What’s for dinner? Yes, the age-old question has a new
set of answers. One of them is the questions
have evolved around where do we get dinner in stead of simply What’s for Dinner.
Let’s look at just some of the reason Foxtrot Market is looking a customer
ahead with grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.
- Recent Grocerant ScoreCards found 81.1% of
consumers don’t know what’s for dinner at Noon, and 61.1 don’t know what’
s for dinner at 4PM %.
- Roughly 63.7% of consumers purchase prepared food items from
a retail location at least three times a month.
- 79.6% all
dinners have at least 1 grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meal
component and 66.6% have two meal components.
- When asked if they wanted
to cook dinner from scratch or assemble dinner from fresh meal components
91.3 % of Gen Z chose assemble from Fresh Prepared Meal Components and
Millennials 83.4% chose meal components.
- Seventy-three percent of retail prepared food purchases are
taken to go
- Prepared food purchases are frequently a planned
purchase among 61.2% of shoppers, while 40.9% of shoppers said they buy
prepared foods on impulse. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food
buys with 81.7% of respondents making purchases for that meal, while
lunch comes in at 76.9% and breakfast at 61.4%.
- 57.8% of consumers would like to add Alcohol to
a dinner order
IN case you did not know, Foxtrot Market
uses a hybrid e-commerce and physical store with potential for a greater
foodservice business. When recently hired President and Chief Financial Officer
Liz Williams worked a shift at one location, she noted just how much the
upscale convenience store chain fulfills customers' food and beverage wants and
needs.
President and Chief Financial Officer Liz
Williams in a recent interview with Progressive Grocer, "We have a lot of
data on who our customers are, but this was an affirmation of how diverse our
customer base really is and how we play throughout the day. I got to see
everyone come in, from morning coffee and breakfast tacos to prepared salads
for lunch to a smoothie in the middle of the day and, later, drinks to take
down to the lake," …"It also showed the mix of retail, restaurant and
technology — a lot of orders came in for delivery through the app and mobile."
Retooling its look forward Foxtrot's new ambitious
expansion path includes the planned opening of 50 stores within the next two
years. They are expected to open in the retailer's hometown of Chicago as well
as newer markets in the Washington, D.C., area and parts of Texas and
Massachusetts.
Remember that in January, Foxtrot
announced $100
million in new Series C funding led by D1
Capital Partners. Foxtrot founders Mike La Vitola and Taylor Bloom tapped
Williams to take the company to its next level of growth. Formerly the CEO of
hair styling salon chain Drybar and CFO at Taco Bell, Williams will leverage
her background while overseeing several functions, including operations,
finance, strategy, real estate, human resources, supply chain and growth.
Williams continued, "Mike and Taylor
have this amazing vision and built a terrific brand. We now need to scale and
go to the next level of operational excellence to put consistent operations in
place," …. "I have a lot of that experience, certainly from prior
roles where I have scaled brands, and I have worked in retail and restaurant
businesses to operationalize and put standards, systems and processes in place.”
"I'm excited to bring that together
with the development muscle at Foxtrot and working with the team to target
which markets we want to go to and thinking about how we do that,"….
"We are putting a lot of the groundwork in place so we operate the same in
Austin and Chicago." She continued.
According to Williams, the Foxtrot model
works well in neighborhoods with high foot traffic as well as densely operated
urban areas.
Williams and her team will also emphasize
the expansion of Foxtrot's prepared foods program. Despite the company's start
as an e-commerce business, the addition of more physical stores and foodservice
offerings reflects a consumer need in an era shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic
and, more recently, inflation.
"We have a model that our stores are
supported by commissaries that make a lot of our food from scratch. It's a
fabulous way to deliver freshly prepared foods at an affordable price and that
are really craveable and delicious," she said.
Right on target, according to Johnson, is
looking at the current succesful items and the opportunity to provide more meal
solutions, Foxtrot is rolling out a new dinner menu within the next month. The
company is targeting the dinner occasion with offerings such as grilled chicken
breast, roasted salmon, and whitefish dip, which Williams noted hold appeal
even as consumers are wary of escalating inflation.
"I think we are at a really nice
price point on prepared foods. We are cheaper than some of the casual dining
(restaurants) and are offering something that is more freshly prepared than
quick service." She noted.
Technology, of course, Foxtrot stores
offer a dedicated in-store pickup area for digital orders as well as an in-store
café. A grocery section features everyday basics in addition to several items
from niche and startup brands, along with Foxtrot's own store brand.
At the present time Foxtrot operates 21 retail locations in Chicago,
Dallas, and Washington, D.C. The retailer offers 30-minute delivery through the
Foxtrot app and five-minute pickup in addition to a collection of curated goods
and gift boxes available nationwide via its national shipping site.
Invite Foodservice
Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or
placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®. Since 1991 Foodservice
Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the
Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869
