Best Concepts: The Hub at Mayo Clinic Rochester is a tech-forward, convenience-oriented model of healthcare’s retail future

During the height of the global pandemic, when everything was shutting down, Morrison Healthcare’s marketing and culinary team decided to recreate and rethink the retail spaces of the future. Kevin Dorr, Senior Vice President of Culinary Innovation & Strategy, envisioned smaller, fast-casual style retail café spaces driven by technology, accessible by online ordering, and with the ability to pivot the menus quickly based on seasonality, LTOs, and regional preferences.

With those features in mind, Morrison Healthcare created The Hub, a streamlined, quick service station concept where all guest ordering takes place at kiosks in the café or on the floors using the InstaEat mobile application. For its innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the post-pandemic retail environment in healthcare, The Hub has been named the Best Convenience Retailing Concept category winner in the 2023 FM Best Concept Awards program.

The Mayo Clinic Retail team, under the leadership of Larry Tansky, wanted to ensure the space included sought-after items like fresh, local ingredients, pickled vegetables, seasonal house-made soups, and power bowl builds. The Hub at Mayo Rochester affords guests the ability to build a bulgogi grain bowl to order, create a No Naansense pizza, or quickly grab their favorite gourmet deli sandwich, all within 900 square feet.

Since opening in June 2022, the Hub averages 585 transactions per weekday, with an average of $3,745 in net sales per weekday. With an average guest check of $6.39, it has demonstrated the fast-casual QSR kiosk model works.

In addition, The Hub’s technology allows the Mayo team to modify menus weekly, enabling them to adjust for seasonality and the optimal menu mix for their clientele. The total renovation of the space took four months. “The Hub has truly exceeded not only our guest’s expectations from this space, but also our expectations about how successful the combination of a streamlined menu can be with the mobile ordering technology,” Tansky notes.

Photos courtesy of Morrison Healthcare