Grocerant niche food flexibility finds favor.

Time starved yet flavor charged consumers continue seeking meal components from non-traditional retail outlets.  Within the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food niche aka the grocerant niche consumer are seeking food components that are filled with flavor that can be bundled into customized family meals or a personalized meal.

Building a consumer retail food brand today requires a consumer focus, flexibility and foresight.  Cultivating a brand is more important that managing a brand. Brands are dynamic not static, they develop and grow with/for your clients and the consumer.  Identifying distinctive differentiated programs, positioning and consumable’s by day part that reflect the brand, industry trends, consumer preferences with an eye on meal component bundling is a key to success.

Creating or identifying distinctive differentiated food consumable’s as an entity with identity by day part in the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat grocerant niche is an art well understood at Foodservice Solutions®. 

Understanding the unique balance between palate, price, pleasure and the consumer’s drive for qualitative distinctive differentiated new food consumables requires both IQ and EQ.  The food value proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blended into something with a twist.  In industry speak, differentiated does not mean different to the consumer it means familiar. Are you growing top line sales and bottom line profits? Have you considered offering more grocerant niche options?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning assistance.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant.

C-Stores finding success with Fresh Food.

Where are American food dollars going? While restaurant and grocery store chains continue experiencing customer discontinuity.  The conveniences store sector for the 5^th year in a row is growing both the top and bottom line with increased food sales.  Specifically fresh prepared food is garnering the most attention.

The National Association of Convenience Stores reported that in 2011 in-store food sales reached 33 billion dollars. Food items ranged from fresh prepared burgers, hoagies, pizza, salads, pretzels and coffee of course.  Jeff Lenard, the association’s VP said “Food is the future of our industry”.

In a study conducted by Technomic Inc., found that 82% of consumers said that they have bought prepared food or beverage from a convenience store within the last month and 52% said they do so once a week.

Cooking from scratch is a lost art.  Convenience Stores have created a food platform that empowers consumers to mix and match fresh prepared food components into a customized family meal fast. While traditional restaurants and grocery store chains have tried to “protect the brand” and stay the same.  C-stores have expanded into fresh food including Burgers, Pizza and Delivery.

   

C-stores with $33 Billion dollars in food sales is a well-funded competitive niche.  Five years of food retail industry leadership growth and success is a trend not a fad.  If success does leave clues the C-store industry has found them and is utilizing the clues well.  Are you?

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Grocerant Digital Signage with visceral attractive graphics sells.

Wal-Mart recently added digital signage to select end caps within their stores. I had a friend remark that after a recent visit to Wal-Mart she was impressed and please to see how viscerally attractive the store was.  Digital Visceral attractiveness is now a contemporary standard in retailing.

British Petroleum is installing Digital Signage at the Pump and in the store at over 1,000 units.   Digital signage is not an operational efficiency it is now a required step in the consumer’s path of contemporary progress. The consumer is not static they are dynamic all retailers must keep pace with the customer.

Supermarkets, Convenience stores and Restaurants all must avoid unwittingly practicing Brand Protectionism and saying no to items that consumer comes to expect.  Visceral attractiveness is now as important as cleanliness and service. The Grocerant sector is leveraging digital informational tools to build a strong consumer base.

I was reminded as well that the NY Hilton hotel has had CNN in its elevator now for over 12 years.  Visceral information is not new nor is it going away. Don’t let your brand unwittingly practice “Brand Protectionism”.”

  

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning assistance.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant.

Food Retailers are your customers comfortable?

"Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable."
Ina Garten,  'The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook'

Bob Goldin, Executive Vice President of Technomic, warned food retailers after viewing the results of a consumer sentiment and behavior survey last year “sensitive to the risks of downsizing”. “Consumers are deeply concerned about the price of gas,… As a result, they are very likely to reduce their spending on groceries and restaurant meals and increase their reliance on coupons and deals.”  Are you mobile coupon active?

The survey found “50 percent of consumers believe packaged food sizes have gotten smaller and 32 percent believe the same thing has happened with restaurant portions. The two main reasons why consumers think package and/or portion sizes have gotten smaller are the desires of food and restaurant companies to enhance profitability and to keep retail prices the same when costs rise; only 10 percent attribute the downsizing to improving the products' healthfulness.”

Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price; are extremely important in maintaining equilibrium in consumer comfort. Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food is thrown into the mix, consumer frequency and customer loyalty will both increase.  Understanding and maintaining customer focused comfort level should be top of mind for all retailers. Mobile coupons are a point of consumer relevance.

Amazon Fresh may be Amazon’s Last Mile Solution.

Retail foodservice evolves and revolves.  While we all think that the world is evolving to fast.  That we think at times there is simply too much change occurring daily in our lives. It may be the retail food industry that reassures us that our food favorites keep us all grounded.  Amazon Fresh is integrating technology with consumer’s food preference for fresh food into success.

Consumers have long celebrated meals with fresh food.  Anyone who has visited Paris and The Louvre has seen pictures of fresh vegetables, meat and breads dating back 15 centuries and look just like they do today.  There are pictures tables stacked with eggplant, tomatoes, and carrots.  In addition there are Pictures of carts filled fresh food being delivered dating back just as far.

This week in The Food Institute Report in the Look Back in Time section we were reminded that in 1931 Walgreen’s had but 170 stores (today 7,900+ again selling fresh food).  They also reminded us that back in 1931 that food deliver by grocery stores had turned profitable.  Both First National and A&P were doing more delivery than ever before and it was profitable. 

Amazon Fresh understands the history of the consumer’s desire for convenience, time savings and pricing advantage.  Consumers have a long tradition and desire for food delivery.  Amazon Fresh utilizing technology might have found the perfect sustainable solution for fresh food home delivery.  Discounting is the price food retailers pay for being either boring or simply copy-cat marketers.  What value positioning do you bring to customers today?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Migration Marketing assessment, grocerant program assessment. For brand, product placement, menu positioning assistance simply calls Foodservice Solutions® today.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant.

The NPD Group found restaurant discontinuity continues.

The NPD Group found Combo Meals remain in decline.  In 2005 we released our White Paper Restaurant Consumer Discontinuity; we noted consumer migration in food format preference.

Bonnie Riggs NPD restaurant industry analyst revealed some findings from The NPD Group’s new study “Understanding Combo Meal Purchas Behavior” that “consumers purchased 8 billion combo meals in the year ended January 2012, down more than 12 percent from the 9 billion sold in the same period five years earlier.”

One of the key reasons for the decline noted by Riggs was that “consumers said they would like to make changes to the contents of the meals, in particular, the side items.”  NPD and Riggs do very good work and I highly recommend you consider buying NPD research products.  Regular readers of this blog know we regularly documented that consumers like to mix and match meal components. Mix and match meal bundling is a benchmark for success within the grocerant niche.

Meal time is now becoming a time of convenient meal participation, with differentiation and individualization for the entire family.  The ability of the retailer to empower consumer choice within a bundled offering creates an additional platform for success.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  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

Safeway‘s Signature Café expands brands reach.

Chain Restaurants continue expanding branded menu favorites into Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) products. Most chain restaurants are offering frozen food.  Those items can be found in the new frozen food court (frozen aisle) at your local grocery store including from companies the ilk of Boston Market, P.F. Chang’s, and TGI Fridays.   Darden, Taco Bell and IHOP are finding success with toppings, salad dressings, canned beans, taco shells scattered through-out the store.

Safeway on the other hand has found that fresh ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat prepared food is driving customer frequency while creating loyalty.  Safeway is currently refocusing its marketing effort to redirect restaurant customers into their grocery stores for fresh prepared food.

Utilizing a traditional QSR marketing play book Safeway’s Signature Café’s, Lunch Combo includes chips, made to order sandwich and a branded Coca Cola beverage sells for $5.49 an everyday price.  Why this is important.  The messaging vehicle utilized is again out of the QSR playbook a Sunday Newspaper insert.

Leveraging the value Safeway’s Sunday insert coupon includes a Big Value Meal for $9.99 which is a focused ready-2-eat family meal.  The Big Value Meal includes one Roasted Chicken (or substitute entrée) and two large side orders.  The coupon again leveraging restaurant marketing techniques includes a suggestive sell item a 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola.  Where is your customer getting dinner tonight?  Channel blurring is only in the mind’s eye of some marketers not in the consumers mind.  Do you understand who you are competing with?

                                                         

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