BJ’s Restaurants Can Grow Value with Subscriptions

 

Remember the old American Express advertisement membership has its privileges? Well, being a member of American Express (and “member” was indeed the term) used to mean something. Carrying that green card with the Roman centurion in your wallet was a sign of success, a sign of independence, proof that you were going somewhere. I had one of those cards, and bought into the brand message, did you?

So, American Express “Membership has its privileges” today seems to have forgotten its cause and become just another company selling credit-card services.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® ask is you brand message relevant today?

When BJ’s Restaurants started testing a new beer subscription program at eight units in northern California, for a $30 upfront fee, enrollees in the club are entitled to a series of perks on a two-month cycle. Johnson believes the value proposition combined with first mover in the space messaging could be a very valuable tool in BJ’s marketing tool kit.

BJ’s with 208-units says the foods and beverages included in those paybacks are worth $75 a la carte and include access to small-batch brews that are available only to members. The every-other-month deliverables include a 750 mL bottle and four 16-ounce cans of the small-batch brews, which are custom-crafted by BJ’s brewmaster, Alex Puchner. So, the beverages are provided for to-go service. Here is what else they received:

1.       Members were also entitled to a large deep-dish pizza during the two-month cycle at no extra cost, but exclusively for takeout. They can also refill their growlers for $5 a pop at any time, but only for to go, and only one per visit. 

2.       If they opt to dine on-premise, members are treated to a Pazookie dessert and appetizer, one of each over the two-month cycle. They can also upgrade any 16-ounce draft to a 20-ounce serving at no extra charge.

3.       All members are automatically enrolled in BJ’s frequent-guest program and are entitled to $10 in credit for every $100 they spend.

4.       Founding members receive the added perks of a 750 ml. bottle of Imperial White Ale, a popular premium brew; a pint glass for at-home use; and either a 64-ounce growler or a six pack of BJ’s house beer, a proprietary brew.

BJ’s CEO Greg Trojan told financial analysts, “With the most encouraging data point being the high level of engagement of members once they sign up. The level of activity around the member benefits is a great indication of future word-of-mouth subscriber increases, minimization of subscriber defections and ultimately, the program’s ability to drive in-restaurant frequency.”

This program can be a great marketing tool when revised to re-introduce the joys of dinning inside once again.  While many fast-food outlets have begun offing subscription programs for unlimited coffee for takeout or via the drive-thru.  The real value moving forward just might be expanding the “membership has its privileges” inside.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

In 2021 Fish is In

 

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has written a lot about the ‘halo’ of better for you packaging as regular readers of this blog know 2021 is the year chain restaurants are focusing on the Me too We Movement.

At the intersection of the Me too We Movement and consumers eating patterns Johnson believes 2021 that the ‘halo’ of better for you will extend to both fish, and seafood as consumers look to extend and expand their ‘halo’ of better for you.

Recent reports say that “eating fish can provide powerful advantages for the heart and brain, yet Americans eat less than half of the 26 pounds per year that experts recommend. By contrast, Americans buy seven times more chicken and beef annually than fish.”

So, the question is; why don’t Americans eat more fish?  Is it price? Is it freshness? Is it a lack of cooking skill-set? Is it smell? Is it there is simply not enough seafood?  Well, more seafood could be made available for American consumers from global ocean sources given that at least 60% of seafood in the US is imported.

Research conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries also indicates slightly more domestic wild-caught fish can be harvested. The US aquaculture sector, has the capacity to significantly increase.

What is the ‘halo’ Effect

1.       Fish is rich in lean protein and long chain omega-3 fatty acids, fish provides robust nutritional benefits that can help ward off chronic disease, boost immunity and reduce inflammation in the body.

2.       Seafood provides your body with critical omega-3 fats and minerals, like selenium, zinc, iron and iodine. It also provides vitamins B12 and D that fend off heart disease, among other benefits.

3.       Fish provides such positive benefits for the body that recent USDA Dietary Guidelines offer guidance specific to pregnant women and children based on the finding that seafood consumption leads to cognitive improvement in children.

4.       Research shows that integrating seafood into a diet as a way to prevent coronary disease can lead to a potential annual health care savings of US$12.7 billion.

5.       Seafood, as a protein, has a relatively low greenhouse gas production. This benefit is heightened when analyzing the many species that offer both high nutrient density and low greenhouse gas production.

Following a Plan with Facts

1.       The 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines suggest that Americans eat 26 pounds of seafood each year. The recommended amount would ideally provide 250 mg per day of the important omega-3 fats.

2.       Yet because of how American consumers purchase seafood, this provides them with, on average, only 38% of the recommended daily omega-3's.

3.       Many of the most popular seafoods purchased by consumers are relatively low in omega-3’s, such as shrimp, the most popular seafood in the US, comprising nearly 30% of annual fish sales.

4.       Considering the 10 species that make up 85% of fish available for Americans to buy in restaurants and markets, only salmon, the second most popular seafood item, has relatively high levels of omega-3’s.

5.       There are many species of fish high in omega-3’s that are not regularly purchased or eaten, such as anchovies, herring and sardines.

6.       People can replace eating fish by taking supplements or eating other foods, such as eggs that contain omega-3’s, to help overcome this deficiency.

7.       However, research shows that eating fish itself is better than supplements, given that a fish filet has a full complement of fats, vitamins, minerals and other supporting molecules.

Are you helping consumers who are at the intersection of the Me too We Movement and consumers eating patterns?  

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 us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

2021 Top 10 Grocerant Grab-N-Go Trends

 

Convenience Stores, Dollar Stores, Service Deli’s, Coffee Drive-Thru’s, and Restaurants all have empowered consumers to choose them over their competitors with success in 2020, with both new CPG offerings, and fresh prepared grocerant niche food, according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

In new research from the team at Foodservice Solutions found the following 10 trends are most likely to have the greatest impact within the foodservice category 2021:

1. Sustainable Plant Based Menu & Side Items will Highlight 2021

The shift to healthy eating continues with breeze in like a warm wind in the summer. This year Convenience Stores, Dollar Stores, Service Deli’s, Coffee Drive-Thru’s, and Restaurants will introduce bold flavor, price favorable entrees and side items. Bold Flavors will the top driver for away-from-home purchases.

2. Mix & Match Meal Bundling Customization

Dollar stores will drive down entrée prices with a full range of mix & match affordable options slowing the growth at Fast Food outlets and C-stores. Price with the perceived drive but range of offerings and allow for more consumer customization.

3. Marketing Matters

Daypart dynamics will drive limited-time offers (LTOs) in every sector of retail foodservice as consumers seek to eat out once again.  In 2021 the foodservice competition (marketing messaging) will focus more on daypart than menu item.

4. McDonald’s Global Menu and Copy-Cats

McDonald’s proven global ethnic items such as egg rolls, empanadas and sushi are craveable and will be an example to all brands to expand flavors and rollout existing international successful menu items into the U.S. Adding global flavors to ubiquitous items is another way to add a taste of the world and increase variety. 

5. Branding the Impulse Menu Buy 

Prepared food purchases are frequently a planned purchase among 59% of shoppers, while 41% of shoppers said they buy prepared foods on impulse. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food buys with 79% of respondents making purchases for that meal, while lunch comes in at 77% and breakfast at 62%.

6. Grocerant: Fresh Prepared

Five Gallon buckets of 21-day shelf-life product won’t sell in the service deli. That kind of food just won’t fly in 2021, as consumers are looking for fresh food and bold flavors. Grocerant niche mix and match bunding of baked goods, fruit, veggies, salads, and dairy items will.

7. Pizza Bundling at C-stores

Delivery of fresh pizza for dinner will continue to drive C-store foodservice sales.  In 2021 the bundling of Milk, Eggs, Bread, Coffee and Ice Cream will be all it takes to garner customer from both the restaurant sector and the grocery store sector.  

8. Indulgent Snacking

Mini-meals driven by full flavored single item the ilk of pint of rich dairy free ice cream, ¾ pound of Pulled Pork, or single serve mac-n- cheese. For those buying dinner for one.

9. Technology 

45% of all restaurant meals are eaten at home. It’s technology via an app or online ordering and delivery that will continue to drive top line sale and bottom-line profits in 2021.

10. Dinner Diner Drama

The drama will unfold in 2021 when we see just who is cooking dinner. Cook from scratch or buy grocerant niche fresh prepared food. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food buys with 79% of respondents making purchases for that meal, while lunch comes in at 77% and breakfast at 62%.

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions FIVE P’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.

Battle for Share of Stomach 

Still Working from Home Schlotzsky’s has you Covered

 

When working from home what are you doing for lunch? Are you skipping lunch? Cooking Lunch, or are you going out to lunch?  You just might think that lunch daypart has gotten lost in the shuffle between booked Zoom meetings, phone call and emails.   According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® its time to ‘look a customer a head’ and invite them into a comfort zone that is familiar, comfortable, and profitable.

Back in the day, (pre-pandemic), lunch could be the highlight of the workday for some employees, a networking event or b a sales call. COVID-19 has upended the mid-day daypart.

Well, Schlotzsky’s hopes to get people excited about lunch again with its new “Work From Home Lunch Upgrade” campaign. The idea came out of a survey the fast-casual chain conducted with more than 1,000 American adults.

The survey data showed that 50% of remote workers don't look forward to lunch as much as they did when working at the office, and 52% reported they are running out of ideas for what to eat while working from home. Thirty-one percent said their WFH lunches are 'nothing to brag about' and 36% felt their mother would be ashamed if she knew what they ate for lunch most days.

Newly remote workers also are finding it tough to carve out time for a lunch break, with 37% saying they eat lunch while working, often scrounging for leftovers. The top reasons they’re not taking a break? Too much work to do (42%) and juggling household responsibilities with work (34%).

Schlotzsky’s campaign aims to give away 5,000 free lunches and the chance to dine virtually with Brian Baumgartner, known for playing Kevin Malone on the sitcom “The Office.” Now that a familiar face with a new twist sure to garner the attention of consumers according to Johnson.

Customers could enter by posting an image of their embarrassing work-from-home lunch on Twitter to @schlotzskys with the hashtag #wfhlunchupgrade. The chain will DM back a promo code to redeem a free lunch by ordering from the Schlotzsky’s app. Ten entrants will win the virtual lunch with Baumgartner.

Additionally, every entry triggers a donation by Schlotzsky’s to Feeding Texas, one of the state’s anti-hunger organizations. Up to 5,000 meals will be donated.

With many in the workforce still forced to work-from-home, you should be looking a customer ahead, and finding your customer comfort zone. Schlotzsky’s goal is to reignite excitement around lunch, the chain no doubt hopes to re-engage customers and recoup some business. Do you want to do the same?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Technomic Concedes Grocerant Leadership for Magazine Platform

 

When “Winsight, LLC, the parent company of Restaurant Business Daily and Restaurant Business magazine, announced that it had acquired Technomic, the one-time leading provider of primary and secondary market information and advisory services to the food industry. The team at Foodservice Solutions® knew that it had an opening to garner customers looking for food facts not media headlines.

Today, the Team at Foodservice Solutions® has a coveted leadership role in social media as well will well over 380,000+ followers on LinkedIn alone. While Technomic founder, Ron Paul, was a mentor to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, he was also the inspiration for much of what Johnson has accomplished making Foodservice Solutions®, the go-to source for food and foodservice industry insights and strategic advice on Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food.

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® was proud to announce that Technomic had edified one of our key industry findings back in the day.  Our Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson presented his grocerant niche 2014 research and key findings in 2015 here is a link to one of the presentations. Grocerant growth is driven in large part by consumers ability to save time.   

When Technomic found that “The number one takeout driver for millennials: speed of service. Sixty-seven percent of millennials name speed as the top reason they choose a restaurant for takeout and delivery, according to Technomic’s Generational Consumer Trends Report.  

 

There was no one on Foodservice Solutions® team was surprised by the Technomic findings.  Consumer’s adoption of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food has been growing steadily for years and in 2016 it is also getting much needed attention from many different legacy industry research firms jumping in with both feet. Welcome to our world.    

 

Restaurants, Grocery stores, and Convenience stores have grown their business on carry-out, drive-thru, and pre-ordered Take-Away fresh food.  More important there is no end in sight as Baby Boomers age they have begun migration to all avenues of fresh food distribution for Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food joining the millennials and their younger Gen Z counterparts who consider it second nature eat grocerant niche food.  

 

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® or for a Grocerant Scorecard visithttp://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  Email: Steve@FoodserviceSoltuions.us  

Battle for Share of Stomach

Casey’s General Stores Pizza Party to Drive Growth

 

Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast is the Achilles’ heel of the convenience store sectors grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food sales according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

When consumers are working at home there is no need to stop and get gas, coffee, a breakfast bakery snack, or breakfast sandwich according to Johnson, who explains that this is a short-term problem not a long-term view of the future specifically within the convenience store sector.

There was some good news at Casey’s General Store’ as they posted  an increase of 5.1 percent in total inside sales for its latest reported quarter, compared to the same time period a year ago.  That said, total prepared food and fountain sales at Casey's convenience stores were down 3 percent to $289 million during the second quarter of its 2021 fiscal year. Same-store sales in the category were down 3.6 percent.

Casey’s President and CEO Darren Rebelez stated, that Casey's saw sequential sales improve by 620 basis points vs. the first quarter of its fiscal year. Margins also improved sequentially.

Rebelez continued, "That being said, this area of our business continues to be the one most impacted by lower guest counts from the pandemic, especially in the morning daypart for many of our guests continue to work from home or deal with virtual schooling arrangements, …Bakery and dispensed beverages, especially coffee, are the segments being most adversely impacted, although both showed volume improvements vs. the first quarter.”

Looking a customer ahead, the most difficult daypart for convenience store foodservice to grow has traditional been dinner and evenings. So, it’s important to take note of the fact that Casey's pizza program is seeing sales tick up. According Rebelez, whole pie units were up 17 percent in Q2 compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2020, driven in part by Casey's digital push.

Rebelez noted "Digital sales were up 127 percent and make up over 50 percent of total whole pie orders,". Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food have been the key driver of customer migration from restaurants to convenience stores for the past 14 years according to Johnson. Dinner once the Achilles’ heel of the industry is now a bright light into what the future  grocerant niche fresh prepared food can do for not only Casey’s but the convenience store sector.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information.