Branding Private Label Fresh Food Works

Do you have canned food or packaged food sitting in your pantry that has been on the shelf for years?  Well, most Americans do and in most cases they are still safe to eat.  However most Americans are beginning to question what is in those packages or can that makes them safe so long. 

That is at least one finding in a new report from Consumer Reports.  The study found that ‘Fresh prepared food’ trumps ‘cheap CPG’ in 2015”.  The study points out that consumers are shifting from decades of a focus  of lowest price, checkout speed or variety to “top-of-mind Fresh”. 

The term Fresh has been expanded and consumer now include the freshly prepared meals that can be taken home into the fresh category. This is a huge shift in customer thinking extending so far in fact many consumers are adopting a ‘mind-set’ that fresh food is according to the study the “new medicine”. 

Today, Americans believe we can eat our way to good health. It  can be no surprise, then, that since 2007 the demand for minimally processed foods with shorter ingredients lists has climbed significantly, according to The Hartman Group.

Restaurant have been branding fresh prepared menu items for years think Big Mac, Whopper, Supreme Pizza, Friday’s Freeze. Today’s C-stores and Grocery stores have the same opportunity by creating an entity with identity within the grocerant niche of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. 

Branding private label fresh prepared food is critical for retail food success moving forward according to our Grocerant Guru™.  Jim Hertel, managing partner at supermarket industry consultant Willard Bishop stated “There’s a growing rejection of overly processed and packaged foods, especially among younger consumers,”…. “They’re suspicious about food additives, and so sure ‘less is more’ that they buy gluten-free even if they’re not allergic to gluten.” Manufactures and retailers don’t sit back and get trapped in the comfort of doing what you have always done.  Get fresh, build new fresh products as an entity with identity. 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  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

Uber Launches New Fast Food-Delivery Service

Uber the car ride service based in San Francisco is growing very fast , which has been valued at $40 billion, launched a program in New York City and Chicago this week that allows users to request a meal be brought to them from a local restaurant. 

The new service is called UberEATS, was piloted in Los Angeles and Barcelona reported here on our blog as regular readers know and will continue to operate in those cities. In Los Angeles, the pilot program was called UberFRESH.

Uber is the goliath that has been blanketing the earth with its goal to be your ride everywhere at all times. Now it wants to bring you your lunch, too. Not only that, but it says your food will arrive in just 10 minutes. Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ calls that “Fast Food Delivery”.

Here is how it is going to work. In the cities where the service is first  offered, “a Uber customer will have the option to toggle over to “EATS” in the app. Drop the pin on your location, hit “View Menu” and you will see what sort of options are available for delivery. Menus rotate every day, according to a blog post from Uber announcing the news.”

The focus in on Lunch options that are available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. -- go for between $9 and $15. There will be a delivery fee of $4, regardless of how many lunches you order at once. Delivery is curbside, so you’ll have to meet the driver outside. 

Uber has cars, drivers and free time during the lunch hours this is a perfect fit for consumers, it is perfect positioning according to our Grocerant Guru™.

Success does leave clues outside eyes can deliver inside sales. Grocerant SWOT analysis are available from Foodservice Solutions®.  What are you bundling with you core products? Who are your customers?  Where and how can you sell your customers more? Do you need a Grocerant Scorecard? For more Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  or http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant 

On-Demand Restaurants are a Comfort

Are thinking like your consumers?  Are you rethinking the restaurant customer experience? Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ thinks that you should be.  The consumer has been redefining the restaurant sector faster than ever before and our Grocerant Guru™ believes one of the root drivers has been the 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome. 

This week a new restaurant launched called Maple. Maple  is backed by Momofuku chef David Chang, so it has plenty of foodie credentials. Chang with Maple is joining a growing group of entrepreneurs driving cost out of the existing restaurant business model while delivering on a quality food promise. 

Maple isn’t just a restaurant it is a restaurant that delivers food only.  Maple has no dining room, no tables, no chairs, no plates and silverware to wash. Maple is joining the likes of Sprig and Spoonrocket, both prepare and delivers the food itself. This new and growing niche is expanding the quality and reach of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food according to our Grocerant Guru™.

Maple co-founders Caleb Merkl and Akshay Navle, as well as their executive chef Soa Davies, stated “the company is trying to rethink the delivery experience, so that it’s not just an add-on to an existing business. At a high level, we’re trying to purpose-build a company that has a singular vision to make delivery exceptional at every touchpoint,” Merkl said. “To do that we really had to own the entire process — everything from sourcing ingredients to last-mile delivery.”

Maple does not have a store front but it does have an iOS and Android app.  From the app, “you’ll be presented with just three menu options (including vegetarian), whether it’s for lunch or dinner. Once you’ve swiped through the choices and chosen what you want, the food should be delivered to you in 30 minutes or fewer.” 

Maple is not alone Uber has joined the food delivery universe as well. (We will have more on that tomorrow.) Uber’s announcement lands it squarely in the crosshairs of a bevy of other delivery-service start-ups in the news. London-based transportation company Gett announced that it will be rolling out delivery services starting in July across all 32 of its international cities from New York to Moscow.  Maple however is a kitchen to bike messenger service it can deliver high-quality food quickly and have it arrive hot and fresh.

The restaurant landscape has forever changed, by eliminating the costs of running a physical restaurant, today’s retail food entrepreneurs will never look at empty tables on Monday night, empty tables Tuesday night or feel constrained with lack available tables at 8 PM on Saturday night. All the while family, couples, and singles will relax in the comfort of their home in front of a 65 Inch, 75 Inch or 85 Inch HDTV watching live sports, a movie or talking via skype to loved ones.   Restaurants On-demand are on the way. 

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 you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Is Yum Brands 185 Million Payout to KFC the cost of being Unremarkable?

The tale of market share capitulation by Yum Brands KFC could be a ‘foot-long’ on this page but we don’t need that much space. The growth of Chick-fil-A from an also ran to the number one chicken restaurant in the United States say’s a lot.  However when you add in the year or year sales store sales increases and new store growth that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has been recording the past five years say’s even more.

The growth of both Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen over the last eight years has been enough to create the undercurrents of discontent within the ranks of longtime KFC franchisees.  In fact since 2011 alone “KFC’s unit count has fallen by about 8.6 percent, when the company had 4,780 locations. At the end of last year it had 4,370 units according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

The one thing that is painfully clear is Yum Brands oversight of KFC has been unremarkable. What is the cost of being an unremarkable franchisor in 2015?  It’s looks to us as if it is $185 million. 

Yes, $185 Million is how much Yum Brands agreed to invest in KFC marketing in the U.S. in a deal with franchisees that will give the Louisville, Ky.-based franchisor control over domestic marketing. Wow, turn over control of marketing after eight years of being unremarkable? 

Well maybe Yum Brands has come up with some consumer focused innovation that will help propel KFC back into the Number One Spot for restaurant branded Chicken chains and is going to use the $185 for sending out that message. We don’t think that is the case. At any rate at this point what do the franchisees have to lose? 

After all KFC is making progress domestic same-store sales rose 7 percent in the first quarter ended March 21, 2015. How did they that do?  With innovative copycat marketing! Yes, don’t be shocked after eight years of trial and error.  KFC simply copied Subway’s $5 Dollar Food-Long success. It’s true. 

Yum CEO Greg Creed attributed much of the sales performance to “KFC’s $5 Fill-Up Box, which offers a choice of items, plus side dishes and a drink, for $5”.  What can we say it’s remarkable that after eight years trial and error that they leveraged copycat marketing at all? No, that’s not remarkable either.  Copycat marketing does work. They teach that in marketing 101, obviously someone at KFC remembered that they took the course. 

After eight years KFC joined the ranks of every other QSR that has run the $5 price point promotion and found success. I for one am please.  Now it just might be time to vertically integrate the 5 P’s of food marketing into KFC brand messaging with some authentic innovation and they might have something. 

Howard Johnson’s, Burger Chef, Bob Evans, Steak and Ale, all are names of restaurants that regular readers of this blog are familiar, all suffered from being unremarkable. Don’t let it happen to you!  Keep Looking A Customer Ahead.  If you need outside eyes, remember we are here just for that. KFC was one of the earliest Grocerants, while the niche is booming they have fallen away?  How did it happen?

Don’t let your brand get left behind. Success does leave clues outside eyes can deliver inside sales. Get a grocerant SWOT analysis a grocerant Scorecard and start Looking A Customer Ahead. For more Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  or http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant Call: 1-253-759-7869 today or Email Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us .