Bob Evans understands the Top 6 reasons consumers are buying ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat food!



Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s for food marketing are a path for chain restaurant success. Success does leave clues and many retail food operators are now adopting Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price.

Bob Evans stores are now reversing course and focusing on the 5 P’s of retail foodservice marketing. Steve Davis Bob Evans CEO. Stated “Carryout is a growth opportunity for us. In five Ohio stores equipped with a “Taste of the Farm” grab-and-go area to push carryout, off-premise sales are outpacing the rest of the system, Davis said. Those units also recorded a rise in dine-in sales, they added. Carryout sales now represent 11 percent of sales at Bob Evans “

Companies that develop a platform that allows meal co-creation; in the car, at the office or at home are winning the heart’s and minds of today’s retail food consumer. The grocerant niche comprised of the ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared food is driving the success of the retail foodservice today.

Each sector has innovators; Restaurants started with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread, Domino’s Pizza, MCD, BK and a whole lot more! Grocery started with Wegmans Metropolitan Market, Whole Food and now fast charging Safeway and the “lifestyle stores. Convenience Stores have Sheetz, Wawa, with fast charging Casey’s General stores and 7 & Eleven.

1. Visceral presentation, Freshness based on how it looks and is presented.

2. Bundling, the ability to build your meal with components family member will eat.

3. Individualized portions, power to select quality and quantity of items viewed.

4. Convenience, unit /store location on the drive home from work.

5. Time Saving, ability to evaluate price vs. time to cook from scratch.

6. Portability, empowering choice eat in or take home / office.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food continues expanding points of distribution success.



Is the golden ear of chain restaurants over? Growth within the grocerant sector of ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat prepared food continues to expanding. Drug stores chains Walgreens, Rite Aide, Dollar Stores, even Sears and Target are now selling fresh prepared food.

The NPD Groups .Bonnie Riggs, told Convenience Store News. "The vast majority of c-stores' business is takeout, which accounts for 95 percent of all visits, with the greatest percent of the business occurring at the morning meal and snacks, but lunch meal business is growing strongly," she said.

The C-store sector’s overall lunch business was up 4 % conveniences stores that are selling fresh prepared food they are up even more. The c-store industry's largest niche is snack business, which has remained stable. "In this downturn, 'flat' is the new up," she said.

The big news is that, the number of quick-service restaurants declined 1 percent, or 2,521 units, from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010, according to NPD's Spring 2010 ReCount, a census of U.S. commercial restaurant locations.

Even worse, visits to U.S. restaurants declined 3 percent for the year ended May 2010. Plus, consumer spending at restaurants declined “1 percent, the first decline in dollars NPD reported since it began tracking the foodservice industry nearly 35 years ago.” Success does leave clues and repositioning while focusing the evolving consumer is clue number one.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Mobile Marketing and consumer are ubiquitous if you want them get them!



Within the grocerant niche of fresh prepared ready-eat and ready-to-heat food we now see that Mobile Marketing can make a difference. Dean Steinman CEO of TheMobileXperience.com has convinced me that, Mobile Marketing is not the future; it is the present. It’s here now, and it’s not going away. Here is how he started with me.

“Text Messages Demand Attention

Please answer this question: “If you get 50 texts, how many do you look at?” I’m guessing almost everyone answered the same way, “Every One.” Imagine: A marketing message almost guaranteed to be seen by everyone who gets it . Which is why Mobile marketing is poised to bring results that can dwarf other channels, times they have changed.

Email Received by Mobile Has Better Odds, Too

Do you get your emails on your cell phone? If so, chances are you will not look at those emails again when you get to your computer. Which means that, increasingly, marketers have one chance of getting the person who opens a Mobile email to take a call to action.

Every Email Needs Its Mobile Counterpart

If you are asking a message recipient to buy something, register for something, see a video, or get more information, that email must be Mobile ready. Unfortunately more than 90 percent of websites are not Mobile ready. So if you are having the end user click to your site from that email, you must now make sure they can get the same experience on their phone as they can from their computer.

Mobile Marketing Is Fresh

Are you getting lower and lower results from your email and direct mail campaigns? The reason probably is that you are reaching the same person over and over again, using the same methods. Now you can implement a Mobile component in your next campaign.

Mobile Marketing Can Be Broad, Variable, and Targeted

Right now, today, it’s possible to reach over 100 million Mobile numbers who have opted-in to get relevant text messages. This database can be broken down by hundreds of demographics, including geo location, age, income, homeownership, job title, musical interests, sports preferences, buying habits, etc.

Mobile allows the end user to mirror the computer experience while they are out in the world. Mobile allows companies the ability to deliver their brand or message at rates of return that are far exceeding other channels.

The bottom line (and the bottom line is what all marketers are interested in, right?) is: By implementing Mobile with your next direct mail or email program you can expect to see results skyrocket from previous campaigns.” If you have more questions contact Dean at dean@themobilexperience.com.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Mintel: chain foodservice operators; the status quo is not.



Visceral menu boards and or menu delivery improvements will be one of the many trends that retail foodservice operators with be addressing in 2011. Healthier meal options and more and more transparency the status quo will simply not work in times of increased competition and economic transition. The grocerant niche filled with ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared food leading the charge, opening new avenues of distribution. Here is some of what Mintel had to say:

1. Healthy by Association

Sixty-two percent of consumers say they plan to eat healthier in the upcoming year, but many complain that healthier food doesn’t taste as good without the added sugar, sodium and fat. Restaurants will address this problem by swapping in ‘healthier’ ingredients to their patrons’ favorite dishes and positioning them to appear better-for-you.

For instance, Taco Bell has quietly reduced sodium at 150 stores in the Dallas market, while Jason’s Deli promotes its food as being free from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), trans fats or pesticides. Consumers enjoy visiting restaurants that are perceived as healthy because these venues make them feel good about themselves and their meal choices. Consumers might opt to visit the ‘healthy’ restaurant, but be wooed by the not-so-healthy LTOs offered at these places.

2. Automated Menus

Convenience and technology will form the perfect union this year as restaurant-goers will see an increase in automated menus at their favorite establishments. These electronic order-takers will provide customers with the opportunity to order food to their specifications in do-it-yourself style, thus reducing the restaurant’s reliance on front-of-house staff, as well as full-time employees. Automated menus, in addition to mobile applications, will allow restaurants to reach a younger, more mobile consumer.

3. Transparency

Consumers want to know what they’re eating, and the recently passed healthcare bill mandates such disclosure. Restaurants with 20+ units are now required to list calorie counts on their menus. Consumers seem happy with the impending disclosure, as 61% agree that restaurants should post nutritional information, like calorie counts and fat grams, on menus. More cities will start forcing restaurants to visibly display their letter grades from local health departments, further increasing menu transparency.

4. Indigenous Ingredients

While the local food movement continues to grow, the push toward indigenous ingredients takes that trend a step further. In 2011, we will see restaurants incorporating more traditional or authentic ingredients to their ethnic or globally-positioned entrees. One example of this trend is Frontera Grill’s Panucho Yacateco, an entrée that boasts a traditional Yucatan crispy tortilla filled with black beans and hard-boiled egg with shredded chicken in tangy escabeche. “Local" as an ingredient marketing claim has grown by 15% from 2Q09 to 2Q10, according to Mintel Menu Insights, and it’s likely that number will increase in the coming year.

5. Exemptions to the Rule

A vast majority of restaurants will have to disclose calorie counts on their menus, but that rule doesn’t apply to LTOs. Operators will take advantage of this loophole by offering less-than-healthy novelty or seasonal menu items, allowing customers to indulge in a guilty treat, without feeling pressured to make a healthier menu choice. As it stands, 43% of consumers say they’re likely to change what they order when calorie counts are listed on the menu. LTOs allow consumers the occasional opportunity to indulge in a meal out.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Fresh prepared ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat; Rutter’s Pizza is a hit!



Grocerant ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food has been driving top line sales and bottom line profits around the country. Most importantly grocerant ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food is building customer frequency and loyalty. Rutter’s has understood this and capitalizing on the trend.

Rutter’s fresh-baked pizza is “prepared within three minutes -- comes in cheese and pepperoni and for no additional cost customers can add as many as six toppings that include: onion, mushroom, green pepper, sweet pepper, jalapeno pepper and black olive.”

Look out Pizza Hut and Papa Murphy’s Jerry Weiner, vice president of food service said in a statement. "They can stop by Rutter's for a hot pizza in a matter of minutes or bake one at home. Either way, they're getting a delicious meal.

Rutter's continues coddling consumer choice and offers a "take and bake" identical version of the pizza -- in cheese and pepperoni flavors -- in its refrigerated sandwich case”, Weiner said. Jerry Weiner and Rutter’s are doing things right. If success leaves clues this company is one too watch.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Wendy’s can’t get out of its own way.



Food manufactures and food retailers that are embracing the grocerant niche filled with ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh prepared food are garnering market share from legacy company’s that just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Many companies are entering the fresh prepared food niche for the first time.

Consensus decision making does not work well in the creative process. Given the ideation must accomplish a set of goals; those goals can’t be defined by 15, 20 and 25 year franchisee’s who want to remember yesterday and look backward rather than look at today let alone look forward. Success can be grounded in the past but must be contemporized for today’s consumer.

Restaurant consumers are dynamic not static. Wendy’s customers of 15, 20 and 25 years ago are older. 
They like the brand but don’t eat burgers, fries and frosty’s as much or as often use too. Reverting to copy cat marketing once again Wendy’s misses the mark. This time copying Burger Kings “bigger burger” theme is not good enough. Just look at the results of Burger King, how well did it work for them?

While other restaurant chains are reporting up sales numbers Wendy’s/Arby’s Group is not. Recycling old ideas that did not work and copy cat positioning are not steps too growth or profitability. Retail foodservice success is can be found in new product for today’s customers. Wendy’s appears to want to do what it has always done. How well do you think that will work?

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A.

Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Foodservice consumers drive change, success does leave clues.



The grocerant niche filled with ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh and prepared food is a direct result of retailers following the consumer. Mix & Match meal components are a simple outcrop of meal bundling that started with McDonalds. Consumer love choice and McDonalds meal deals bundle choice while delivering on the promise. The meal deals improve transaction times.

When will McDonalds begin offering bundled family entrée’s the ilk of “Big Macaroni Cheese” or “Spaghetti already” in less time than you think. Don’t even begin to say you don’t think so. McDonalds is the of the most successful retail food company in the world. Here is a glimpse of how they have changed as written by Mark Albright, a Times staff writer “

Joe David compared a McDonald's his son just opened near Spring Hill to the one his own father opened in 1962 near Clearwater High School.

"This new store is on a different planet," said the 63-year-old owner of 12 McDonald's.

Under neon golden arches, his father's store sold burgers for 15 cents, fries for a dime. There was only walk-up window service, no dining room or drive-through.

His son's store, a prototype McDonald's on Spring Hill Drive by the Suncoast Parkway in Hernando County, comes fully loaded with extras that have been spreading across the chain the past few years: a double drive-through loaded with enough technology to get lines of motorists in and out in an average of 2.5 minutes, a menu aimed at silencing nutritionists with some healthier choices, and a parade of new items that soon will extend to hot oatmeal 24/7.

But it's packaged in a new box designed to become only the third major generation of the McDonald's look. The red has been toned down to terra-cotta. The golden arches are now positioned between yellow awnings and a gently curved, lit yellow line called the "eyebrow" that tops the marquee. The interior comes with a dark wood-like ceiling and floor, cut stone walls and Corian countertops. It looks more like Starbucks than the province of Mayor McCheese.

The contemporary vibe, oversized booths, flat-screen TVs, free wi-fi and 16-person communal table fit the McDonald's menu, which has shifted to people who snack around the clock.

"It's a comfortable space to hang out," said Josh David, the 32-year-old owner. "We get moms and businesspeople, after school it's students and, in the evening, sports teams." Success does leave clues and no one in the retail foodservice industry has had the success of McDonalds.

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite Foodservice Solutions® to provide brand and product positioning assistance or a grocerant program assessment. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant