Foodservice 301: Advanced Approaches

All operators at this level of foodservice have branded proprietary programs and continuously upgrade their image, branding, and food and beverage programs to ensure they remain viable and relevant. Brand protection is also vitally important to ensure no operational practices or offerings damage the brand promise.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS

These operators should constantly benchmark themselves vs. the competition, which for this group goes well beyond convenience stores and typically includes restaurants, grocery stores, specialty stores and any purveyors of takeout food.

To stay on top of the game at this level, operators must keep a laser focus on the customer base and deliver what is important to them. They must also focus on the potential customer base not currently served and figure out how to attract them and keep them as customers.

Brand identity must be protected at this level, ensuring that everything offered to the customer delivers on the brand promise and nothing is compromised. Are you managing your cost of goods and maximizing profits? Are you reinvesting in advertising, in-store signage and other marketing? Is labor properly trained? Are you protecting yourself by practicing correct sanitation, training and retraining? Stumbles in these important areas can cause brand damage.

PITFALLS TO AVOID

The following are some of the biggest errors experts see at this level of foodservice when it comes to execution and branding:

• Resting on laurels and losing the connection with the core customer.
• Menu fatigue; but new items and platforms should be tested thoroughly and only the best ones should be rolled out.
• Ignoring the foodservice brand and allowing its image to become lower than the image level of the store brand.

COST CONTROLS

Maintaining a brand and building on its brand promise is a continuous journey, and investment in that brand promise never ends. Once brands are developed, operators must budget resources to continuously protect the brand and expand delivery of the promise by expanding the customer base.

Advertising — radio, television, billboards, Internet, social media, mobile/smartphones - is a critical component to this stage of operation. Too often, however, operators advertise too little and are not engaged enough in digital and mobile advertising to stay current with potential new customers. There are several new marketing and advertising tools (location-based services and/or geo-fencing) available through mobile phones and smartphones that are extremely targeted for operators to investigate. These are cost-effective, laser-focused programs that can also yield social media chatter.

Companies such as foursquare and Bluetooth are offering both services and are geo-locating customers and bringing offers to them where they are via mobile devices. Geo-fencing services are triggered by the consumer within a designated distance of advertising. For example, Mac's Convenience Stores in Canada is using Bluetooth-enabled billboards and signs. Whenever a consumer with a Bluetooth device comes within 300 meters of a sign that Mac's has purchased, they get pinged with a marketing message. Shop Alerts is another company operating in this space.

Without brand identity, you are just another voice in the crowd yelling for attention."

— Jennifer Vespole, Quick Chek Corp.

HOT TIPS

• Stay ahead of the curve from a customer standpoint and understand who your current customers are and who they will be in five to 10 years.
• Keep sight of your external threats and get ahead of them.
• Stay fresh and innovative, and continue to learn and evolve.
• Advertise, advertise, advertise and develop a digital media advertising strategy to stay current and reach new customers.