At 4 PM: your customers are just
beginning to think about what's for dinner. Fully 83% of all American consumers
are unsure about what's for dinner at 11:30 AM and 64% don’t know what’s for dinner
at 4PM in the United States according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant
Guru™.
Time Starved Consumers are
looking for high quality Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meal
components. Today's time starved consumer want to purchase meal components that
they can bundle into a customized family meal that will please everyone without
spending time cooking.
Consumers traditionally think
these items can be or are found in grocery stores in the deli / lifestyle
section, or in C-stores in the prepared food area and prepackaged, and as
Ready-2-Eat items and in restaurants under the To-go, Takeout or Take-Away or
delivery section of the menu or on the website.
The retail industry has expanded and
is evolving to keep up with the demands of consumers desire to save time,
improve quality, increase family flavor profile, while enabling personalization
and family meal customization.
Grocerants Food can be found In:
Restaurant examples are McDonalds, Pret
A Manger Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa Murphy's and Starbucks, each
having a fresh Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food. In the Casual
Dining sector Maggiano's Little Italy offers a buy one take a 2nd home for
free in their Classic Pastas menu section, Olive Garden, Chili’s, Boston Market
and Denny’s. That is to name but a few.
Drug Store examples
Walgreens as a food destination yet Walgreens sells fresh soft-serve yogurt,
coffee, sandwiches, salads and sushi at selected stores, so they are
technically grocerants.
Convenience Store examples are
7 Eleven, Wawa, Sheetz,
Sheetz, and QuickChek, all of which sell fresh and prepared sandwiches,
salads, beverages.
Clothing Stores Tommy
Bahama, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Brooks Brothers all have or are planning restaurants
selling fresh prepared food in-store. Fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat
food is garnering consumer favor in this sector. Expect to find more and
more clothing retailers entering the grocerant niche.
Furniture Stores &
Liquor Store example Ikea sells over $ 2 Billion a year in Ready-2-Eat and
Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food in its stores (mostly meatballs-mash potatoes),
Pinkies in San Angelo, Texas this past holiday season even offered complete
fresh prepared full Turkey Dinners will all of the traditional side
orders. All of the fresh prepared food is prepared on site and sold
To-Go.
Supermarket examples are Whole Foods, Trader-Joes, Central Market, and
Wegmans sell fresh prepared chicken, salads, sandwiches and most offer sushi
and beverages. Many are now opening in-store restaurants including fast food,
full service sit down and bars all offer fresh prepared To-Go as well.
Grocerant Food is Family Food for Now
The retail supermarket and
convenience store sector have unique grocerant challenges. Presentation of the
Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is important. When you get a meal
at a restaurant, the plate and the food look great… let's call this "food
for now". Many legacy retailers are primarily selling "food for
later" or take-out and unless an item is a sandwich, the looks of
Ready-2-Eat meals and snacks begin to change.
Why is it so hard to package food to
go? In the Hot food section of the grocery store the food in most cases does
not look appealing so our expectations drop when we get it for Take-Away. That
may be one reason that many grocery stores are continue to open restaurants or
“food courts” selling made to order fresh sandwiches or Chinese take-out.
In convenience stores like Wawa, the
Ready-2-Eat food looks great in the To-Go containers. Why? Because Wawa puts the entire consumer food package together. They exert
more control on the look and feel of "food for later".
Around the world we are now seeing
sections in department's stores and kiosk in malls in Europe and Asia and
airports around the world. The items can range from entrees to side items and
deserts. Some examples of items range from fried chicken, mash potatoes, cream
spinach, to liver and onions, pizza, hot dogs, steak, prime rib, various
casseroles (hot-dish) to salads, side salads pie, cake and any single
proportioned deserts. They can be picked up at the specific unit, or delivered.
Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us if you are 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 or you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven
Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant
