Over 20% of Grocery Retail is likely to move online by 2026 according to a recent Supermarket News article. That’s big news, but equally big is that the vast majority of online grocery shoppers prefer click-and-collect over home delivery. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they favor in-store (44%) and curbside (31%) pickup, compared with 24% preferring delivery. Consumers don’t like to pay for home delivery, […]
Food & Beverage
The 5 Stages of Growing a Food and Beverage Business
The new caramel-pecan brownies are winning raves with their crunchy, moist deliciousness. That chipotle-lime salsa touches taste buds you didn’t even know existed. Congratulations! You have a product that needs, no, demands, a place in every food shopper’s heart and pantry. Read on to learn how to make that happen. Whether you are an established […]
4 Great Omnichannel Retail Service Providers
At the recent NGA (National Grocer’s Association) conference, I spoke with a group of parallel but different companies that help independent grocery retailers get their e-commerce up-and- running. Shop Hero, Rosie, Local Express and EGrowcery, while different, all provide tech, web design and product images, inventory tie-ins, and linkages to delivery services. Together, these service bundles jump-start retailers to a high-level of e-commerce; for both delivery and click-and-collect. With these services […]
Kroger to Roll Out More Ocado Automated Customer Fulfillment Warehouses
Grocery giant Kroger is opening an Ocado automated fulfillment warehouse (customer fulfillment center or CFC) for home delivery in the Northeast soon. They have no stores in the Northeast, so this is an e-commerce only move for Kroger. They already operate a CFC in central Florida, with more planned in Florida, California and the South. These operations can deliver to a 90-mile radius and can […]
How Businesses Can Help Colleges and Universities Respond to COVID-19
This is changing daily, but as I write this, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 53% of colleges are planning on re-opening this fall with on campus classes. While 32% will offer a hybrid of online and in-person classes and 11% will offer on-line only. The rest are still deciding. How Some Colleges are […]
A Quick-Guide to the Healthcare Foodservice Industry
So, you’ve thought about selling your food or beverage product to the healthcare industry. Driving past your local mega-hospital, maybe you’ve thought ‘Hey, those are big buildings with lots of people in them. I wonder if they would buy my new food product?’ Or, ‘What do all the doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, not to mention […]
Explaining Wholesale Food Service Distributors
You have a new food product, or maybe a service, that you’d like to sell into the $1.5 Trillion U.S. food and beverage industry. This article will help you better understand the structure of the food industry focusing on the supply chain. It focuses on what wholesale food distributors are, what they do, the part […]
What Do You Want to Do about Dinner?
“What do you want to do about dinner?” “Mmm…not sure, what do you want?” A likely conversation, between one spouse, partner, or family member, to another, around 4 or 5pm, several days a week. And, increasingly the answer is to pick up for home consumption or order out. We’ve been Amazoned in how we think […]
Food Trends Overheard on Facebook in 2018
Facebook just released their second annual Topics and Trends Report. This is their report for marketers that tracks conversation topics that consumers are sharing on the platform, that are growing louder. If you’re in the food industry, this is seriously fun eavesdropping! It can help us spot real trends. Overheard social media conversations indicate that […]
Gen Z Food Trends Part II
This is the continuation of the previous post; a point/counter-point between Jim Matorin and Lionel Binnie on our thoughts on Gen Z attitudes and behavior around food. Jim ….Excellent observations Lionel. However, given we are contributing a point, counter point post about Gen Z with our readership, I am going to share some insight that […]