Publix Super Markets Inc. target’s Restaurant Catering niche for additional growth.

Is your office ready-2-eat?  Publix Super Market is unveiling a pilot online deli ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat same day ordering system in selected Florida locations.  Publix delis are filled with hot and cold ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat foods including made-2-order sandwiches, salads, rotisserie and fried chicken even deserts.  Publix goal is to garner market share from legacy restaurants chains that have well established relationships in catering local offices.

Beginning in Tampa then expanding this same day service positions Publix as a direct competitor of restaurants that offer catering packages to business and homes. The service will allow consumers to specify pick-up times will have no minimum order size and consumers can pay in the store when they pick up the food. Here is the link: www.publix.com/order, is accessible both through computers and mobile phones. Items available include: Kids deli’s platters, Fruit, Vegetable, Meat and Cheese Platters, Subs and Wraps, Sandwiches including Meal Wheel, Party Sub, The Ring Leader, Board Room Sandwich Box, Seafood and Sushi platters.  There of course is a full range of sales and side dishes including peach salsa.

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® Bing or Google Grocerants or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant Email: grocerant@q.com

Fresh Prepared Food is Empowering Consumers Choice of Retailers.

The grocerant niche comprised of fresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food continues to drive top line growth and bottom line profits in all sectors of the foodservice industry.  The ability to mix & match meal components or ingredients for a particular meal is empowering to the consumer. This niche is thriving within the Convenience store sector, Restaurant sector, Grocery/Supermarket sector, Drug store sector, and Dollar store sector.

Food Manufactures are focusing on each sector developing “restaurant quality” prepared food for the every retail sector. Consumers are finding “restaurant quality” fresh food offerings at new non-traditional points of distribution.

This is a brilliant way for retailers to extend the retail brand when current customers are migrating to fresh meal assembly and where future customers of the brand will come from. Consumer are not burdened with problems of retail food channel blurring. Channel blurring is only in the mind of the brand marketer.  Consumers want food ready-2-eat when and where they are and when they want it.

Many Co-packers of refrigerated entrees and side dishes are preparing products for quick casual restaurants and even fine dining chains.  Then they manufacture the similar product under for a different avenue of distribution i.e. grocery or convenience stores under the restaurants chain label or a private label.

Grocery store deli operators are now seeking private label fresh prepared proprietary menu items with identity for national grocery/ supermarket distribution. With sales picking up month after month in this category this will become a very successful business proposition for many a manufacturers and co-packers.

Consumers now consider Sheetz not a convenience store but a restaurant with gas.  Safeway each week positions ready-2-eat fresh prepared food in every printed ad. Walgreens in Boston,New York, Chicago, and San Francisco offers fresh prepared and Made-2-Order food or fresh prepared meal component bundling options. Success leaves clues and one clue is Grocerant Niche fresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food is a customer favorite in every retail food channel.

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Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Benihana and Olive Garden are offering Mix and Match Meal Specials.

Empowering consumer choice with traditional branded entrees’ both Benihana and Olive Garden are this month offering mix and match meal specials.  While mix and match meal components have been driving top line sales and bottom line profits within the grocerant niche for several years.  Leveraging price, service, and choice Olive Garden and Benihana draw back consumers who may have migrated to new channels or food options.

Benihana’s mix and match options are: Shrimp & Chicken for Two, a five-course feast for only $36, and Hibachi Tuna for One, five courses for just $22.  Consumers can hare “teppanyaki special of Shrimp & Chicken for Two, grilled before your eyes with mushrooms and sesame seeds. Or try Benihana’s Hibachi Tuna for One, sesame-crusted tuna steak with tomato, avocado and edamame in a white balsamic sauce. Both Chef's Specials are served with Benihana's signature onion soup, Benihana salad, a hibachi shrimp appetizer, hibachi vegetables, homemade dipping sauces, steamed rice and Japanese hot green tea” .

Olive Garden is providing customers even a wider variety of choice with a “2 for $25 Italian Dinner”.  The mix and match meal features six entrees with more than a 1,000 possible dinner combinations between the two dinners. “With a variety of entrees, appetizers and desserts to choose from, guests can customize their meals for any taste and occasion -- whether it's a weeknight dinner or a special evening for two." The marketing release reported.

The meal can consist of:” freshly baked breadsticks and a choice of unlimited garden-fresh salad or homemade soup.  Choose two entrees from: New Smoked Mozzarella Chicken,New Spaghetti with Four Cheese Meat Sauce & Meatballs, Eggplant Parmigiana, Five Cheese Ziti al Forno, Ravioli di Portabello,
Fettuccini Alfredo, then Choose two appetizers or a dessert to share.”

Success leaves clues and mix and match bundling meal components is a very smart tactic. Leveraging price, service, and choice is a recipe consumer enjoy.

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking. Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

This week 150 million Hot Dogs will be consumed in the United States.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council reports that Americans are expected to eat 150 million hot dogs this week.  In addition they say that seven billion hot dogs will be consumed in the U.S. between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Hot dogs that are ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat are simply an American food love affair that is shining bright.

Wienerschnitzel is the largest US restaurant chain that specializes in hot dogs. The next time you’re out and see one of the over 350+ Wienerschnitzel stores stop in and try a chill cheese dog with mustard and onion, wow that some good fast food!

That Hot Dog Council estimate “that Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs each year, but more are eaten in the warm weather months when the grills are fired up and hot dogs have that great barbecued taste…In fact, the Council found that major league baseball fans will consume more than 20.5 million hot dogs while enjoying games. That's enough wieners to stretch from Miami to Denver”.

Hot Dogs are the ultimate hand-held food. The grocerant niche is complemented with the inclusion of hot dogs!  Pizza Hut’s has a new hot dog pizza.  Looking for positioning assistance?  Foodservice Solutions® should be your first choice.

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

McDonalds spices up summer with Chicken.

McDonald's is always focused on the consumer. The global economy is continuing in a state of flux and the wholesale cost of beef and pork continue to rise in price.  McDonalds in an effort to maintain price, value and service equilibrium will leverage chicken this summer to drive topline growth and bottom line profits. 


Why is McDonalds on the right track?  They understand that consumers perceive chicken to be “healthier”.  Any product perceived as healthier is “better for you” creating a halo of good around the product and the company.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture believes that beef consumption my fall 2.2% while chicken consumption will rise 1.7% in 2013. Here again McDonalds is ahead of the curve.


Currently McDonalds is utilizing a Limited Time Offer to showcase new Spicy Chicken McBites. This new product is bold on price, and flavor.  This is another product with distinctive differentiation clearly an entity with identity for multiple day parts. 

Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price were incorporated when this product was developed.  Success leaves clues and following McDonalds and the consumer is another clue.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning assistance.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Restaurant consumer discontinuity can’t be avoided by discounting.

The retail food landscape is continually evolving. Consumers have grown accustom to ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food.  Today you can find ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food within every sector of the restaurant industry including Quick Service, Limited Service and Full Service.  Most important virtually all restaurants offer their food via Take-Out, Delivery, Drive Thru, or Take-Away.

Convenience Stores, Grocery Stores and Chain Drug Stores all have taken notice of the success that restaurants are having with fresh meals for Take-Out.  Concurrently Chain Drug Stores, Grocery Stores and Convenience Stores have developed and continue developing “restaurant quality” ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared meals and meal components. In most cases these are “new” offerings for these companies are creating new avenues of distribution for ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food.

Many legacy restaurant chains have utilized discounting to try to stem the tide of customer migration. This is simply put a bad idea. My friend Jeffrey Summers analyzed the numbers on discounting and here is what he found: 

If your regular gross margins are 30% and you…

…give a discount of 5% you have to increase top line sales by 14% to generate the same gross profit.

…give a discount of 10% you have to increase top line sales by 35% to generate the same gross profit.

…give a discount of 15% you have to increase top line sales by 70% to generate the same gross profit.

…give a discount of 20% you have to increase top line sales by 140% to generate the same gross profit.

…give a discount of 25% you have to increase top line sales by 360% to generate the same gross profit.

Either creating Limited Time Offers or new menu items as an entity with identity is a much better way to go.  Restaurants need to expand branded retail items in-order to maintain consumer relevance. New points of distribution have empowered choice for consumers.  A brand is an invitation. Is your brand compelling?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning assistance.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant.

Are Dollar Stores simply becoming Fast Grocery Stores?

Intel is famous for making computer chips that are faster, better and cheaper every two years.  Moore’s Law, states that the number of transistors on a chip will double approximately every two years. Consistently it continues to ring true.  Retail food consumers want food fast; they don’t like long lines or walking around in a 100, 000sq.ft.store when they need the “basics”.

Convenience stores figured that out long ago and continue to garner market share from both restaurants and grocery stores focused on speed of service.  Dollar stores are jumping in with both feet.  Family Dollar Stores added 150 food items in February, 2012 as reported Supermarket News reported. 

By the end July, 2012 Family Dollar Stores will have added an additional 250 food sku’s  (items) which will bring the total food item count to 400.  That is a lot of shelf space and a lot of food.  The test with the first 150 items went well to say the least.  Consumer like the price points on food at Dollar stores and Family Dollar obviously liked the sales and profit results.

Family Dollar has now added coolers to 700 of its stores and plans to add coolers to 700 more stores by the end August, 2012. Most of the food items found at Family Dollar stores are national brand names the ilk of Gerber baby food, Gatorade and Velveeta cheese. 

Family Dollar is but one example of food channel migration.  Every company in the Dollar stores sector can be found adding more and more food items.  Many are now adding coolers and offering fresh prepared food as well.  Success does leave clues and Dollar stores understand the consumers need for speed.

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® Bing or Google Grocerants or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant Email: grocerant@q.com