Growth Hacking The Restaurant Sector

This Valentine’s Day we witnessed the undercurrents of food customer migration reach new heights.  Non-traditional fresh prepared food retailers around the world are offering consumers a choice to Dine-In while Dining-Out. They are promoting restaurant quality chef prepared Ready-2-Eat Meals at a fraction of the price customers would pay if dining at a restaurant.  The successful growth of the grocerant niche is now ratcheting-up competitive offerings challenging the very core of the restaurant customer mindset. .

Roses are red, violets are blue staying at home can be very cozy for two. Wegmans offered a “Romantic Dinner for Two” either Pan-Seared Strip Steaks or roasted lobster tails with Shallot-Thyme Butter that can be cozy for two it’s a Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meal offering.

Wegmans offers restaurant quality meal components that can be bundled into a perfect meal for Dining-In while Dinning Out.  Wegmans has extended its competitive offering with its Next Door Bar and Grill, its own restaurant.   Next Door Bar and Grill offers All-natural, sustainable and organic ingredients from our store are specially selected for you by our chefs and prepared in a manner that's delicious and healthy. You can get it To-Go as well.

Eatzi’s hot, Ready-2-Eat Meals are handcrafted by trained chef’s,  filled with delicious fresh prepared food with no work required in planning for a special night out.  Eatzi’s has extraordinary fresh prepared food offerings. With a focus on meal components that can be bundled and customized into a personalized at home cozy meal.  Eatzi’s offers Steaks, Chicken, Salads, Seafood, vegetables and deserts simply too many to list. In Dallas Dinning-In can be Dining-Out with Eatzi’s.

Texas based Pinkie’s Liquor Stores are in the restaurant quality chef prepared Dine-In while Dinning-Out fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat mode as well.  Pinkie’s is offering a fully cooked Prime Rib Dinner with flowers and beverages as well.  We found these other offering from around the globe:

“Marks and Spencer is offering Dine-In for Two for £20 for that you get a “Starter”, main course, side dish and desert for two, plus chocolate box and a bottle of cava. Here is a sample offing if ala carte Scallops, £5.49; rump steak with peppercorn sauce, £9.99; Gastropub chunky chips, £2.19; Valentine twin hearts, £3.79; Strawberry and Champagne Souffle (£3.49 for two), Prestige Rosado Cava, £9.49 box of chocolate hearts, £1.50. That is a saving of : £12.15”

“Morrisons is offering a Meal for two: £9. You get a main course, two side dishes and a dessert from its M Bistro range.” Here is an example of what you can get: Chicken stuffed with brie and spinach; potato and thyme rosti, trio of green vegetables and a panna cotta and raspberry compote. Total saving: £3.50”

In Minnesota next year you will be able to Dine-In at Lunds and Byerly’s Grocer  which is evolving into Lunds and Byerly’s Kitchen.  There will be a 143-seat restaurant with wine and beer bar that will “offer stone oven pizzas, burgers and seasonal surf and turf entrees.” Customers will “order and pay for meals with iPads found at each table. There will also be a patio and 24-seat cafe.”  While dining customers can order grocery from the iPads and pick it up when done.  If success does leave clues the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food niche just may be a very competitive clue.

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche since 1991

Fresh Prepared Meal Components Drive Sales.

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.”

Convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization; are each hallmarks of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche.  That is the recipe for retail food success in 2014.

Meal components allow customers 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.

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant. 

Lunds and Byerly’s Grocer is Evolving to Lunds and Byerly’s Kitchen

Wayzata, Minnesota are you Ready-2-Eat? Lunds and Byerly’s grocery stores a staple in the Twin City area is evolving with consumers and the food industry is entering the Grocerant Niche.  On March 6^th Lund Food Holdings  will open Lunds and Byerly’s Kitchen. This new Grocerant Niche concept store will have a restaurant, prepared food stations and “tailored selections of groceries.”

There will be a 143-seat restaurant with wine and beer bar that will “offer stone oven pizzas, burgers and seasonal surf and turf entrees.” Customers will “order and pay for meals with iPads found at each table. There will also be a patio and 24-seat cafe.”

In what was once called the deli section now a Grocerant prepared food area, customers will find “made-to-order sandwiches, store-made sushi, hot entrees and soups, and a salad bar. Caribou Coffee will roast beans in store.”

Grocery shopping can be fun, easy and a time saver.  In the grocery portion will feature a prepared meat station, cheese counter, olive bar, as well as a limited assortment of fresh, frozen and shelf-stable products. “Customers can place orders from Lunds and Byerly’s full grocery offerings in the restaurant or online for pick-up at lockers in the store’s parking lot.” 

Lunds and Byerly’s has learned a lot from their successful catering program selling such items as:

Sandwiches with Kendelson's smoked ham, Homestyle turkey or Roast beef complemented with the appropriate cheese. Tuna, chicken, egg salad or veggie options.  Salad the ilk of  mostaccioli, penne pasta with sundried tomatoes, fresh cut fruit, potato salad or cole slaw.

Giving consumers what they want and how they want it is one thing that Lunds and Byerly’s is very good at.  Evolving from grocery store to grocerant will require constant learning.  I for one have no doubt that this concept will allow customers to create their own price point every time they walk in the door for both Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.

Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  if you are 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  or learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Food Trucks Full Flavored Fuels Hand Held Food Success

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru’s 2010 white paper on the growth of Hand Held Food for Immediate Consumption received acclaim, was on target but never predicted the growth and impact that Food trucks would have on the restaurant sector or the growth of Hand Held Food Truck Food.

Researchers at IBISWorld are predicting that Food Trucks are now a 1 Billion Dollar industry on their own and will soon represent between 3 and 4 present of total restaurant revenue. The Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food sector aka the Grocerant niche continues to create new points of fresh food distribution and at a billion dollars a year in sales.  Food Trucks are clearly one segment consumers are flocking too enjoying the sense of discovery, authenticity, and flavor.

The ability of location mobility and relocation by day-part creates a particular advantage for food trucks.  They have the ability to follow consumers from office spaces, weekend community events or late night college hangouts. 

Food trucks have in many cases leveraged technology to out-market legacy restaurants including QSR’s and Fast Casual Restaurants.  Many food trucks post locations, new menu items, and special offers on social media creating an under-ground buzz (of word of mouth) with office influencers and Millennials creating a customized, personalized invitation to dine.

Customer brand activation begins with an invitation.  Food trucks understand brand activation that is another reason they have reached 1 billion in sales. Successful brand management requires an inclusive strategy, executed with consumer focused innovative tactics. Non-traditional points of fresh food distribution continue to grow and garner share. Success does leave clues and the food truck sector has picked up many.  Have you?  Are you prepared to compete in an Omni-channel retail world? 

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche since 1991

Can Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Fresh Food be Branded?

The consumer is dynamic not static.  Today as Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to garner customer favor they should be banded. Here are Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru’s 10 clues to brand consumer relevance into fresh prepared food:

1.       Symbolism.   Why you are there! The most successful brands are inclusive include values greater than themselves. A lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion a point in time.

2.  A story. Most major brands have a story. Examples: if you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nikes, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created.

3.  A track record. When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers.

4.  Trust. When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have. Case in point: a friend of mine always reminds people that he won't buy an automobile that isn't a BMW. He's had a good experience with his and trusts so much in the company that he doesn't believe there's a better-made car.

5.  Expectation. When a consumer chooses a product or service because of brand association, he or she is buying an expectation. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner.

6.  Differentiation. Expectation is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

7.  Imitators. Imitation is the sincerest of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you.

8.  Market leadership. Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in.

9.  Adaptability. The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping and reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Coca-Cola is a good example of a brand that has never abandoned its core product but has evolved its message over time to keep up with changes in the marketplace and society at large.

10. A strong marketing presence. Although it's nice to believe that you can market yourself for free on Facebook and Twitter, the reality is that brands aren't advertising on television and radio because they're dumb. Building and maintaining brand equity requires awareness and contemporized relevance.For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson at www.FoodserviceSolutions.us    His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. 

Can Non-Traditional Fresh Food Retailers Sell Fresh Food? YES

Have you heard of the Grocerant Niche? Non-traditional fresh food retailers flying under the radar are finding stellar success in fresh food sales, pleasing customers while edifying their brand.

Ikea's  a Swedish home furniture retailer is selling  Swedish Ready-2-Eat meatballs and smoked salmon at its cafeteria, as well as hot dogs and frozen yogurt at its to-go food counter at the European flavors add a level of mystique and foodie adventurism. Ikea’s food sales top 2 billion a year is sales. How is that?

Looking for a fresh prepared frozen yogurt, try Costco.  You can get yogurt in chocolate, vanilla or a swirled combo with both chocolate and vanilla at Costco.  Fresh prepared Pizza whole or by the slice and Costco’s famed Ready-2-Eat Chicken Bake garner loyal customers with prices that drive local QSR’s to wonder how they do it? Fast!  Costco reported that it sold 112 Million Hot Dogs and 65 million rotisserie chickens in it’s last quarter.

 In addition as a standalone concept volume speaks success and Costco's director of operations for the food court and bakery, Bob Collins recently stated “ Despite the low prices, it sees a "modest profit" from food court sales.”  The last report public stated that the Costco “food court” sales are over 1.3 billion a year.

The answer is YES Non-traditional retailers are finding success selling Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food all contributing to the success of the booming grocerant niche. Is your product or brand ready for a non-traditional outlet? 

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. www.FoodserviceSolutions.us Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant Niche. 

Work and Office Dining Trends Ready-2-Eat Take-Away Take-Out

Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, and JC Penny’s corporate office have long established corporate dining rooms and cafeterias.  Even today visitors gush at the quality visceral display and meal options employees can avail themselves of. Today more and more those options include meals and meal components targeted for home consumption.

Employees working late, or simply working long hours on a project are more and more stopping on their way out of the office by either the corporate dining room or cafeteria and picking up a meal to take home and feed the family with.  Here are a few trends from 2014 Trendcorporate that they will be seeing:

Allergy sensitivities: Gluten-free offerings were hot in 2013, and will continue to be popular.  Although few people are actually allergic to gluten, many people perceive gluten-free choices as healthy.  Non-wheat options, such as rice bowls, quinoa, and buckwheat are popular, because choosing gluten-free does not necessarily mean avoiding carbs.

Vegan and Vegetarian Choices: More consumers are looking for meatless options, at least some of the time.  With the popularity of “Meatless Mondays,” flexitarians and others looking to make healthy choices will seek out these options.

Fresh and local: Locally-grown produce and local sourcing of meat continue to be important to employees.  As vegetables take center stage in a variety of meals, the variety and quality of vegetables become more important.

Healthy Eating Backlash:  Not everyone is looking to make healthy choices, so full fat options will remain popular.  To makes those indulgences worthwhile, some employees will be looking for real cheese, fresh breads, and other “real” ingredients.

New flavors: Trend experts suggest that diners will continue to be interested in ethnic and street foods, particularly in sauces and dips.   Pickled and sour foods, such as Kim chi and other pickled vegetables, are expected to become more popular in the workplace.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Fresh Prepared Food niche aka the Grocerant niche.  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy