Restaurant Customer Migration is Growing Where is your Customer Eating?

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Driven by the 65 Inch HDTVSyndrome Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru Steven Johnson found:The line between restaurants and food retailers isgrowing ever thinner. The fight for America's food dollars continues tointensify as consumers find fresh prepared ready-2-eat food options at a wideand growing array of outlets across almost every channel: convenience stores,chain drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, club stores, vending and evenmore non-food retailers like dollar stores. While manufacturers, retailers andrestaurants worry about choice overload, consumers have embraced their newchoices and show no signs of returning to the old ways. This fight is takingplace in what is called the grocerant niche.The restaurant industry is not an industry known fortrying to be first as in fastest to market with an ideation, food or technologyadvance. In the United States the larger the chain in almost all cases the moreslowly they are to adopt something than a smaller chain or independentrestaurants will. Chain restaurants goal is simple feed one meal at a time inthe restaurant while protecting and edifying the brand.Historically chain restaurant leaders have denied thecredibility of start-up competitors as non-relevant. The pizza sector is agreat example; evolving from family dinning independents to national chain of"Red Roof" Italian, then to delivery only outlets and nowtake-N-bake is garnering market share in the pizza sector. (Note: HomeMade Pizza Company and Papa Murphy's are furtherexamples of take and bake pizza operators.)Trends in the FoodIndustry Point to an Increase in Non-Traditional Meal OccasionsAt the intersection of the consumer, fresh prepared foodand technology we fine that consumer eating behavior is evolving and is nowbeyond the control of traditional food marketers. Evolving culture andlifestyle, demographics along with the new uncertain economy are all puttingpressure on the American food consumer: Demands of work, economic shrinkage,demands of raising a family, commuting, social interaction, kid's after-schoolactivities, all contribute to a food marketplace where convenience vies withprice over legacy brands. Recent advances in food packaging and new points ofnon-traditional food distribution have empowered consumer choice, and Americansare embracing these choices even as legacy marketers cringe. Who's afterrestaurant food dollars… simply put… everyone.Why should you care if Walgreens is selling freshprepared ready-2-eat and made-2-order sandwiches? Why should you care if WholeFoods, Trader Joe's, Safeway and Wegmans are selling ready-2-eat and orheat-N-eat fresh pizza? Why should you care if Coinstar is selling Seattle BestCoffee at 1,000 locations for $1.00?You should care because they are selling it, and you arenot! The fastest growing sector of retail food service for the past four yearshas been the Convenience store sector. The C-store sectors growth in large parthas been driven by fresh prepared food. Non-traditional avenues of distributionare growing, gobbling market share while establishing new patterns ofconsumption, price points and customer loyalty.The Shopper is inControl Spurring New Retail Food FormatsTrader Joe's and Whole Foods have created ready-2-eat andheat-N-eat fresh prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as anentity with identity that has help propel them into ready-2-eat fresh preparedfood leadership. In fact recent research shows that both Trader Joe's and WholeFoods are each known for high quality (restaurant quality) ready-2-eat andheat-N-eat foods with distinctive offerings. More important each is leadingwith innovative products and package size that create value and have positionedeach chain as a food shopping destination for meal components customizedand personalized for immediate consumption or mix and matched for a meal timeat home. In short they are stealing your customers.Walgreens fresh prepared food is restaurant quality and priced less than PaneraBread or Corner Bakery CAFE. Both Panera Bread and Corner Bakery CAFE thrive in urban locations. Walgreens is now growingprice, quality and speed of service advantages over legacy retailers. Legacyrestaurant chains must reconsider the speed at which they evolve and adapt ornon-traditional outlets will capture profits margins as well.Traditional views of meals and mealtime can pretty muchbe discarded. Legacy retailers waiting for the "next big thing" tocopy simply might be out of luck this time. Legacy food retailers may not liketo be first movers very much but it may prove that waiting too long will notwork this time.Product,Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price are Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s The retail food world is evolving at an ever increasingpace filled with innovation in food, portion size, points of distribution, andquality fresh prepared meal solutions. The price, value, service equilibrium is resettingin retail foodservice. In order to edify the brand and reinforce consumerrelevance restaurateurs must leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5P's of food marketing.  Many legacy food retailers continue to practice brandprotectionism, stifle the brand while diminishing consumer relevance. Theconsumer is dynamic not static. Brands must be dynamic, evolving with theconsumer. Four more years of watching other retail sectors thrive should belong enough. Success in the restaurant world is no longer simply about whathappens within your 4 walls.Steven Johnson is GrocerantGuru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as amulti-unit operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in theGrocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant