BRINGING MEALS TO MARKET

ROSEANNE HARPER

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Marketing is the missing link in supermarket home-meal replacement, said a panel of supermarket HMR practitioners at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's convention here.

The panelists -- Tom Brewer, vice president of deli/food service for Price Chopper Supermarkets/Golub Corp., Schenectady, N.Y.; Mary Lou Long, director of deli operations for Byerly's, Edina, Minn.; Scott Miller, corporate vice president for food service/deli operations at Randalls Food Markets, Houston; and Phil Gass, group vice president for bakery/deli operations at Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City -- agreed that while it's necessary to deliver a quality product first, you must find an effective way to tell consumers about it, because the supermarket is not, in consumers' minds, the natural destination for fresh meals.

They shared some of their own solutions such as:

Backing years of building a reputation as a food-service contender by loudly proclaiming your challenge to other HMR operators on billboards, as Price Chopper is doing;

Hitching your wagon to the stars of well known restaurant operators in your market, as Byerly's is doing;

Adding new programs, like Randalls is, to heighten the profile of the food-service operation;

Or, like Fleming, creating identities for each of a handful of food-service concepts and fashioning marketing strategies to support each one.

Price Chopper decided to launch a billboard campaign to tout its ready-to-eat chicken and pizza, precisely because it realized quality and affordability were not enough if no one knows you as a meal provider.

"We had good quality and affordable food, but consumers weren't shopping for meals at our stores. Despite the quality, the value, the delivery and the customer traffic, we were still perceived as a grocery store, focus groups showed us," Brewer said.

To improve the 93-unit chain's meal image, the company erected billboards in its market areas that took a swipe at competition such as Boston Market, Kenny Roger's Roasters and Pizza Hut. One said, "Why go to Boston?" Another said, "Why go to Kentucky?" And yet another said, "Why eat in a hut?"

Brewer said that in trying to figure out how to get customers to recognize what Price Chopper offered, his company realized it had better use advertising more aggressively, because that was how the competition was using it.

"Seven of the Top 10 advertisers in the country are quick service restaurants," he pointed out.

In addition to the billboard ads, the chain has developed a 4-page, color insert that's been put in local newspapers every Sunday for the last 28 weeks.

Brewer reminded the audience, however, that for Price Chopper the restaurant quality and presentation came first -- and that process has been a long haul.

"We've been on this journey for seven years. We've developed our own brands, Coyote Joe's, Bella Roma and The Bagel Factory, and we have our own P&L," Brewer said.

The chain started in the food-court arena because, he said, "We had no food-service presence. To give ourselves credibility, we had to become a restaurant first." Now, the chain has introduced "Ready Meals" -- appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts, made to its specifications and prepacked by an outside source.

To get its image imprinted on consumers' minds, Byerly's teamed up with brand-name companies well known in its own market area, said Long.

Byerly's, which has full-service restaurants in seven of its 11 units, has had fresh-prepared deli foods since 1968, but six years ago, it paired up with Leean Chin restaurants, a local chain of Chinese restaurants. In all its stores, Leean Chin operations are adjacent or in-line with the service deli. The Leean Chin menu is also offered in the chain's full-service restaurants, Long said.

Next, the company partnered with Caribou Coffee, which has coffee bars in nine of the chain's stores.

"The brand identity is an important reason to partner with outside companies. Leean Chin and Caribou Coffee have an excellent reputation and quality image. They're well known in the marketplace and their established name helps sell their products," Long said.

"We enjoyed instant success with both of these partners," she added. Such linking with brands helps lend a restaurant-quality and restaurant-style image to the whole deli/food-service department, consultants and other retailers have told SN.

Byerly's newest partner is Wolfgang Puck brand wood-fired-oven pizza.

"We also offered a hot focaccia sandwich made in the wood-fired oven and we have hot, fresh pasta," also under the Wolfgang Puck banner, Long pointed out.

Other touches that not only add an option, but also contribute to Byerly's upscale image include the recent addition of a sushi bar, run by an outside operator, Long said. The retailer also has developed some of its own brands in the prepared-food department, she said.

Long said that Byerly's development team researches concepts well to see whether they should tackle the job or source the product from outside. "If we hear of someone who can do a better job than we can, it's our responsibility to approach them." The teaming with outside brands has been a knockout success, giving the deli department from 12% to 20% of total store sales, depending on the location of the store, Long said.

Miller at Randalls Food Markets concurred that partnering with quality manufacturers to deliver products customers want is a viable alternative.

"We actively look for partners in our industry who share our vision and commitment to achieving customer satisfaction," Miller said. No. 1 in Randalls goals, however, is understanding customers' needs and wants when it comes to HMR, he added.

Then, when it finds out by asking customers what they want, the 125-unit retailer proceeds to "market ourselves as an alternative and a better solution than our competition to solve consumers' needs," Miller said.

Miller said HMR is far from new at Randalls, pointing out that the chain has had prepared food since the 1970s. But experimentation and more aggressive marketing are more recent developments.

The company's marketing strategy is to offer the customer convenience with one-stop shopping, in addition to top-quality food, Miller said.

"The market we advertise to is the restaurant and take-out establishments market. We're aiming to become a true destination point for consumers' meal choices," Miller said.

"We want to create a separate identity [for the prepared-food department], even though we know we have to coordinate all our departments to create a solution for the customer," Miller added.

In that effort, the company touts its restaurant-like qualities. Miller pointed out that the chain has partnered with the Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management to recruit employees for its food-service departments.

A lot of new programs are in the works, and Randalls expects them to help push food-service sales up 10% in the next 12 months, Miller said.

Among the projected programs are carving stations, fresh pasta, a hot sandwich station, omelets made to order, faxing menus to businesses and a box lunch program.

Radio ads play an important role in marketing for a set of turnkey meal-solution concepts developed by Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City, for its own retail stores and for the regional chains and independent retailers it supplies, Gass said.

The catchy names ascribed to the concepts also play a role. During his presentation, Gass gave seminar attendees an example. He played a recorded radio commercial developed by the company to tout one of its new, proprietary brand concepts: Cinnamon Island. Appealing island music formed the backdrop for the voice-over ad.

Cinnamon Island features cinnamon rolls that are baked fresh throughout the day.

The others are Baker's Blvd., a limited-assortment bakery concept designed for retailers just starting up an in-store bakery; Chicken Store & More, which offers a wide range of accompanying products in addition to chicken; S'Italian, an Italian specialties shop featuring fresh pizza, calzones, entrees, pasta and specialty cheeses; and Captain Subman's Soup'R Sandwich Shop, "based around our trademarked action hero, Captain Subman," Gass said.

The five Fleming-licensed concepts come under the umbrella name Chef's Cupboard. "The most important element within the Chef's Cupboard Concepts is the marketing package. Specific promotional programs are in place for each concept," Gass said.