Is your Food Marketing Calander Ready for 2024

 

If you have just a few holes in your restaurant, convenience stores or bodega food marketing Calander or if you have been running behind and have not started. Here are some ideations and according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® “you might want to look at this list of ideations from the restaurantnews.com just in case one of your own ides does not work as planned.

To start with; January is Hot Tea Month, Oatmeal Month and National Blood Donor Month.

“January also kicks off with National Buffet Day and Buffet Week. Special food days for menu marketing include days celebrating Apricots, Beans, Bittersweet Chocolate, Blonde Brownies, Blueberry Pancakes, Buttercrunch, Cheese, Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Corn Chips, Creampuffs, Croissants, English Toffee, Hot and Spicy Foods, Marzipan, Milk, Pastrami, Peach Melba, Peanut Brittle, Peanut Butter, Pie, Popcorn, Rhubarb, Shortbread, Spaghetti, Strawberry Ice Cream, Tempura and Whip Cream.

For beverage marketing, warm your guests up with something special on Hot Buttered Rum Day, Hot Toddy Day, Irish Coffee Day and Bloody Mary Day.

Want to Build a Larger 

Share of Stomach?

Marketing Matters

For social media and offline marketing, the following days offer up fun and unique opportunities: Backward Day, Compliment Day, Cuddle Up Day, Ditch New Years Resolutions Day, Dress Up Your Pet Day, Fruitcake Toss Day, Global Belly Laugh Day, Hat Day, Hug Day, Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, Kazoo Day, Make Your Dream Come True Day, Opposite Day, Puzzle Day, Rubber Duckie Day, Science Fiction Day, Sweatpants Day, Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day, Trivia Day and Winnie the Pooh Day.

Also, whether a restaurant owner or guest, be sure to show your appreciation this month by celebrating and honoring Be Kind to Food Servers Month and National Thank You Month.

Here’s your Restaurant Marketing Calendar for January:

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Be Kind To Food Servers Month
National Hot Tea Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Slow Cooking Month
National Soup Month
National Blood Donor Month
National Thank You Month

1 – New Year’s Day
1 – Bloody Mary Day
1 – Commitment Day
2 – National Buffet Day
2 – National Cream Puff Day
2 – National Science Fiction Day
2 – Motivation and Inspiration Day
3 – National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
3 – National Fruitcake Toss Day
4 – National Spaghetti Day
4 – National Trivia Day
5 – National Whipped Cream Day
5 – National Bird Day
6 – National Bean Day
6 – National Shortbread Day
6 – Apple Tree Day
6 – Cuddle Up Day
7 – National Tempura Day
8 – National English Toffee Day
8 – Clean Off Your Desk Day
8 – Argyle Day
9 – National Apricot Day
9 – National Cassoulet Day
10 – National Bittersweet Chocolate Day
11 – National Hot Toddy Day
11 – National Milk Day
12 – National Marzipan Day
13 – National Peach Melba Day
13 – National Rubber Duckie Day
13 – Make Your Dream Come True Day
14 – National Hot Pastrami Day
14 – Dress Up Your Pet Day
15 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
15 – National Strawberry Ice Cream Day
15 – National Hat Day
16 – National Fig Newton Day
16 – International Hot And Spicy Food Day
16 – National Nothing Day
16 – Appreciate A Dragon Day
17 – National Hot Buttered Rum Day
17 – Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day
18 – Winnie The Pooh Day
19 – National Popcorn Day
20 – National Cheese Lovers Day
20 – National Buttercrunch Day
20 – Disc Jockey Day
21 – National Granola Bar Day
21 – National Hug Day
21 – Squirrel Appreciation Day
21 – International Sweatpants Day
22 – National Blonde Brownie Day
22 – Celebration Of Life Day
23 – National Pie Day
23 – National Rhubarb Day
24 – National Peanut Butter Day
24 – Global Belly Laugh Day
24 – Beer Can Appreciation Day
24 – Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day
25 – National Irish Coffee Day
25 – Opposite Day
26 – National Peanut Brittle Day
26 – National Spouses Day
27 – National Chocolate Cake Day
27 – Punch The Clock Day
28 – National Blueberry Pancake Day
28 – National Kazoo Day
29 – National Corn Chip Day
29 – Curmudgeons Day
29 – International Puzzle Day
30 – National Croissant Day
31 – Backward Day
31 – Inspire Your Heart with Art Day

Need help generating some buzz for your restaurant marketing efforts? RestaurantNews.com offers an affordable, dependable, effective outlet for your restaurant news.”

Consider visiting  http://www.restaurantnews.com/press-release/.

Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® 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: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Consumers Spiced it up in 2023

 

All food retailers know what their current customers bought from them in 2023.  However, have you wondered just what your customers were buying from your competitors when they were not buying from you?  Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® suggest that you read what recent Grubhub report found consumers were buying from them on their platform.  It’s a snapshot of Americans’ eating and drinking habits as seen through their orders on the platform

In case you did not know, 2022 was tagged “the year of the burrito,” this past year reflected how diners stepped out of their comfort zones and broke with convention. Grubhub characterizes 2023 as “doing it for the vibes.”  Here we go, read on:

“Grubhub analyzed millions of takeout and delivery orders from diners, crunching the data to pinpoint overarching trends as well as specific flavors and ingredients. According to the report, 2023 was all about self-expression, with diners embracing customizations and unlikely food pairings.

Here are some of the platform’s top findings or “vibes.”

• We added a little bit of … spice. Classic favorites like Sriracha were added to orders over 91,000 times, and over 53 million items were ordered with added spice. Condiments such as chipotle sauce and jalapeno cream sauce rose in popularity.

Spicy potato soft tacos, spicy chicken sandwiches, spicy tuna roll, hot and sour soup and drunken noodles were the top five fiery dishes recorded by Grubhub. And Buffalo chicken wings topped the list as the most popular wing flavor.

Casual-dining chain Buffalo Wild Wings is celebrating that win by offering Grubhub users 50% off (up to $10) on wing orders of $30 or more placed on Dec. 12.

• Late-night coffee for caffeine cravers. Customers are getting caffeinated later in the day. Over 10 million coffee orders were placed after 5 p.m. this year. Top choices: Iced coffee, caramel frappe, mocha frappe, cappuccino, and bringing up the rear, regular hot coffee.

• Cows made a comeback. Despite the fact that almost every coffee concept now offers almond, oat and other nondairy milks, cow’s milk rose 20% as an option for coffee orders year-over-year. Whole milk took the lead, followed by 2% milk and chocolate milk. Looks like coffee drinkers are creating their own mochas.

• Workers pause for a fizzy pick-me-up. Diet Coke won out as a refreshment break with the workplace crowd. In-office orders of the soft drink increased by 17% in 2023, and #dietcokebreak trended with over 43 million views on TikTok.

• Fries bring balance for salad fans. French fries were the top-ordered side dish of 2023, but they weren’t only paired with the usual burger or chicken sandwich. Over 600,000 Grubhub customers ordered their salad paired with fries over the last 12 months—boosting the french fry to the most-ordered side of 2023.

But every diner has a favorite style. Classic cut fries earned the No. 1 spot, followed by waffle fries, cheese fries, sweet potato fries and curly fries.

• From food to fashion, pickles were on everything. People placed over 6.9 million orders for pickles in 2023—an increase of 89% over 2022. That was the largest growth of any individual item, with diners ordering them on sandwiches, burgers, pizza and deep-fried on their own. And then there was the pickle sweatshirt that went viral.

• Pineapple earns status on pizza. Pineapple has been a favorite though controversial pizza topping for a long time, but this year its popularity soared 33% over 2022. Seems like people are no longer embarrassed to opt for Hawaiian Pizza.

That said, it came in at No. 5 among the top pizza choices, led off by cheese pizza, followed by margherita, pepperoni and Buffalo chicken in second, third and fourth places respectively.

Grubhub customers can compare their year of orders with these national trends with an individual 2023 Delivered report. Users should receive a customized recap report Tuesday to trace their own takeout and delivery journey of the year.”

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

Today some Inspiration

 

The team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® wants to share with you some inspiration if you have time to read today you just might want to take time and read this and the associated book.

Within fiction lies the seeds of powerful transformation and inspiration. Some of the most motivational guidebooks are parables, including Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson and Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. Both have encouraged and uplifted business visionaries, entrepreneurs and graduates for decades. Stepping into this treasured category is The Island of the Four Ps: A Modern Fable About Preparing for Your Future by Ed Hajim.

Hajim believes that you can’t find the roadmap to success on any GPS or search engine. Instead, this engaging fable, lushly illustrated by Gabriela Leal, drops you into the mind of a young man on a quest to find himself and his personal path to success and happiness. As he meets challenges, we gain a deeper understanding of how to navigate change while remaining true to our values and ideals. The beauty of telling this in fable format lies in its accessibility. “I don’t believe there’s only one way to deal with life transitions. And even if you accept my ideas wholly, there is no single right way to put them into action,” writes Hajim. The Island of the Four Ps allows us to find the guidance that’s uniquely right for us.

 

To create this book, Hajim used his own extraordinary life as a framework. Kidnapped at the age of 3 by his father, driven across the country and told his mother had died, Hajim spent his childhood in and out of foster homes and orphanages. The intelligence, resilience and innate leadership he used to rise from deprivation to the pinnacle of personal and business success provides the insight he shares with readers.

At the heart of the book are the four Ps — which have guided Hajim throughout his life. He offers his hard-won wisdom on each of these cornerstones.

• Passions: Find your passions; find the things that excite and motivate you. Recognize that passions do change and you must monitor them throughout your lifetime.
• Principles: Find the rules that you want to follow and the lines you won’t cross. They provide an important structure and bring organization to your life.
• Partners: No individual can succeed alone. Consider the kind of friends, collaborators, and advisers you’ll need around you, recognizing that those needs will evolve.
• Plans: Find your plans, write down where you want to go and how you plan to get there. Pay attention to your environment, things that will happen during your lifetime, and try to find a wave or a cycle that you can marry with your passions and principles.

Ultimately, Hajim’s dream is to help anyone fighting to make their dreams a reality. “I hope The Island of the Four Ps will prompt you to contemplate who you are and what you want in life. Ideally, it will spur you to action — helping you engage fully in life, pursue new experiences, and surf the waves of change,” Hajim says.

About the Author

ED HAJIM is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, On The Road Less Traveled. The son of a Syrian immigrant, he is a seasoned Wall Street executive with more than 50 years of investment experience. He has held senior management positions with the Capital Group, E.F. Hutton, and Lehman Brothers before becoming chairman and CEO of Furman Selz. Hajim has been the co-chairman of ING Barings, Americas Region; chairman and CEO of ING Aeltus Group and ING Furman Selz Asset Management; and chairman and CEO of MLH Capital. He is now chairman of High Vista, a Boston-based money management company. In 2008, after 20 years as a trustee of the University of Rochester, Hajim began an eight-year tenure as chairman of the university’s board. Upon assuming that office he gave the school $30 million — the largest single donation in its history — to support scholarships and endow the Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Through the Hajim Family Foundation, he has made generous donations to organizations that promote education, health care, arts, culture and conservation. In 2015, he received the Horatio Alger Award, given to Americans who exemplify the values of initiative, leadership and commitment to excellence, and who have succeeded despite personal adversities. Married for 57 years, he and his wife, Barbara, have three children and eight grandchildren.

 

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Island-Four-Ps-Modern-Preparing/dp/1510776176/

 

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

 

Yes, Convenience Stores Do Need Electric Vehicles Too Survive

 

There is one constant in life that is the consumer is dynamic not static.  Convenience stores must be as dynamic as the consumer or they risk not only losing market share; there brand may quite simply become irrelevant according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Recenlty CJ Pakeltis is an account manager at RizePoint, specializing in the grocery and convenience store markets wrote an article focusing on the importance of EV’s within the C-store sector.  The team at Foodservice Solutions® liked it so much we want to share it with you.  If you like it feel free to let CJ know he can be reached at CJ.Pakeltis@rizepoint.com.

He begins with the premise: The migration to electric vehicles means convenience stores must reinvent themselves.

“Historically high gas prices, new electric vehicle (EV) models, government sales incentives and the desire to become more sustainable are pushing more consumers toward EVs.

Some states, including California, are moving toward EVs to meet environmental goals, and plan to stop selling gas-powered vehicles altogether by 2035. Experts predict that the EV market will more than double by 2027, and that 45 percent of new car sales will be electric by 2035.

Since fuel revenue has historically been so significant for c-stores, the migration to EVs means convenience stores must reinvent themselves. This means transitioning from a grab-and-go model that's a 10-minute stop — where customers gas up their cars, then grab cigarettes, beer and a prepackaged snack for the road — to a destination, where they hang out for an hour or more to shop, eat, work and charge their cars. 

The threat is that casual dining, shopping malls, etc., may replace c-stores as the travelers' destinations. So, if your convenience store hasn't yet started thinking about your strategy for reinventing yourself, it's time.

C-stores need to make foodservice a meaningful part of their organizations and give their customers a reason to come and stay. Unfortunately, there are often negative perceptions around c-stores' food and grab-and-go model, so brands should work diligently to change these perceptions, emphasize safety and quality, and build consumer trust. I recommend that c-stores:

Change their mindset around food. Some c-store employees view food preparation as a burden, and may dread cooking, replenishing and monitoring prepared food. Also, some stores don't consider where their food comes from, how it's sourced, and whether their suppliers follow strict food safety procedures. That must change. C-stores must implement food safety and quality protocols, ensure integrity in food sourcing, track their suppliers' safety certifications and make food safety part of their company cultures.

Correct misconceptions. There are still misconceptions about c-store food, with consumers envisioning old, shriveled hot dogs being held under heat lamps for days. C-stores need to change the narrative and become famous for serving fresh, safe, delicious food. And since customers will need something to do while they charge their cars, add welcoming areas to sit, eat and wait.

Migrate or get left behind. Consumers are becoming healthier, with a decline in cigarette smoking and a shift away from buying soda and processed snacks. C-stores should transform accordingly, working to replace these revenue drivers. Offer delicious meals and snacks, and be sure to have healthier options (e.g., vegetarian meals, healthy juices, fruit and smoothies) for the notoriously health-conscious EV owners.

Embrace the EV trend. There are nearly 150,000 convenience stores nationwide, and approximately 80 percent of them currently sell gas. As more people adopt EVs, consider how consumers' needs will change and transform your business accordingly. Since EVs have a finite battery life, people will need to periodically charge their cars, so offering charging stations onsite is a great way to attract customers and differentiate yourself from other c-stores that don't do this.

Do you want to Thrive

If So you must Evolve

To Grow a Larger Share of Stomach

Understand the changing competition. EVs have changed the landscape. Fast-casual restaurants, shopping centers, grocery stores, pharmacies and even car washes are adding charging centers and giving customers something to do — eat, shop, vacuum their car — while they wait. This means increased competition for c-stores. To attract the growing number of EV owners, create an environment where your customers would enjoy hanging out; a seating area with Wi-Fi where they can catch up on work, sip coffee and enjoy a leisurely meal.

Emulate European models. Quick-service restaurants don't have market presence in Europe, so for on-the-go meals and snacks, consumers rely on c-stores. European c-stores make fresh food the centerpiece. Meals are made to order, and they don't hold hot sandwiches under heat lamps. Consumers across the pond trust and enjoy c-store food in a way that's quite different from the United States.

Elevate inspections and audits. Use technology tools to conduct daily inspections, ensure foods are held at proper temps, check store cleanliness, etc. Ditch paper systems, which can't validate whether checks occurred, and rely on software for easily accessible inspection records. Hire third-party inspectors for external validation. These assessments will identify areas of noncompliance so that you can take immediate corrective actions.

Ensure all suppliers follow strict safety and quality protocols. In addition to implementing strict QA programs in your store, monitor your suppliers to be certain they have proper food safety protocols and structured QA programs in place. Use tech tools to organize and manage supplier certifications. Audit suppliers to ensure they're compliant before you work with them (and throughout your collaboration).

Play the long game. Consumer perception won't shift quickly. Your store must build trust over time. Have patience.

All signs indicate that EV sales will spike significantly in the coming months and years, changing what convenience stores will look and feel like. Instead of wanting grab-and-go experiences, more c-store customers will want to sit and wait as they charge their cars. This is an ideal opportunity to give your customers and prospects what they want — a reason to come and stay awhile.”

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

AI is Quickly Coming to Convenience Stores

 

It is not often that the team at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® turns and looks at their Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson with bewilderment. However, every time he brings up the topic of AI all heads turn to him and say more?  He then nods and says yes there is more and will be a lot more to come!

If success does leave clues and it does, it’s AI that will be uncovering those clues for you very soon.

Recently there was  an exclusive CStore Decisions webinar hosted by editor-in-chief Erin Del Conte, our team thinks it was so full of good insights we wanted to share it with you.  Here it is:

“AI is among topics in the c-store world (and the world in general) that are virtually impossible to avoid in common conversation. Now, convenience retailers are learning how to harness the power of AI to their benefit.

In an exclusive CStore Decisions webinar hosted by editor-in-chief Erin Del Conte, industry professionals Derek Gaskins, chief marketing officer, Yesway; Richard Crone, CEO, Crone Consulting LLC; and Scott Smith, director of IT, Parker’s, discussed several topics revolving around the idea of AI.

Gaskins kicked off the webinar by noting that Yesway — which operates over 420 stores across the U.S. — is currently using AI mainly by its marketing and merchandising groups for content creation, personalization within its loyalty program and customer experience management.

He noted that Yesway uses AI for “measuring the sentiment, harnessing and listening to feedback that we get in an omnichannel fashion and then responding to it and closing out those tickets.”

He added that the technology is also used within merchandising, whether it’s dynamic pricing, management, writing cogent summaries and making sure jobs have detailed descriptions for the roles and responsibilities of category managers.

For Parker’s —which operates 78 locations mainly throughout Georgia and South Carolina — the chain is exploring AI and computer vision to assist its team in automating daily tasks.

“We think of AI as more of an intern,” said Smith. “So, the more data you feed it, the
better questions you ask it, the more it learns and evolves. So, we think of it as a partner in helping us do our daily tasks and we’re really just watching it to see where it goes.”

Richard Crone offered also his perspective on the future of AI in c-stores, which provides a different angle on the technology. To Crone, the true value of AI lies in the data that can be collected through it.

“AI is about data. Your data, and the most monetizable of that data is your customer data. The
biggest challenge for c-stores, grocers, petroleum marketers, any retailer, is harvesting that data, interpreting that data at scale and protecting it and monetizing it,” he said. “That’s what artificial intelligence does. It allows you to harvest the data about your customers and use it to personalize and improve the experience.”

From a retailer’s perspective, specifically Smith with Parker’s, the most relevant application of AI for the chain right now is with customer service.

“We find a lot of our customers are asking questions about a loyalty program, about offers, about things that we’re doing in our stores, and most of the time they either have to send us an email (or) give us a phone call,” he mentioned. “So, instead of having someone on our team answer that call and deal with the customer directly, kind of augmenting that team member with AI in a chat bot to really answer those questions that can easily be answered and really just reduce the time that we’re spending doing manual things like that.”

Gaskins noted that Yesway shares a similar belief and is cautiously implementing AI to save employees’ time and make certain processes easier. He also mentioned, however, that his team needs to be skeptical and keep a close eye on the technology, so as not to damage the integrity or image of the brand with content that is produced by someone (or something) that is outside of it.

Crone emphasized that AI could make life for a c-store retailer much easier, and it can also lead to a more seamless customer experience. One example of this is Just Walk Out technology, which has been implemented by companies like Amazon to allow customers to skip the checkout lane and buy products without the entire checkout process.

“The existential threat to c-stores as they exist today is the rapid deployment of that technology by your competitors, because if your goal, given the convenience store mantra, which is fast, easy, instantaneous convenient shopping for those items at that touch point, nothing beats Just Walk Out,” said Crone.

Whether AI is being used to simplify operations, sift through data or increase customer service availability, it is becoming clearer every day that AI is going to continue to evolve and be used in different ways across all industries.

Other topics discussed in the webinar were check-in strategies, how AI can decipher customer intent, AI’s role in loyalty programs, concerns and challenges for AI integration, theft control and much more.”

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.