Panera Drive-Thrus, McDonalds Coffee: The Grocerant Niche is Booming.

At the intersection of successful retail foodservice is the grocerant niche filled with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh and prepared food.  Walgreens is now selling fresh in-store prepared food in many urban markets, grocery stores delis are bundling meals and meal components like every QSR in the world.  McDonalds upgraded coffee program is leading too McCafe and Panera is testing Drive-Thrus. The grocerant niche is booming! 

Retail foodservice will never be the same.  Company after company is adopting Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price. The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in Grocery stores, Restaurants and Convenience stores.  Each is reconfiguring their own ready-2-eat Grocerant niche fresh prepared food product lineup.  Each sector is looking for new products, packaging and consumer price points that will drive traffic.  All have noticed a discontinuity in consumer food shopping behavior and all are fighting for share of stomach.  

The convergence of food retailing into the grocerant niche is less about the economy and more about how, when, where, and why consumer eat in 2012.  Time constrained, value focused and brand energized consumers expect equilibrium in service, quality availability. Brand protectionism is a relic of the 80”s and 90”s food template.  Cultivating food consumer relevance can be found in brand evolution is your brand evolving?  Do you understand the Grocerant Niche?  Is cultivating success your goal or simply a motto?

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or for 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.