ADJUSTING THE RECIPE

ROSEANNE HARPER

RICHMOND, Va. -- Not even Ukrop's Super Markets gets everything right the first time.

Officials at the 26-unit chain here said they've done significant tweaking since they launched their prepared-food program 10 years ago. They also backed off completely from some efforts that fell short of their expectations. Here are some examples:

"Sunday Dinner for Six" was expected to be a smash hit, for instance, but it didn't make the grade.

The bundled dinner, which was packed up and merchandised on Saturday since Ukrop's is closed on Sunday, was expected to fly based on the success of Dinners for Two and Ukrop's holiday meals, said Jackie Legg, Ukrop's vice president for solutions selling. The Sunday dinner, at $25, included two whole rotisserie chickens or something like a jumbo casserole, with sides, bread, and half a cake or pie.

"People said they liked it, but it seemed to cost too much," Legg said.

Staffed Caesar salad stations were deemed too time-specific and ceded to sushi bars, which provide more round-the-clock action. The demise of stations doesn't mean the chain stopped making Caesar salad. Quite the contrary. "We found we could sell more of it in packages, self-service," said Bobby Ukrop, president and chief executive officer of the chain.

Ukrop's also found that tarragon chicken salad, one of its first kitchen-made products, doesn't take the place of plain chicken salad. Both varieties sell well, but plain outsells tarragon three to one at Ukrop's, Legg said.

One particularly happy surprise was that customers wanted to buy a Dinner for Two on Fridays. Originally, the dinners were offered only on Tuesdays. Then Monday and Wednesday and Thursday were added because of customer demand.

"We found out that customers wanted the dinner on Friday because they used it to feed their children or maybe their elderly parents while they themselves went out for the evening," Legg said.