As a Business Advisor, my job is to help my retailers hit their goals and grow their profit year over year. When I step inside one of our locations, I try to come at it with a fresh set of eyes, looking for new ways to increase food sales in that location. Sometimes this means applying a tried and true solution and sometimes this means brainstorming NEW ideas. Here's the FOURTH STEP for STORE SUCCESS based on what I'm seeing that's on FIRE in the industry...
STEP 4: Capitalize on CONVENIENCE!
Let's be real, more than likely, a significant portion of the foot traffic in your store is not coming to your location specifically to satisfy their hunger and mealtime cravings. Typically, they're coming to your store on a mission for something else: maybe it is to fill up their vehicle with gas, maybe it's to grab a gallon of milk. This is why convenient GRAB & GO food options are key to interrupting their purchase plan, to LEVEL UP their basket ring, and to get them trying your delicious food. Then, their next trip to your location just might be an ADDED TRIP for for the purpose of satisfying that hunger craving.
As a Business Advisor, there's nothing better than working with retailers that are willing to give it a go! When I walked into the Champs Chicken locations in the Uncle's Convenience Stores in Midland, Texas, I spied an opportunity. I noticed that they had excellent hot case merchandisers in prime locations facing the front doors of the stores, but were not fully utilizing them. There wasn't a strategy or plan to what was stocked in them and there was no signage guiding consumers to make a purchase. Their customers were just walking on by, giving it just one quick glance. So we set a plan in motion and these were the results:
Combined totals for Countryside and Greenwood
THEIR SALES MORE THAN TRIPLED in comparing weeks 1-4 with weeks 13-16. While comparing month to month isn't comparing apples to apples (there's a lot of factors at play with different months-- weather, travel trends, etc.), there's no denying with THAT kind of jump that Grab & Go had a monumental impact on these two stores.
SANDWICHES are HOT: breakfast sandwiches and chicken sandwiches made up a CHUNK of the weekly sales, reaching as high as 42% in Week 16!
Go big or go home. We drew in customers with huge signage featuring some of the favorite Grab & Go items. For stores that don't have this type of space available for signage, consider adding something like a pump topper or digital menu screen on top of your Grab & Go case to highlight the items for sale.
MORNING: In the morning, fill the Grab & Go with breakfast items. Make sure the items are lined up with stickers facing the same direction.
LUNCH: Around 10:30 AM, switch to putting out lunch items. What can you push in Grab & Go? LOTS! This store did a variety of chicken sandwiches in the top of the warmer. For the bottom of the warmer, they pushed tenders, wedges, shrimp, gizzards, poppers, and dippers.
DINNER: Don't overlook those evening hours. Around 4 PM, make sure you have options for the dinner time needs of consumers. Think about today's busy consumer. The day flies by at work, she leaves work late and kids have practices all over town in the evening. What's she doing for dinner? GRABBING something FAST. When she has to stop at a gas station to fill up and grab Gatorade, do you think she might impulse buy dinner if it's CONVENIENT? Definitely! Around 4 PM, make sure you have options for the dinner time needs of consumers.
As you try different things in you Grab & Go, you'll discover items that are HOT and items that aren't. Be consistent at stocking your Grab & Go and providing reliable favorites, while also be agile and trying different products to see what has consumer appeal. Grab & Go Gizzards? It certainly has a ring to it, but not something that you might typically think of serving up.
Getting in the GAME with Grab & Go doesn't have to be complicated. Just start simple with breakfast sandwiches in the morning and chicken sandwiches at lunch. these are tried and true crowd favorites. And remember, consumers are willing to pay for convenience. We recommend a breakfast sandwich price point between $3.29 - $3.49 and a chicken sandwich price point between $4.29 and $4.49.
With Grab & Go, you can use an existing merchandiser or purchase equipment through PFSbrands. To appeal to customers who want to avoid touching door handles, consider using hands-free equipment. A few recommendations include:
Contact your Business Advisor to talk through how YOU can enhance your Grab & Go program.
MDF@PFSbrands.com | (573)-563-0300