C-Stores Pizza Party Proves Popular

One sure way to track success in the retail food industry is year over year same store sales comparisons. With convenience store sale sales of fresh prepared food up 9.7% for the last year.  Calls were coming in asking why?

Regular readers know we have been touting the successful impact that pizza has had on Casey’s General Stores  

 Well they are not alone. In a recent release from The NPD Group they found that “Cases of pizza crust and dough shipped to convenience stores from broadline foodservice distributors increased by 27 percent, and servings of pizza ordered by convenience store customers increased by more than 20 percent in the year ending February 2015 compared to year ago”

The report went on finding that, “Total dollars of pizza crust and dough cases shipped from broadline distributors to convenience stores increased by more than 30 percent” Complementing the increase in pizza crust and dough case shipments was a 4 percent increase of pizza box case shipments to convenience stores in the year ending February compared to one year ago according to findings from NPD’s SupplyTrack.

This highlights the willingness of consumers to sample, test, and retry an avenue of distribution largely ignored for a decade. The convenience store sector is fast becoming a competitive threat to traditional quick service restaurants, specifically those units focused on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food. 

The same report found “the double-digit growth in pizza servings at convenience stores contrasts with flat servings at quick service pizza restaurants and a 1 percent increase at traditional quick service restaurants.”

Foodservice at convenience stores is now the top category for in-store gross profit dollars and is number two for sales, according to NPD. Yes, Grocerant Niche fresh prepared food works. 

Do you know how can you work grocerant niche products into your establishment to grow profits and capture customers while they are in your store? Call 253-759-7869 as for the Grocerant Guru™,

visit  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Food Consumer Migration Driving Rapid Industry Change

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ has help Grocery retailers, C-stores, Non-traditional Outlets, Food E-tailers, and Restaurants re-position to garner a larger share of stomach since 1991.  Success does leave clues and customer migration has accelerated once again this time changing category leadership that has been in place prior to 1917 and ever since. 

For the first time since the government started breaking out the numbers and keeping track in 1992, Americans spent more money last month in restaurants and bars than they did in grocery stores. Here are the numbers according to the U.S. Department of Commerce:

March 2014
Restaurants and bars: $46.8 billion
Grocery stores: $49.1 billion

March 2015
Restaurants and bars: $50.4 billion
Grocery stores: $50.1 billion

February 2015
Restaurants and bars: $50.0 billion
Grocery stores: $50.4 billion

Our Grocerant Guru™ repeatedly asks “Who wants to cook for scratch or who wants to do dishes?” The simple fact is that 50% of US consumers over the age of 18 are single helps drive change.  Cooking for one is no fun, cooking for two makes you blue, and cooking for a family simply must be done.   

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported last week that Americans spent $52.3 billion at restaurants and bars in March, and $49.7 billion in grocery stores—the first time grocery spending lagged restaurant/bar expenditures. Don’t look for this trend to end any time soon.

Hudson Riehle, senior vice president for the restaurant association, stated “restaurant operators are increasingly optimistic about business conditions and potential sales growth in the months ahead. About 59 percent of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months, compared to the same period in the previous year, up from 57 percent the previous month.”

Riehle’s research has found that “Millennials view dining out as a social event (i.e. a chance to connect. They prefer to eat at restaurants with a lot of choices and lower price points. They tend to favor fast food, deli food and pizza restaurants over coffee shops, high-end dining and casual dining.”

 Grocery stores and C-stores that focus on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food can reduce the amount of customer migration.  C-store are doing an exceptional job in fact garnering customers from both the grocery sector and restaurant sector according to the team at Foodservice Solutions® leveraging mix and match fresh prepared meal bundling options to garner share of stomach. The customer is on the move.  Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is the key to driving top line sale and bottom line profits.

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 marketing integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche and has been since 1991 Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Convenience Store Fresh Food is Finding Friends

Back in the day convenience store were used to fill-up the car or for a fill-in purchase at an odd hour.  Not any longer. Today, six in 10 consumers (59%) and seven in 10 of those age 18-34 (70%) say that convenience stores offer food that they feel comfortable eating. 

Foodservice sales at convenience stores increased 9.7% in 2014, according to NACS data.  The restaurant sector and grocery sectors each are feeling the effect of migrating customers according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. 

C-store are stocking and selling  more fresh and nutritious food. “Overall, 44% of Americans say that convenience stores offer nutritious items, which is a strong increase from the 30% who felt that way in 2013. In addition, 43% say that convenience stores are a place to get fresh food items” according to a Nielsen study.

Convenience stores sales of fresh fruits and vegetables (whole commodities like apples, bananas and oranges as well as fresh-cut/value-added produce like prepared salads, fruit cups and other packaged produce) increased 10.3% to $362 million in 2014, according to the Nielsen data.

“Convenience stores are increasingly becoming food markets for time-starved consumers seeking snacks, meals and grocery items that are both fast and healthy,” said Steve Loehr, vice president of operations at LaCrosse, WI-based convenience store chain Kwik Trip.

This year six in 10 American consumers (61%) say that convenience stores are offering healthier, nutritious products and serving sizes. This was the third consecutive year that a majority of Americans say that convenience stores are providing more better-for-you items according to the Nielsen report.

The grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is driving change in the evolving food landscape. Does your company need a set of Outside-Eye’s? Are you looking A Customer Ahead? 

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

McDonald’s New Packaging Sets Standard

Don’t ever discount the value of innovation or leadership in the food sector.  McDonald’s does more than just copy-cat product, packaging, and pricing.  Success does leave clues and at McDonald’s with a focus on the customer implementing Build, Measure, Learn, and Repeat leads to groundbreaking innovation.

Check out this innovative paper bag that once only served as a food carrier is now equipped with a cardboard tray.

So with one simple tearing movement by the perforation at the bottom of the bag, it can be separated from the upper part and then we can enjoy our meal in the usual manner, on a tray. 

Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of Food Marketing calls for the vertical integration of Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability, and Price.  This one product artfully incorporates all of Foodservice Solutions®

5 P’s of Food Marketing! 

McDonald’s our Grocerant Guru™  proudly salute’s you!

Check out “McDonald’s BagTray” by DDB Budapest on Vimeo.

The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/126129580

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