I’m not quite ready to look forward to 2020. I’m still intrigued with some of the foodservice deftness I saw in 2019—just in the month of September.
While others were reading trend reports and closely following what everyone else is doing to determine their next foodservice move, others announced initiatives that caused me to spit out my coffee and choke, “You did what?!” The professional term for what my three examples did is disruption. (Was this September Foodservice Sweeps?) See what you think of these launches:
Cheez-It-like Pizza. How did this mashup happen between Pizza Hut pizza and Kellogg’s Cheez-Its? I love them both, and in September Pizza Hut announced its novel Stuffed Pizza Cheez-It LTO. The details are in the four jumbo Cheez-It-looking and tasting crispy squares filled with either cheese or pepperoni and cheese served with a side of marinara dipping sauce. I’m a Boomer who grew up on Pizza Hut and Cheez-Its. Love the idea, but they didn’t have my demographic in mind for this LTO. It was timed to coincide with college football season. Do college students like Cheez-Its? Let me at them.
Grocery Store Food Hall. In September Kroger unveiled a food hall in its newest Cincinnati store a block from Kroger HQ. Either this On the Rhine Eatery, as it is called, is an elevation of the grocerant movement, or it’s a cheapening of the chef-driven food hall wave. In true food hall fashion, the five eateries included are not chain restaurants. Menus cover tacos, Asian street fare and BBQ for starters. The idea of a food hall in a grocery store is a bit head scratching to me, but it’s in a swanky neighborhood, so a cool store-centric food hall might not be a stretch for that area.
Food Magazine Opens a Delivery-only Virtual Restaurant. You thought Bon Appetit was a magazine. But now it’s a restaurant too. Mind blowing. Ghost kitchens and delivery partnerships make this totally possible. Bon Appetit, Delivered is the name, and Chicago is the location. The virtual storefront is operated by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) with Grubhub as the delivery partner. The concept features popular dishes from the magazine, website and Instagram feed.
I thought on this one for a long time. What is to stop any other food-related company from opening a virtual restaurant? Nothing. Is Oprah listening? Why not a Weight Watchers virtual restaurant? Health club and spa virtual restaurants, anyone? The Food Channel? A gas station? (I’m not crazy. What about Wawa?) Theme park neighborhoods could do it with fair food. Think Disneyland/Disney World. I’ll stop with that and let everyone else think of others. But this I would call restaurant disruption. And maybe therein lies a new spin on ghost kitchens, which is shaping up to be a huge trend for 2020 and beyond.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
