When 4 PM rolls around most Americans start wondering what am I going to have for dinner and very, very few will even entertain the idea of cooking from scratch. Most people don’t have a clue what they want let alone what is for dinner. At least that is what research has shown over the past several years. At 4 PM it’s time to turn up the competition between Supermarkets, Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores and Restaurants. The Grocerant sector, that is to say ready to eat or ready to heat foods is booming. Restaurants tout rapidly growing takeout or Take Away foods. Grocery Stores and Supermarkets are pushing the high margin prepared portable food section all the while Convenience Stores are bundling and pricing ready to eat or ready to heat food extremely competitively. Here at Foodservice Solutions we specialize in understanding successful bundling of the ready to eat ready to heat food niche. It is the profitable and growing in ever sector these are the good times. Bundled meal components are changing and evolving by region and family size. If you would like a strategic grocerant program assessment leave a comment and someone will contact you.

Looking for good examples of a vertically integrated ready to eat or ready to heat quality portable grocerant style food is not limited to traditional Restaurants, Grocery stores or Convenience Stores. Uwajimaya is a west cost leading niche Supermarket chain that is growing and perfectly integrates ready to eat and ready to heat Grocerant style food into their weekly, monthly marketing advertising programs. Uniquely position they integrated a multi-ethnic ready to eat advertising with all other department products into their Flyers, radio and in store messaging. The ability for them to focus on items the likes of “Draper Valley” Fryer Wings to “Niko Niko” Humbow and Mongolian Beef Sandwich is outstanding. Understanding product integration and channel blurring Uwajimaya successfully mixes traditional and niche specific products in an inclusive style that is consumer friendly while being inviting and intriguing. They understand that differentiation means familiar not different in food products. Successful integrating ready to eat within the stores drives frequency garnering a halo of fresh authentic quality. Which in turn garners top line value and bottom line profits.

Price wars are nothing new. McDonalds vs. Dunkin Brands is but one example. Both of them have positioned their price points directly at Starbucks and from all accounts it working. Dunkin Brands are growing strongly and customer frequency is holding solid or growing, While Starbucks continues to close stores and report a drop in frequency. We have been hearing of strong European competition in the Grocery and Convenience store sector currently British Supermarkets have sparked a new price war with Britain's pound shops as reported in the London Mirror. Here is what they are saying” High street giants including Tesco and Asda are launching a series of cut-price promotions for under £1. The aim is to win back customers from the growing number of discount chains such as Poundland and 99p Stores. But Poundland has hit back with a new range of £1 sandwiches. Asda, which has more than 7,000 lines at £1, said: "It makes shopping on a budget easier for customers." I feel it portends things to come here as well.
The price, value, service equilibrium is being reset. Morton’s closed 3 units on July 1st and continues promoting bundled value meals. In New York City at the high end we are witnessing the same occurrence. When will it end? Only when the consumer is on the upswing. I predict that we will see increasing competition in the US between Grocerants, Convenience Stores, and Dollar Stores, Supermarkets all focusing in on US chain Restaurants. Yes the competition is heating up and the grocerant sector is on the move and price value of bundled product offerings is the reason.

I found this posted on Burbed July 3^rd it is their 4^th of July 3 city cost of Groceries, since I received many comments via Email to the last price listing here we go again: This is "Burbed's latest installment of "Groceries cost more in the Bay Area." As usual, I have compared 3 cities where Safeway is available: Cupertino, Seattle (possibly our new enemy), and Washington D.C." Since I live in the Seattle area and completed my college in SF and then owned my first restaurant in Santa Clara I enjoy looking at these numbers and am sure you will as well.

Item	Cupertino	Seattle	Washington DC	More than Seattle	More than DC
Coke (12 pk)	$ 6.29	$ 6.29	$ 5.99	0%	5%
Beef Back Ribs	$ 5.98	$ 3.58	$ 2.98	67%	101%
Pork Loin Bank Ribs	$ 17.99	$ 18.99	$ 17.99	-5%	0%
A1 Sauce	$ 8.23	$ 5.56	$ 5.99	48%	37%
Salt	$ 0.89	$ 0.89	$ 0.79	0%	13%
Ground Pepper	$ 2.99	$ 2.69	$ 1.99	11%	50%
Red Potato	$ 0.37	$ 0.37	$ 0.32	0%	16%
Can of Corn	$ 1.49	$ 1.15	$ 1.15	30%	30%
Gravy Mix	$ 1.45	$ 1.39	$ 1.09	4%	33%
Chicken Breast	$ 8.99	$ 8.99	$ 8.99	0%	0%
Match Light Charcoal	$ 5.59	$ 4.49	$ 3.99	24%	40%
Lettuce Blend	$ 3.79	$ 3.49	$ 3.49	9%	9%
Madeleine Cookies	$ 4.29	$ 3.99	$ 3.99	8%	8%
Organic Corn Chips	$ 2.99	$ 2.99	$ 3.49	0%	-14%
Sheet Cake	$ 21.99	$ 17.99	$ 20.99	22%	5%
Dinner Roll	$ 0.59	$ 0.59	$ 0.59	0%	0%
Red Roma Tomato	$ 0.54	$ 0.40	$ 0.54	35%	0%
Dill Pickles	$ 4.19	$ 3.29	$ 3.79	27%	11%
Ketchup	$ 2.99	$ 2.39	$ 2.59	25%	15%
Mustard	$ 1.99	$ 1.75	$ 1.89	14%	5%
Red Onion	$ 0.97	$ 0.74	$ 0.97	31%	0%
Beef Franks	$ 5.29	$ 4.99	$ 4.49	6%	18%
Paper Plates	$ 3.29	$ 2.49	$ 2.49	32%	32%
Utensils	$ 0.99	$ 0.99	$ 0.99	0%	0%
Total	$ 114.16	$ 100.48	$ 101.57	14%	12%

 

Here are just some examples of where Grocerant style meals can be found around the country that are delivered right to your door. Supermarkets, Restaurants and grocery stores are all getting in on this growing trend of convenience with such variety available why cook? Cracker Barrel into your kitchen with home cooked meals to go! Gourmet Meals to Go Dine Wise makes it possible to enjoy gourmet food to go without ever leaving your house. Furr's offers the taste of home - this is food you grew up eating and the kind of food you'd make everyday if you could. A&P here is adding to its prepared foods menu, with grab-and-go whole meals and a takeout chicken restaurant. Personal Chef to Go provides prepared gourmet meals delivered to your home or hotel. ... Enjoy fine dining restaurant quality meals at half the cost! Bruegger's Launches "Meals to Go" Nationwide : New carry-out catering service is a first for Bruegger s. Enjoy take out meals to Go by Mrs. Mack's Bakery & Restaurant, Worcester, MA American Grill Restaurant at L'Enfant Plaza has Thanksgiving to Go Meals for the Holiday. For those families wishing to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home, without the hassle. Snuffy's Family Restaurant guarantees one thing: a down-home ... of his new passion for making good, home-cooked meals ... You can even take a meal to go. Visit WPEC for restaurant reviews, directions and special offers for Colombo's Market & Meals To Go in Lighthouse Point, FL. Organic To Go is the nation s first fast casual cafe chain to be certified as an organic retailer in Seattle. You can see that from coast to coast you can find any type of food you like. Grocerant ready to eat or ready to heat is ready for you!

Top of the day to you! We all have heard about Pop up stores they are used to create product buzz and media hype! Recently McDonalds utilized one that just sold the Big Mac: if product buzz is what you want a Pop Up store will do the trick. However it is time we utilized them to introduce new products or customer favorites in a new market. The above picture is of a Foldout restaurant that has solar power and will travel. Why grocery stores don’t place one of these in a coroner of the parking lot to focus on a daypart or new product I am not sure. I do think if they placed it at a construction site 3 blocks away and featured customers favorites it would build the brand value and garner new customers. Restaurants creating new industry buzz for a new product or best selling product in a new market or existing one it would do the same thing. Think out side of you four wall-go to the customers with food; we all know sampling is the best way to sell food. The customer will come back to you time and time again if they like the product!
The Müvbox, pictured above is a standard shipping container that's 8ft deep and 20ft long. The wonder moment comes when it is miraculously turned from a container into a 'chic fast food' restaurant in 90 seconds at the touch of a button. Müvbox features a fully functional kitchen with enough space for four members of staff and a wood-fired pizza oven. The walls of the container collapse to create a covered patio with enough room to serve 28 people, half of whom can be seated at small bistro tables. The concept has some laudable eco features, too: the structure is a reused container and little construction is needed to install it. Müvbox's floor is made from recycled tires and its roof contains solar panels to provide up to 40% of required energy. And it's easily shipped by land or sea. Müvbox wasn't developed as a one-off restaurant: it's a business concept that can be used the world over.

Top of the day to you!
BYOB bring your own bag the next time you go to a Grocerant. World wide this recycling ideation is picking up steam in 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags. Here on the West Coast San Francisco, Seattle Los Angeles, and Portland have or may impose a tax soon. In Canada a fee on bags is in place and the proceeds from the charge on plastic shopping bags will be used to support WWF Canada’s conservation efforts. Most notable is the fact that since the fee began this year a reduction in excess of 66% has been see at Superstores parent Loblaw. In Ireland after an advertising awareness campaign this began to happen; the result noted a 94 percent drop in use of plastic bags. They have been replaced by reusable cloth bags. If your in the Restaurant business, Grocery, Convenience Store or Dollar Stores ready to eat or ready to heat grocerant sector recycled cloth bags might just be something to look at. Globally the consumer is obviously very receptive, don’t fight a strong trend, and remember the trend is your FRIEND!