DISPLAYS OF TALENT

ROSEANNE HARPER

BALTIMORE -- Teams of deli staff from three supermarket companies competed for medals earlier this month in a contest testing technical knowledge and merchandising savvy held at the annual seminar and exposition of the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association.

The focus was on deli meats and cheeses, and judging was conducted over three days. The three teams, from Spartan/VG's Food Centers, Fenton, Mich.; Tom Thumb, Dallas, and Larry's Markets, Seattle, spent months preparing for the event.

Each team actually set a deli case, sampled products, cut cheese and sliced meats, and talked about its products and displays with show attendees. In addition to the official judging, all show attendees had a chance to cast a vote for their favorite merchandising team.

When all tallies were in for the show of skills, called the "Retail Merchandising Challenge," the gold medal went to Spartan/VG's Food Centers, the silver to Tom Thumb and the bronze to Larry's Markets.

Participants were graded by a panel of judges on technical points such as cheese cutting and wrapping, as well as on presentation. Each team was given the same products and merchandising tools to choose from to set its cases.

Merchandising events are not new for IDDA, but it is new for the group to involve retailers who do it every day. Previously, displays of merchandising techniques were manufacturer-driven.

"We decided we wanted retailers to be the ones showing retailers how to merchandise and we set this up so it would be interactive, too," said Carol Christison, IDDA executive director.

And the idea was apparently a good one, because SN noted that the 8,000-square-foot ShowPlace '94 area had a tremendous amount of traffic all through the three-day show and attendees were making positive comments. Many discussed which display they liked best and why, and many seemed to pick up ideas to bring home.

Each team had an entirely different approach to merchandising.

For VG's, which filled its service case with a range of value-added products such as stuffed apples and rolled-up sandwiches, the little extras and attention to detail helped the company win the gold, said Cheryl Berman, supervisor of deli and bakery merchandisers at Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, Mich., the retailer-owned wholesaler that supplies VG's. "That's what the judges told us. For instance, we had a whole section in our service case for value-added products such as fruit-and-cheese kabobs, and apples stuffed with shredded cheddar and raisins," said Berman, who was Spartan/VG's team leader for the merchandising contest.

Her team also showed theme gift baskets. One was for Father's Day. Another had a tropical theme. And the retailer's grab-and-go cheese island displayed children's items such as lunches or snacks packed in a clam-shell, see-through container. There also was a pail and shovel with a bowl of over-wrapped cheese chunks.

A kid's lunch typically included a cheese sandwich, an apple, and overwrapped cheese cubes, as well as a prewrapped dessert. Some contained "prizes" such as pencils or cow-shaped erasers.

"We introduced those lunches a few months ago in most of our stores and they're doing very well," Berman said, adding that the idea was to target today's busy moms with the lunches, which could also be used for an after-school snack. The retail price is $2.99.

"We also got points for making things easy for our associates -- for instance, information that we put on the back of the price cards in the service case," Berman added.

A card showing the price of a specialty cheese would, on its reverse side, for example, have the correct pronunciation and serving suggestions for the cheese.

The retailers were judged on 30 pages of criteria, including details on organization and sanitation, cheese cutting and creativity.

Second place winner, Tom Thumb, a division of Randall's Food Markets, Houston, got top points for efficient cheese cutting, one judge said. And Larry's Markets was outstanding for its organization and sanitation, judges noted.

Juan Martinez, Tom Thumb's food service merchandiser, and team leader for the contest, said his team got high points from the technical judges and also got a majority of votes in the popular vote. Two party platters and a display of vacuum-packaged meats integrated with specialty cheeses was a feature of the retailer's self-service display case.

"The judges told us the competition was very close. About 13 points out of a total of 12,000 kept us from the gold," Martinez said.

Paige Lamb, sales director, and contest team leader for Larry's Markets, couldn't be reached at press time, but she said at the show that she expected the upscale, specialty cheeses displayed in a simple arrangement in the service case to stand Larry's well in the competition. Larry's is in the process of converting cheese programs in all its stores to service only, she added. The judging criteria were developed by a panel of experts led by Regi Hise, manager of training and education for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Madison, Wis. "We used a European-style scoring system whereby judging starts at zero and points are added for each item in the criteria that is completed successfully," Hise said. The three teams that competed in the Merchandising Challenge were selected for their merchandising expertise earlier this year by IDDA's ShowPlace committee, which includes representatives of all segments of the industry.