Time For Your Grocerant To Deliver

Whether it's supermarkets or restaurants, the delivery scene is heating up!

Restaurants are finding ways to launch their own services or pairing up with existing delivery companies like Seamless, GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates and many more. In fact, earlier this week Chipotle announced that it’s expanding its delivery partnerships to target the highly sought-after college market, and hopes to be in 100 campuses by next spring. Currently, Chipotle delivers to 40 campuses with the service Tapingo. So what's next? It's time to call Uber!

While Supermarkets too are moving into delivery - it's typically just groceries or prepared foods, but with the rise of the grocerants (sit-down eateries inside or adjacent to supermarkets), it's time for supermarkets to tap into meal time delivery.  A SupermarketGuru consumer panel survey, found that nearly 60% of respondents say they eat at grocerants because they are convenient, 32% because it tastes good, and 31% because it costs less than a restaurant.

By tapping into these findings, supermarkets are poised to establish themselves for high quality chef created food which consumers can enjoy and trust.

A great company to elevate the delivery image of supermarkets prepared foods at meal times would be to partner with Uber (or Lyft) who is delivering lunch and dinner daily and brunch on weekends from local restaurants. One or two different offerings per day at a cost of $10 -15 dollars a meal and delivery is in less than 15 minutes. A supermarket could easily launch with a heavily advertised promotion and have the service available on an ongoing basis which quickly would establish its culinary cred.

Having this potential outlet for prepared foods in the supermarket will change the way shoppers plan their meals, buy prepared foods, and shop for food – from a weekly trip to an almost daily acquisition of great foods that they may ordinarily pass by as they do their weekly shop.