Joel Warady

Walgreen Exploring the Sale of Prepared Meals and Fresh Foods

January 18, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Walgreen Co. is planning to roll out fresh foods and prepared meals in all its stores. What do you think of Walgreens' exploration of fresh foods and prepared meals? What would they have to do to make such a move a success?      [more...]

It's a funny thing about Walgreens and meals. It is not like this is anything new; only the format has changed. When Walgreens first started out in the Chicago area, all of their stores had "lunch counters," and Walgreens was a great place to get a hamburger, fries, and a coke. They then decided that it made more sense to get out of food service within the stores, and use the store space for higher margin product.

But Walgreens could not stay away from food for long. They owned two restaurant groups in the US in the '80s. They owned a small Bennigan's type chain named RobinHood Restaurants, and a larger chain similar to Denny's named Wags. They unloaded both food service experiments after once again deciding that they did not want to be in the "meal" business.

Now they are looking to enter the meal preparation business one more time? Someone earlier said that it is all about execution. This is true; it is not simply about foot traffic. With all of the fast casual and c-store locations that exist, do the people who think this is a no-brainer really think that Walgreens is going to execute this well? Does Walgreen really understand the prepared food business?

Sorry, I might be in the minority, but I think this has failure written all over it.