Food Trends for 2013 Threaten Restaurant Growth

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New Take-Out and Take-Away Fresh Food Options Threaten Restaurant Growth.  These newfresh food options are coming from unexpected non-traditional retailers. Manyof these non-traditional food retailers are fast becoming the New Normal infood retail.  Do you know how The HomeMeal Replacement fad Evolved into the Grocerant Niche and isnnow capturing Migratingrestaurant customers?Looking back,during the late Home Meal Replacement frenzy grocery stores, C-stores andrestaurants all studied with excitement the successful developments of PhilRomano's Eatzi's. Eatzi's is Where Phil turned the page from restaurateur to foodservice retailerand food merchant. Phil's experiment was a smashing success. It was and remainsa concept that is consumer interactive, participatory with visceralauthenticity recording sales of 17 Million a year at the original store. Now inNYC Eatlaly isEatzi's on steroids doingclose to 60 Million a year in sales.Legacy Home MealReplacement focus quickly faded away in the Restaurant side of business.However in the Grocery, C-store and Drug Store sector it continued to bestudied, tested, and implemented. Today the grocerant niche is the strategicpath of choice for non-traditional fresh prepared food retailers, targeted atrestaurant customers, profitable and expanding at an ever increasing pace.Food is Part of the Broader Consumer OmniChannel RetailTrends

Wawa was onceconsidered a convenience store now the Wawa positions it's brand as Fresh First, Built-To Order and Ready-To-Go with focus of serving Fast Casual Food - To Go.At Wawa customers are now finding What's for Breakfast, What's for Lunch andnow What's for Dinner. Sheetz once a convenience store now calls themselves a restaurantthat sells gas. Sheetz Made ToOrder food is a hit withcustomers. Sheetz is successful contemporizing legacy C-store products withdifferentiation, customization and personalization. Consumer like the variety,24 hour menu serving all day parts - all day long - with a wide range ofconsumer meal and snacking needs. Sounds and acts like a restaurant doing allthe right things. That’s right Sheetz is a Restaurant that just happens to sellGas.Rutter's isanother convenience store in transition. Rutter's understands the uniquebalance between palate, price, pleasure and the consumer's drive forqualitative distinctive differentiated new messaging and Rutter's is meetingthat need set. The food value proposition equilibrium for the consumer todaybalances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blendedinto something with a twist. In industry speak, differentiated does not meandifferent to the consumer it means familiar. Rutter's is an example of brandidentity extending beyond consumer expectations within the traditionalconveniences store sector. Too the consumer Rutter's is a direct valuedcompetitor within the QSR space.Examples of Today's GrocerantThe grocerantniche is a result of the blurring of the line between restaurants, grocerystores, convenience stores, and drug stores all selling fresh prepared,portable convenient meal solutions. Targeted at the time-starved consumer withReady-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food components that are "betterfor you", portable and portioned for one or two. All of these operatorswant a larger share of the retail food market. They want to take share from therestaurants.Whole Foods is nolonger Whole Paycheck but Whole Fresh Food Fast and consumers find that is "better foryou". They are driving customer frequency while building loyalty withFresh prepared ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat better for you food. Whole Foodsfocus is on convenient meal participation, better for you differentiation, andindividualization.Safeway's hasintegrated Mix and Match Meal Bundling marketing into daily and weekly iphoneapp's and legacy print flyers. With a focus on Fresh Prepared Food, Safeway isleveraging The 5 P's of Food Marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement,Portability and Price establishing contemporized consumer relevance. In whatwas once restaurant food space alone grocery stores, C-stores and Drug storesare now garnering consumer attention.Walgreens Fresh Food Is a Disruptive Force in the Retail Food Sector.This video of Walgreens in SanFrancisco entering the fresh food space is evidence that no food retailer should dismiss as notmy competitor. Walgreens with over 78 Billion in sales they has the capital andresources to repeatedly try an try again unitl they get it right. Walgreensmight just be The Next Biggest Competitorin the retail food space.Walgreens Fresh togetherwith Duane Reade has 7,500+ retail outlets. Who is selling what in your backyard? With Walgreens entering the fresh food area again with meats, wraps,soups "and other on-the-go meal options, as well as convenientalternatives for tonight's family meal, it is clear that the future of freshfood retail leadership may be up in the air.A Final Thought For Retailers and Food BrandsFood Retailingnever takes a step backward. Consumers are dynamic not static always looking tosave both time and money. The new normal is the grocerant niche propelling newquality points of fresh food distribution and competitors that are wellfinanced. Remember, when it is 4pm, do you know what your customers want tomake for dinner ?Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions,with extensive experience as a multi-unit operator, consultant andbrand/product positioning. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA hasbeen the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson andFoodservice Solutions® visit The Grocerant on LinkedIn or @Grocerant onTwitter