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BTS LESSONS INCLUDE TIME, SIZE, PRICE

Retailers are getting wise to what it takes to sell bakery items during the hectic and heavily promoted back-to-school period.In-store bakeries face competition from nearly every category in the store in back-to-school sales efforts. An informal poll of retailers by SN revealed several important lessons learned from previous back-to-school bakery promotions, particularly regarding the timing of promotions,

Retailers are getting wise to what it takes to sell bakery items during the hectic and heavily promoted back-to-school period.

In-store bakeries face competition from nearly every category in the store in back-to-school sales efforts. An informal poll of retailers by SN revealed several important lessons learned from previous back-to-school bakery promotions, particularly regarding the timing of promotions, the size and price of products featured, and packaging and displays. The selling period for the back-to-school season can be expanded beyond the official reopening of school, retailers have found. Also, mini versions of baked goods at mini prices may have greater appeal than their regular size counterparts. Parents can be reached through their children, so displays and packaging should be targeted at kids.

Supervalu's Des Moines division, which services about 140 stores, ran its official back-to-school ad Aug. 13, but is attempting to extend the promotion period by encouraging its retailers to continue promoting back-to-school bakery items in-store over the Labor Day holiday and through the month of September, said Rick Roush, bakery, deli and meat products manager.

We don't believe back-to-school is just a one-shot promotion," he said.

The realization that timing has a lot to do with the level of success of back-to-school bakery promotions has led Harp's Food Stores, Springdale, Ark., to extend its back-to-school promotion period for bakery this year, according to Dan Kallesen, director of bakery.

"School started Aug. 21. Our ads started the week before [Aug. 14]. We will run a holiday ad for Labor Day, and then we will try a couple more weeks of back-to-school [promotions]. We are just trying it this year.

"Before school starts, people are spending money on clothes and supplies. We in the bakery cannot compete against the necessities. Our items are not viewed as a priority or necessity. So we let them get into school and then encourage them to think bakery," Kallesen said.

Balls Food Stores, Kansas City, Kan., also is extending its promotion period for back-to-school bakery this year, according to James Harris, director of bakery operations.

"We started our promotions about two weeks earlier this year vs. last year and probably will run them through the entire month of September, also a little longer than last year," he told SN. "We felt we started our promotions a little too late last year. This year some schools started Aug. 21, while others won't start until the beginning of September. We want to keep bakery in front of people longer," Harris said.

As in past years, King Kullen Grocery Co., Westbury, N.Y., expects its back-to-school bakery promotions to run through the whole month of September and possibly into part of October, according to Anthony Mondello, bakery director.

King Kullen plans to promote all types of cookies, large, small and gourmet, as well as both mini and regular size cupcakes and muffins, Mondello said.

While these items are promoted frequently year-round, they will receive more attention in September and October and be tied in with references to back-to-school time, he said.

Debbie Hanes, director of bakery and deli operations for Homeland Stores, Oklahoma City, a 74-unit chain, said she learned from last year that consumers are looking more for snack items than for cupcake trays at back-to-school time.

"Last year for back-to-school we promoted more of the cupcake trays, six- or 12-count or party tray size, but we found that what really moved were the snack items. Brownies in particular did well for back-to-school," she said.

That is why this year Homeland is featuring minicake doughnuts, minimuffins, brownies, cookies, and hoagies and kaiser rolls in back-to-school bakery promotions.

"We try to hit the market with quick items for breakfast before school, lunch box snacks and after-school snacks. We want to hit in all three areas rather than just focus on lunch box snacks," she said.

Homeland's in-store back-to-school promotions began about the second week of August and were to continue until right before Labor Day, she said.

Ads featuring bakery items for back-to-school started running Aug. 23, she added.

Harp's Food Stores is promoting ministrudel bites, minicookies and minimuffins as back-to-school items for the first time this year, Kallesen said.

"These are not new items for the bakeries, but we have not advertised all three together before this. We thought they would be appropriate for after-school snacks or lunch boxes. Last year we promoted large cookies in a two-dozen pack. This year we have large cookies available, but we did not put them in the ad," he said.

The three mini items will each be priced at $1.88 per package for eight-count minimuffins, 24-count minicookies and 18-count ministrudel bites.

All are prepackaged, he said. "We carry these items on an in-and-out basis and use them on ad. Some stores that do well with them can carry them on an ongoing basis, but we do not demand that every store carry them [as an everyday item]," Kallesen said.

Mini versions of favorite bakery items don't work for everyone, though, as Rosauers Supermarkets, Spokane, Wash., has learned, according to George Jenkins, bakery, deli and restaurant buyer-merchandiser.

"We haven't had any good luck with mini items. We do better with larger items. We make a 6-ounce muffin that no one else makes, and it goes very well. It seems the bigger we make it, the better it works for us," Jenkins said.

New this year for several retailers is bakery packaging available in the shape and design of a school bus.

Homeland introduced premade cookies in school-bus style packaging with a school-bus safety kit on the back this year, Hanes said.

Harp's, Balls, King Kullen and Supervalu Des Moines division are also using school-bus packaging for some of their bakery items during the promotion period.

"Most of our cookies will be packaged in the school-bus box," Mondello of King Kullen said. "I don't think we had the bus box last year. It is a window box shaped like a school bus. We are promoting the same items as last year for back-to-school, but with the bus box we may get a better response from consumers," Mondello of King Kullen said.

The Des Moines division of Supervalu packaged both cookies and cupcakes in a carton designed to look like a school bus, Roush said.

Harris of Balls said the school-bus packaging was used for cookies.

Pay Less Supermarkets, Anderson, Ind., looked at the school-bus package but decided against it, said Tim Kean, deli-bakery-seafood merchandiser.

"It is a nice idea and we would like to be able to do it, but at this point we would have a difficult time cost justifying what product would go in there and what price point we could charge," Kean said.

As in past years, Pay Less will not advertise or promote bakery items with a specific back-to-school theme, but the theme will be implied through its focus on items suitable for sandwiches in August and September, and increased emphasis on cookies and muffins during the month of September, he said.

Movement changes in some bakery categories attributable to back-to-school season are anticipated, he said.

"There are a lot of fixed expenses people are faced with [at back-to-school time]," Kean said, such as school fees, books and clothing.

Consumers may cut back on bakery and/or deli purchases just prior to school's reopening, because of these other expenses and the perception that bakery and deli items are not staples or necessities, he said.

Rosauers is featuring chocolate chip cookies, various types of muffins, assorted doughnuts and cupcakes in its back-to-school bakery promotions, Jenkins said.

Also, a quarter-sheet cake decorated with a back-to-school theme will be advertised at a couple of dollars off the regular price, he said.

Harp's also hopes to attract more sales of decorated cakes during the back-to-school period by having a display of sample cakes with seasonal decorations that can be special ordered, Kallesen said.

Homeland Stores will promote cupcake trays decorated with apples or crayons, Hanes said.

The Des Moines division of Supervalu is focusing mostly on cookies and cupcakes for back-to-school, Roush said.

One item featured for the first time this year is an 18-count package of sugar cookies packed into a Frisbee, he said.

"We thought it was something the kids would enjoy. We knew if we could get this product out in front of the kids and get it out early, it would grab parents' attention and they would want to include it in lunch boxes for school," Roush said.