Bubbleology’s Post

🥐🍜🍒 Foodie Tuesdays: The Grocer Awards Edition The ECJ team is excited to share our favourite brands that received a Grocer Awards this year: 🚀 MOTH Drinks - B Corp™: Making waves in the RTD market MOTH's tinned cocktails are revolutionising the RTD scene. Crafted with award-winning spirits, MOTH now dominates 70% of the ‘super-premium’ RTD market and 73% of UK grocery margarita sales. In 2023, sales soared to nearly £9M, with availability in 3,500 outlets including Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Morrisons. A can is sold every 10 seconds in the UK. 🥒 VADASZ DELI LTD: Creating a new superfood category, Vadasz's kimchi, fresh pickles, and ferments have come a long way from humble beginnings. Inspired by family tradition, Nick Vadasz launched Vadasz Deli in 2009. The homemade pickles quickly became a standout, evolving into a leading superfood brand. 🌽 LOVE CORN: Snack Disruptor Love Corn impressed the judges with its crunchy corn. This year, their lunchbox-friendly multipack tripled Tesco distribution and added Sainsbury’s, Co-op, WH Smith, and Ocado. Their clever branding and partnerships have led to skyrocketing sales and expansion into the US market with 12,000+ points of sale. 🛍️ Tesco: Supermarket of the year, Tesco celebrates a decade as Britain’s top supermarket, excelling in convenience, promotions, technology, assortment, availability, and overall shopping experience. With 19% naming Tesco their favourite and 65% showing definite interest in shopping there, Tesco also led as the favourite online supermarket with 25% of the vote. Who were your favourite Grocer Award-winning brands this year? Let us know in the comments. 🍽️ #FoodieTuesday #FoodNews #FoodandDrink #FoodTrends #TheGrocer #GrocerAwards24 #GrocerAwards

The lines between grocery stores, convenience stores, and QSRs are blurring, driven by changing consumer preferences and industry competition. This is not just a passing trend—it's a seismic shift in how we eat and shop. Blurring the linesThe U.S. grocery industry is worth an eye-popping $1.5 trillion, and fresh-prepared meals now account for a significant slice of that pie. This segment exploded during the pandemic, when 57% of Americans increased their takeout orders for safety and convenience. Grocery retailers quickly stepped up, offering fresh-prepared, grab-and-go options like MTO (made-to-order) sandwiches, meal kits, and ready-to-eat meals.Meanwhile, QSRs are riding their own wave of growth. The global QSR market is projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2027, fueled by rapid location expansion and the rise of specialty chains like Cava, which grew from a single Mediterranean eatery in Bethesda, MD, to over 400 locations, plus a successful IPO worth $1.5 billion—all in just 12 years. https://lnkd.in/gd9RU8Tp

Watch out #Starbucks, #Dunkin and #McDonald's! #Cstores are poised to satisfy consumers' thirst for great #beverages this summer with plenty of innovation and smart promotions. The upcoming #Technomic C-store Beverage Multi Study will shed more light on how convenience retailers are strategizing to grow beverages sales and consumer purchase dynamics!

QSR: Facing new times... Fast-casual comeback, promotions (that emphasized value), innovation and ...bankruptcies.Take your pick! But, don't forget: “There’s a lot more competition with grocery and other food retailers”. “That’s where most of the competition is, particularly for that lower- to middle-income consumer.”. Also, don't undervalue "fast-casual" (do not confuse "fast" with "dining") and..."beware of Chicken". "Enjoy your feast"!! #qsr #fastcasual #value #promotions #competition #retail https://lnkd.in/dAg3jzRV

Small-format grocery stores: a great idea in theory, a logistical headache in practice. From Walmart Express to GreenWise, history shows slim margins and stocking nightmares doom these ventures. Why repeat what’s been proven a recipe for slim pickings? #foodservice #wholefoods #walmart #cstore

Private label brands are as important as ever with the prices of groceries being what they are today in the current economic environment. They can provide savings, value, and quality over name brand equivalents across many different food and beverage product lines. The attached article below shows the top thirteen most affordable grocery stores in the U.S. based on core item purchases. Many of these grocery stores offer value-added private label options as alternatives to name branded products that are just as good, if not better in some cases. It's worth checking out: https://lnkd.in/gPKbm9dJ

Always an opportunity in the market

Bye, bye, boring shelves of packaged goods. 👋 As the grocery industry has increasingly embraced innovation in recent years, the center store has become an area where food retailers are looking to liven up the shopping experience. From evolving their assortments to experimenting with technology and merchandising techniques, retailers are rolling out different strategies to boost product discovery and consumer education. Some are making bigger shout-outs for local products, while others, like Target and Aldi, are expanding their private brands. With the help of digital innovation, grocers are aiming to streamline the shopping process for consumers with product search kiosks, in-store video storytelling and scannable QR codes that provide more product information. H-E-B has added video tablets to educate shoppers on beer and wine brands by providing brand stories and educational information, like tasting notes and pairing suggestions. Some industry observers believe the center store will become a thing of the past in a future where shoppers order packaged goods online and shop fresh and specialty departments in-store. Whether or not that will happen, many grocers see value in refreshing those center store aisles to make shopping an activity customers look forward to rather than view as a chore. #CenterStore #Grocery #HEB #ALDI #FiestaMart #GroceryDive #Texas #Food #FoodBroker #Supermarket #CPGIndustry

Do you order 🍕 from your local convenience store? If you do, you're on trend. C-stores are gaining traction, joining the QSR vs Fast Casual convo when it comes to Price vs Value. 56% see them as viable alternative to fast-food chains. An 11% increase over the past two years. That's according to the latest Intouch Insight report. In Japan, convenience stores have been competitive in the market for a while. Is the US catching on? What do you think is pushing this trend?

The article "Grab and Go: 5 retailers making surprising investments in food-to-go" highlights how unexpected retailers are tapping into the growing £23.4bn food-to-go market, traditionally dominated by supermarkets and sandwich chains. Key examples include luxury department store Fortnum & Mason launching its first café counter for hot drinks and pastries, and health retailer Holland & Barrett introducing wellness-themed takeaway drinks. Additionally, Hotel Chocolat, WHSmith, and Ralph Lauren have expanded into the food-to-go space, offering various café and snack options to cater to evolving customer needs. I find this story is interesting because it shows how retailers typically not associated with food-to-go are adapting their offers based on consumer insights. By observing shifts in customer preferences, these brands are finding new revenue streams and opportunities to enhance the customer experience. This aligns with the type of insights that Retail Savvy helps clients to understand and act on—how adapting to changing consumer behaviours can lead to innovation and growth. Our research provides deep insights that help businesses establish what is most important to their customers. We help them make business-critical decisions based on sound customer insights. Welcome to Retail Savvy Research Consultancy, your go-to for retail, hospitality & leisure insights! We would love to talk to you. Why don't you drop us a line at simon@retail-savvy.com Please visit our website for more details about us and client testimonials at https://lnkd.in/dtd82GQ Or follow us on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/etXuWN48 #RetailSavvy #SavvyInsights #CustomerInsights #BusinessDecisions #Researchconsultancy #grabandgo #foodtogo