The Convenience Foodservice Vision Group (CFVG) released its first Vision Report, "The Power of Sensory Science in Convenience Retail."

CFVG’s inaugural quarterly virtual meeting was facilitated by Richard Poye, chief operating officer at Food Trends Think Tank. The meeting featured a presentation by Rachel Toner, founder and technical director of Taste Strategy.

According to CFVG, key takeaways in the report include:

• Sensory strategies for convenience retail: Presenter Rachel Toner emphasized the power of sensory science in improving consumer experiences and business success, urging retailers to view their stores through a fresh lens and leverage sensory data for innovation. She champions sensory and consumer feedback, stating sensory science "can be that secret sauce that can provide the data to inform how to improve the customer experience or how to outperform the competition."
• Creating a multisensory brand experience on a budget: A strong sensory brand experience involves the harmony of scent, sound, visuals, texture and temperature to shape customer perception. While large companies invest heavily in research, smaller retailers can take a practical approach by conducting sensory walkthroughs, testing prototypes and gathering real-time customer feedback. According to Jon Cox, vice president, retail foodservice at McLane, “We’re all here because we feel like foodservice is the future of our industry and we owe it to the industry to be able to do quality food.”
• Creating a cohesive sensory experience: It is important to integrate foodservice, marketing and operations to create a cohesive sensory experience. Facilitator Richard Poye said, “So much of this conversation is around food, but to me it’s about the entire store experience and how do you bring other partners in other areas of the store, whether it’s operations, marketing, other categories together to really think about sensory and how they could do it really well.”
• Overcoming blind spots in customer experience: Food retailers need to recognize issues that negatively impact customer experience, including cleaning smells and even food odor. "Nobody wants to walk in and smell chicken. More importantly, nobody wants to walk out and get in their car and smell like chicken," said Barbara Kessler, senior director, food and beverage at The Wills Group (Dash In).