Popeyes Stumbles with LTO’s Sales Increases Slip

Updated 10/14/2017 

Popeyes Continues to Disappoint

 Updated 10/14/2017 Once again request from Mom too go to Popeyes and get $4.00 Popcorn Chicken she saw on TV.  Once Again No Popcorn Chicken two different employees said sorry we are OUT at 11:31 AM on 10/14/2017. 

Wasted advertising dollars! Yes, however LOST my mom as a Customer for LIFE cost more than more than $4,000.  I can hear her telling her friends at church, at cards, at quilting, O’ and I might add she will be telling me every time she sees a TV ad for Popeyes that she won’t be back.   

Success does leave clues and when companies Dare to take their eyes off of the customer, no one is ever surprised when sales increases regress.  That just might be the case at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.  Within the past 6 months several of the Limited Time Offers (LTO’s) Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rollout with national advertising missed the standard of operational execution.

During three separate LTO’s this year, the staff at Foodservice Solutions® when conducting channel checks  on Advertised LTO’s by Popeyes our team was informed that the product offered was ‘Sold Out’.  Our team was persistent knowing that is was the first week of the promotion; we went back twice each week to three different locations in one ADI and all were sold out?  

The POP was up in the stores and the Ad’s kept running on TV but no product?  We wondered were franchisees upset with forced LTO offering pricing.  Dare we ask if corporate simply miss fired?  When we submitted questions to the CEO about availability, supply, TV advertising, and franchise relationships we heard nothing back.  Dare we ask if anyone has taken the eye of the customer? 

We know that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen LTO promotions helped first-quarter same-store sales increase 1.6 percent globally, but the pace of growth slowed somewhat compared with last year.  We think it might have something with product availability, marketing, messaging and respect for customers.  

The team at Foodservice Solutions® understands that with success comes growing pains. While Popeyes executives said the chain increased its domestic market share of the quick-service chicken segment to 26.3 percent, rising from 24.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015. We think that had they executed in the US consistently they could have done much better.  

The battle for share of stomach continues to expand and all retailers must be mindful that marketing, messaging, and respect for customers all must occur simultaneously. Organizational execution or lack of it cannot be justified.  Organizational execution is a brand promise that must be upheld.  

Success clue take care of your customer today. Then you can begin  Looking a Customer Ahead? Are you interested in having a Grocerant ScoreCard conducted for your retail outlets?  Contact:  Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  or Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  for more information on the booming Grocerant niche. 

Middle Class Meal Kits Target the Masses

Sure the targeting the top end of any fast growing retail foodservice sector garners lots of attention.  It’s exactly that attention that drives trial and trial drives reoccurring sales according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson.  

Peapod is an online grocery service owned by  Ahold the e-grocer first rolled out meal kits in collaboration with a branded partner” Barilla Pasta in 2014, and currently offers more than 15 recipes. Late last year, Ahold’s Giant-Carlisle also began selling meal kits in stores and to select Peapod delivery customers.”

Now Peapod has added to its meal kit line with additional branded food products including ConAgra and Campbell's. The new price competitive meal kits come with precut and premeasured ingredients just like the fresh prepared time saving top tier meal kits. In select markets Peapod customers will have more meal kit options as the retailer launches new kits esigned with ConAgra Foods and Campbell Soup Company.

These new family focused meal kits will be offered with “three new recipes include Buffalo Quinoa Chicken Skillet by Ro-Tel and One Pan Chicken Curry by Campbell's, available in Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and New York, and Zucchini Noodles with Fresh Veggie Primavera by Hunts, available in Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.”

Each of the meal kits make 4-6 servings and can be ordered any time without a subscription. Recipes rotate seasonally and include fresh produce. Many cost less than $5 per serving. Tony Stallone, VP of merchandising for Peapod, stated “Customer response to the first kits we've introduced has been phenomenal,” … “For more than 27 years Peapod has been about helping solve mealtime for families. This is the perfect extension of our expertise in food delivery, made even more exciting by our ability to work with some of the best food brands in the world to bring it to life.”

With no subscription required, larger meal kit size, and lower pricing Peapod will not only be giving Meal Kit leaders Plated, Blue Apron, and Hello Fresh a run for consumers dollars they have created a platform to garner customers from the restaurant sector as well.  

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

Grocerants Growing Foodservice Breakfast Day-Part

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Success does leave clues and when grocery deli retailers report that sales are up 14% year over year for breakfast Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® says “everyone one else will take notice and testing breakfast items.  Clearly the unintended consequence of grocerant niche lunch and dinner sales; is breakfast, and breakfast is booming.  

Sarah Schmansky, director of Nielsen’s Perishables Group stated that “Deli prepared breakfast accounted for $86.4 million in sales, up 14 percent in dollars year over year.  What will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog is that Hand Held Food is leading the way.  

Schmansky went on to say “Driving growth within the deli prepared breakfast category are breakfast sandwiches with yearly sales of about $40.2 million, up more than 14 percent from the year prior, followed by quiche at $14.3 million up 17.9%, breakfast meals/combos at $10.9 million up 17.2%, followed by omelets $ 2.2 million up 210.9%.

Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to drive customer adoption, visit frequency, incremental impulse buying according to the team at Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® has conducted over 6,150 Grocerant ScoreCards, 2,025 within the past 24 months tracking the quality and consistency of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared offering around the country and world. 

Are you looking for grocerant products that work,   systems that drive the efficiency that you looking too garner including top line sales and bottom line profits?  If so you should consider get insights from one of our our Grocerant Scorcards remember success does leave clues.  

A Mintel reported “Breakfast Restaurant Trends”   pointed out that U.S. sales of breakfast foods at restaurants and other eating places will reach $60.4 billion by 2019, up from an estimated $52.2 billion.  Breakfast is growing but so is LUNCH and DINNER.

Grocerant niche success is about convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization and Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® has been driving success within the Grocerant niche longer than any other company in the world.  Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us for ideations on how your brand or product can find success within the grocerant niche.