COMMUNITY CATERERS

ROSEANNE HARPER

When Food Circus remodeled and expanded its Super Foodtown of Ocean Township location in 2004, it always had big plans for the store's state-of-the-art kitchen. During the past three years, the Middletown, N.J.-based retailer has built up quite a local following for its huge variety of fresh, naturally prepared foods, and now the company is ready to take the next step: making the leap into catering with a program that's just beginning to roll out.

“Catering was in the long-range plan when we expanded this store,” said Louis Scaduto Jr., vice president, operations & merchandising, at Food Circus, which operates stores under the Foodtown and Super Foodtown/Circus Fresh Food banners.

Scaduto explained that the Ocean Township store, with its expanded kitchen and catering office, will serve as the hub of the catering business. The company has hired its first catering coordinator, Rob Collins, who brings with him years of experience in the restaurant and catering arenas.

“This store has a new go-to-market plan,” Scaduto told SN. “We're starting catering off slowly, but from Labor Day on we're going to be at full throttle. We planned it that way. Now we're working our plan internally, getting any kinks out. Then we'll make the major push after Labor Day.”

The soft launch now gives the chain a chance to reach a tremendous number of people at festivals and other community events that dot the area during the summer months.

By spreading the word now about its catering abilities, and taking on some catering jobs, the company expects to have built up a healthy roster of satisfied customers by the time the holiday season gets into full swing in the fall.

“Word of mouth is our best advertising,” Scaduto said. “James [Conroy, new director of fresh foods] is going to be a big help in getting our name out there. He has a tremendous number of contacts in Monmouth County. We have talented people on our team, great fresh food managers. Coupled with James' mentoring and his connections, we'll do all right.”

Indeed, the catering idea blossomed anew with the hiring of Conroy last year.

Conroy and Collins both have long-standing ties to the Jersey Shore, where all 10 of the company's stores are located. That's a plus in getting people acquainted with the new endeavor, because the men are known in the community. Conroy, a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, has worked for years as a consultant to restaurants and retailers in New Jersey. So has Collins. Both men grew up in the area, and that dovetails nicely with family-owned Super Foodtown/Circus Fresh Foods stores' deep involvement in the community.

“We were taught to give back to the community. It's a family commitment. If it wasn't for the community, we wouldn't be here, so we're always ready to help,” Scaduto said.

The first significant exposure the new catering program has received was at a Women's Expo that was sponsored by a local newspaper. There, Collins, Conroy and fresh food managers Robert Dumont and Mark McCue served up the company's signature chicken-and-broccoli pasta and an interesting variety of store-made appetizers.

“People were surprised. They kept saying they didn't know we did catering,” Conroy said.

He said he and his team assembled the pasta dish on-site at the expo, as well as heating it there, to underscore the freshness of the preparation.

They distributed well over 500 catering menus at that event, and right now they're looking forward to a popular local seafood festival in which the company participates every year. Donations of product, as well as ready-to-eat food at a value price, mark Super Foodtown's presence at all local events, as well as their ties to the local community.

“There's a big festival here in the park every summer that draws 20,000 to 50,000 people,” said Ocean Township store manager Richard Kay. “Last year, they told us they were running out of sausage for sausage-and-pepper sandwiches, and it was early.” Even though the festival hadn't bought its original supply of sausage from Super Foodtown, Kay solved the problem immediately. “I got on my bike and rode over there, through traffic, with several pounds of sausage, in just a few minutes.”

This year, Kay said, the festival organization has ordered 3,000 pounds of sausage from his store for its event. “They said they wanted to give us the business because we'd been so nice to them in the past.”

While the Ocean Township store's kitchen will serve as the hub of the catering business, the other stores have kitchens that can handle small local orders.

“We are perfectly set up geographically for catering,” Scaduto said. “The kitchen here at this store is gigantic and about as central as you can get. That [kitchen] space and all that equipment is expensive. We want to make the most of it, and catering is a way to do it.”

None of the stores, which dot the Jersey Shore, are more than 45 minutes from each other.

HEFTY BOTTOM LINE

Catering can be very profitable if planned right, because there's hardly any shrink. In fact, other retailers have told SN that catering is often the most profitable program in a store, and Super Foodtown/Food Circus officials agreed that it's by far the part of food service that provides the heftiest bottom line.

“It's a quick, large sale, and we're drawing most of our product from all our fresh departments,” Scaduto said.

Conroy seconded that, pointing out that the catering department benefits from the store's buying power. He also emphasized that a catering order is a sure thing, as opposed to knowing how many chicken pieces or other items you'll sell from the retail case.

“In a nutshell, with catering, we know what our costs are from the start of an order,” Conroy said. “No guessing about labor or what we'll need.”

Each packed-up item for a catering order carries a particular PLU code, so catering order sales can be easily tracked, even though the catering department is operated as part of the prepared foods department. Indeed, catering is operated as part of the entire store. Each department from which an ingredient or addition to a prepared foods order is sourced gets credit for the sale of that item.

Conroy is in the process of setting up a new communications system among the stores, with a focus on making it easy to coordinate catering orders. If liquor or wine is needed, it can be brought from one of the chain's stores that have liquor licenses.

“One of the nice things about a supermarket's catering is that all the things needed are right here. The chafing dishes, paper plates, napkins, much of what would be needed,” Collins said.

The chain is keeping things simple. For instance, while it delivers orders, it will not provide service at the catering site. It will recommend a service company, though, even DJs, as well as sources for rentals of chairs, tables, tents and other necessities.

“The food and its preparation — that's where our expertise lies, and by pushing out service and other things, we don't have the liability,” Collins said.

In addition to distributing information at community events, the company uses a front-of-the-store demo station on Saturdays to tout its catering capabilities. Collins is there with samples and catering menus.

The store's aura speaks of fresh food and freshly prepared food. The food-service department is the first element seen by customers upon entering. It anchors the fresh food lineup with a made-to-order sub sandwich station and then 8 to 12 feet of hot food, featuring the store's signature jumbo fried chicken pieces, as well as traditional favorites such as meatloaf, tortellini and mashed potatoes.

Next in line is 24 feet of chilled entrees and sides, attractively arranged on oval platters. Pepper-crusted tuna and herb-crusted rare beef tenderloin are standouts in that section.

Many of the products have a loyal following, so naturally they have a spot on the catering menu.

On a recent visit to the store, SN observed that associates were attentive and offered suggestions to customers.

Just across the wide aisle from the prepared foods is a World Cheese island that features a vast variety of premium cheeses. An associate, situated at a small counter in the middle of the island case, was cutting and wrapping cheese and talking with customers.

“Dedication to excellent service is another family tradition,” Scaduto said. “Labor, as everybody knows, is expensive, but we will not slack on the level of service.”

Indeed, the service level, he said, has helped the chain stand out in a very competitive market. The company has been owned and operated by the Azzolina and Scaduto families for more than 50 years, he pointed out. “We're the hometown grocer. We know so many of our customers by name.”