Monday, March 9, 2015

Looking for Foodservice Success Think Portability




Are you a ‘foodie’? Do you love to cook, create, and have a burning desire to sell fresh prepared food? Are you ready for a new career? There just might be a better way to make money in the restaurant industry without opening a restaurant? Have you been wondering where the money is to open a new restaurant? Are you ready to sell fresh prepared food?
100 Million Dollars
Techcrunch recently reported that Caviar  a new food delivery start-up sold it-self to square for $100 Million Dollars. Simply put restaurant / foodservice start-up cash is migrating to technology start-up’s in a big way. Food customers today are Omni-channel shoppers today. Is your brand Omni-Channel?
 Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™  stated “Restaurant customer counts continue flat or down overall for the restaurant sector over the past four plus years.  One big reason is technology.  Legacy chain restaurants once leading customers with new forms / formats of service, food, and packaging have been reluctant to invest in or leverage technologies that are evolving with consumers.”
Breakdown the 4 Walls
Many legacy restaurant operators seemingly have a “inside the four walls” mindset coupled with brand protectionism polices more reminiscent of the 1980’s than 2015. Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru™ says that kind of thinking traps a brand in a quagmire or a footprint malaise that is unresponsive and simply not consumer relevant today.
Customer relevance today can be found at the intersection of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food, mobile technology, and the 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome.  Brand managers must look beyond the 4 walls, they must not practice brand protectionism.  Brand managers that spend too much time looking back will end up with a brand selling to yesterday’s customers today not today’s customers tomorrow.
Non-Traditional Fresh Food Retailers Looking Outside the 4 Walls
Differentiation within the food space means familiar not different. Restaurants are under attack not only from technology start-ups but from Non-traditional fresh prepared food retailers eager to skim customers from the QSR sector who’s offerings seems more a reflection of the past than the present.
Success from non-traditional retailers the ilk of Wawa who has invested over $650 Million dollars in Florida to build-out a new market focusing on its legendary fresh prepared customized Hoggies is a clue to the path forward. Then there is Sheetz a fast growing chain with its focus on quality Made-to-Order fresh food. RaceTrac is opening a model with even greater emphasis fresh food targeting the fast food sector.
There is a reason that 7-Eleven is the world’s largest food retail chain.  They are selling more and more fresh food, they leverage technology with consumer relevance while garner attention with free food Give-A-Way’s.
7-Eleven is a very tough competitor. 7-Eleven has found technology that is relevant is not always easy.  However Foodservice Solutions® team thinks they are doing lots of things right and will garner a much larger share of stomach moving forward.
Amazon Food Delivery
Entrepreneurs are seeking fame and fortune targeting anyone who eats.  That my friends is all of us.  It’s a huge market.  Phil Romano a serial entrepreneur and food merchant extraordinaire who brought us Fuddruckers, Eatzi’s and Potato Flats to name but a few of his concepts clearly was inspiration for many.
That brings us to Amazon.  Entrepreneurs ask how can we do something better, faster and cheaper.  There are few merchants better at that than Amazon.  Amazon wants to start flying their drones, becoming fast flying true food delivery business reducing labor cost, saving time and more attention and customers than any restaurant company to-date. They are scheduled to begin testing drone delivery outside the US later this year.
The Amazon food service working name has been Amazon Spotlight while Foodservice Solutions® regularly blogs about Amazon fresh food we think no company can discount Amazon’s ability to do what others dare not even dream. If you are not an Omni-channel retailer its time to be looking into it.
New Fast Food may be Technology Driven
Is your restaurant Full Service, Fast Casual or amFast Food company prepared to compete? Are you positioned for yesterday’s customer today or are you positioned for today’s customer tomorrow? Here check out these well funded start-ups looking to eat your lunch, dinner and breakfast.  You might want to call Foodservice Solutions® for ideations, product positioning scorecard or a brand scorecard. 
Caviar                           https://www.trycaviar.com/
Eat24                            http://eat24hours.com/
Kitchen Surfing              http://www.KitchenSufring.com
Lish                               http://www.lishfood.com/
Delivery Lean                http://deliverlean.com/
Peachd                         https://www.peachd.com/
Munchery                      https://munchery.com/
Bite Squad                    http://www.bitesquad.com/
Postmates                    https://postmates.com/
Spoon Rocket               https://www.spoonrocket.com/
Sprig                             http://www.sprig.com/
Amazon Spotlight          https://fresh.amazon.com
Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing the same way.  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participationdifferentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

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