In the months following the dawn of COVID-19 pandemic, convenience store retailers needed to adapt open-air fast fare offerings in a hurry – or eliminate them altogether resulting in the loss of a significant money maker. Lowering the risk of contamination to address Food Safety concerns, while controlling costs, was essential.
Ready-to-eat nachos are a popular grab-and-go item, but previous methods of sale were not optimal as they required bulky cheese dispensers, which are time-consuming to fill, maintain, and clean. Self-serve cheese sauce dispensers offer little ability to manage customer portion size, and with additional COVID considerations, were at significant risk of contamination, potentially accelerating the spread of a deadly virus.
Beyond the health risks associated with self-serve nachos, the product had always had a wide margin of shrinkage. Shrinkage can result from unused cheese left in dispenser bags, or from a failure to charge consumers for cheese that might have been dispensed onto other warm grab-and-go foods. Portion size remains difficult to control, as customers often build their snack with more cheese sauce than intended and/or needed, further reducing store margins.
Nachos To Go – Developed by Baer & Assoc. to Satisfy a Consumer Need and Reclaim Store Margins
Nachos To Go provides food retailers with a convenient and safe grab-and-go nacho snack option. This Zero-Touch merchandising frees up space and completely eliminates the need for cheese dispenser towers – and the resulting sticky counters, messy floors, and wasted or unused product. With new packaging designed by Baer, the nachos are pre-packed and portion-controlled, cleanliness is ensured, there is no customer-contamination health risk, and profit margins are much more reliable.
The chips and cheese utilized in Nachos To Go are sourced from one of Baer’s most trusted partners – Ricos Products. Each pre-packaged combination tray contains a 2.5 oz. bag of Ricos White Corn Tortilla Chips and a 3.5 oz. cup of Cheddar Nacho Cheese Sauce – premium nacho ingredients selected for both taste and quality. Nachos To Go are prepackaged in a convenient, easy-to-store, sealed container with a transparent lid, and can be merchandised and enjoyed from food warmers or at ambient temperature from store shelves. Inventory storage is simplified as well with individual Nachos To Go packages neatly packed and shipped 38 to a box.
Convenience for consumers was also a major aspect of the design process. While the chips and cheese are separately packaged components, the easy-to-handle combination tray makes the product easy to enjoy and dispose of with less hassle and mess. The Baer team meticulously designed, sourced, and perfected every step of the process. Baer & Associates takes pride in being a leader in the packaging industry and is dedicated to enhancing the customer experience, engaging with key industry contacts for development feedback, and leveraging the company’s extensive packaging expertise and resources.
Customization options for Nachos To Go include the addition of 2 oz. packages of Ricos Sliced Jalapeño Peppers as well as custom branding options. Baer can work with your business to design custom graphics for packaging and labeling that best reflect your unique brand, enhancing your own brand awareness on the shelf, and building loyalty to your brand as consumers make a decision to choose Nachos To Go for their preferred grab-and-go snack option.
In addition to C-Stores, Baer has seen great success with Nachos To Go within the movie theater market, where our customers enjoy convenience and cleanliness as the primary benefits. The user experience for Nachos To Go at movie theaters is known to be exceptional for both theaters and consumers. Margins for the prepackaged snacks surpass those of the previous bulk self-serve nacho and cheese options.
When space is limited and labor costs need to be considered, Nachos To Go makes it both possible and practical to offer a favorite consumer snack.
For more information about Nachos To Go, click here to send a message to the team at Baer & Associates.