Quick Chek is building success with food and beverages.



Consumer driven, food focused and beverage day part specials drive continue growth and success for Quick Chek. Winning the customer loyalty while building top line same and bottom line profits utilizing retail foodservice in not new in the convenience store sector. However, pushing quality limits beyond industry standards is but one reason consumer love Quick Chek. Visit: ilovemycoffee.com for success clues.

Quick Chek utilizing proprietary research found the “Top coffee facts and trends” here they are:

Top 10 coffee facts and trends:

1. The average coffee drinker in America drinks 3.2 cups of coffee per day.

2. One out of every three Quick Chek customers buys a cup of coffee -- nearly 40 percent of those cups are medium size (16 ounces); a very close second is the 20-ounce size.

3. Coffee is one of the world's most valuable commodities, second only behind oil. More than 100 million people in developing countries depend on coffee as their main source of income, particularly in Africa and Central America.

4. Coffee is the world's most popular beverage, excluding water. About 1.4 billion cups a day are consumed worldwide.

5. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 convened in a coffeehouse. The heavy tea tax had prompted Americans to switch to coffee as an expression of freedom.

6. Fifty-two percent of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every morning. Thirty percent of the population drinks coffee occasionally. That means over 80 percent of Americans consume coffee.

7. Coffee consumption in the United States remains at the eighth highest level in the world.

8. Quick Chek customers overwhelmingly prefer to add Quick Chek light cream and half-and-half to their cups of coffee. As flavors go, French Vanilla Creamer claims the top spot.

9. Thirty-five percent of coffee drinkers prefer their coffee black.

10. Quick Chek's proprietary guaranteed fresh regular blend is the overwhelming favorite among the chain's coffee drinkers. Columbian coffee is the favorite specialty coffee for Quick Chek customers. Hazelnut is the favorite flavored coffee.

Is your company ready for grocerant niche research, or brand positioning assistance?

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

Food Mix and Match Meal components with portability are required options for success.



Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food ala the grocerant niche is thriving in large part due to Mix and Match Mea components. l As long as multi- generational family’s gather for meals together, the demand for more divergent flavors will continue to permeate. Grocerant style food offerings allow for increased family integration, understanding and acceptance utilizing Mix and Match Meal components.

Understanding the unique balance between palate, price, pleasure and the consumer’s drive for qualitative distinctive differentiated new food consumables is one key to Foodservice Solutions® success and longevity. The food value proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blended into something with a twist.

In industry speak, differentiated does not mean different to the consumer it means familiar. That is where the Grocerant niche falls, it is consumer inspired, component driven and flavor familiar.

Understanding, creating or identifying distinctive differentiated food consumable’s as an entity with identity by day and integrating them into a menu mix is an area Foodservice Solutions® excels. .

Outside eyes can bring new light and assist in your pace of concept growth, redevelopment and deployment of new products. Grocerant specialist can work with you to identify distinctive differentiated food consumables.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

Who is selling what where? Do you understand the convergence of food retailing and the grocerant niche?



You can tell when an industry is in transition. Retail foodservice is undergoing the largest transition since the success of McDonalds. Retail grocery store chain operators Wegmans, Public’s and Safeway all have now opened free standing restaurants. Leveraging their buying power, corporate balance sheets, and branding expertise they can obtain prime locations, reduce distribution cost, reduce food cost. Public’s Crisper’s is the largest of them all.

Restaurants chains including Taco Bell, Boston Market, White Castle and California Pizza Kitchen all sell fresh or prepared food in grocery stores. Many are now making there way into the retail drug store sector and dollar store sector.

Walgreens, Rite Aide and CVS are all now selling grocerant niche fresh prepared Read-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat prepared food. Target, Sears and Amazon.com are all now selling fresh food. Now food manufactures are entering the mix. Quoting NRN.com “Bubba Burger, which for two decades has sold frozen beef and turkey patties in groceries and on military bases, will debut the first of four planned Original Bubba Burger Grill units in the Jacksonville, Fla., area and is looking at a fifth location.”

Success leaves clues and legacy food operators utilizing the same positioning, branding and distribution systems of the 80’s, 90’s or 00’s; it might be time to look over your shoulder. You will see everyone is coming after you. Yes, the food industry is in transition. The grocerant niche is winning. Is your team prepared for 2012, 2013 or 1990?

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food and the new frontier Sous Vide.



Grocerant fresh and prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food had been driving the growth of retail food sales for 7 years. Those of you who follow this blog have witnessed the success in both traditional avenues of distribution and unconventional avenues of distribution.

Technology improvement in refrigeration, packaging, and regional distribution has greatly contributed to the growth in grocerant Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food. Retail foodservice traditionally does not lead with regard to technology particularly in chain organizations. Sous Vide has been utilized off and on again in restaurants around the world for 30+ years. It is again about to take off, this time to a level never seen before. Leading chef’s from around the world are now pushing the envelope and commercial sous vide products are not far behind. The grocerant niche will endorse and utilize sous vide to level the playing field.

With Nathan Myhrvold’s new book: Modernist Cuisine The Art & Science of Cooking the food retail world will again be reintroduced to quality Heat-N-Eat food that can reduce industry cost while elevating consistent quality. Here is a link: http://modernistcuisine.com/ Here are some other books as well.

Douglas Baldwin has a great book that talks science and provides recipes. It costs about $30 and is a good value. (http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldw

Thomas Keller: Under pressure: Cooking sous vide (2008) ISBN: B0023Z02UI

Viktor Stampfer: Sous-vide: Garen im Vakuum (2008, 200p, bilingual edition German and English) ISBN: 3875150279

Sue Ghazala: Sous Vide and Cook-Chill Processing for the Food Industry (1998, 341p) ISBN: 0751404330

Jeffrey M. Farber and Karen Dodds: Principles of Modified-Atmosphere and Sous Vide Product Packaging (1995, 464p) ISBN: 1566762766

Sara L Leadbetter: Sous-vide: A technology guide (1989, 22p) ASIN: B0007BOL70

Cooking Sous Vide : A Guide for the Home Cook by Cookingsousvide.com

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

7 Eleven’s fresh food sales have been on a roll, roll roll.



Fresh Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food can now be found at 7 Eleven. The expanded fresh food program and improved beverage offerings including coffee drove a resurgence and consumer frequency at 7 Eleven 2010.

7 Eleven is now focusing on double digit sales growth in retail food for 2011. That’s a tall order given they have been growing sales by 3 percent to 4 percent per year with price focused BOGO’s.

Looking at the big picture I think they can do it. In late 2009 they began ramping up opening new stores and in 2010 that program combined with strategic acquisitions have increased their market share substantially. The fresh food offerings both in urban and suburban locations have been received well.

Shedding the roller grill and roller grill image may be the largest obstacle that 7 Eleven has to over come. BOGO’s will work well during tumultuous economic times. However the roller grill takes consumer back to the days 7 Eleven did not have fresh food and re-enforces stereotypes that would be best left in the past. If 7 Eleven wants to garner market share from the QSR sector they will have to shed the roller grill image.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

Food rhetoric vs. crude facts.



Consumers are responding to the lower price point offering in the quick causal and casual dinning sector. While full service restaurants are seeing customers returning and special occasion dinning on the up tick. There is a confluence of events that may disrupt the positive trend we all are enjoying. Pundits looking at short term trends are all predicting a rosy outlook for 2011.

Three specific issue will drive the continue rebound. It’s the confluence of the three that has the power to derail retail foodservice sales growth.

1. Housing price’s continue to decline.

2. Gasoline price are on the rise and any prolonged fuel price above $3.75 a gallon will halt progress.

3. Uncertainty in the public employee sector over job cuts, wage & benefit reductions will foster a saving mentality that is not pro-retail foodservice.

With the cost of food commodity prices on the rise and pre announced food price increases foretold. It just very well could be Crude Oil will hold the future of food retailing success in 2011.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant

Food retailing is moving in new directions and Food Trucks are a big part of it.



National restaurant chains are in a battle for market share and new competitors are driving up all the time. Food trucks are garnering attention from consumer for “authentic” menus items and competitive pricing.

With new avenues of food fresh distribution opening in non-traditional well established retail centers the ilk of drug stores, dollar stores, and convenience stores. Restaurateurs are beginning too realize that the competitive landscape has changed forever.

Burger King, Dairy Queen, In-N-Out Burgers and Pizza Hut all have mobile trucks but do they utilize them to garner brand contemporize relevance or extend the brand reach? What is clear is that Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food is getting fresher, and closer to the consumer than ever before.

All food retailers must consider new forms of brand positioning, placement and products.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant