Channel Blurring: evolving retail Food channels not consumer discontinuity drive new food product sales.

New food products, valued distribution channels and consumers willing to experiment too find real world solutions. Whole Foods, Wegmans, HEB, Central Market, Safeway, Kroger, Walgreens, 7 Eleven, Wawa, Bob Evans, Shari’s and Boston Market are all now selling ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared food.

Restaurant chains, Drug Store chains, Convenience Stores and legacy grocery stores are all utilizing Foodservice Solutions 5 P’s of grocerant fresh prepared food marketing; Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price; attracting new retail food customers.

7 Eleven is now testing whole roasted Chicken in some stores, pushing into traditional grocery stores territory. Wawa Wawa’s is selling frozen Cappuccino, both Mocha and Carmel flavored along with Strawberry-Banana, Mango Smoothies pushing in to restaurant and coffee niche territory. Walgreens is now selling fresh fruit, eggs and testing 10 new fresh prepared ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food items this fall. I could go on and on, you get the picture.

Consumers are dynamic not static, during these uncertain economic times the consumer is not giving up on flavor, texture, food product sampling. What they are doing is discovering opportunity within traditional avenues of distribution with new food packaging, new food product placement, new food portioning and competitive pricing all allowing the consumer to choose while simplifying their lives.

No sector of the retail food industry can rest on what they have done. Legacy brand protectionism tactics simply are outdated and will not work this time around. It not about reinventing your brand. It is simply evolving your brand with the consumer. Success does leave clues and following the consumer is clue number one.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in consulting within the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

Private Equity firms more flop than flip in the chain restaurant sector.

A Danish Philosopher once said: “Life can be understood by looking backward, but must be lived by looking forward.”

It’s clear that number crunching accounts who once would buy / invest in a chain restaurant for two or three years, fund additional new stores then sell would reap large returns. From the late 70’s 80’s and well into the 1990’s it seemed a text book formula for success.

Companies the with the ilk of: Apollo Management, Bain Capital, Farallon Capital Management LLC. Newport Fidelity Holdings, Centre Partners Management LLC and Sun Capital I could go on and on. Had success, some a few I might add still do.

Loaded with MBA’s from tier one schools, investors were lining up to either join or start their own restaurant hedge fund. Crunching the numbers and focused on operational efficiency it looked as if that formula would work forever. One problem the customer moved.

When the economy turned restaurant companies focused on numbers only and operational efficiency stopped growing, shed units, lost per-store sales. The value of the original investment in fact in many cases began to shrink. Rather than flipping the chain for a profit, many hedge funds found it was required to inject additional cash! What was worst they could not sell some of the chains. That was not part of the plan!

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dominos Pizza and Five Guy’s Burgers, each with a focus on the customer and with bold leadership bucked the trend. They opened new units, grew both the top and bottom line. If success leaves clues marketing, positioning with a focus on the consumer while evolving your brand just might be key to future success.

Full service, casual and quick casual restaurants can incorporate success attributes of the 5 P’s of food marketing. Hedge Funds might want to utilize Foodservice Solutions and its 5 P’s of grocerant fresh prepared food marketing; Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price with a consumer focus with your next steps.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in consulting within the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

Foodservice Solutions most requested articles written by Steven Johnson.

Below please find links to the most requested articles written by Steven Johnson grocerant guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions a retail foodservice consultancy.

http://www.foodservice.com/articles/show.cfm?contentid=4112&title=Restaurant Consumer Discontinuity

http://www.foodservice.com/articles/show.cfm?contentid=11328&title=Legacy retail foodservice operators, why are many stuck in the middle without direction?

http://www.foodservice.com/articles/show.cfm?contentid=7513&title=Convenience store sector: the stage is set for consolidation in 2010.

http://www.foodservice.com/articles/show.cfm?contentid=5512&title=Roll, Roll, Roll, Away Roller Grill!

http://www.foodservice.com/blogs/show.cfm?contentid=5248&title=Foodservice visceral attractiveness equals contemporary consumer relevance.

http://www.foodservice.com/articles/show.cfm?contentid=5640&title=Private label prepared Ready-to-eat and Ready-to-heat meals may have a new global leader.

http://www.foodservice.com/blogs/show.cfm?contentid=14231&title=The frozen “Food Court” is the new restaurant real estate play!

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in consulting within the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

2 Million reasons meal occasion’s migration is evolving: the consumer!

Dynamic new avenues of distribution are evolving for Retail Foodservice including Restaurants, C-stores Durg Stores, mobile trucks, and grocery fresh prepared ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food.

Planned but not expected Baron Concors, chief information officer for Dallas based Pizza Hut reveled that its year old iPhone app has “generated up to 7 million in sales”. Concors continued “I talk to senior-level retail people, and I’m shocked when I hear them say they think it’s a fad that’s going to pass,” Concors said of smartphone applications. “It’s no longer going to be a cool thing to have a mobile app. It’s going to be a customer expectation.” There have been about 2 million downloads of Pizza Hut’s iPhone app.

On August 6th 2010 our blog: Can you count the Starbucks on Route 66 discussed new avenues of distribution. I have fielded calls since from C-level restaurant and convenience stores professionals asking if their customer has moved. Wow, I did not need to answer. The questions is where has there brand moved in the past three years. Many simply are blaming revenue loss on our economic times. Hogwash!

Plenty of brands are growing; share of stomach. Yes, share of stomach is being redistributed. The winners include chain restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores and drug stores with emphasis on the ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat grocerant niche. If your brand is not growing it is dying. Mobile app’s are just one tactic of a successful strategy in food retailing today.

Costco has its way, the mob scene taking place at its cavernous stores will soon be on the move -- to the oversized mall spaces known as "anchor" positions, which have long been the turf of big-box retailers and department stores is seeking locations within MALLS. Where are your customers?

Grocerant program assessments available; since 1991 Foodservice Solutions food industry consultants of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

Fresh prepared grocerant food drives success within the Convenience Store sector.

Regional successful can be found in fresh prepared food selling at convenience stores. Wawa has announced that they are entering the Florida Market early in 2011. While Sheetz continues on it’s expansion drive south and east. Both of these chains continue to thrive and drive sale utilizing customer focused meal occasion fresh prepared and portable food.

Casey’s General Stores, Inc stock continues to rise on takeover speculation, but the stock price is higher than the offer by Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. The reason stated first for the take over offer was the outstanding job that Casey’s was doing driving top line sales with fresh prepared food ala the grocerant niche. The team at Casey’s is doing a very good job! Casey’s is building top line sales and bottom line profits while increasing customer loyalty with ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared food.

7 Eleven the largest convenience store chain is even more impressive. They were “among the prominent brands featured on Inc. magazine's fourth annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies”. They are the largest convenience store company and listed as one of the fastest growing; that is extremely difficult to accomplish! What are the drivers for 7 Eleven? Grocerant Fresh prepared food and solid consistent leadership.

Restaurants, grocery stores and drug stores all must revisit brand positioning relevance with this new intense drive and focus on share of stomach from the convenience store sector. Utilizing the 5 P’s of grocerant fresh prepared food marketing; Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price with a consumer focus, consumers and companies can both win.

Grocerant program assessments available; since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

NPD’s Bonnie Riggs just can’t quite say it! The Grocerant niche is booming!

Trapped in a cycle of client obligations and legacy metric’s NPD’s Bonnie Riggs author of “A Look into the Future of Foodservice” reveals that “visits to U.S. restaurants are forecasted to grow less than one percent a year over the next decade.

That is slower than the 1.1 percent of growth projected in the U.S. population. Compound that with an aging population visiting restaurants less frequently creates an unsettling view for the growth and profitability of many a restaurant chains according to Riggs and NPD.

However: the ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared grocerant food niche is evolving into the power sector of retail foodservice. The grocerant niche focused on meal occasions that complement multiple demographic sectors. That has this year alone attracted companies the likes of Walgreens, 7 Eleven, and is reenergizing Boston Market. The grocerant niche is comprised of mostly restaurants, then grocery stores, C-stores, now drug stores.

Consumers are dynamic not static, new metrics of consumer food patterns understand and properly evaluate opportunity today and tomorrow. The grocerant niche is filled with restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, drug stores each utilizing new metric’s to develop consumer focused opportunity for tomorrow, each building customer frequency, loyalty and top line sales. Don’t let your brand get trapped in the past! Don’t get trapped into practicing brand protectionism while your consumer is moving.

Today each generation is focused on food that is fast, bold flavored, fun, and portable to reflect their lifestyle of immediate satisfaction albeit, for home or while on the go. Meal occasions today simply are different than they were 10 years ago. Understanding the mind set of the meal occasion will assist in setting the future course for restaurants, convenience stores, mobile trucks, drug store and supermarkets foodservice success.

Grocerant program assessments available; since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants

Portable, Fresh Prepared Food, Mix and Match Meal components drive top line sales.

America continues to be a global food melting pot. Our heritage as a country of immigrants sharing a harvest meal we now call Thanksgiving, (note we now have designated holiday of the same name). Mixing and matching food components is simply second nature in America.

As long as multi- generational family’s gather for meals together, the demand for more divergent flavors will continue to permeate. Grocerant style food offerings allow for increased family integration, understanding and acceptance.

Understanding the unique balance between palate, price, pleasure and the consumer’s drive for qualitative distinctive differentiated new food consumables places me in a select industry grouping. The food value proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blended into something with a twist.

In industry speak, differentiated does not mean different to the consumer it means familiar. That is where the Grocerant niche falls, it is consumer inspired, component driven and flavor familiar.

Understanding, creating or identifying distinctive differentiated food consumable’s as an entity with identity by day part in an area we at Foodservice Solutions excel. Outside eyes can bring new light and assist in your pace of concept growth, redevelopment and deployment of new products. Grocerant specialist can work with you to identify, create or place distinctive differentiated food consumables.

Grocerant program assessments available; since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson or BING / GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants