7 Eleven from Slurpee® and Big Bite® to fresh ready-2-eat sandwiches, salads and hot wings.

While the roller grill played an important role in helping 7 Eleven grow to become the worlds  largest convenience store chain with 44,700 stores in 16 countries, of which more than 9,100 are in North America.  Now 7 Eleven is the of the fastest growing fresh food retailer in the US. In time it will be by by roller grill.

Well known for the Big Gulp® fountain soft drink, Big Bite® grill items, the Slurpee® beverage and its fresh-brewed coffee, 7-Eleven’s food service offerings bring guests a proprietary branded line of prepared-fresh-ready-2eat  delivered deli sandwiches, wraps, breakfast sandwiches and a wide assortment fruits, salads and baked goods. These ready-2-eat fresh prepared new foods are driving top line growth.  In fact many of the new 7 Elevens that are now opening up do not sell gas.  They sell 7 Eleven branded food and beverages that are fresh food fast. 

Leveraging the 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price, 7 Eleven has built incremental brand and consumer value around ready-2-eat fresh and prepared food. Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of food marketing have provided success steps for many global firms.

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.

Burger King and McDonalds battle for better for food.

The ready-2-eat fresh prepared food niche continues battling for customers.  In 2012 we have seen Burger king trying to out position McDonalds for adult consumers with new French Frys.  “Burger King Corp. (BKC) has created a whole new level of irresistibility with the launch of its new golden, crispy French fries! The new fries at BURGER KING® restaurants offer guests a high-quality, perfectly balanced flavor. A thicker cut of potato gives each bite more fluffy, potato taste on the inside and crispy, golden-brown deliciousness on the outside.”  This “better for you” Fresh Fry is authentically good and focused on the adult market.  

McDonald’s new health-focused national TV campaign for its Happy Meal kids’ meals roles out this week.  “For the first time, 100 percent of our national marketing efforts to kids will include nutrition or active-lifestyle messages, a significant move in our ongoing commitment to children’s wellbeing,”stated Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s USA.  In addition he added “We are proud of this new approach and believe it will help make nutrition fun for kids while helping families feel even better about the food choices they make when visiting McDonald’s.”  Clearly a kid focus with a tie to mom messaging.

The grocerant niche is filled with better for you food for both young and old.  Now is not the time for any food retailer to sit on the sideline.  If success leaves clues garnering additional customers via re-positioning is one of them.  Will Wendy’s continue to capitulate share of stomach to both McDonalds and Burger King?  Will Taco Bell’s new taco shell be anything more than an LTO?  Send me an Email at: grocerant@q.com and let me know what you think. Will Burger King out draw McDonalds for new adult consumers?

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.

Grocerant Guru’s ready-2-eat fresh prepared food 10 steps for success.

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru Steven Johnson presented 10 steps required to build a solid brand position that will win customers while fending off competitors this weekend.  Here is a recap of his key note presentation.  Success does leave clues and here are 10 of them.

1.  Symbolism.   Why you are there! The most successful brands are inclusive include values greater than themselves. A lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion a point in time.

2.  A story. Most major brands have a story. Examples: if you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nikes, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created.

3.  A track record. When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers.

4.  Trust. When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have. Case in point: a friend of mine always reminds people that he won't buy an automobile that isn't a BMW. He's had a good experience with his and trusts so much in the company that he doesn't believe there's a better-made car.

5.  Expectation. When a consumer chooses a product or service because of brand association, he or she is buying an expectation. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner.

6.  Differentiation. Expectation is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

7.  Imitators. Imitation is the sincerest of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you.

8.  Market leadership. Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in.

9.  Adaptability. The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping and reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Coca-Cola is a good example of a brand that has never abandoned its core product but has evolved its message over time to keep up with changes in the marketplace and society at large.

10.  A strong marketing presence. Although it's nice to believe that you can market yourself for free on Facebook and Twitter, the reality is that brands aren't advertising on television and radio because they're dumb. Building and maintaining brand equity requires awareness and awareness requires broad marketing efforts.

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.

Good Food Companies do good things.

Since 1991 here at Foodservice Solutions® we believe that Differentiation does not mean different!  It means familiar.  Consumers young and old are demanding more choice.  Today that means they look for the choice in different ways, at different times.  Why people eat and when they eat is paramount to where and what they will eat.

More and more consumers of all ages are looking for food with fewer calories, less fat or bolder flavors.   Positioning consumer friendly options directly for the consumer is always a win-win.  I have now identified five hot button trends/ issues in Grocery, four in Convenience Stores, two in Dollar stores and reaffirmed three in the Restaurant niche.

The confluence of these issues is striking the overlap is most interesting.  It appears to me that all of these issues / trends are growing and will contribute to the build out of a new and significant food niche.  That niche is the Grocerant niche filled with ready-2-eat or heat-N- portable foods.  Just one of the over lapping hot button trends is better for you foods.  Consumers are utilizing new tools to identify, quantify and qualify where and what they will eat.  Here are three websites that have become popular:

1.        www.goodfoodnearyou.com

     2.       www.healthydiningfinder.com

3.       www.sparkpeople.com/resources/sparkdining.asp

If you’re not currently cross positioning your product or menu in these new and exciting avenues of information distribution it might be time to think about.

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 ortwitter.com/grocerant.

Retail Foodservice’s new growth vehicle the grocerant niche.

Is your retail foodservice chain like a Disney Movie, where everything is happy at the end of each movie/month?  Where sales and profits are up and your customers walk out with a smile.  Then you most likely have entered the grocerant niche.  Grocery stores, Restaurants, Convenience stores, Dollar Stores, Mobile food trucks and Kiosk are all improving the quality of the food that they sell. The race for share of stomach has never been at a faster or more focused pace.

Consumers want to feel connected to you brand and your brand must remain relevant in the mind’s eye of the consumer.  The convergence of non-traditional points of distribution, an evolving grocery fresh prepared sector and lingering economic conditions have created the perfect opportunity for retail food brand expansion. Drug stores and Dollar stores are now clamoring for traditional restaurant and grocery stores customers and garnering them with new fresh food offerings.

It’s time that brand managers challenge the premise of all new food product ideations, pressing, probing and prodding development teams to develop new products for each new avenue of distribution.  Brand protectionism never works.   The retail foodservice consumer is dynamic not static and the opportunity for ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food has never been greater.  It’s time to take a close look at what is under your foodservice umbrella.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in global outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant

Expanding daypart focus critical for restaurant success in 2012.

Working hard to build the top sales and bottom line profits while maintaining market share is nothing new for restaurants.  Eric Dzwonczk, AlixPartners’ managing director believes that innovation will be the main driver for success in 2012 with a focus on daypart expansion.

Dzwonczk stated: "Anything you can do to get customers into your store 24 hours a day is potentially a good thing,". ..Specifically, daypart is becoming critical, he said. More quick-service restaurants(QSRs) and casual diningplayers are moving away from their traditional lunch and dinner focus and going after breakfast. At the same time, predominately breakfast businesses are going after lunch and dinner, or moving into late night. …

"McCafeand other specialty drinks get customers in during the day when they otherwise wouldn't be there. That has become very attractive to the mid-afternoon sect," he explained. "Putting things in there like Wi-Fi and television -- all these are done to get consumers into the store at times when they typically wouldn't be there."

The competiton for share of stomach continues to increase particulary in the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food niche.  Companies the ilk of Walgreens, Wawa, Sheetz, Whole Foods and Central Market have increased their focus on ready-2-eat fresh prepared foods and are winning the hearts and minds of the consumer. I agree with Dzwonczk innovation via daypart is critical for restaurant success moving forward as regular readers of this blog know.

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 ortwitter.com/grocerant.

2.1 Billion US Restaurant Customers Still Missing

In a recent report by The NPD Group they found that “U.S. restaurant industry visits declined from 62.7 billion in 2008 to 60.6 billion in 2011.”  Here we are three years after the high in 2008 and the restaurant sector continues to show a loss of 2.1 billion customer visits per year.   Regular readers of this blog are hardly surprise.

Bonnie Riggs, NPD restaurant industry analyst stated the brunt of the customer loss came from independent restaurants.  “Total restaurant industry traffic for the year ending November 2011 was flat compared to a year ago, according to NPD’s CREST. Visits to chain restaurants were up +1 percent while visits to independent restaurants were down -4 percent for year ending November 2011.”

Foodservice Solutions® has documented the steady industry leading sales of fresh prepared food within the convenience store sector, impressive rollout of fresh prepared food in the chain drug store sector and rapid consumer acceptance of grocery ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food.  Consumers continue to be time starved, un-skilled at cooking and testing new options.  Is your company ready to reclaim customers or garner new ones?  We can help.

Successful retail food operators must leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing:

      1.       Product

      2.       Packaging

3.       Placement

4.       Portability

5.       Price

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.