Walmart To Add Restaurants That Serve Raw Fish

[storewanderer]

Perhaps...................but I don't trust the "environment" or the standards surrounding the food dispensing operation.

With how some of the large chains run their stores these days I am not sure the standards are much different at this point. There was a time when I thought Kroger was definitely higher standards but now... I am not so sure.

[Alpha8472]

The Walmart in Martinez, California is not a Supercenter. The Walmart stores in the center of the San Francisco Bay Area are mostly non-supercenters. The Martinez Walmart has no deli and no hot food. Uncle Sharkii does have a fully cooked chicken bowl. The Boba teas and Dole soft serve will do well. The people in the Bay Area love Asian drinks and Asian food. This location should do well. Unfortunately the Walmart stores near heavily Asian neighborhoods seem to have McDonald's.

[HCal]

I wonder why Walmart doesn't open its own cafes. If they can do it at Sam's, they should be able to do it at Walmart stores as well. Imagine K-Cafe coming back as W-Cafe

[Alpha8472]

I remember when they first opened a K-Cafe at my local Kmart in the late 80s. It had a dining room with walls and glass windows separating it from the store. A cook fried fresh French fries and brought them to our table. I thought that it was quite nice.

Then around the early 2000s, the Cafe was already abandoned.

Before the cafe there was a stand that had Icees and freshly popped popcorn. It always smelled like popcorn right when you walked in the door.

Sears also had a stand that sold Icees and freshly popped popcorn at the time.

[BillyGr]

I wonder why Walmart doesn't open its own cafes. If they can do it at Sam's, they should be able to do it at Walmart stores as well. Imagine K-Cafe coming back as W-Cafe

They had their own (Radio Grill) at one time in many stores, then opted to go to these branded options instead (seemed to be about the time around this area that most regular stores were being switched to Super format).

I remember when they first opened a K-Cafe at my local Kmart in the late 80s. It had a dining room with walls and glass windows separating it from the store. A cook fried fresh French fries and brought them to our table. I thought that it was quite nice.

Before the cafe there was a stand that had Icees and freshly popped popcorn. It always smelled like popcorn right when you walked in the door.

I remember seeing both the full cafe (the Kmart closest to me had that, about in the middle of the back of the store) and the smaller setup in the front with the snacks and it may have also sold sandwiches (at some other store I was in), along with the smaller space to one side of the front (away from the entry) that had the K Cafe with Little Caesars in another location.

They sort of overlapped with each other in different spots, which probably shouldn't be a surprise given how Kmart renovated (or rather didn't) their stores with any logic most times

[storewanderer]

I wonder why Walmart doesn't open its own cafes. If they can do it at Sam's, they should be able to do it at Walmart stores as well. Imagine K-Cafe coming back as W-Cafe

Wal Mart did used to run its own Snack Bar but then in the mid 90's replaced those with McDonalds. The Wal Mart snack bars had bargain prices and had the expected popcorn/icee/hot dog type menu. These were not intended to turn a profit but probably broke even due to very cheap ingredient cost/high volume. In the 00's Wal Mart came up with a format called Radio Grill with a larger menu and higher prices which was for stores McDonalds passed on but that was short lived and I think it did rather poorly. Radio Grill cost more to operate and did not sell much food.

Wal Mart still runs something that is rather similar to its old Snack Bars in terms of price/offering next to the museum/original store in Bentonville. They call it a Spark Cafe or something.

At this point the hot food concession in the service deli runs as a quasi snack bar of sorts so I think that is sufficient at this point in time. Wal Mart doesn't need to add back in house snack bars at least not to the Supercenters. Perhaps Div 1 Stores? Also in the most recent Supercenter remodels they put a space near checkout that is a like a c-store with a couple short aisles of candy/snacks and refrigerated coolers of bottled beverages and such (this is right by the deli).

[Alpha8472]

Many San Francisco Bay Area Walmart stores are not supercenters and most of them lost their McDonald's when McDonald's closed their restaurants during 2020. There is no hot food option or deli for many of these stores.

A snack bar station with Icees, soda fountain, coffee, and other items might work. Customers need a place to sit down and rest while shopping. You often see senior citizens sitting down and waiting while the rest of the family shops. Restaurants in stores make the store more appealing. Otherwise people will just shop quickly and leave.

When there is a place to sit and rest, customers can go shopping for more later and end up spending more.

[storewanderer]

Many San Francisco Bay Area Walmart stores are not supercenters and most of them lost their McDonald's when McDonald's closed their restaurants during 2020. There is no hot food optio or deli for many of these stores.

A snack bar station with Icees, soda fountain, coffee, and other items might work. Customers need a place to sit down and rest while shopping. You often see senior citizens sitting down and waiting while the rest of the family shops. Restaurants in stores make the store more appealing. Otherwise people will just shop quickly and leave.

When there is a place to sit and rest, customers can go shopping for more later and end up spending more.

I think they need some kind of food service operation in the non-Supercenter units. The stores still have enough traffic, plus relatively high employee counts, that something should be viable.