Case Study

How Byte Technology Is Helping LPM Holdings Reclaim Market Share From Rival Food Service Providers

LPM Holdings manages food service and hospitality concepts that help corporations, small businesses, and multi-tenant buildings feed employees in the New England area.

“Byte stores are a great opportunity to expand our business to areas we used to be unable to touch. We lost locations to competitors—but now we can compete with a whole new brand.” James Iannone, Director of Operations of LPM Holdings

The Highlights

The Challenge

Current food service concepts were designed for large corporations with heavy subsidies Losing opportunities to competitors that offer small pantries and micro-markets Wanted an agile, affordable way to serve fresh food to populations of all sizes

The Solution

Find a small footprint store that could easily be stocked with fresh food daily Enable subsidies to match any company’s budget Test a new affordable concept designed for smaller buildings

The Result

LPM unlocked access to a massive new market Able to compete with food service providers of all sizes Gained an edge over pre-made food competitors by providing fresh local food

The Challenge

Losing Opportunities To Micro-market Competition

Corporations and multi-tenant buildings are pursuing leaner, more affordable ways of providing food to employees, and this meant trouble for LPM Holdings. Despite having a variety of food service concepts under its umbrella, LPM kept losing out bids to more agile competitors.

Corporations, especially smaller ones, didn’t have the ability to subsidize a full cafeteria, so LPM needed to find a more compact and affordable way to offer fresh and healthy food if they wanted to keep growing.

“We found a lot of clients out there looking for smaller setups, and while we did partner with a vending operator, we still weren’t able to compete head-to-head with the other companies that could offer small pantries or micro-markets.”

The Solution

Skipping Micro-markets Altogether For A Fresher Approach

One of LPM’s clients was searching for a way to sell fresh product in buildings around their local area. Traditional vending machines weren’t designed for fresh, so James began exploring other fridge-style options and discovered Byte Technology’s small footprint stores.

James couldn’t get an idea out of his head: what if LPM used the stores to build out a new brand of fresh food that could work for buildings of all sizes?

“People don’t really want prepackaged foods. Something fresh and made locally seemed like a better idea to us.”

James knew the perfect location to test the idea: a multi-tenant building of only 200 people in Needham, Massachusetts.

“They didn’t have the population to justify spending all the money to subsidize a cafe. That’s why, when we realized how affordable the Byte store would be—and that we could customize the subsidies to match the building’s budget—it seemed like a no-brainer.”

The Results

Instant Access To Clients That Were Previously Out Of Reach

Within a couple of short months, LPM had their first Byte store up and running. They stocked it with fresh offerings each morning, enabled tenants to buy food during the day, and checked in for feedback after a couple of weeks.

“The store was very well received, the employees were appreciative, and we got compliments on the quality of the food. Actually, the building is going to do some promotions around it because they’re pretty happy.”

The location successfully validated the need for fresh food via an unattended, small-footprint storefront.

“We want to grow this segment of the company, because now we can knock heads against our competitors that offer pantry-type locations in buildings that don’t have a cafe.”

LPM is preparing to launch a completely new brand that will use Byte stores to gain further access to these smaller buildings.

“We’re going to go with Fresh 2 Go, and we’re throwing our whole marketing team behind it. We’re looking for a commissary kitchen where we can make all our food. And because the Byte stores make it easy to supply fresh food daily, we’ll have a huge edge over our main local competitor.”

Unlock New Opportunities

Byte Technology helps retailers, food service providers and vending operators to serve fresh food anywhere, anytime.

Reach out today to learn more about how Byte’s stores can help your business thrive.