Sunday, July 26, 2009

Stop stifling food creativity


The quagmire of reality that corporate foodservice menu managers find themselves in to day is stifling. The day to day task required by many chain restaurants, grocery stores, Convenience stores in the foodservice / Grocerant ready to eat or ready to heat sector stifles pro-active development. Each company within the niche seems to impose odd regulations on it’s teams.

 The stated reasons range from; food safety to labor guide lines, food costing goals etc all non consumer focused reasons. No matter what the reason they are self imposed, self regulated, and limiting. Some of the best chains utilize guidelines that are restrictive. They include, Corner Bakery, Wegmans, Sheetz, Central Market, HEB, Publix, Albertson, Boston Market, Starbucks, and A&P.

When equilibrium is reached in the corporate world in the grocerant nice; that means or so I have heard that “marketshare is growing, profit margins are higher than other sectors”. The reaction to that is; STOP, lets saver this and most importantly maintain what we have in niche customer satisfaction levels and profits.

This quagmire of internal regulation stifles creativity, limits growth and reduces the chance of true breakout products within the niche. One company Technomic a highly respected foodservice research firm has insights with their Retailer Meal Solutions Monitor that can assist you to break out of the confines of your day to day routine. Keeping up with the grocerant niche at a minimum or break away and lead the pack, the information is a platform for success. Companies from Brookshire Grocery, Bristol Farms, Lowes Foods, 7 Eleven, Houchens, Kroger and Kwik Trip can gain valuable insights. Steve Johnson and Foodservice Solutions understand this niche better most.

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us of Tacoma, WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche providing Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat program assessments aka Grocerant Niche assessments. 1-253-759-7869 or linkedin.com/in/grocerant or leave a comment below.

 For more here is link to a recent article written by Mr. Johnson. http://www.anything4restaurants.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/restaurant-consumer-discontinuity-the-consumer-moved-first/

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