Convenience Store Decisions, September 2018

We tried featuring items for shorter periods such as four weeks instead of eight but found that it takes at least a few weeks for people to catch on that we have freshlymade food inside Bright said The eight week period also makes it easier to justify the cost of signage and other advertising The only thing that keeps the stores from sampling all the time is a shortage of staff to stand outside and interact with customers But we know its important to build brand awareness and drive traffi c into our stores said Bright Inside the stores bright colorful signage featuring food items and ingredients with the tag line Food Made Fresh echoes the overall foodservice quality message and highlights any new products and or special pricing At two of Marketing Message Convenience is the message to which a growing number of foodservice consumers respond global consulting firm AlixPartners discovered in a February 2018 research report This year 41 said that they pick up food when they are already gas and or grocery shopping and it is easier to pick up these items That number almost doubled from last year Price is less of a factor than last year when 56 of foodservice consumers said these ready to eat meals were cheaper This year price was the primary factor for only 35 According to Mike Thornbrugh vice president of marketing for QuikTrip convenience stores consumers in his companys stores respond most strongly to messages of freshness and quality ingredients Considerations such as quick in and out and competitive pricing are important but beyond everything consumers want the food to look and taste good said Thornbrugh Thats the primary message we promote with our marketing the Kent Kwik stores that have made to order pizzas on their menus the company posted large signs in the front windows calling out this offering Bright said that this yielded a 40 lift in pizza sales at the stores Its important that we remind them of the quality and value of our foodservice while theyre inside the stores making their purchasing decisions Bright said Although QuikTrip convenience stores have tried sampling foodservice products at the pump insidethe store sampling seems to be more effective according to Mike Thornbrugh vice president of marketing for the chain which has 779 locations in Arizona Georgia Iowa Illinois Kansas Nebraska North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina and Texas Inside the store c u s t o m e r s a l s o get a visual of our new kitchen equipment and on site food preparation Thornbrugh said That visual reinforces our message of freshness An exception to the inside the store sampling strategy is QuikTrips support of high profi le community events with food donations On July 4 for example the company sampled some of its specialties at a major fundraiser for families of fallen and disabled military service members Also donating foods to events embraced by the surrounding community is an effective way to get the products into consumers hands and minds said Bright We reached a lot of people and got some great response when we donated breakfast burritos to a recent three day Rock the Desert event she said Pump N Pantry which has 15 locations over six northeastern Pennsylvania counties offers food centric support for a wide range of community events from donating pizza for National Night Out celebrations bringing police and citizens together to operating a hot dog cart and donating the proceeds to a local Chamber of Commerce to sponsoring a coffee cart that school children run to teach them social and business skills In the long run our participation pays off not only by establishing Pump N Pantry as a good neighbor but we hear people say things like I was at the Bridgewater event and had your subs there I didnt know you had subs said Wade Robinson the chains food service supervisor and digital marketing manager SOCIAL AWARENESS AlixPartners Harnischfeger pointed to social media as a good way to reach Millennials While only 24 of total consumers said they follow their favorite food establishments online 41 of Millennials said they do The use of social media particularly Facebook has changed drastically for Kent Kwik over the past couple of years Before we would post on the fl y every once in a while but had no consistent presence Bright said Now we put a big focus on it posting two or three times a week and responding to Yelp and Google reviews and believe it is Foodservice Marketing 58 Convenience Store Decisions September 2018 cstoredecisions com