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VICTORY TRAINS DELHAIZE TEAM FOR MEALS GAME

LEOMINSTER, Mass. -- Victory Super Markets here trained a team of fresh-food executives from Delhaize -- the Belgium-based company that owns Food Lion -- in the finer points of meals merchandising at its flagship store in Kingston, Mass.The week-long training session was a hands-on, in-store project arranged by Design Associates -- Riesenburger, Roberts & Leenhouts, a Rochester, N.Y., consulting and

LEOMINSTER, Mass. -- Victory Super Markets here trained a team of fresh-food executives from Delhaize -- the Belgium-based company that owns Food Lion -- in the finer points of meals merchandising at its flagship store in Kingston, Mass.

The week-long training session was a hands-on, in-store project arranged by Design Associates -- Riesenburger, Roberts & Leenhouts, a Rochester, N.Y., consulting and design firm, that has engineered Victory's meals program.

The team from Belgium was chosen by Delhaize's top management to tour various retail food formats in the United States and then to work alongside Victory associates in its Market Square prepared-foods and other fresh departments.

The group from Delhaize included a store manager, a meat supervisor, a perishables manager and a district manager. The team interacted with all levels of management and associates while working at the Kingston store, Victory officials said.

"It turned out very well. It was a great exchange. Design Associates asked us if we would do this, and we were very pleased that they had confidence in us to do the training," said Arthur P. (Jay) DiGeronimo Jr., president of 16-unit Victory.

Delhaize charged its team with learning how to apply theater in a self-service environment in preparation for the 480-unit chain's first plunge into fresh meals at a new, from-the-ground-up store to open in Brussels May 27.

Delhaize owns a 34% share of supermarket revenues in Belgium, but its units are traditional formats, with no ready-to-eat foods, and only a limited selection of prepacked prepared foods.

"This is a revolutionary departure for them," said Jim Riesenburger, a partner in Design Associates, which has been working with Delhaize on the new store.

"They'll have their first espresso bar in a store and a number of demo stations. The entire design emphasizes fresh food. It's a totally different format for them," Riesenburger said.

He said Delhaize's new prototype will not follow typical American store layouts. "Produce is in the center, and grocery is on the perimeter on the left side," Riesenburger said. However, as they often are in U.S. stores, the espresso bar and demo stations will be placed in the front, on the right.

Riesenburger added that Design Associates has received very positive feedback from the general manager of Delhaize, and from some of the company's board members, about what the team had learned while it was at Victory.

Terry Roberts, a partner in Design Associates, said she hopes the experience will encourage Delhaize to consider sparking up the fresh-foods departments and meal presentation at its American operations, Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., and Tampa, Fla.-based Kash n' Karry Food Stores. ....

"Kash n' Karry .... has done some things, but Food Lion is more traditional. They haven't made advances in fresh presentation and that's where the opportunities are," Roberts said.

Roberts and Riesenburger described just how "hands-on" the training at Victory was.

"They learned how to run the espresso bar, how to make all the coffee drinks, and they were dressing salads; they didn't just observe. One day we cracked a wheel of Reggiano Parmigiana," Riesenburger said.

The team also got involved in setting up a demo station. The executives sampled a linguine and asparagus recipe on two occasions. And the Victory associates showed the Delhaize group how important it is and how profitable it is to cross merchandise products from different departments.

The Victory prepared-foods staff also explained and demonstrated such procedures as closing down the department and the overall food court.

Roberts pointed out that the project also was positive for Victory's associates. "It rekindled relationships [between departments]. There was a tremendous sense of involvement. Even the store manager put on an apron and pitched right in.

"For us, too, it was a good experience, a very enjoyable one," she said. Design Associates could see that the training it had given Victory's in-store personnel was paying off, she explained.

As reported in SN, Victory's Kingston store opened in the fall of 1996 with the unveiling of its Market Square fresh-foods and fresh-meals concept. The format has been so successful that it will be rolled out to new stores and remodels.

Roberts pointed out that there has been zero turnover in the perishables staff at Kingston since the store opened.

"They view it as a profession. You can see they have a passion for what they're doing, and the Delhaize people were amazed at the level of customer service offered at Kingston," Roberts said.

One of the Delhaize team members expressed his enjoyment of the project this way: "I loved to work at this store because of the people that are working there. They are so friendly that after an hour it seemed to be a whole lifetime I'd been working with them."

Another team member commented on the store itself. "There's a nice mix of service and self-service that gives that special atmosphere. To 'crown the customer' is not just an empty expression [at Victory], but an all-day philosophy."

A perishable product manager for Delhaize said, "It's really a challenge for Delhaize to open a store similar to Victory's Market Square because it will be the first one like this in Belgium. We are considered to be a high-quality supermarket business, but very traditional, like most in Europe."