MINNEAPOLIS -- To fend off competition from the food-service sector, supermarket delis should target the specialty cheese, rotisserie chicken and pizza categories, experts said at the International-Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's show.
By focusing on those popular categories, the deli can become a hero by bringing customers into the store more frequently, the speakers said.
One panelist, Sarah Baumann, manager, creative services, at Jungle Jim's, Fairfield, Ohio, described how Jungle Jim's has made one specialty cheese -- parmigiano reggiano -- into a must-have staple. The retailer samples the cheese every day, and associates explain its origin and attributes.
"Customers come in to buy our parmigiano reggiano like they would bread or milk and naturally they fill their carts with other things, too," Baumann said.
Specialty cheese shoppers tend to buy several high-margin categories, said Jeff Gregori, director, consumer insights, ACNielsen, Chicago. ACNielsen statistics show buyers of specialty cheese like ethnic foods, cooking from scratch, and natural/organic products. Rotisserie chicken buyers, too, like to cook from scratch and are looking for help, Gregori said.
John Carter, director of sales, bakery/deli, Schwan Food Co., Fulton, Mo., and Mark Justin, management supervisor, Noble Associates, Springfield, Mo. -- offered tips on how to sharpen up the pizza and rotisserie categories. Gregori's showed the potential of the categories.
"Light buyers of rotisserie chicken are not light buyers due to income constraints. The heaviest buyers are affluent and they're looking for convenience," Gregori said.
Baumann urged retailers to sample cheeses every day. It brings customers into the department, triggers purchasing and ensures repeat visits, she said.
"If you sample, they'll buy regardless of price," she said. "We've found people usually taste before they read and then it's too late. They're hooked. Sample every day. It works to build volume and big volume means buying power for us -- deals by the pallet, by the semi load."
Baumann described how Jungle Jim's built Black Diamond cheddar into a top seller with constant sampling. Now the company is focusing on its goat category, having added an entire goat cheese section with 37 varieties. Those are just the latest additions to a cheese selection that numbers more than 1,000 varieties in 1,100 linear feet of cheese cases.
The enormous selection is one key to the success of the cheese shop, but it would not work without aggressive sampling, Baumann said. "What's the sense in having 1,600 varieties if you don't give your customers a chance to taste them?" she said.
Good signs and good service are also necessary, Baumann said.
Take-and-bake pizzas are catching the attention of customers, panelists said. In fact, ACNielsen's Gregori pointed out that fresh, refrigerated pizza is driving the category, with sales up 27% from a year ago in grocery stores. That's compared to 25% in the total market.
Furthermore, there are 4 million refrigerated pizza-buying households that have not yet purchased a pizza in a grocery store, Gregori said.
On that note, Schwan Food's Carter said company research shows that 63% of respondents said they don't buy fresh pizza and one reason given in focus groups was that fresh deli pizza is hard to find.
Branding is one strategy for building sales, he said. Safeway has done that with its Melina's brand and Kroger has its Angelino's brand, he said.
Promoting the product's quality in ad circulars is also a must, he said. Retailers should create a visible difference from what is available in the frozen food case, he said.
"How about a 16-inch size? That's different from the product in frozen and a 16-inch feeds a family," Carter said.
Retailers should stick to the top flavors -- pepperoni, cheese and deluxe -- and be prepared to accept less margin in order to stay competitive and promote it as a meal solution, he said.
