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Driving new sales with value added comfort foods
Put simply, economic downturns freak us out. And when we get freaked out, we reach for things that give us comfort. We get comfort from two main sources, by pampering ourselves with scarce pleasures ( the drive for luxury) and indulging in familiar things ( the drive to Mom’s house).
Luxury can quickly become cost prohibitive, both for the operator and customer’s point of view. Providing an experience that is purely familiar also won’t do either. By going ‘back to the future’ we can end up with something that dangerously approaches parody, whether it’s old school ingredients, menus and portioning, or old school, out of synch company values. This can work for a while, of course, but only to a point. History doesn’t run backwards - as operators trying to reconcile the cost of cheese with the demand for nachos have found out.
One solution model: value added comfort foods. Take simple (relatively inexpensive) comfort foods and reinvent them as specialty foods. The unit cost remains low, while the experiential value (taste, presentation and familiar ring-with-a-twist) is high. Sometimes it’s useful to absorb some success stories, in hopes of applying them to one’s own situation.
Sprinkles with its cupcakes, and PbLoco, with its Adult peanut butter, are cases in point. They’ve taken simple comfort foods and have placed them in a relatively low priced, but specialty category.
Sprinkles offers simple escapism for three or four dollars – the taste equivalent to happy wallpaper covering an uncertain world. With a cherry on top. Like Starbucks, Sprinkles offers a premium experience, with an everyday product – and almost anyone can afford it. PB Loco, meanwhile, offers an upscale twist on the most economical of home tastes - the peanut butter it manufacturers, and its peanut butter-themed cafes.
Both companies, so far, are expanding. Sprinkles has seven outlets in California, Arizona and Texas, and is self financing the expansion by reinvesting profits. It has plans for 17 in all.
PBLoco has two cafes, in Delaware and Arizona, and is opening two more in Florida in the coming months.
Sure, beyond getting the concept right, execution “is everything.” But just as we watch and wait to see how the experts at Starbucks will respond, we can look at how to do value added comfort foods right in trying times.
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(0) Comments • Permalink • 10 30 2008
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