The Food Scout

Some people call Boston Market a failure. I call it an inspiration, because it got a lot of complacent grocery store chains to start building instore prepared foods programs in the mid-90s. Many of those programs weren’t that great, but it was a step in the right direction.

The same goes with Dream Dinners and all those struggling meal assembly stores out there today (435 units and shrinking, according to one source). Ultimately, they may go belly up, but they continue to point to a meal preparation need that is going unfulfilled with consumers that supermarkets need to address (witness Publix’ Aprons concept).

A year ago, Tesco’s Fresh & Easy hit the West Coast. And while even Wal-Mart executives now acknowledge that the chain will probably stick and survive, it doesn’t really matter whether it does or not. The fact is that it has forced supermarkets to examine their 40,000 - 80,000 sq. ft. stores full of boxed and bottled products and ask themselves whether this is really where Americans want to find dinnertime solutions.

And now Fresh & Easy is proving to be the latest kick in the pants that supermarkets needed. In the past year, the country has witnessed the opening of a lot of regional, smaller format stores in the area of 15,000 sq. ft., featuring larger prepared foods sections and smaller dry grocery sections. The list includes a couple of “The Market” concepts by Safeway in California, four “Marketside” stores by Wal-Mart in Arizona, one “Urban Fresh” concept by Supervalu in Chicago, “A Taste of Market Street” by United Supermarkets in Dallas, and Giant Eagle Express in Pittsburgh and Cloverdale, Ohio. Even Whole Foods is said to be opening a concept in the near future.

In this current economic market, supermarkets and packaged goods manufacturers seem to be benefiting as consumers choose to eat out less often in favor of eating at home. So it appears now is the time to woo consumers with prepared foods alternatives that keep them from switching back to restaurants when consumer confidence returns.