Millennials are a Chain Restaurants Nightmare

O’ how times have changed grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food can be found on 82.7% of American’s family dinners in the most recent Grocerant ScoreCards conducted according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

What’s more disturbing to U.S. chain restaurants; consumers prefer to eat dinner at home and are seeking more ways to help them do so, a survey by online grocer Peapod.

The Peapod study found that “of more than 1,000 adults polled, 77% said they would rather eat a homemade meal than go out for dinner, and 43% aim to cook more in 2019, according to Peapod’s annual meal planning forecast, compiled by Engine. Here is some of what they found:

1.       The top reason consumers said they’d rather make dinner at home is cost savings, cited by 77% of respondents.

2.       Desire to eat healthier (51%)

3.       Spend more quality time with family (41%),

4.       Millennials exhibited a greater desire to eat dinner at home, Peapod noted. The survey revealed that 59% of Millennials plan to cook more often, while 48% said that making the evening meal at home affords more time with family. 

5.       Millennials, were three to four times more likely than Boomers to have interest in creating weekly meal plans (51% versus 16%), cooking with children (39% versus 9%) and using online grocery delivery (29% versus 10%).

The simple fact is restaurant price continue to climb in November 2018 they were up 2.6% year over year according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While wholesales prices were down 0.3%.  Now that’s a continuing problem for restaurants.

When consumers are asked about cooking at home it is important to note they are not talking today about cooking from scratch according to Johnson.  What they are talking about is meal assembly.  Using Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that can be mix & matched into a perfect family meal.  If success does leave clues and it does.  Retailer need to follow the clues to the Grocerant niche.

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.

Starbucks Expands Alibaba Partnership Alibaba

When the CEO of a ‘Chain Restaurant’ spent 16 years working at Microsoft you can bet that a digital transformation is about to take place according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Starbucks continues to push the boundaries in digital innovation with the launch of its first-of-its-kind virtual Starbucks store in China.  Let’s be clear this is “ground-breaking digital collaboration with Alibaba Group unlocks new levels of engagement unseen in the marketplace today with customers” according to the Starbucks press release. So, just what does that mean?

According to Starbucks “By transcending the traditional limitations of a single-app, to provide customers a unified one-stop Starbucks digital experience across the Starbucks app and customer-facing mobile apps within the Alibaba ecosystem, including Taobao, Tmall and Alipay. “ Our Grocerant Guru® said it makes Starbucks a GLOBAL DIGITAL PLAYER.  That is very important for the brand, customer relevance, and product sales according to Johnson. The partnership creates a platform for new electricity edifying the customer relationship.

New partnerships can drive sales in foodservice today as your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. So, just what is your brands 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, developing brands, unique urban clothing, 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, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Molly Liu, vice-president, Digital Venture, Starbucks China stated “For 20 years, we listened intently to the aspirational lifestyle needs of our customers and consistently challenged the status quo to elevate their mobile Starbucks digital experiences,”  “Leveraging the strengths of our transformative strategic partnership with Alibaba Group, this new milestone in the Starbucks digital strategy will significantly fuel our capabilities to provide an even more personalized and enticing one-touch digital experience for the Chinese consumer, while extending the accessibility of our digital innovations into the everyday lifestyle rituals of our customers, regardless of time or place.” Now that said remember this is the food and beverage business.

Success does leave clues and no mater how important we think technology is all sales come are driven by the food and beverage themselves.  New technology can not replace the food, flavor, or the freshness of the food and beverages sold.

 Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Limited Time Holiday Offer Drives Honey Butter Fried Chicken’s

Success does leave clues as Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® regular blog followers know.  Well, Honey Butter Fried Chicken’s grocerant niche holiday Limited Time Offer continues to set record sales elevating Honey Butter Fried Chicken’s brand according to Johnson.

Honey Butter Fried Chicken is an independent fast-casual restaurant in Chicago that has found success with its takeout- and delivery-only offering for the last day of the year. For the past two years, Honey Butter Fried Chicken has sold out of its New Year’s Eve Fancy Pack, which features dressed-up versions of its everyday menu items. The restaurant caps the offering to 100 orders. Here is what local press reports tell us.

This year’s boxes, available for $50 for delivery or carryout, include four pieces of fried chicken topped with truffle-infused honey butter, bacon-pimiento mac and cheese with caramelized onions and garlic bread crumbs, duck fat smashed potatoes with saffron gravy, and chocolate brownies topped with Champagne frosting.

Adding indulgent ingredients like truffles, bacon, duck fat and saffron to the popular comfort food items increases the consumer appeal (and allows the restaurant to charge a bit more for the offering), said Christine Cikowski, one of the restaurant’s executive chefs and founders.

“It’s like a fancier version of stuff we already do,” Cikowski said. “We promote it as this thing you can only get on New Year’s Eve. It makes it a little special.”

In past years, Honey Butter Fried Chicken has served New Year’s Eve lunch before closing to customers to prepare the Fancy Packs. This year, New Year’s Eve falls on a Monday, a day the restaurant is typically closed. So a pared-down crew of about eight employees will prepare the meals and help with order pickup. Typically, 20 people work a dinner service there, she said.

“We’re pretty much done at 9 p.m.,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to offer our customers something special but not have it be taxing on our staff.”

The restaurant begins promoting the offering, via social media, targeted email and in-restaurant signage, in mid-December, though Cikowski said she had heard interest from longstanding catering customers weeks before.

Offering a set menu with no variation allows the operation to treat the New Year’s Eve orders like one large catering operation, preparing large batches of just two side dishes and saving all of the fryer space for chicken parts (rather than having to share fryers with chicken wings and strips, as well as tofu) as during a typical service. Dessert is prepared in advance.

“It’s super streamlined to have one thing,” she said. “You can just make it and pack it up and dish it out. You can have less labor and get it done faster.” Honey Butter Fried Chicken uses its everyday to-go packaging for the boxes. This is the first year that each pack will be designed to serve two people, instead of four.

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

Dorothy Lane Elevates Grocerant Fresh Prepared Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat Takeout Food

Regional grocery stores are creating grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat platforms that have more relevance than national grocery store chains according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Three-store, Dayton, Ohio-based Dorothy Lane Market using the tagline “Fast food the way it should be,” is raising the bar on retail foodservice with its Gourmet Takeaway, which features fresh deli main dishes and sides made in store every day.  This is an example why restaurant customer counts continue to decline according to Johnson.

Eric Richard, education coordinator for the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association, Madison, WI, stated “Variety and personalization are really important, and supermarkets have an advantage in this arena because they allow shoppers to customize a protein with sides and build the meal that they want,”

At Dorothy Lane consumers can choose from a menu of a la carte entrees and sides or build a Dinner Deal that includes an entree and two sides for $8, $10 or $12. At its Washington Square and Oakwood locations, Dorothy Lane shoppers can pick up a What’s for Dinner bag featuring fresh-cooked veggies, an entree and a side dish.

Richard continued “Overall, we’re seeing a lot more interest in Asian and Hispanic side dishes. People want more hot and spicy dishes, as well as sweet and hot,” Richard, who points to a recent study indicating that 71% of millennials and 55% of boomers enjoy spicy foods.

Alice May Block  famously 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.” However in the minds-eye of today’s consumers like blod flavors that have high protein, gluten free, keto, paleo, vegan, organic, local, fresh, all-natural, free from artificial ingredients, preservative free and non-GMO according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

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, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/

At Taco Bell Value is Out ‘Craving Menu’ is In but will Pricing be a Problem

They call it fast food for a reason.  One of those reasons is given its limited menu most fast food retailers can realign, reset, customer relevance with a new slogan, menu or Limited Time Offer faster than other retail fresh food retailers according Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

It was not long ago that Taco Bell promised 20 new $1 menu items, a goal it reached with the Grilled Fiesta Potato Breakfast Burrito, Spicy Tostada and Chicken Mini Quesadilla. Clearly that was a sign to consumers that Price was it’s number one concern according to Johnson.

Now that the economy is humming along it clear that Taco Bell’s Global Chief Brand Officer Marisa Thalberg wants to realign, reset, adding incremental profit with relevance driven by marketing messaging according to Johnson.

Thalberg is going to introduce a new “Cravings Value Menu” with items ranging from $1 single items to $5 boxes resetting the Price, Value, Service equilibrium according to Johnson.  Starting on Dec. 27, the limited time offer consisting of its Grande Burrito for $1 in two varieties: Chicken Enchilada and Three Cheese Nacho.

This is an effort to move Taco Bell from a focus on price to one of product according to Johnson. Thalberg stated   “As a brand that likes to challenge industry norms, we have really sought to rethink what a value menu should be and the conventions of storytelling for it,”

The company plans to elevate its least expensive menu items with national ads featuring what it promises is “a world that is fantastical and surreal” that discusses “value beyond belief.” The ads will be televised nationally starting Dec. 27 and will also be featured on the chain’s social and digital platforms.

The Cravings menu will continue to have $1 items, including the Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Cheesy Bean & Rice Burrito, Beefy Fritos Burrito, Triple Layer Nachos, Cheesy Roll-Up, Spicy Tostada, Shredded Chicken Mini Quesadilla and Beefy Mini Quesadilla, along with other items.  It will also be rolling out more $5 boxes.

How well will it work with Christmas bills coming due in January and a looming trade war?  Well we will just have to wait and see.  I want to thank all of you who have asked about this promotion and it’s timing.

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.

Is the Chain Restaurant Business Model Broken?

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson asks “do consumers want more home-cooked Meals in 2019 than they bought in 2018 and 2017?  If so just what does that mean for chain restaurant sales? 

Well one online grocery store Peapod, found that Millennials were particularly interested in whipping up meals at home in a new Peapod, found more than three-quarters (77 percent) of respondents to a recent survey said that they'd rather eat a homemade meal than go out for dinner. What's more, they're planning to make good on this in the new year: 43 percent intend to cook more in 2019 – the number rising to 59 percent for Millennials. The report also found that in/for 2019:

1.       Reasons for cooking at home include cost savings (77 percent),

2.       Eating healthier (51 percent)  

3.       Family time (41 percent overall,

4.       48 percent for Millennials).

5.       The weekdays are the top times to cook at home, Wednesday being the top day to cook from scratch (75 percent) or using meal kits (51 percent).

6.       The biggest food resolutions are to eat healthier (53 percent), eat less processed food (51 percent) and order less takeout (40 percent).

7. Keeping it simple will be important for Americans, with 47 percent of all adults surveyed wishing to take advantage of at least one of the following: click-and-collect (27 percent), home delivery (26 percent) and/or meal kit delivery (20 percent).
8. Men are more interested than women in using a meal kit (23 percent versus 18 percent), as are Millennials compared with Baby Boomers (60 percent verus 31 percent).
9. Millennials show far more interest than Boomers in creating weekly meal plans (51 percent versus 16 percent), cooking with kids (39 percent versus 9 percent) and using home delivery (29 percent versus 10 percent). It's likely that having children leads to all three of these being more important to Millennials than to the Boomer generation.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson 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. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call 1-253-759-7869

Grocery Store Fresh Prepared Food Attracts Yesterday’s Restaurant Customers

Grocery store grab-and-go, Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat grocerant niche fresh prepared food continues to be the platform that takes the stress out of cooking dinner according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Recent Grocerant ScoreCards indicate that 88 percent of Americans feel stressed celebrating the holidays, with 30 percent dreading cooking a holiday meal so guess where they are search for mix and match meal component options?  Well according to Johnson, consumers are turning to the service deli at their local grocery store.

Eric Richard, education coordinator for the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association (IDDBA) stated that “Side dishes play an important role in connecting with today’s shoppers, who are looking for prepared foods,” “It’s really important for supermarkets to know what their consumers want in terms of different flavors and tastes from their prepared foods.”

Let me ask retailers how are you elevating side dishes that complement not only holiday dinners but dinner every night? Mix and Match meal components bundling are key takeout fresh food sales.  If you are a grocery retailer with a desire to garner restaurant customers it’s time to up your fresh food game.

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