LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — Lamb's Thriftway scored big benefits recently when it pitted two high school football teams against each other in a cheese-selling competition.
The event at the five-unit retailer's newly remodeled unit here was announced at football games in the weeks leading up to it, pushing enthusiasm high. Players on the selling teams even arrived at the store early on competition day, officials said, adding that the event was fun and was also good for business.
“I know store traffic was up that weekend. There was a lot of excitement as the kids egged each other on,” said Ron Bronleewe, the store's cheese steward.
“Naturally, their parents and friends came, and then other customers came into our department and crowded around to see what was going on. We sold a lot of cheese.” The star of the department that day was a 300-pound wheel of Wisconsin cheddar that the kids were to sell. It retailed at $4.99 a pound.
“We brought the whole wheel out, and did most of the cutting and wrapping right there. Just that attracted a lot of attention,” Bronleewe told SN.
“I tried to keep the pieces we cut and wrapped under a pound so everybody could participate without spending a lot of money,” he said. “For $3, you got a nice chunk of cheese and made a donation to the team. We let everybody know that all the proceeds would go to the respective schools' football teams.”,
A high point was hit one afternoon when a couple bought a huge block of the cheddar for $80.
“There was a lot of high-fiving and cheering when that happened,” Bronleewe said. “They were doing it just for a donation to the team. Then, they gave the $80 chunk of cheese to a local food bank.”
The participating football players, given plastic gloves when they arrived, quickly set to work cutting samples to offer customers.
“I got them started, gave them an idea of what to say, but then they really made it their own event,” Bronleewe said. “They were walking around the store with little trays of samples, and carrying wrapped wedges with them so they could make a sale on the spot.”
The wrapped chunks of cheddar were coded separately from any of the other cheeses so it would be easy to keep track of sales. And, to easily monitor who sold what, the teams were not in the store at the same time. One team worked 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and the other, 11 to 5 on Sunday.
“I started cutting and wrapping before the kids arrived. I wanted to stay ahead of them so there'd be no lag,” Bronleewe said. “There were plenty of different-sized pieces pre-weighed and priced to get them off to a start.”
It was a successful event all the way around, co-owner Nick Goldsmith told SN. “We donated all the proceeds to their respective schools. Lakeridge sold the most, $765 worth, and West Linn sold $631 worth. That'll all go to the football teams to buy equipment, and for other expenses.”
Bronleewe said he'd like to do something like that again, maybe with high school basketball teams, or other sports teams.
