BYERLY'S SAMPLES SEASONAL PRODUCT DEMOS CHAINWIDE

MINA WILLIAMS

EDINA, Minn. -- Byerly's here mushroomed an existing in-store sampling program to cover two dozen products coordinated chainwide.

The event, called "The Best of Byerly's," was held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 20, 21 and 22, for the peak hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It featured 25 sampling stations in each of Byerly's 10 stores, most of which were demonstrating fresh foods that Byerly's considers its signature items.

While the company has staged multiproduct sampling events before, this is the first time the samplings were planned and supervised as a chainwide event. In the past, demonstrations were planned, chosen and run at the discretion of the individual stores. Byerly's hired an outside demonstration service company to help plan the event and provide demonstrators.

The retailer's management tried this time to expand the Best of Byerly's program and to coordinate it more closely to make sure that, at each store, the demonstrations were driving home the message that Byerly's fills a special product and service niche throughout the area.

"We are trying to tell customers that grocery shopping is fun, and Byerly's has signature products and special services that they cannot find at our competitors," said Tracy Wiese, advertising and communications manager, in an interview with SN. "The Best of Byerly's events have always helped build our image, and that sets us apart."

This latest three-day event brought together Byerly's signature items found throughout the fresh foods departments under a summer sampling theme. The various items used in the demonstrations were selected based on their individual seasonal appeal, she said.

Previous Byerly's sampling events had been conducted by each of the chain's 10 units independently, used to fill part of the units' separate promotional calendars, Wiese explained. That structure, however, made it difficult to leverage the company's promotional tools to benefit all the stores.

"By expanding the event to a chainwide promotion, we were able to back up the event with radio and newspaper ads," Wiese said. "This strengthens our image in the marketplace and uses our ad dollars very effectively."

The departments involved were deli, bakery, meat, produce, dairy and frozens. Fresh coffee was sampled as well in each store.

An in-store flier explained that the event was a "storewide summer sampling of Byerly's own signature products." The flier also included a coupon for a free children's meal with the purchase of a fresh entree from any of the company's in-store Byerly's restaurants. The coupon itself was good through Aug. 2.

Large placards called attention to many of the sampling stations, especially those featuring signature fresh products.

In the deli, the sampling included signature salads such as penne pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and Byerly's own potato salad, in addition to deli sweets such as key lime pie.

From the meat department, customers could taste Byerly's own sausages and meat from the smokehouse and the signature selection of fresh white shrimp from Honduras.

The produce department offered creamy fruit dip, Parmesan and blue cheese dressings plus fresh-squeezed lemonade and orange juice for customers to try.

Bakery selections included in the Best of Byerly's signature sampling events were the chain's own Harvest Breads, in molasses and sesame whole wheat guises, focaccia and decorated quarter-sheet picnic cakes.

Cottage cheese and premium orange juice were just two signature items from the dairy case that were included in the sampling.

The demonstration menus were kept coordinated throughout the stores. However, since Byerly's typically allows considerable latitude at the store level, individual units were still able to personalize the program to some extent.

"The event was relatively identical from store to store," Wiese explained. "Some stores did do little extras, such as giving balloons to all the children or arranging for musicians to perform and entertain the customers."

The event's residual effects were so positive that other chainwide events are being considered, according to Wiese.