DinnerCall Brings Grocerants Online

Perceptive grocery shoppers may have noticed something new in their local stores in the past year or so. To combat 2016’s considerable slowdown in the grocery market as sales continue to move online, many grocery stores have started introducing grocerants.

A portmanteau of grocery and restaurant, grocerant is the term for the sit-down restaurants, prepared-food offerings and meal kits that shoppers see popping up in their local Whole Foods, Kroger’s and Hy-Vee’s, among other places.

Now, prepared-meal marketplace DinnerCall has announced the release of a new white-label version of its eCommerce and fulfillment platform for grocerants. Using DinnerCall’s solution, grocerants can make their prepared foods and meal kits available for online order and pickup.

Gerome Hays, founder and CEO of DinnerCall, was quoted as saying, “Busy families and professionals often lack the time to walk into a store and assemble a meal. The lack of an easy online ordering system is a lost revenue opportunity as time-constrained guests default to more convenient options including fast food, fast-casual or pizza. There isn’t a solution on the market for grocerant operations. Online grocery shopping platforms cater to the center aisle while restaurant menu ordering systems lack the flexibility inherent in a grocerant operation.”

With DinnerCall’s eCommerce and fulfillment platform, grocerants can brand the platform to their specifications, offer online ordering on a store-by-store basis; design and offer a variety of meal types and kits; facilitate in-store pickup, curbside pickup or delivery options; leverage consumer data analytics to optimize offerings; and create mobile-compatible websites for Andriod and iOS, among other things.

Online ordering, pickup and delivery options are especially key, even for grocerants, since grocery consumers, by and large, especially millennials and shoppers in urban spaces, are moving online with their food purchases. Gone are the days of the grocery list and one-stop shopping. It’s being replaced with millennials popping into stores infrequently to buy specific goods. They’re also spreading purchases across a variety of options — from Walmart to Target to Trader Joe’s and other options.