LET'S EAT! H-E-B PROMOTION WARMS UP TO FROZENS

BARBARA MURRAY

SAN ANTONIO -- H-E-B Grocery Co. here launched a new frozen-food promotional program with the New Year that aims to make the chain the place consumers go for their frozen food.

"Let's Eat!" will feature certain products for 15 three-week cycles through October, giving shoppers who try samples a chance to spin a prize wheel and win coupons valued from 25 cents to a free product. Recipes, health tips and meal ideas are also part of the program, which is taking place in 100 of the chain's 250 stores, and is being promoted on the H-E-B Web site.

For the first cycle, which started Jan. 2, ConAgra's Healthy Choice was the only brand, but future promotions may include multiple brands and H-E-B's own brand, said Chris Hooks, frozen, dairy and commercial baking director. The next one will feature a Super Bowl theme, and others are planned for summer and Back-to-School.

"It's a way to get out of the sterility in the section," Hooks told SN, noting that the physical setup of a frozens department makes it hard to connect with the consumer. Creating fun and excitement, offering a good -- but not rock-bottom priced -- value, and including tips and recipes as the educational piece is H-E-B's strategy to try to move one-third of its annual frozen-food volume.

"We are trying to overcome what we feel is the biggest misperception in frozen foods, about quality. I think we suffer, still, from TV dinner syndrome. I feel that the quality has improved dramatically in the past few years," Hooks said.

In each store, three frozens doors are designated as the "Let's Eat!" endcap. Product will rotate in and out as the cycles change.

During each period, nine days will include intensive demos. During the Healthy Choice feature, the stores are demonstrating different dinners, chosen in cooperation with ConAgra. The chain put together a full schedule and a full schematic for the participating stores, including pictures of what the three doors should look like, Hooks said.

Besides ConAgra, Nestle and Heinz make diet entrees. ConAgra was chosen for the first promotion after H-E-B presented the program here at headquarters and visited with major frozen-food suppliers. "Each was required to come back to us with a brainstorming idea of what a 'Let's Eat!' theme could look like," Hooks explained.

"I think the program looks fantastic, and we're seeing strong sales results from it, so I definitely call it a big success," said Joe Ennen, general manager for Healthy Choice. "They are sampling a variety of different items, not just one particular product. Beef Tips Portabello, one of our top-selling items, is among them," he added.

During the planning of this program, Hooks said Robert Kailing, manager of business development, emphasized that H-E-B wants to develop loyalty in its customers for frozen food, not usually a category that prompts tremendous differentiation. Seldom are customers so loyal that they say, as they might with produce, "That's where I have to go to get my frozen food."

"We are trying to become that. We think by educating and providing fun, we can be that store," Hooks said.

Nevin Montgomery, president of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, Harrisburg, Pa., noting that H-E-B has a sterling reputation for meal solutions, told SN that this program appears "to fit into their plan very well."