From Our Print Edition

Could you gain new frozen business (and happier shoppers) via ghost kitchens/restaurant partners to customize a cafeteria-style selection? Let’s think outside the box

’I’m sure someone has told you to “think outside the box” at some point. So, let’s. Can you imagine a food retailer with a large cluster of stores in a major metro like Los Angeles, Dallas or Chicago building their own ghost kitchen to service their own stores? Why a ghost kitchen? Well, it would be an efficient central point to service all its stores, saving on cost, labor, and time while putting the hurt on fast-food chains.

FOOD-TO-GO FAILURES

Let’s be honest. Many a retailer has tried in-store food to go, but the only foods that ever did well were pizza, fried chicken and Chinese. Having food that just sits in a steamer for hours and turns to mush on the hour-long ride home just doesn’t cut it.

So, let’s step into option No. 1, where the ghost kitchen takes online orders and creates meal kits — just like you would be ordering at a restaurant. But in this case, what if those meals were then flash frozen to be used later. They could be ordered, made and delivered to stores with a 24-hour advance window that would marry up with the customer’s normal weekly grocery shopping. They could be taken home, put in the freezer, and taken out as needed.

Option two would have orders placed between 6 a.m. and noon. These fresh, ready to heat-and-eat items would only need to be put in a microwave or in the oven for 30 minutes or less.

Both options could have quality better than anything in the frozen section, but could also be found there, as a grab-and-go section.

Think of these doors as a cafeteria-style shopping experience. You pick the items and sizes to make the meals that could be tailored for each person at the dinner table.

The ghost kitchen could be staffed by the retailer’s own employees, or contracted out to companies that, say, make meals for restaurants or airlines. These kitchens could also make single items in various sizes, from entrees to side dishes. Then your customer could mix and match items and sizes to their own needs. You could offer pre-cooked chicken breasts that just need to be heated and served with the customer’s choice of vegetables. Or, meatloaf with their choice of toppings and side dishes.

You could display all these by type and serving size. You might have a door for chicken, beef, pork or vegetarian. Doors could feature vegetables in single-serve to two-pound sizes, and the same for potatoes. Think of these doors as a cafeteria-style shopping experience. You pick the items and sizes to make the meals that could be tailored for each person at the dinner table. They could have what they wanted and how much they wanted, or you could just do family sizes so everybody could just jump in.

To make the meal complete and add some extra profit, you could add appetizers and desserts to the lineup. But let’s keep going, why not also offer fresh items as well, such as salads, soups, fresh breads and rolls?

All of this I’m sure sounds like a lot, and it is. But not if you can make it all in one place and ship it to many in a timely manner.

SAVE TIME & MONEY

So, let’s step one more time — one big time step. Why not invite local restaurants and chains to join you in the ghost kitchen? Let them offer not only their menus, but help in preparing yours. Win-win?

This won’t work everywhere, but it can work in a lot of places. It can save time, money and — if done right — bring better quality food to the customer than what they are getting now — at a better price and in half the time.

Just sayin’

Bob Anderson is the retired vp/gmm at Walmart, where he worked for 17 years. He can be reached at [email protected].