Ready to Go

ROSEANNE HARPER

Twice-a-week fish fries and roasted, three-legged chickens get some of the credit for keeping prepared-food sales up at Dash's Market in Buffalo, N.Y.

Neither the recession nor being situated smack in the middle of a super-competitive market alongside the likes of Wegmans and Tops has put a dent in the four-store retailer's meals business, Dash's officials said.

From the time owners Joe Dash and Mark Mahoney decided prepared foods were the way of the future, they've put a lot of stock in presenting an interesting variety.

“We're really sensitive to menu fatigue in the entree case,” Dash told SN earlier this month.

Ironically, Dash, who has been associated with the retail food business all his life, had had no experience at all with prepared foods until his and Mahoney's venture began eight years ago. In fact, his previous experience had been in the convenience store arena.

“Since 1923, my family had owned two stores and were the original franchisees of Tops convenience stores,” he said.

Dash eventually became owner of the two convenience stores, but in 2002, he severed ties with Tops and he and Mahoney set out across the country to see how prepared-food programs worked.

“We went to all the famous food stores in New York, and to supermarkets we knew had good meals programs, and we talked to a lot of people. We ended up incorporating some of the ideas we saw, then added a lot of our own.”

One of the first things Dash and Mahoney did when they returned to Buffalo was to hire Chef Sean Van Volkenburg, who had been chef at a locally revered, four-star restaurant.

“The time was right. We had the opportunity to put together a good culinary team. We knew we'd do all right,” Dash said.

With Van Volkenburg heading the kitchen team, they've developed a menu intended to cover all bases.

“We always have six or seven staples that our customers expect, but the rest of the case — 30-plus items including sides — are rotated in and out every week, or at least every other week,” Dash said.

He also explained that while salmon is one of the staples, especially during Lent, it may not be cooked the same way every day. It could be grilled one day, roasted the next or baked in pastry.

“We're very conscious of keeping people interested. We want them to see something different in the chef's case every time they come in, and we listen to what customers want.”

Last year before Lent, some customers had suggested that Dash's offer a tavern- or pub-style fish fry, but Dash said he was a little reluctant because he was “afraid the store would smell like hot oil.”

Apparently hot oil didn't bother anybody, because after a trial in one store, it was full speed ahead for the Wednesday and Friday fish fries.

“It worked so well there, that we quickly put it in all four stores. Now we're mobbed on Wednesdays and Fridays all day long. [The fry runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.] And sales are double what they were a year ago.”

Indeed, on those two days of the week, fried fish, sold by the plate with fries, coleslaw and rolls, makes up 70% to 80% of prepared-food sales, Mahoney pointed out.

“It's such high quality. We use a 10-ounce piece of line-caught haddock. It's a dinner that would sell in a restaurant for $12 or $13, but ours is $6.95. People know they're getting a value.”

It's the same with the extra-leg, slow-roasted chicken.

“That's the biggest bird in the market. We use a chicken that's 3½ pounds raw, and we add another leg when we roast it just to be different,” Dash said.

At $6.95, the chicken, available every day, has become a customer favorite and a destination item.

Van Volkenburg told SN that as the recession continued, he added some additional homey-type foods and also boosted the variety of “family meals” that serve four people. Sausage with peppers and onions, and penne with ricotta and a tomato-based sauce were the family meal specials last week.

“A lot of comfort foods. Roasted baby potatoes, and we have a great macaroni and cheese. We're doing shepherd's pie, things like that. A large variety of home-made soups, too.”

Unlike most supermarkets, Dash's always devotes an entire page in its ad circular to its fresh, prepared foods.

Headlined “Dinner in a Dash,” the page offers a huge variety of prepared foods, and different ways to buy them — by the pound, by the each, by the plate. “Dash's famous stuffed banana peppers” and other enticing entrees sold by the pound are advertised. At least three “family meals” to serve four, for $13.99, have a top spot in the ad.

The latest on the menu is a duo of by-the-plate “Chalet Meals,” added just two weeks ago. Two choices are available just on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A half chicken with sides and rolls is $6.95 and a half rack of baby back ribs with sides and rolls is $7.95.

The temerity it took to launch a long menu of chef-prepared foods just down the street from Wegmans — known throughout the industry for its hot meals and prepared-food programs — has continued to pay off.

“Our prepared-food sales have grown every year, including last year,” Dash said. “We didn't react [to tough economic times] by lowering prices, or quality or portion sizes, and still we did well.”

In the beginning, prepared foods had made up about 3% of Dash's Market's total store sales, but now it's up to 7% at the company's two larger stores.

After giving the original c-stores a new persona, Dash's owners later built a third unit and now lease a fourth.

“We have the ability, too, to expand at the three we own,” Dash said, but added they want to keep them pretty compact.

Dash and Mahoney agree that being a small company, with relatively small stores — ranging from 16,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet — has been an important ingredient in their success.

With two Wegmans stores within two miles and another less than five miles away, having great-quality food might not have been enough with such heavy competition nearby, but convenience belongs to Dash's.

“Wegmans is great, but we're pretty good, too,” Dash said. “Our customers like it that they can get in and out quickly. In addition to quality, we can give them ease of shopping.”

Van Volkenburg pointed out that there are other advantages, too, to being as small a business as Dash's.

“With our being such a small business, we can be really flexible when it comes to making decisions. We can react quickly, for instance, to what customers want.”

Dash and Mahoney see their success with the meals business continuing to prosper. For one thing, consumers are not going to become less busy, they said.

“We'll continue to grow this part of our business disproportionately,” Dash said.

“We've already allocated more physical space for it, and it will be a larger part of our business going forward. We'll put more capital into it because we see a great future for hot prepared food to go and for grab-and-go.”