Pizza Technology Takes Center Stage

As a graduate of two Jesuit Universities myself I was not surprised when I read that Xavier University located in Cincinnati was the first to install a college students dream machine an automated robotic pizza machine.  The old saying if the Jesuits get you for four years they have you for life must have been updated to they get you with pizza 24/7 why leave!

Technology has found another way to expand the offering of fresh prepared food that is Ready-2-Eat with less labor.  In fact a restaurant robot / machine opened on the Cincinnati university campus a pizza "ATM"  as it was reported in the press is stocked with 70 pizzas waiting to be cooked and dispensed in three minutes each.

The machine ‘ATM’ “features 12-inch pies assembled by hand by the dining hall staff of Xavier University. Each pizza maker was trained for 40 hours by a French chef to make the pies. …The pizzas will sell for between $9 and $10, and the university expects to sell 300 a day” according to the press.

Here is where you have to love the machine not only replace the cook but the food marketer as well.  The pie count will be monitored in real time, and the ATM will offer discounts if the pizza isn't moving. If success does leave clues one clue for sure is college students love pizza.  We think that this machine just might take the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat grocerant niche to the next level.

Note: Xavier holds exclusive rights to the devices in North America, requiring other interested parties to train and obtain certification from the school. The supplier is a French company.

Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant or Contact our Grocerant Guru® at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Grocerant Meals are Consumers Personal Invitation to Dinner

Alice May Brock said: “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® stated “grocerant niche bundled meal components prepared fresh have driven top line sales and bottom line profits in every sector of retail foodservice today.  Who knew grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food was multi-generational? 

Convenient meal participation, differentiation, and individualization are each hallmarks of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche.  In 2016 the grocerant niche is the platform retailers are seeking out to edify consumer valued positioning according to our Grocerant Guru®.

Meal components allow customers as Alice noted to select from Italian, American, French, Russian or Greek and utilize the components at home any way they like.  The new American meal can be a composite of any prepared food components that the individual may want and they can mix and pair them any way as well. 

The United States is a melting pot of people from all over the world, with different cultures, traditions and flavor preferences.  The new American meal is a melting pot of flavor and choice.  Meal components that can be mix and matched for home consumption are integral to retail success.

Fresh prepared and portable Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat foods are now available for all comers and can be found at Convenience stores, Drug stores, Grocery stores, Restaurants, Mobile trucks all just waiting for the taking.  When developing new menu items do you consider where the food will be consumed?

Consumers have been exposed to a plethora of flavors and have not the time to master the skill of cooking each.  The rapidly growing grocerant trend is empowering the consumer to establish new customs and traditions in eating better, more flavorful food.  The Grocerant niche is about convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.

Invite www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  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?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Packaging Matters in Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat Fresh Prepared Food

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® praised Mintel on its new report noting that reducing waste is important to consumers.  The Mintel research showed “that 80 percent of U.S. food shoppers agree that reducing food waste is as important as reducing packaging waste. In an effort to limit waste, half (52 percent) of consumers prefer to buy foods with minimal/no packaging.”

That’s not all John Owen, senior food and drink analyst at Mintel stated “Our research shows that reducing food waste is top of mind for consumers”.  Here is more of what they found:

1.       81 percent of consumers say that they would choose re-sealable packaging over non-re-sealable packaging,

2.       54 percent would pay more for packaging with added features such as being re-sealable or portion controlled,

3.       30 percent often reusing food packaging for other purposes. However, recycling food packaging is far from a universal behavior,

4.       42 percent of consumers report recycling most of the food packaging they use.

5.       13 percent of consumers make an effort to avoid foods in packaging that cannot be recycled.

When it comes to Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food Mintel found: 

1.       23 percent of consumers are interested in packaging that allows food to be eaten on the go,

2.       23 percent often buy individually portioned packs.

3.       53 percent of consumers agree fresh produce spoils before they can eat/use it and two in five

4.       41 percent would pay more for vegetables that come in single-serve packages. What’s more,

5.       56 percent of consumers would be motivated to select one food product over another if its packaging better prevented food from going bad.

6.       38 percent agree that they would be motivated to choose one food product over another if the packaging allowed them to view the contents.

The consumer is dynamic as your customer evolves it’s important that your packaging does as well Mintel’s new report 2016 Global Packaging Trend, Phenomenal Flexibles provides valuable insights into what the consumers want and expect of your products packaging.  Today your prefer eating in while dinning out and nothing is more important than packaging.

Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant or Contact our Grocerant Guru® at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

CPG Brands Expanding into Retail Outlets Blurring the Line

CPG products were once the gold star performer of the retail sector and US CPG brans were the gold standard.  But the times have changed; today many legacy CPG brands are no longer shelf stable. Rather consumers see them as stagnant, stogy, and old school.  Many retailers are replacing legacy CPG products with a new wave of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat retailers that have caught the eye of the consumers as well as the consumer’s pocket book.

No longer do most Americans by shelf stable products to fill the pantry. Instead consumers are opting to buy more and more fresh food.  Millennials want to cook fresh food or buy fresh prepared food and eat grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food and are driving change in the retail food space according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®. 

Many legacy CPG companies have seen sales slip away to private label retailers the ilk of Aldi, Lidl, and Amazon so fast that even the store shelfs that they do occupy are looking more like yesterday than today or tomorrow.  That once again creates a problem for many legacy food retailers that still focus more on slotting fees than customer trends.

But let’s not write off the legacy CPG brands too fast as they still have a spot in the hearts and minds of the consumer. Brand managers have stepped up and empower the magic of the brand elevating the product from shelf stable, stagnant, and stogy to revitalized customer relevance.  How? 

Simple they brought the brands to life and repackaged them into retail outlets that offer the product as a Ready-2-Eat product and according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson that is a good thing.

Here are three great examples of renewed customer relevance within the CPG space:

1.       Nestle found success with its Nestle Toll House Café

2.       Pepsi is expanding with its KOLA House

3.       Quaker is rebooting with Oatmeal Bowls via GrubHub and Seamless

4.       Kellogg’s opening a restaurant selling what else cereal bowls.

Simply put these brands are doing all of the right things.  That is not to say the team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that each with make it at as a free standing retail outlet.  No, but what the brands learn about their product and packaging it as fresh not shelf stable will drive change within the grocery retail space where our team believes they will find new life as a Ready-2-Eat product.

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® or for a Grocerant Scorecard visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  Email: Steve@FoodserviceSoltuions.us

Green Zebra Grocery and Sheetz both Gong back to School

Success does leave clues and from coast to coast two of the very best grocerant niche fresh food retailers seem to be charting the same course garnering the hearts and minds of Millennials on college campuses. Each are opening retail outlets on or near colleges and Universities according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.

Sheetz was first and after identifying and moving into new geographical targets over the past few years a new demographic, college students were targeted.  Sheetz opened its first college-campus location at West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. Featured in the non-gas store at University Place is Sheetz Café.

Morgantown was the first but far from the last since then, Sheetz opened or signed to open Penn State University,   a third location opened here near Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and there are area plans to open one in Oakland near Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh according to news reports.  

All the while Green Zebra Grocery has found success with a grocerant niche platform perfect for any urban, college, or suburban location in the minds-eye of our won Grocerant Guru®.  Green Zebra Grocery was founded by Lisa Sedlar, former head of New Seasons Markets, Green Zebra announced that its third location will be right in the middle of the Portland State University (PSU) campus at Southwest Broadway and Mill Street will be open this fall.

Joe Sheetz and his team are not thinking small when it comes to growing the Sheetz brand "The cafe concept is really influenced by a fairly large college or university. We are really counting on a high amount of foot traffic," … "Think of Times Square in New York City. That's the ultimate goal a smaller scale." According to multiple news reports.

Foodservice Solutions® team believes that both Green Zebra Grocery and Sheetz on doing all of the right things.  In fact Foodservice Solutions® team believes that both will find a path for growth with this new platform as they garner Millennials seeking a quality food that taste good and take saves .

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant scorecard, brand, or product placement assistance.  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

At Sprouts Farmers Market Every Choice can be a Good Meal

In 2016 consumers are empowered with choice when contemplating what to put on the table for dinner.  At Sprouts they aim to make the question; What’s for dinner a solution.  Today in the United States 83.7% of Americans can’t answer at noon each day the question of What’s for Dinner according to research quantified by Foodservice Solutions® team.  That’s OK, because you can get great grocerant fresh prepared food Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food almost everywhere today. 

Recently Sprouts Farmers Market  announced that they had a solution to help consumers as they launched more than 200 private-label Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat products this year, including a number of grab-and-go meals in the deli section all with the goal to "enhance our position as a ready-to-eat destination," according to Sprouts Farmers Market  CEO EO Amin Maredia.

At Sprouts Every Meal is a Choice is top-of mind with the understanding that last minute meal components that are Ready-2-Eat and or Heat-N-Eat and fresh prepared are critical when creating a platform to drive become a destination for Ready-2-Eat fresh prepared food.

Sprouts Farmers Market is a healthy grocery store offering fresh, natural and organic foods at great prices. Sprouts offers a complete shopping experience that includes fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat and seafood, deli, baked goods, dairy products, frozen foods, natural body care and household items catering to consumers’ growing interest in health and wellness.

Today, a large part of the ‘halo’ of better for you in the minds-eye of the consumer is grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food. As Sprouts grows the focus on prepared foods, meals, meal components, while empowering, expanding, and extending consumer choice expect to see increased customer adoption.

Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant or Contact our Grocerant Guru® at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Coborn’s Grocery Builds Sales Door-To-Door

Regular readers of this blog know it was only a matter of time until a grocer would elect to take on the Online Meal Kit Companies including HelloFresh, Plated, and Blue Apron.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson said “Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is a natural for delivery and grocery stores are missing the boat if they do not compete in that space.”

Coborn’s is one of the first grocery stores to enter the fresh food fast grocerant delivery space.  They have rolled out meal kits via a branded grocery delivery service CobornsDelivers.  Branding the meal kits as “To The Table Fresh Meal Kits”. 

Coborn’s, is offering eight rotating, seasonal recipes, “starting with summer grilling meals like beef sliders with corn on the cob and deluxe potato salad, grilled margherita pizzas and chicken fajitas.”  Coborn’s  pack’s and delivers meal kits on the day they are ordered, according to Dave Hartman, general manager, CobornsDelivers.

Hartman continued “Meal kit delivery services are growing in popularity, and it’s a concept that folds perfectly into our convenient service model. But unlike many of these services, CobornsDelivers customers won’t be locked in to a subscription plan — and the ingredients aren’t shipped across the country,”

At Coborn’s meals kits are priced very competitively each meal kit serves two and ranges in price from $16.99 to $28.99 without a subscription plan.  That is very inviting to meal planners, and cooks and will elevate Coborn’s grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, grocerant ScoreCard.  For brand, or product placement assistance our Grocerant Guru® has the skill-set you are looking for.  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