VALPARAISO, Ind. -- Convenience-store retailer Family Express has unveiled its new hot foodservice offering, Cravin’s Kitchen. The concept features made-to-order breakfast sandwiches and an upscale, customizable, made-to-order pizza offering.
Cravin’s Kitchen will allow a customer to place an order from multiple ordering kiosks, online or via mobile app. When fully developed, the Family Express application will also allow a customer to place an order from the retailer’s central bakery and have it delivered at a later date to a customer’s store of choice.
The new Cravin’s Kitchen pizza menu includes a variety of new signature items, such as the Six-Cheese Garlic Pizza, Mediterranean Pizza, BBQ Bacon Chicken Pizza and a Breakfast Pizza.
A customer will be able to tailor a slice to their liking by using one of two ordering kiosks
The company will feature Cravin’s Kitchen in its three new-to-industry (NTI) locations opening in November; it will migrate to other locations that have the appropriate demographic and parking credentials.
The retailer synchronized the deployment of Cravin’s Kitchen with the rebranding of Family Express store interiors designed to focus on foodservice.
“The family of our proprietary brands has evolved over decades of marketing, but they existed in silos as opposed to speaking with one voice,” said Gus Olympidis, president and CEO of Family Express, Valparaiso, Ind.
Foodservice consulting firm The Moseley Group, Franklin, Mass., helped the retailer develop this initiative.
Most of Moseley’s work centers on three areas: technology and innovation; functional design; and experiential branding, translating strategy into physical and virtual environments, whether nurturing new business incubation or revitalizing heritage brands.
Family Express operates 65 convenience stores throughout northwestern and north central Indiana. The company’s logistics model consolidates 25 traditional direct-store-delivery (DSD) weekly deliveries into a single daily delivery achieving transportation efficiencies and freshness for perishables. Family Express’ “living brand” builds relationships with customers through friendly employees with inviting stores sporting upscale colonial architecture, enhanced landscaping plans and sensitivity to the environment. Family Express goes to market with an assemblage of proprietary brands.
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