A new meals program featuring a variety of dinners made fresh in each store's kitchen is turning a profit and bringing new customers into Bashas' delis.
Meals made with quality ingredients, a collection of recipes easy for deli associates to prepare, a retail price of $5.99 per dinner and an energetic chef plucked from the upscale AJ's Fine Foods division seem to be the key ingredients making the Chef's Entree line successful. Since rolling it out July 31, Bashas' has seen double-digit increases in the sale of meals, an official with the Chandler, Ariz.-based chain told SN.
The Chef's line is a cut above tried-and-true fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. In fact, the retailer has attempted to position the dinners as restaurant-quality -- the marketing department's color photos of the meals, arranged on beautiful ceramic plates and garnished with herbs and other fresh ingredients, could be straight out of a glossy food magazine. Actually, the woman who created the recipes and trained the in-store cooks, Italian-born Celia Sablone, brings restaurant experience to the job. Sablone and her husband operated Italian-style restaurants in this area before coming to work for the supermarket company.
In place at 74 Bashas' stores, the Chef's program is a service operation, catering to consumers too busy or not inclined to cook at home. There's a different dinner featured every day. Customers place orders with deli associates, who pull together the entree and side dishes from a steam table featuring a larger assortment of hot foods. Associates package the dinners in microwave-safe containers with three compartments and an upscale-looking black bottom and clear dome.
While most stores have in-store dining available, the majority of consumers take the meals home. Individual dinners retail for $5.99, and consumers can purchase four individually bundled dinners for $18.99.
This month's menu includes French pork loin with garden blend rice and vegetables, Sonoran chicken with sweet roasted yams and vegetables, lime ginger beef, fried rice and egg roll, Yankee pot roast with roasted potatoes and vegetables and the top-selling salmon fixed two ways -- grilled with mango relish one day and poached with lemon caper sauce another day. A new signature item for the delis, Celia's meat loaf, a 28-ounce loaf in an aluminum tray, sells for $5.99 or with two sides for $8.99. The meat loaves are merchandised with the rotisserie chicken.
Associates prepare the dinners, following recipes developed by Sablone, contained in a three-inch-thick binder in each store's kitchen. It's the first time associates have consulted a company recipe book. Since the program is still in its infancy, the monthly menus are not necessarily predictable. The recipe book contains more than 30 entries, and the retailer has been adding a couple of new ones every month "to keep things different and exciting," Jay Volk, vice president of food service for Bashas', told SN.
The meals program "has been well received," Volk said, adding the chain sells more than 1,200 meals a week. "It's a big point of differentiation from our competitors. It's definitely boosted our sales. We went through growing pains at first but at this point it's profitable. We'll grow from here.
"Deli isn't typically a draw for the store. It helped bring new customers into the deli. It's definitely making the deli more of a destination."
Shoppers who took part in focus groups told the company they wanted something beyond typical deli items or fast food. In launching the program, the company's objective was to offer consumers a healthier alternative to fried fare, he said.
"Customers were looking for something new and different," Volk said. "We try to listen to our customers."
Bashas' had one advantage -- for the most part the stores all had fully equipped kitchens, so no new equipment had to be purchased. One big challenge was training employees, Volk said. In stages, the company trained 150 associates, two or three people from each store directly involved in food preparation. In developing the recipes, Sablone focused on creating dishes that could be prepared easily by people without extensive cooking backgrounds, Volk recalled.
"Training everyone was a major hurdle," he said. "There was some resistance at store level. It was new and a challenge for them. They had to buy into the program. Once they started to see the response from consumers and the sales, then they did an outstanding job."
A veteran of deli management at AJ's, Bashas' upscale format division, Sablone continues the training, traveling to as many as 10 stores a week to work with the cooks. Her position, food development specialist, is brand new for the retailer, and a sign of its commitment to the program.
"We did not have anyone who focused on food development and menu planning," Volk said. Sablone "is one of the hardest-working gals I know. She's well-rounded. We're fortunate to have her."
Observers told SN Bashas' has promoted the line extensively. On its Web site, Bashas posts a monthly menu listing the meals -- another first for the chain. The same information goes home with customers, in the form of bag stuffers slipped in at checkout. Signs on top of the counters at the delis announce the day's dinner special. On the floor, signs give consumers the monthly run-down on one side, and a stunning color photo of one of the cooked dinners on the other side. At the time of the launch, the retailer also carried out a direct-mail campaign to make consumers aware of the offer.
One local observer told SN he saw a lot of customers buying meals and other products at the deli at his local Bashas' one late afternoon around dinner time. A 3-by-2-foot sign hanging from the ceiling promoted the meals. "You could not be at the deli counter and not know they have these meals," said Ed Weller, a Tucson-based managing partner with the Weller Co., a bakery and deli consulting firm.
He purchased the posted dinner of the day, cod with tomatoes and fresh herbs, roasted potatoes and vegetables, but could have substituted coleslaw for one of the side dishes, he said. "You get the meal you want instead of the meal they decide you want," Weller said. "That, I think, is the key to the success. The food looks absolutely fresh. It was a great meal."
While the dinners are not the cheapest in town, they offer generous portions. Other area supermarket delis charge less for fully cooked dinners, but also offer less, he noted.
"I think [Bashas'] does a better job than most because not many stores that I know of put out a meal like this," said Weller. "They're very complete. The meals for the individual and for four are large. There's more than you can eat. Six bucks is not a cheap price for a meal but they're not trying to be cheap. They want to give you more than a value."
Another veteran observer of supermarket food-service programs was impressed when he heard examples of the menu offerings and the price. "Whether it's a healthy [dinner] or not healthy, it sounds like a great price," said Howard Solganik, president, Solganik & Associates, a Dayton, Ohio, consulting company. "The Phoenix market might be the perfect place for it because a lot of people there do not want to cook."
