Penny Wise 185 Million Pounds Sterling short Real Mex not so Real or Relevant

The popular definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”  This sums the mind-set of many legacy chain restaurants operators today. (Guest Blogger Bill Cross)

The bankruptcy of Real Mex (whom the Grocerant Guru® and I offered to help years ago with their retail operation, and which my company tried to help a few years after that when I colleague came over there from another client) shows the bankruptcy of the restaurant and private equity way of thinking. Restaurants act as if the go-go-go 2000s are coming back, when consumers were eating out more than at home for the first time since records were being kept.

So that mind-set got Real Mex nearly $42 million in first lien debt, meaning it gets paid first in a bankruptcy, and $195 million in second lien debt most of which will never be paid back. I your company closing stores, are you reducing you menu, reducing your inventory, and reducing the number of managers in a store?  If so those are clues you might be on the same track as Real Mex.

Today’s food marketplace is so very different from then: EVERYONE sells food these days, and you can even get complete meals delivered to your home. Packaged foods have improved lightyears over the old TV dinners I grew up with, and better-for-you options are flooding the country. Yet many chain restaurants pretend they don’t need to compete, not just with other restaurants, and not even with other foodservice vendors, but EVERYONE. If you’re looking for success clues, that is one of them.

 What’s the answer? Don’t think about channels, or service, think about MEAL OCCASIONS. Consumers are hungry and aren’t asking themselves “should I eat fast casual, casual, fast food, white tablecloth or take out?” They don’t stand in supermarket aisles and ask themselves “do I want to buy this package of Tony Roma’s ribs or go to Tony Roma’s tonight and eat out?”

They are four different meal occasions. If you don’t get that, then you’re just repeating the same old (failing) mistakes expecting a different result. Don’t let you legacy restaurant brand practice brand protectionism of the 1980’s, 1900’s or 2000.  If you do your brand will look more like yesterday that today or tomorrow.

Looking A Customer Ahead drives top line sales and bottom line profits, year over year sales increases, and incremental customer counts.  Do you need outside eyes to drive inside results? If so contact:

Bill Cross is SVP of Business Development for Broad Street Licensing Group, the global leader in taking restaurant brands to retail. www.bslg.com or

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

Are you prepared to with the Battle for Share of Stomach or share of Dollars?

Is the Starbucks & Alibaba Partnership a Global F&B Play

Success does leave clues and when Starbucks Coffee Company and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced a deep, strategic “New Retail” partnership the team at Foodservice Solutions® took notice.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® stated that this partnership may be the most significant foodservice /technology partnership of 2018.

Johnson noted that both Starbucks and Alibaba are continually looking a customer ahead and that this partnership as it evolves will be the platform for growth that each of these companies is looking for it will become the new electricity that enables a seamless Starbucks Experience and transform the coffee industry in China.

This partnerships is more than delivery according to Johnson.  It is a relationship that will help Starbucks deliver coffee in China but most important it is a relationship about reciprocal technology sharing.  Alibaba Group plans to grow sales in the ‘West’ and Starbuck’s proprietary software might just the be tool to speed up that expansion according to Johnson.

Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Alibaba Group, believes that this partnership is again a testament to the success of our New Retail strategy. So is your company looking a customer ahead?

What is the new electricity that is driving your top line sales and bottom line profits?  Are your customer counts growing?  According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, urban clothing, grocerant consultants, coins /currency, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice retailers 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 will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Where is your new electricity?  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.

Foodservice Retailers Looking Outside the Box for Inside Results

While regular readers of this blog know that Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has been crafting new non-traditional business relationships edifying legacy brands while building foundations for star-up and regional chains; since 1991 his foodservice operations experience began as a franchise back in the late 1970’s.

Does your brand need a refresh? If your brand looks more like yesterday than today or tomorrow it just might be time that you called for outside eyes to help you drive inside results.  What is your new electricity that is driving top line sales and bottom line profits?  Are your customer counts growing? 

So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

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

Foodservice retailers 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 will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

So just what is your New Electricity? 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

Newk’s Eatery Evolving and Targeting Grocery Sector Customers

Newk’s Eatery continues to evolve blurring of the line between restaurants and grocery stores according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. Since 2009 this blog has focused on the evolving consumer and clearly Newk’s Eatery has pick up many of the clues the team at Foodservice Solutions® has left.

Today consumer continue to be time-starved consumer and are increasingly looking for grocerant niche fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat  and Heat-N-Eat meals and meal components that can be bundled into a meal for one or a perfect family meal according to Johnson. Is your brand

Newk’s Eatery recently launched of its Express Market targeting time stared consumers and grocery store customer looking for quality fresh prepared food consumer with the ability to save time. . The innovative new program has rolled out to 49 restaurants since June and will arrive at all 120-plus restaurants by September 2018.

Newk’s Express Market provides guests with a take home-friendly retail platform experience similar to the freshly prepared section of a grocery store, offering proteins and sides for complete meals or to add to items cooked at home the added value of the halo of ‘good’ that encompass Newk’s. .

The new offerings are prepared to serve multiple people and are ready to take home. Johnson believes grocerant niche mix and match meal component offering are a perfect fit for Newk’s.

Stewart Slocum, CMO of Newk’s Eatery stated “Guests coming in for lunch also want high-quality dinners at home, so we’re making it easy for them pick up the center of the plate for dinner by offering premium flame-grilled proteins ready to take home,” .. “Guests can add pasta, salad or sides for an easy meal at home.

As grocery stores have been growing their freshly prepared sections consumers have been disappoints as most grocery stores have taken ‘fresh’ to mean CPG or ‘bucket’ salads according to Johnson. While Newk’s is positioning it’s meals and meal components as fresh.

Newk’s customers can solve the What’s for Dinner questions as they enjoy their lunch. Whether looking to indulge in a fancy seafood & pasta night in for two, or to feed a family of four a wholesome meal after a busy work day, Newk’s platform is built for meal customization as consumers can mix and match meal components into the perfect family meal. Newk’s Express Market offerings include proteins:

1.       Flash-Seared Ahi Tuna Slices

2.       Two-dozen Broiled Shrimp

3.       One-pound of Sliced Grilled Petite Tenderloin Steak

4.       Two Char-Grilled Atlantic Salmon Fillets

5.       One-pound of Sliced All-Natural Chicken

The platform at Newk’s Express Market has something for every family including Newk’s “Q” Take & Bake Pizza, kettle batch soups (Tomato Basil, Loaded Potato, Lobster Crab Bisque and Broccoli Cheese), Pimiento Cheese and Chicken Salad (available in 8, 16 and 32 oz. sizes), an assortment of entrée salads and sandwiches, bottled house-made dressings, as well as four flavors of Newk’s Dozen-Layer Cake slices.

Millennials and Gen Z will like Newk’s Express market with online ordering, mobile app/skip the line options, as well as catering for groups of all sizes. How are you looking at growth, and the grocerant niche?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  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

For Foodservice Success Focus on Selling Hot Food Hot and Cold Food Cold

If success leaves clues and to does restaurants, service deli’s, convenience stores, dollar stores all selling grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food need to focus on doing two things right every single day according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  The two things are serving hot food and cold food cold. 

However for those of you thinking about entering the grocerant niche by adding fresh prepared food too your retail outlet like IKEA did or like Ralph Lauren did we have a few clues to help. First start small and take a good look at the demographics near the retail outlet you want to begin with.

Take a look around at the food outlets in your area to assess the types of fresh prepared food that is not being served. For example it can be as simple as having a sausage roll, a cheese and tomato croissant, a hot falafel wrap and a steak slice; look around sell with they are not. 

You might want to seek a broader point of differentiation like a vegetarian seeking out a hot snack, a vegetarian or vegan looking for a healthier option and a customer that perhaps may not eat pork or wants a more-filling hot treat. Always refer back to your demographic research to ensure your meeting the needs of the consumers in your trading area.

Creating food with visual appeal is important according to Johnson. Position your menu, meals, and meal components so consumers have a good view of food-to-go.  If at all possible have digital menu boards to help tell the story of you menu the portability of the menu items.

Selling hot food hot and cold food cold is much harder than most novice foodies or retailers believe. In the event you want to enter the grocerant niche our best piece of advice might just be contact a Grocerant strategic advisor the ilk of the Grocerant Guru® after all he has been doing this since 1991.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Where is your new electricity?  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.

Grocerant Fresh Prepared Food Disrupting Legacy Grocery Stores

Change is coming to your local grocery store faster than you may want it.  However the problem is it is coming much faster than your local grocery retailer wants it as well.  Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive customer acceptance and incremental adoption driving change at an ever increasing rate according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Here is but one example from Canada. Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois in food distribution and policy says consumers are becoming "obsessed with convenience". Regular readers of this blog know the ability of the consumer to save time drives convenience and fresh prepared meal components do just that.

In a recent article in Retail Insider, Sylvain Charlebois stated "The most disturbing of the recent statistics are the retail sales generated by the food sector," … "Supermarket and grocery store sales decreased 3.1%, in a single month (in Canada). Food retail sales dropped by $221 million in May." 

According to Charlebois, that's enough to force the shutdown of "almost 30 decent-sized stores and put nearly 2,000 people out of work". Charlebois continued “that food sales rose six percent at convenience stores and jumped 10 percent at specialty stores.”

The increased availability of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food in the form of meal components offered for takeout from restaurants, convenience stores, grocery deli’s and dollar stores has created a platform we call the grocerant niche one that consumer adoption has progressed from sampling to adoption creating new avenues of fresh food distribution and solutions to the daily questions What’s for Dinner according to Johnson.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us, the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaker will leave success clues for all. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

McDonald’s Coins Currency, and Craveability

Success does leave clues and franchise bucking the system is a clue that none of us should forget. It was 50 years ago that franchise Jim Delligatti invented the Big Mac at his grill in Uniontown, Pennsylvania; he just wanted to make his local customers happy.  However at the time McDonald’s corporate did not like Jim bucking the system. Today however they are celebrating 50 years of him winning a bet!  

Of course that was back in the day and fast food franchise systems were not as proactive as they are today according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. One evening during the NRA Show in Chicago our Grocerant Guru® had a very memorable dinner with Jim at Eli’s Restaurant while dinning a steaks and cheesecake.  Jim recounted the importance of focusing on the customer and pushing McDonald’s the franchisor forward and together.  It was a great evening the lesson was is as valuable today as it was then.   

Jim Delligatti understood that consumers were dynamic not static and franchise companies must be dynamic as well to maintain customer relevance according to Johnson.  Once again McDonald’s is doing just that  To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Big Mac, McDonald’s today unveiled the MacCoin, a limited edition global currency* backed by the internationally iconic Big Mac that fans across the world can get their hands on starting August 2. Customers can share, collect and redeem for a free Big Mac at participating McDonald’s restaurants in more than 50 participating countries.

Think of this the Big Mac has become such a global icon that The Economist even used the price of the Big Mac to create the Big Mac Index, an economic tool that compares the purchasing power of different international currencies year after year. This global connectivity of the Big Mac inspired the creation of the MacCoin.

More than 6.2 million MacCoins will be distributed globally in more than 50 countries while supplies last. MacCoins will be McDonalds new electricity driving top line sales and bottom line profits with edifying the brand with customer relevance fortifying the ‘halo’ consumers place on the Big Mac.

What is the new electricity that is driving your top line sales and bottom line profits?  Are your customer counts growing?  According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, urban clothing, grocerant consultants, coins /currency, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, cash-less payments, digital hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice retailers 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 will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Where is your new electricity?  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.