Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen Evolving and Growing

 

With 23 units open and running Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen is doing what every young company should be doing evolving its concept while driving new store opening according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  The consumer is dynamic and brands must be dynamic as well.

Bolay is known for its healthy, gluten-free fare and signature ‘Bols,’ will open its first drive-thru location in the heart of South Tampa marking the brand’s 24th location in the nation. The restaurant will host grand opening events and kick off its five-day VIP Week on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.

It will be a special day-of events, that will begin with the Grand Opening Giveaway—where the first 100 guests will receive free Bolay for a year through the BolayGo App—from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The offer includes one Regular Bol redeemable monthly over the course of 12 months. Participants will check in upon arrival to receive a lanyard before getting in line.

The South Tampa, Grand Opening Day Ribbon Cutting will be held at 2 p.m. Bolay executives, along with Mayor Jane Castor and the South Tampa Chamber, will be in attendance to celebrate the historic moment and welcome the first-of-its-kind location to the area. Media are invited to attend, and a complimentary meal is provided for all guests following the event.

So, get this during VIP Week, guests can RSVP to receive one complimentary Regular Bol between Thursday, Sept. 1, and Monday, Sept. 5. Guests will present their registration ticket at the cash register on their registered ticket date to redeem.

“The South Tampa opening marks more than one exciting milestone for Bolay as we open our first drive-thru and expand our reach to bring fresh and bold flavors to communities across Florida and state borders,” says Chris Gannon, Bolay’s Founder and CEO. “We’re proud to not only provide healthy options that make our guests feel good but introduce a drive-thru offering that empowers us to meet their needs with elevated hospitality.”

I guess restaurants run in the family, Chris Gannon, the son of Outback Steakhouse co-founder Tim Gannon, is no stranger to the restaurant business. Fueled by a passion for developing quality cuisine and constantly improving the customer experience, he set out to create a lifestyle brand centered around the best parts of dining that continues to grow today. Now, the father-son duo celebrates the restaurant’s debut in Chris’ hometown of Tampa—also the birthplace of Outback Steakhouse.

The South Tampa Bolay is one of three to open in September alone, joining brand new locations in Falls Church, Virginia, and Gainesville, Virginia, set to open this month. Additional restaurants in Florida are scheduled to open in early October.

Centrally located in South Tampa at 402 S. Dale Mabry Hwy., the restaurant will offer it’s crave-able and nutritious options in a convenient drive-thru format perfect for residents looking to eat holistically on the go. Bolay’s menu features grains and greens like Forbidden Black Rice and Chopped Kale Salad, freshly roasted veggies like Balsamic Mushrooms and Asian Sweet Potato Noodles and savory proteins like Lemon Chicken and Spicy Thai Shrimp.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

Food Delivery Drivers Need CASH Gopuff Gives Cash Now

 

At the intersection of the client, customer, and employee’s food delivery companies need to have reliable service for all and meet or exceed the expectations of all if they are to thrive according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Gopuff recently teamed with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for business, and partners such as Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time money movement network, to give its delivery partners who have an eligible debit card the option to cash out faster. In other word’s give them their money when the want it or need it.

Renaming their own niche, quick-commerce platform Gopuff has begun providing its U.S. delivery partners with the ability to instantly cash out their earnings balance at any time with a few clicks, giving them an even more flexible, convenient and quick way to receive their earnings and tips.

Here is how it works, Gopuff has teamed with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for business, and partners such as Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time money movement network, to give partners who have an eligible debit card the option to cash out faster.

Daniel Folkman, SVP of business at Philadelphia-based Gopuff, stated, “Now more than ever, delivery partners are looking for convenience and speed when accessing their earnings,” .. “We’re proud to partner with Stripe to offer U.S. delivery partners a new Instant Cash Out option, which enables them to access and use their earnings within minutes, rather than days. We will continue to listen to delivery partner feedback and invest into their experience delivering with Gopuff.”

James Dyett, head of strategic accounts at San Francisco-based Stripe, stated, “Platforms like Gopuff are making it more convenient for consumers to access what they need, and delivery partners to get paid quickly,” … “We’re proud to power faster access to earnings as Gopuff builds on its success with Stripe’s financial infrastructure, especially in a time when every dollar counts.”

Yes, there is more; the Instant Cash Out option is the just the latest in a series of investments that Gopuff is making to enhance the delivery partner experience. These include:

·         Better Delivery Partner Support: In the past 12 months, Gopuff more than quadrupled the size of its delivery partner support team, enabling the business to provide quick responses and solutions to delivery partners’ questions. The company also rolled out a new in-app chat feature to make it even easier for delivery partners to connect with a support agent.

·         Driver App Enhancements: This past March, Gopuff launched the Gopuff Driver app in the App Store and Google Play Store. The new app considerably streamlines the delivery experience, makes it easier and faster for new partners to access the platform, and enables automatic app updates for existing users.

·         Faster Payouts and Greater Earnings Transparency: In May, as part of its partnership with Stripe, Gopuff transitioned delivery partners to a new system that distributes earnings two-three days faster than before. Gopuff also launched a fully redesigned earnings tab in the Gopuff Driver app, making earnings information more transparent and digestible.

·         More Cash-Back Promotions: In the United States, Gopuff teamed with Upside to offer delivery partners exclusive promotions at more than 50,000 businesses, including cash-back opportunities at gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores. In the United Kingdom, Gopuff worked with Collective Benefits to offer discounted fuel options and deals to help save money on everyday expenses. 

·         Additional Perks: Gopuff recently launched such perks as vehicle maintenance discounts via Openbay, credit and discount opportunities on tax services via Block Advisors, and expense and mileage tracking via Stride. This follows a previously established partnership with Stride Health to give delivery partners and their families access to affordable, quality health insurance coverage.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® 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 one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Restaurant Competition Stifles Customer Counts

 

Consumers are not eating less.  Restaurant customers are eating somewhere else, at your competitor, at home, in the car, a grocery store deli / restaurant / coffee shop, or convenience store according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Recently the NPD Group reported that restaurant visits in the U.S. have gone down in the second calendar quarter of 2022 due to inflation and rising menu prices. That is part of it for sure.

NPD reported that, physical and online restaurant traffic declined by 2% in the quarter versus a year ago, -6% below the pre-pandemic level in the same quarter in 2019. Consumer restaurant spending, which reflects higher costs in contrast to increased visits, was up 2% in the quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago and increased by 3% versus the pre-pandemic second quarter in 2019.

Thus, a conundrum; raise your prices and lose customers, or hold prices and lose money. You can’t sustain losing money for ever according to Johnson.  So, raise your prices and elevate your food offering to include mix and match grocerant niche meal offerings.

You Are In A Battle for 

SHARE OF STOMACH

In NPD’s recent report they noted, “Visits to quick service restaurants (QSRs), representing 82% of total restaurant traffic, declined by 2% in the second quarter compared to last year’s quarter, 3% below the pre-pandemic level for the same period in 2019. QSR fast casual restaurant traffic was down 1% in the second quarter of this year compared to a year ago and was up 8% versus the same quarter in 2019.

Full-service restaurant (FSR) visits, representing 18% of restaurant visits, were down 3% in the quarter versus a year ago and declined by 20% compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to NPD’s daily tracking of the U.S. foodservice industry.”

Regular readers of this blog know that the team at Foodservice Solutions® reported that 83.6% of all restaurant meals in 2022 are purchased from a fast-food outlet or drive-thru, we included in the number virtual restaurant delivery.

The team at Foodservice Solutions® found it very interesting that NPD found, “At the dinner daypart, which holds the largest traffic share among dayparts at 34%, traffic declined by 2% in the quarter versus a year ago. Lunch visits, representing a 30% share, decreased by 3% from a year ago.

The morning meal daypart — which includes breakfast and a.m. snack and represents 20% of daypart traffic share — fared best out of all dayparts, ending the quarter flat to a year ago. Visits at p.m. snack, representing 16% of daypart share, declined by 6% in the second quarter compared to a year ago.”  We found that very interesting and think you should take note of it as well.

David Portalatin, NPD food industry expert and author of Eating Patterns in America, stated, “Consumers continue to deal with rising inflation and higher prices. We see three ways consumers respond to higher menu prices: they trade down to lower-priced items, cut back on the number of items ordered or reduce restaurant visits altogether,” …“Operators and manufacturers can win in this environment by differentiating value, understanding that value doesn’t always translate to the lowest price. Quality and value become a critical differentiator when consumers spend on a restaurant meal during these challenging times.”

NPD’s Eating Patterns in America is well worth a read, we recommend it!

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

Success Grocerant Growth, The Food Hall in Trinidad and Tobago

 

At the intersection convenience and nutritious grocerant niche fresh Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food can be found now at The Food Hall in Piarco Plaza in Trinidad and Tobago. The grocerant niche continues to drive customer adoption, top-line sales, and bottom-line profits around the world.

That is the intersection where consumers want dinner but don’t want to cook, it is where the grocery store meets a restaurant; elevating the shopping experience and edifying a grocery brands customers base according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

What’s for dinner is more than simply grocery shopping today according to Johnson. Omar Hadeed, Jonas Zakour and Daniel Fakoory created The Food Hall, grocerant concept to provide a simple solution for their customers asking themselves What’s for Dinner. he one-stop shop with their "grocerant"– The Food Hall at Piarco Plaza on Friday.

So, the concept lets shoppers stock their pantries and not have to worry about what meal to buy since there is a buffet filled with different dishes to choose from. The chef's station is an interactive participatory platform for shoppers so they can see meals being cooked in front of them, learn new recipes and even sample them.

Zakour was recently quoted saying, “this project was born three years ago and though it took a long time to materialize, he was glad it can finally open its doors to the public. Hadeed expressed the same sentiments and added, "It's so exciting to see the space filled for the first time with customers enjoying the experience that we've presented."

The article continued, "We all come from different industries myself retail, Zakour distribution and Fakoory from the restaurant industry. So, we combined our skill sets all into one to try and make this a place that you know invites customers and gives them the ultimate experience at a fantastic price point. For us. It's about the joy that we see our customers getting and the community we are serving. We will be employing 140 people."

You are going to love this, The Food Hall will be occupying 36,000 square feet of space, 20,000 for the retail sector and 16,000 for the kitchen, bakery, two prep rooms and warehouse space. In the next six months, the stakeholders will be launching a click and collect room that will be 7,000 square feet for people to collect their groceries or their next meal. Yes, here is the best part! Hadeed could not give the exact cost of the facility, but said it's double what they had budgeted for the project. I know most all of our readers are saying to themselves been there, done that!

Though the grocery had only been opened for such a short time, Hadeed has already started wondering and thinking of when the next grocerant will be opened.

Hadeed stated, “we don't look at ourselves in a supermarket. We didn't come into the space to compete against other supermarkets. We're full hybrid grocerant mixed between a grocery and a restaurant. We're preparing chef quality means a lot of our staff on the back in come from the restaurant industry."

Location, location, location, “why the Piarco Plaza was their choice for the placement of the grocery. He said there are almost 100,000 people within a four- or- five-mile radius. He added that the Piarco International Airport is in close proximity as well as several industrial parks filled with employees. Hadeed said there are too few options in the area and so set themselves apart by catering to customers for their next meal.”

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

Restaurant Operational Efficiencies or Price Hikes

 

Operational efficiencies be dammed, price matters. The old formula for the price, value, service equilibrium was: Price + Quality + Service + Portability = Value.  That formula has evolved with Gen Z and Millennials today.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® has once again retooled, reevaluated, calculated then evolved the formula and here is the new formula:  Price + Quality + Social + Portability = Value.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® when prices are going up so much consumers are uncomfortable paying the price it’s time to focus your messaging on the quality, service, and portability attributes.

Regular readers of this blog know that, U.S. wholesale food prices in July were up 15.8% on a year-to-date basis, according to new BLS data. Food at home prices soared another 1.3% in July and are up 13.1% over the past year. Consumer prices increased 8.5% in July from a year ago, a decrease from June which hit 9.1%, marking a new 40-year high, the BLS reported.

CPG food categories with the five largest increases in prices include those that were at the low end of the price range including refrigerated eggs, frozen dinners and entrees, butter and margarine, frozen pizza and center store bread. Restaurant food is fresher and consumers don’t have to cook.  Advantage restaurants albeit pricing.

Jack in the Box reported same-store sales declines of -0.6%, which was offset by Del Taco’s strong first full quarter under Jack in the Box ownership of 3.5% same-store sales growth. The decline in Jack in the Box sales was largely attributable to a continued traffic slowdown and reduced operating efficiencies as staffing slowly begins to improve, though partially offset by growth in late-night traffic.

Jack in the Box CEO Darin Harris, stated, “Inflation, staffing and operating hours continued operating hours continue to create pressure on our restaurant level performance,”... “However, increased pricing, improved training and focused restaurant level execution is helping franchisees deliver a better guest experience and assisting with financial fundamentals.”

When you consider the one-two punch of traffic declines and macroeconomic issues caused Jack in the Box to take a nearly 10% pricing increase during the quarter, which helped boost average check. Moving forward, the company plans to focus on value to build average check and not just pricing increases.

Jack in the Box CFO Timothy Mullany, stated, “Pricing of 9.7% helped us manage the cost environment and we will continue to take a disciplined and measured approach to pricing strategies as a means of mitigating the impact on our margin and bottom line,”.

Focusing on product helps, and one of Jack in the Box’s strategies for value creation is a focus on menu innovation, a focus that helped to boost Jack in the Box’s performance during the challenging quarter. During the third quarter, the company introduced a new grilled chicken sandwich and Girl Scout cookies shake, and also brought back some older fan-favorite items like popcorn chicken.

Moving forward, Harris said, Jack in the Box will hone in on growth of the breakfast daypart, as regular readers of this blog know, kicking off with the return of French toast sticks. The return of the menu item was marketed with celebrity guest, Star Wars star Mark Hamill, who was fired from a Jack in the Box years ago for impersonating a clown.  

You are in a BATTLE for SHARE OF STOMACH

You Can WiN! 

Jack in the Box will also continue to focus on rolling out the previously announced store redesign, and digital technology, driven by its partnership with Miso Robotics and launch of mobile web ordering.

Time will tell but the team at Foodservice Solutions® believes; operational efficiencies be dammed, price matters. The old formula for the price, value, service equilibrium was: Price + Quality + Service + Portability = Value.  That formula has evolved with Gen Z and Millennials today.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® has once again retooled, reevaluated, calculated then evolved the formula and here is the new formula:  Price + Quality + Social + Portability = Value.

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

HelloFresh Celebrity Re-Fresh

 

Meal Kit magic for HelloFresh may very well be found in a new partnership with actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, professional chef and cookbook author David Burtka, to promote the ease of cooking with meal kits. The partnership provides HelloFresh customers access to new family-friendly recipes developed exclusively by Burtka, in addition to comedic content featuring the pair and their twins, Gideon and Harper, enjoying meals in their own kitchen.

Regular readers of this blog know that Hello Fresh continues to lead within the meal kt category for freshness, flavor, and family fun. According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® recent grocerant scorecards.

So, Burtka collaborated with HelloFresh to create a limited-time recipe series of meals inspired by his cookbook Life is a Partyand flavor profiles enjoyed by his family. Through Sept. 4, HelloFresh customers can have the recipes, including all of the ingredients and step-by-step instructions, delivered directly to their homes. Part of HelloFresh’s Premium Picks menu options, the recipe series offers Cheesy Chicken & Bean Enchiladas with Tomato Rice, Pico de Gallo & Lime Crema; Herb-Roasted Chicken Legs with Brown Butter Veggies & Rice; Zesty Shrimp & Slaw Tacos with Creamy Guac, Salsa & Blue Corn Chips; and Grilled Steak & Asparagus Salad with Farro, Mushrooms & Lemony Ricotta.

Harris, stated, “Our lives move a million miles a minute so finding time together as a family or with our friends — ideally over a meal — is super important to us,”  Burtka added: “Whether we’re planning dinner for the twins or entertaining friends, HelloFresh has something for everyone, any night of the week, no matter how busy our schedules are! I’m excited to bring even more family-friendly, tasty recipes to their menu through this partnership.”

Michelle Olson, HelloFresh’s culinary development manager, stated, “HelloFresh is designed to be the perfect solution for families like Neil and David’s, who don’t have a lot of time to prep but want to get the kids involved and put their own spin on classic recipes,” … “It was an honor to have Chef David Burtka in our kitchen to collaborate on these limited-edition recipes that incorporate his favorite flavors, family-friendly cooking techniques, and inspiration from his own professional cooking experience.”

Here is why the team at Foodservice Solutions® thinks this will ‘re-fresh’ Hello Fresh, because along with the recipe series, consumers can view vlog-style content featuring Harris, Burtka and their kids across OTT, linear TV, social media, paid social, and more.

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

Battle for a Larger Share of Stomach

Celebrity Endorsements Help