to create greater accessibility and convenience for consumers to enjoy the Potbelly menu items they love.

Bob Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Potbelly Corporation, stated, “I’m incredibly excited to bring the Potbelly brand together with an innovator like REEF. We’re committed to driving unit growth and with REEF’s unique operating model, we can now quickly expand into underserved markets. We believe their virtual restaurants can play an important role in the achievement of our unit growth targets, including our long-term goal of achieving 2,000 total units in the next 8 to 10 years.”

Wright continued, “The partnership with REEF furthers the brand’s ongoing commitment to technology advancements alongside our recently upgraded app and website, which are key pillars of the Five Pillar strategy. Potbelly’s dedicated investment in technology is designed to elevate the brand’s position, expand availability and improve customers’ digital experience.”

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

You Can Win

Kenneth O’Rourke, REEF’s EVP of Enterprise Kitchens Brands, stated, “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with Potbelly to bring its delicious sandwiches and sides to more neighborhoods,” … “In addition to serving the brand's dedicated existing fans, we look forward to introducing many new customers to Potbelly on REEF's innovative platform."  How are you growing your brand and driving 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.” 

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, smaller footprint, developing brands, fresh flowers, 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 according to Johnson.

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

Virtual Restaurant Nextbite Co-Brands Menu

 

Food marketing executives are loving the virtual kitchen, virtual restaurant, and delivery space.  Today there seems to be no end to the ability of food marketers extend a brand, concept or partnership according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Nextbite, is a virtual restaurant.  They are rolling out its first ‘Wichcraft by Tom Colicchio sandwiche in Denver, available for both delivery and pick-up, starting today.  The new Denver pop-up outlet with tasty and popular sandwich concepts is the result of a collaboration between Nextbite and ‘Wichcraft, co-founded by celebrity chef Tom Coliccho.  For restaurants interested in signing up to offer the Wichcraft sandwiches as a Nextbite partner, https://www.nextbite.io/wichcraft/.

Now consumers can order the Wichcraft sandwiches in Denver via Uber Eats and through the Wichcraft website. The ‘Wichcraft by Tom Colicchio favorite lunchtime sandwich offerings available in Denver, include:

·         Turkey & Avocado: Roasted turkey, avocado, bacon, balsamic onion relish and aioli served on toasted ciabatta.

·         Chopped Chickpea & Roasted Red Peppers: Chopped chickpea, olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, cucumber, arugula and lemon vinaigrette served on a toasted ciabatta (vegan).

·         Steak & Kale: Grilled flank steak, sauteed kale, cheddar, roasted red peppers, and garlic dressing served on a toasted ciabatta.

·         Grilled Chicken & Spicy Slaw: Grilled chicken, avocado, coleslaw, sweet chili sambal, and crema served on toasted ciabatta.

·         Sides include: Coleslaw and Arugula & Parmesan Salad.

You are going to like this, as part of the Denver Wichcraft Pop-Up, Nextbite will be donating $5 for every order to the Food Bank of the Rockies. Every $5 donated helps supply 20 meals to the community.

Tom Colicchio, Co-Founder of ‘Wichcraft, stated, “We are excited to bring our signature ‘Wichcraft sandwiches to Denver through our partnership with Nextbite, a leader in innovative and quality virtual restaurant concepts,” says.

Alex Canter, CEO and Co-Founder of Nextbite, stated, ‘Wichcraft by Tom Colicchio sandwiches are outrageously popular in the New York City area, and through Nextbite we can help bring these delicious sandwiches to consumers in places like Denver and beyond,”.

In case you did not know, chefs Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortuzar opened the first ‘Wichcraft in 2003 in New York City, crafting a menu using sustainable proteins, house-made condiments, balanced flavor combinations, seasonal produce and artisan bread. Their mission has been to elevate the sandwich from a humble hand-held meal to a premium experience.  ‘Wichcraft is committed to serving carefully sourced and thoughtfully prepared food because healthy and sustainable not only taste better, it is better. Colicchio and his team continually strive to make gourmet accessible and portable.

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

Virtual Restaurants Looking A Customer Ahead

 

Growing a brand requires vision, focus, strategy and solid tactics daily according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Entrepreneurs and would be restaurateurs that want to test a brand, a product or a concept are doing so utilizing virtual restaurants, virtual kitchens, as a platform for testing.

Back in the day, our Grocerant Guru® perfected, developed, and tested over time a fresh food focused formula: Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat, that continues to drive success steps today. Simply put, grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food sales success is a four-step process according to Johnson; those four steps are Build, Measure, Learn, and Repeat.

Now have you heard of Burger Dandy?  If not you soon will as Burger Dany was one of three virtual kitchen concepts A. Marshall Hospitality launched during the pandemic and ended up being one of the most successful when it first began selling retro shakes and burgers in January 2021.

So, A. Marshall Hospitality converted pandemic-era virtual restaurant Burger Dandy into a real-life sit-down restaurant.  That’s right after testing the brand, the concept, food and messaging they have gone from virtual to a brick-n-mortar outlet.  You can too!

You may be thinking that all virtual restaurants have grown from a buzzworthy trend into a pandemic-era commonality, not many graduate from virtual concept to brick-n-mortar store. However, A. Marshall Hospitality opened three virtual restaurant’s during the pandemic including retro-themed burger shop, Burger Dandy.

This January, the restaurant group converted Burger Dandy into a casual-dining restaurant you can visit in real life, not just on a delivery app based on customer demand, and they now do 70% dine-in and 30% takeout orders.

Lyle, Richardson, COO of A. Marshall Hospitality, stated, “I see a lot of ghost kitchens, especially ones that celebrities have jumped on,” ... “You know, I see all the celebrities jumping on it. But I don’t see a lot of success stories about turning a ghost kitchen into a brick-n-mortar restaurant. So, we gave it a shot. We took 700 square feet of our existing restaurant, Americana Taphouse, and we designed something special.”

I want you to think about this, Burger Dandy was one of three ghost kitchen concepts A. Marshall Hospitality launched during the pandemic and ended up being one of the most successful when it first began selling retro shakes and burgers in January 2021. At some point, the popularity of the off-premises-only concept began outselling A. Marshall Hospitality’s brick and mortar restaurants.

Richardson continued, “As we progressed, we noticed that more and more of our guests were hanging out in front of the takeout space and getting to know the staff there, so we started to have someone available to speak to when you pick up your food to get that would provide that human contact,”. “[…] At some point, we noticed that Burger Dandy sales per square foot were exceeding the potential sales per square foot we had at our existing locations.”

Team impute matters, when we started figuring out how to convert Burger Dandy into a place where people could come to sit down and have a meal, in many ways, Richardson said, it was easier to figure out than making the virtual concept to begin with. The team went for an “Elvis goes out for burgers in Vegas” vibe with a tropical motif and the color scheme of a 1957 Chevy Bel Air car (seafoam green with red accents).

In order to sell fresh food fast, Richardson and his team kept the menu simple: retro burgers and shakes with a Southern flair, including menu items like a slaw dog instead of a regular hot dog, Kool Aid pickles, and Coca-Cola-marinated onions. The menu also has boozy milkshakes and a fried chicken-topped salad.

“Our marketing team was excited to get our hands on [the space] and take Burger Dandy to that next level,” Richardson stated, “I think that's also part of the success of the concept, because it did have a physical identity to start with and didn’t just have an anonymous online presence.” What are you testing, where and why?

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 Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Reinventing Restaurant Growth, Sales, Profits in 2022

 

If success leaves clues and it does, everyone in the restaurant business today just might want to take a look at what Robert Earl is up to now according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

You may know Robert Earl as an early investor in the Hard Rock Café, or as the found of Planet Hollywood, as Chairman of Earl of Sandwich, or Host of Robert Earl’s Be My Guest television program. Robert Earl is a great example of how each of us must evolve with the times and our customers.

Ok, Robert Earl's latest venture involves TikTok the number one app in the world. Enough said!

This icon of the restaurant industry and restaurant mogul is meshing the two biggest trends for a series of restaurant concepts.  Now, Earl is combining two of the biggest trends – TikTok and virtual restaurants – for his latest venture, TikTok Kitchen, Virtual Dining Concepts. If you do not like this idea, you should not be in the restaurant industry today. 

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

You can Win

How are you going to drive food sales in 2023, 2024, 2025? Will you be using a business model from 1999, 2005, or 2011?

Earl told Nation’s Restaurant News in an article that, “I think that after a year or two of learning, and fabulous success with MrBeast, we understand the important issues of how to stay interesting to the consumer, how to constantly change, how to keep up awareness and TikTok as a platform answer’s all of that,”.

You need to understand that, this collaboration follows the record-breaking MrBeast Burgers virtual brand that Virtual Dining Concepts launched in February 2021 with YouTuber MrBeast, which opened 300 kitchens overnight across the country. The burgers sold out almost immediately because of MrBeast’s 54 million YouTube subscribers and the app shot to number 1 in the app store immediately.

Regular readers of this blog know about MrBeastBurgers as we wrote a feature about it and him. Virtual Dining Concepts has been trying to recreate that buzz ever since and this positioning on TikTok will position him for continued leadership and success.

In short, with TikTok Kitchen, Earl and Virtual Dining Concepts (which he co-founded) will partner with TikTok stars as they go viral for food-related content to make the TikTokers’ recipes exist on a real menu.

TikTok, a social media app with over 1 billion users, provides a space for creators to post recipes, food hacks and more. Is your brand looking a customer ahead?  What does your business model look 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

Are Food Halls a Destination or a Rest Stop?

 

Food Halls are the darling of legacy food industry publications, new papers, and mall developers looking for readers or for foot traffic.  The question Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® asks is call it a food hall or food court industry buzz will fade and traffic will slip in the focus is not on consumers food and beverage consumption preferences.

Restaurant turn-over in traditional food courts located in malls, airports, and unban-setting have been devesting to many a local start-up brand as the mall traffic slides, airport traffic evolves, or the urban core changes so do the retails that operate in those locations. 

So, the question becomes are food halls a destination location for top line sales and bottom-line profits? We should be asking is the short-term exposure to publicity worth the cost of a ‘high turnover’ within the food court/food hall that has become so inevitable.

So, SAJJ Mediterranean has launched a second SAJJ Kitchen in Palo Alto, CA with partners Local Kitchens, a pioneering micro food hall concept. Located at 369 California Ave, SAJJ Kitchen Palo Alto will be open daily from 11am to midnight, hosting guests for indoor or outdoor dining and fulfilling online orders. Customers will be able to order in-store via kiosks, and online for pickup or delivery through the Local Kitchens website or third-party delivery services. Do you think this is a good fit?

CEO of SAJJ Mediterranean Zaid Ayoub, stated, “We first partnered with Local Kitchens earlier this year with the first SAJJ Kitchen in Cupertino, CA as a way to expand our customer base” … “With the boom of digital ordering and the successful pilot of the Cupertino location, we’re excited to launch our second SAJJ Kitchen location with Local Kitchens in Palo Alto to help meet the needs of SAJJ’s new and existing customers in the area. We’re so impressed with the Local Kitchens team and chefs who will create each meal on-site and continue to wonderfully represent the SAJJ brand.”

We most note that Local Kitchens was founded by former DoorDash colleagues, CEO Jon Goldsmith and COO Andrew Munday, and CTO Jordan Bramble. The entrepreneurs set out to transform the concept of a food hall for the digital age. Local Kitchens’ Palo Alto site features a storefront and a dedicated takeout customer experience with staff from local communities, who have been meticulously trained by restaurant partners to prepare each meal on-site. The micro food hall concept allows customers to mix and match cuisines from different restaurants, like SAJJ Kitchen, in a single order. We ask is that how consumers view the platform?

Jon Goldsmith, CEO of Local Kitchens, stated, “SAJJ's vibrant flavors and customizable dishes have been a very popular choice at our locations - both as standalone menu items, and as a unique component of our guest's combined menu orders," ... "We're beyond excited to include SAJJ Mediterranean in the collection of beloved brands we are bringing to the Palo Alto Community."

If you are focusing in on food hall messaging, your brand might simply be at a rest stop waiting for customers to help you define your brand.

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter