Whar's for Dinner Men, Marketing and Menus

What’s for Dinner?  Well according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® it’s time to ask dad what’s for dinner. 

Meals, menus, cooking and dinner have evolved and in 2018 we live in a world in which 80% of Millennial dads claim primary or shared grocery shopping responsibility in their households (compared to 45%in previous generations), and many are taking on cooking responsibilities as well.  

Here are seven opportunities that Katie Shanagher identified for brand marketers to think about when targeting Millennial dads:

1. If you’re a brand facing competition from lower-priced competitors. 

Millennial dads are more willing to pay more for quality than Millennial moms, who are more likely to prioritize price in their grocery purchase decisions. In our research, 40% of Millennial dads claimed “quality” was the most influential factor when deciding between multiple brands vs. only 26% of Millennial moms. The reverse was true for Millennial moms. 

2. If you’re a clean-label brand. 

While the general industry narrative is that mom is the parent most concerned about nutritional quality, when it comes to Millennial parents, our research suggests the opposite: 71% of these involved Millennial dads claimed that they “often” or “always” read ingredient labels before choosing which product to buy, versus only 53% of Millennial moms. 

3. If you’re a brand competing on the store perimeter.

We’ve all heard about Millennials migrating away from the center of the store, and perhaps the Millennial dads who cook and shop are partially to blame for this trend. Millennial dads are more likely than Millennial moms to claim they often or always stick to the edges of the store when shopping (42% vs. 28%), while moms are more likely to say they always walk up and down the aisles (70% vs. 61%).  

4. If you’re a brand that gets significant volume from in-store decision-making.

Millennial dads are more likely to be seeking or open to inspiration in-store than Millennial moms: 47% of Millennial dads claim they always or often look for meal inspiration in-store, vs. only 31% of moms. 

5. If you’re a brand that promotes kitchen creativity and fun.   

These dads don’t just look for inspiration in-store, they carry that desire for creativity and fun to the kitchen: 43% claim “fun” is a benefit of cooking at home, and 46% describe preparing meals as a creative outlet (vs. 25% and 34% respectively for moms). 

6. If you have distribution at non-traditional outlets. 

Millennial dads are much more likely than Millennial moms to shop for groceries at outlets like club and drug stores, while moms are more likely to stick to grocery and mass. 

7. If you want to grow your e-commerce business. 

Dad’s affinity for non-traditional outlets continues to online as well. Dads are more likely than moms to shop for groceries on Amazon.com (27% vs. 12%), retailer websites (26% vs. 12%), and to use grocery delivery services (19% vs. 8%). 

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

McDonald’s is Winning the Price, Value, Service Equilibrium

Gas prices at the pump continue to rise just as consumer’s paychecks carry home a little more cash from the tax rebate.  Unfortunately once again the line between foodservice sectors continues to get thinner and thinner as consumers have become ‘meal price transactional’ according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Back in 2002 in an early effort to combat customer migration from the restaurant sector to grocery stores and C-stores McDonald’s introduced its popular Dollar Menu and gave the restaurant sector a success platform to regain customer traffic and drive top line sales and bottom line profits. The simple fact is the food Price, Value, Service Equilibrium continues to evolve and reset.

Grocery store deli operations continue finding incremental day-part meal sales success as do convenience stores according to recent Grocerant ScoreCards. The success within both of those sectors has put pressure on the restaurant sector according to Johnson. 

Food industry research icon Bonnie Riggs of the NPD Group stated “Value menu traffic was up 10 percent for the first three months of 2018, while value menu sales chalked up a 13 percent gain”. ..The results lifted value menu traffic 1 percent for the fiscal year ended March 2018, reversing three consecutive years of declines, according to NPD.”

“It’s clear that major restaurant chain operators are pulling out all of the stops to get consumers to visit this year,” said Riggs, author of a new report titled “Value Wars 2.0: The Value Menu Strikes Back.”

Taco Bell, known for its low-priced food and “Dollar Cravings” value menu, appears to have an edge in the latest price war. It sold a record 53 million orders of its new $1 Nacho Fries in five weeks during the first quarter, contributing to outsized value menu sales gains, NPD said.

There is a battle for share of stomach underway within the foodservice sector according to Johnson and new non-traditional companies the ilk of IKEA, CostCo continue to garner customers with fresh prepared meals, meal components that are Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat offering with price points that are disruptive for most restaurant operators.

Are your customers becoming ‘meal price transactional’?  Do you know how to elevate your branded menu without capitulating on Price?  Does your current business model look more like yesterday than tomorrow? The team at www.FoodserviceSolutions.us can help. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Circle K & Cheetos Create New Electricity

Insights, innovation, and customer involvement via strategic partnerships create a platform of new electricity and Circle K has the right partnership to drive incremental success according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

CircleK has found its new electricity to drive top line foodservice sales and bottom line profits in its relationship with Cheetos.   Frito Lay owns the Cheetos brand and is very good at expanding its brand and brand relevance according to Johnson.  Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products and new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity, according to Johnson; partnerships specifically strategic partnerships are driving retail success today. 

Johnson stated that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

Retailers the ilk of CircleK to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  That’s exactly what CircleK is doing. That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

So when Circle K Stores and PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay's Cheetos brand joined forces to launch Sweetos Cinnamon Sugar, a Froster flavor inspired by the brand’s Sweetos cinnamon sugar puff which is was alimited-time frozen beverage flavor.

Circle K's Florida division drummed up support for the Sweetos Cinnamon Sugar flavor through a sweepstakes, which ran from March 9-23. Five $25 gift cards were awarded to consumers who entered by replying to a March 9 Facebook update from Circle K Florida explaining where they would go with a Cheetos Sweetos Froster. Thus, the platform for continued customer engagement via strategic partnerships.

CircleK  teams up with Frito-Lay regularly for exclusive product launches and promotions. In fact last year, Circle K has partnered with the manufacturer to run a campaign spotlighting rookie players and its Ruffles potato chips, as well as a "Dew Inner Circle" promo, in which shoppers earned points for each Mountain Dew or Doritos SKU purchased. Where is your new electricity?  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 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

Is Food Delivery a Retail Channel of its Own

Amazon, Grubhub, Postmates, Instarcart, the list goes on and on for many of our readers you remember the start-up’s that were just a bit too early and a bit underfunded and internet speeds were simply to slow companies the ilk of CyberSlice.com, Webvan.com, CyberMeals.com, Food.com, and EZ2Get.com and you remember that Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson was there at the beginning of most of those building the marketing foundation that is now a retail channel of its own Fresh Food Delivery.

O’ how times have changed Delivery is 'delivering' sizable gains in both visits and sales over the last five years for restaurant operators, according to a new NPD Group study on delivery. The research company said that both a 20 percent increase in delivery sales and 10 percent gain in delivery foodservice visits were buttressed largely by the growth of digital ordering, which now represent over half of all delivery visits. In short smart mobile phone ordering changed everything according to Johnson.

NPD Senior VP of Industry Relations Warren Solochek  stated "Delivery has become a need to have and no longer a nice to have in the restaurant industry,"… "Restaurants need delivery in today's environment in order to gain and maintain share.  It has become a consumer expectation." 

This is important the study found “Consumers are so accustomed to ordering delivery that they are ordering it at breakfast and lunch in addition to dinner, which historically has been the most popular daypart to order it.”

Yes, the “Growth of delivery at dinner has remained flat over the last five year and has grown at breakfast and lunch. Although digital ordering is a major contributor to the growth of foodservice delivery, using the phone to order still represents 49 percent of delivery visits.” 

Third party delivery services, like UberEats, Grubhub and DoorDash, account for much of the digital delivery growth. However, the share of digital delivery by third party services is more than double among full service restaurants than quick service outlets. NPD forecast that delivery will grow over the next five years and the growth with source to non-traditional delivery outlets and dayparts,"

Do you now how to make delivery your New Electricity to drive sales? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Subway’s Three Steps to Renew Customer Relevance

Regular readers of this blog know that there are three things Subway must do to garner top-of-mind meal relevance with consumers.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® those three things are edify Subway’s platform with branded convenient meal participation, freshness differentiation, while edifying the platform with individualization.

That said consumers migration from Subway has been due to lack of freshness innovation even more than consumer consternation with price point abandonment.  Once the industry leader with the $ 5 Footlong consumers have move on to Del Taco, Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Wendy’s we all know there is no need to keep going.  Price is an issue for sure but the key driver is a lack of freshness innovation according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards. There is a battle for Share of Stomach and Subway is on the sidelines today.

All Subway franchisee including members of NAASF must understand that Subway’s platform for success has deep roots within the franchise organization and its franchise must insist that the core of the brand be renewed with new electricity focused at edifying the brand with menu freshness including new menu items that highlight freshness and flavor.  

Chain restaurants that look more like yesterday than tomorrow are simply stifling top line growth and bottom line profits. Subway we ask just what is your new electricity?  What new meal components, meals, menu items do you have in the pipe line with a branded clear point of differentiation?  

Branded innovation is the platform for the new electricity, according to Johnson; partnerships specifically strategic partnerships are driving retail success today.  Johnson stated that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), family meals, meal components, meal kits, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing.

Retailers the ilk of Subway to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar but with a twist.  That will require brands the ilk of Subway to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or reach to Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Sneak a Peak at Panera’s Undercurrents of Customer Attraction

Success does leave clues and regular readers of this blog know that integrating the Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P’s of food marketing drives top line sales, brand awareness, and bottom line profits according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The line between retail channels has nearly vanished as it gets thinner and thinner brands must edify their relationships with consumers by extending an invitation in new non-traditional channels of distribution. Panera Bread said that its retail sales for Panera at Home’s refrigerated soups exceeded $100 million in 2017. Its retail sales grew by nearly 27 percent in 2017, according to company press releases.

Mike Bufano, Panera at Home’s senior vice president and general manager stated “Consumers are gravitating towards the perimeter of grocery stores, looking for food with our cafe-fresh taste, made with real ingredients,”…“Across categories, Panera at Home delivers on this consumer need for food that is not only 100% clean, but convenient and craveable too, from a brand they love and trust. It is a true extension of the Panera Bread brand beyond the bakery-cafe.”

It’s not a surprise to anyone that Panera’s strong growth in refrigerated soups can be attributed to the company’s commitment to 100 percent clean food, which is free from artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors and colors, according to Bufano.

Did you know that the Panera at Home portfolio, consists of approximately 100 products available at grocery retailers, supercenters and club stores nationwide. Panera at Home offers more than 15 varieties of soup, including broccoli cheddar, kale & quinoa and turkey sausage. The broccoli cheddar soup is Panera’s best-seller across its restaurants and grocery retailers, the company said.

In addition to soups, Panera at Home also includes mac & cheese, salad dressings, sliced sandwich bread and ground coffee. So we ask you what are you selling and where?  Are you ready to sell fresh prepared food in a new non-traditional, non-grocery, non-conveniences store outlet?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 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.

It’s True Gen Z and Millennials Opt Social Aspects of Dining Out over Technology

Many consumers today look at their phone first when considering What’s for Dinner according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.  That said although millennials and Gen Z love technology, younger consumers are not using it to replace human interaction, but instead use it to enhance their social experiences when dining out, according to a new study from Culinary Visions Panel's Mindful Dining Initiative.

This new study looked at 1,500 U.S. consumers ages 18 and up they were surveyed about their attitudes toward ethics-based dining and how it impacts their food choices and purchasing decisions outside the home.

Sharon Olson, executive director of Culinary Visions Panel stated "With more and more restaurants and foodservice establishments turning to technology to solve labor shortage issues, it is important to understand the role of technology in consumers' dining experiences. Our studies show younger adults, in particular, enjoy the social aspects of dining out," … "Today's younger consumers grew up with technology and their facility with it allows them to use technology to make their lives more convenient,"

The study revealed four main takeaways on consumer attitudes toward technology and human interaction:

PERSONAL TOUCH

Younger consumers like using technology to make the ordering process quick and error-free, but millennials and gen Z consumers are some of the most appreciative demographics when it comes to quality customer service and positive in-person interaction, as 64 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 said they would love to go to a restaurant where the server calls them by their name.

In contrast, 58 percent of those between the ages of 35-54 and 54 percent of those aged 55 and older said the same. The pervasiveness of technology has boosted the need for quality interaction, according to Culinary Visions Panel. As millennials and gen Z are some of the most engaged consumers of the digital world, a personal touch during away-from-home dining experiences goes a long way.

A WAY TO SOCIALIZE 

Consumers consider dining outside the home a great way to catch up with friends. Younger consumers enjoy sharing food and swapping bites and, in general, are more influenced by what their peers order than what their older counterparts order. The 2018 Mindful Dining Study found that half of consumer’s ages 18-34 said their ordering decision is influenced by what others are ordering. Only 37 percent of those between ages 35-54 and 25 percent of those aged 55 and up said the same thing. It may be a classic generational difference, but younger consumers are much more likely to use the group's preferences to shape their dining decisions.

SHARING TO SOCIALIZE

Millennial and Gen Z consumers see dining experiences as social experiences to be celebrated through sharing on social media. Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of consumers ages 18-34 said they like to take pictures to share on social media when dining with a group, while 44 percent between the ages of 35-54 and 22 percent of those 55 and up said the same. Additionally, 39 percent of those between ages 18-34 said they think about whether a restaurant is a good place for photos when going out to eat, and 38 percent said they have eaten at a restaurant before with the express purpose of sharing a photo on social media. Breaking bread is a universal experience that all humans can relate to and sharing those experiences with friends on social media is a way of furthering them — not replacing them, Culinary Visions Panel said.

QUICK CONVENIENCE 

Younger consumers may be quicker to embrace technology in foodservice because as a generation, they value quickness and convenience. Nearly half (48 percent) of those ages 18-34 prefer to use kiosks or touchscreens to order because it is quicker compared to 32 percent of those ages 35-54 and just 12 percent of those ages 55 and up. Younger consumers' ease in opting for technology when they need quickness and convenience reflects how they use technology as a tool, rather than as a default, to respond to their different dining situations and needs.

With a range of 36 percent across all three demographics, interest in using technology may be the biggest differentiating factor across generations, according to the report. However, it is not because younger consumers aren't interested in human interaction. Technology enables and facilitates younger consumers' lives, but they do not want it to replace face-to-face customer service.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.