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Sampling Plan Gets Banner Resultsand buttons proclaiming "Take A Taste" get credit for sales jumps of as much as 100% at one supermarket operated by Supermarkets of Cherry Hill here.Sales of the unit's made-in-store chicken salad have doubled from the nearly 100 pounds a week sold before the company-wide Take A Taste sampling program was launched three months ago, a store source said."We'd always

Sampling Plan Gets Banner Results

and buttons proclaiming "Take A Taste" get credit for sales jumps of as much as 100% at one supermarket operated by Supermarkets of Cherry Hill here.

Sales of the unit's made-in-store chicken salad have doubled from the nearly 100 pounds a week sold before the company-wide Take A Taste sampling program was launched three months ago, a store source said.

"We'd always been aggressive with sampling in the deli, but the Take A Taste program was designed to stress the importance of sampling, and to make customers feel comfortable asking for a taste of a product that interests them," she added. Large banners declaring "Take A Taste" hang at the service counter in each deli, and associates are required to wear a large "Take A Taste" campaign button.

Officials at the company's corporate office declined to comment on the program.

The seven-unit retailer, supplied by Elizabeth, N.J.-based Wakefern Corp., operates stores under the ShopRite and Talk of the Town banners.

Where's the Beef? Steakhouses

WASHINGTON -- While steak orders get rarer in diverse-menu restaurants, they're increasing at casual and higher-check steakhouses, industry research shows.

Steak orders at casual steakhouses rose 19% from 1992 to 1993, according to research results released this year by the National Restaurant Association here. And overall traffic increased by the same amount. Contrasted to that, steak orders at all casual-dining restaurants -- excluding casual steakhouses -- declined 1% for that same period. And overall traffic at all casual-dining establishments climbed only 4% in that year.

Similarly, steak orders at higher-ticket steakhouses rose 16% from 1992 to 1993, and overall traffic increased 6%, compared with a 1% decline for all higher-check restaurants.

"When Americans are in the mood for steak, it seems that they are choosing restaurants that specialize in steak, rather than establishments with more diverse menus," said Herman Cain, NRA president.

The statistics imply that Americans, even though they're paying more attention to fat and cholesterol intake, are treating themselves to a steak in a restaurant more often than they had previously. But NRA's 1993 menu analysis also found that there was an increasing tendency for restaurants to offer customers a choice of steaks (including leaner cuts) as well as a choice of portion sizes.