DELI MANAGERS BEATING POST-SUPER BOWL LULL

ROSEANNE HARPER

Post-Super Bowl days in the deli can be dead, but retailers are livening things up in a variety of ways this year.

They're tackling the job of pushing sales with everything from new soup programs and heavier soup advertising to special Valentine's Day theme sales featuring honey ham and honey turkey. Some retailers polled by SN are maintaining "super low" prices on selected products throughout February to build volume, and one is holding a one-day sale with prices on brand-name meat slashed "dramatically."

Wine and cheese parties and the introduction of heart-healthy salads tied to "February is Heart Month" are creating midwinter excitement in other deli departments.

The money's on soup at Harris Teeter, Charlotte, N.C., D&W Food Centers, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Dan's Foods, Salt Lake City, to boost winter sales.

Soups, a first for the 144-unit Harris Teeter, are currently being test-marketed in 10 stores, said a source at the chain who asked not to be identified.

"If this is as profitable as we hope, we'll roll them out to all our stores with delis [later] in February," he added. "We'll start out with the old standards like New England clam chowder, cream of tomato and vegetable beef."

Two varieties from a 10-item to 15-item line sourced from outside will be offered daily. D&W has added chicken noodle to its homemade selection, and for the first time is listing all four varieties in its ads, said Michael Eardley, director of food service for the 24-unit retailer.

"Having all four listed calls attention to them," he added.

Dan's Foods, which has added two flavors to its scratch soup line-up this season -- Southwestern black bean and Oriental chicken -- will put its soups on special at least once a month this season,

said Carl Rubadue, food-service director for the five-unit independent.

"We'll take 50 cents off the regular price for each size container" during promotions, Rubadue added. He said he expects soups to help push sales up over the same period last year.

In a different strategy, Fiesta Mart, Houston, will offer 12-inch pizzas all month at three for $6, and cooked ham for $1.99 a pound.

"We're going for volume this winter," said Larry Jones, deli merchandising manager for the 33-unit chain. "We want to build traffic. Last winter we were looking to take a higher gross margin."

"For example, we were selling cooked ham at its $2.99 everyday price this time last year," he added. "And even on special, we put it at $2.59, and we were selling 12-inch pizzas for 2 for $6.

"But we've made some good purchases this year, so we can do some strong promotions and still have a decent margin as well as more traffic. Buying by the truckload has helped. We bought a truckload of cooked ham and a truckload of 12-inch pizzas," Jones said. "We'll have them at a special price right through February. We also negotiated good prices on cheese, so we'll be able to offer Swiss and American at $2.79 a pound during Lent."

Jones said he's also putting particular emphasis on customer service in the evening to boost sales this winter. "It's important to give evening shoppers a lot of attention," he said, noting that evening traffic appears to be increasing.

At Baker's Supermarkets, Omaha, Neb., a one-day sale this month with extra-low prices is aimed at pulling in new deli customers, and "hopefully they'll come back," said Steve Nelson, food services coordinator for the 10-unit independent.

"We'll be selling a brand-name honey ham for $2.99 a pound and Jarlsberg cheese, for instance, for $3.99," he said. The products' everyday prices are $4.99 and $6.99, respectively.

"This is a first for us, but when our meat department has had a one-day sale in the past, it has done a week's worth of business in one day, and then the rest of the week, sales stay up about 10%. And we're projecting similar results in the deli," Nelson said. Chinese food is expected to help keep deli sales up at Seaway Food Town, Maumee, Ohio, said Pat Nowak, director of public relations and consumer affairs for the 47-unit chain.

"We're just generally putting more emphasis on prepared foods this winter, and in particular, we've added cold packs of our Chinese entrees in three of our service delis, in addition to the two that have Chinese restaurants," she said.

Adding that the chain will get the packs out to more stores, Nowak said that they sell exceptionally well. "We sold 1,000 one Saturday afternoon in three hours in one store," she said. The chain offers 8 to 10 varieties and hasn't displaced anything in the service case with them. "We've just reconfigured a little," Nowak said. She said the Chinese entrees and other prepared entrees are getting special attention this winter in the chain's flyers.

Wine and cheese tastings are a winter attention-getter at V. Richards Inc., Brookfield, Wis. They create excitement and get people into the store, said Elizabeth Little, president of the five-unit independent.

A "wine symposium for beginners" was scheduled for the first week in February, and a pinot grigio tasting and Italian dinner for $40 a person is set for Feb. 28 at V. Richards' Loft cafe.

Although it wasn't necessarily designed as a winter doldrums sales booster, a newly introduced heart-healthy salad program is expected to liven up business in the delis at King Kullen Grocery Co., Westbury, N.Y.

Some chains are not particularly concerned about winter sales in the deli. One source at a large chain said, "People just seem to stop eating in winter no matter what you do." Another source, at a Southwestern chain, said, "We just ride out the lull and use it to get ready for Easter. We don't get too aggressive. It's not worth it."