Hometown Gourmet
Rice Epicurean Markets lives up to its middle name with a roster of signature items that includes coriander-coffee grilled beef tenderloin; plank roasted, raspberry-chipotle Atlantic salmon; and whole portabella mushrooms draped with melted provolone and artichoke hearts. One look at the prepared-food menu leaves no doubt that culinary-trained chefs are at work here. It's not just the flower garnishes
June 7, 2010
ROSEANNE HARPER
Rice Epicurean Markets lives up to its middle name with a roster of signature items that includes coriander-coffee grilled beef tenderloin; plank roasted, raspberry-chipotle Atlantic salmon; and whole portabella mushrooms draped with melted provolone and artichoke hearts.
One look at the prepared-food menu leaves no doubt that culinary-trained chefs are at work here. It's not just the flower garnishes carved from zucchini and huge oranges. It is the tempting, with-it selections. The chefs, sometimes more than one to a store, don't miss a beat keeping up with what's new, but they also make some old-time, regional favorites.
The company — the oldest family-owned supermarket retailer in Houston — sticks to the past in good ways, preserving its “customer is No. 1” tradition. That philosophy has not waned since the Levy family opened a tiny grocery store here decades ago, and it is a key to the success of the current fresh prepared-food programs, officials said.
“We watch and listen closely to keep up with what our customers want, and we can react quickly,” said Douglas Dick, Rice Epicurean's vice president of foodservice.
He pointed out that the company makes a conscious effort to combine the best of now with the best of the past.
“We were the first grocery store in Houston to hire real chefs, and the first to compete in the full-service catering business with our Epicurean Catering Company,” Dick told SN. “And we're also the last supermarket in Houston to make deliveries to the customer's door. No other one here is doing home delivery.”
The five-unit retailer's roots go back to the 1930s. For a long time, the family had the only grocery store in its area, and it developed a fiercely loyal following, partly because the family so obviously cared about its customers.
Even today, in addition to offering home delivery, the company lets customers run up a tab — just like in the old days. The only difference is that now grocery orders come in via the Internet and tabs are kept on company charge cards instead of in a notebook.
The family's first store, William H. Levy's Rice Boulevard Food Market, at a total of 2,400 square feet, sat in undeveloped territory alongside farmland, some of it rice fields. Since then, the area — now Houston's trendy Galleria — has undergone enormous changes. So has the family business — changes that have kept it going strong all these years through up-and-down economic times.
“We survived the [current] recession by keeping things fresh, new and exciting with a lot of variety, which we believe is very important,” said Dick. “The variety in prepared foods makes it exciting for our kitchen crews as well as for our customers.”
He also said the deli ramped up suggestive selling, something it's always done, but recently with increased vigor.
“Someone might come in for our signature all-white-meat chicken salad, and while the associate is packing it up, they might ask the customer if they would like to try our special of the day, maybe summertime succotash linguini.”
As the weather heats up in Houston, the deli adds cool and lighter offerings, putting unique salads in the spotlight, touting them in its circular and talking them up in the store.
“For summer, two chef-created salads — cranberry and pecan tuna, and smoked turkey, spinach and egg salad — are big sellers,” Dick said.
The impressive array of prepared foods, all made in each store's obviously well-equipped commercial kitchen, started taking shape 22 years ago, when the company opened its first Rice Epicurean Market, a gourmet/specialty foods store.
That was in response to the big, national chains starting to move into the area. The owners, members of the company's founding family, knew they had to figure out how to stay ahead of the game. They decided part of the solution lay in differentiating themselves with fresh, upscale, chef-prepared food in big variety. Signature items, too, they knew would play a big part in making the company stand apart.
“The owners were in California and in New York where they saw Balducci's and other specialty stores. They saw what they were doing and they liked what they saw,” Dick said.
“They brought the ideas back to Houston and ultimately gave new life to their grocery stores.”
The changes were successful enough to warrant expanding within a short time, but it is important to note that the owners kept expansion limited to five stores situated in affluent areas — a major factor in their ongoing success.
“The five Rice Epicurean Markets continue to thrive and succeed in the Houston market by understanding the needs of each neighborhood,” noted Brian Salus, president of foodservice consultancy Salus & Associates in Richmond, Va.
“Rice Epicurean Markets was one of my early clients and I remember when they made the commitment to prepared foods and hired Douglas Dick from the hotel industry. Douglas is a real professional foodservice person, and he has brought a lot to this great family retailer. Gary Friedlander, Bruce Levy, Scott Silverman and Phil Cohen provide the support for Douglas and his team to continue to succeed as they have evolved.
“Retailers wonder why they haven't succeeded in the supermarket foodservice arena. Rice has the answers: commitment and continuity. They continue to do a great job.”
The prepared-food program is very structured, with a menu of recipes for 25 to 35 entrees, 45 to 50 sides, and 50 to 75 salads that chefs can choose from. The items are regularly rotated in and out, with season playing a role. For instance, in October, there will be several German dishes for Oktoberfest.
Then, there are set items that have to be kept in the cases in all stores all the time. Beyond those, chefs do have some flexibility, Dick pointed out.
“If a particular item is selling like crazy in one store, the chef doesn't have to rotate it out on schedule. He can keep it. They're only locked into what we've advertised.”
In fact, chefs have quite a bit of discretion in how they run their departments, but accountability falls on the shoulders of just one person.
“A lot of companies break up duties, but we have one chef in each store who has oversight of all deli programs, including specialty cheese and the olive bars, as well as prepared food,” Dick said.