EMILY'S MARKETS MAKES NAME WITH SIGNATURE ITEMS

ROSEANNE HARPER

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Bakery has risen to the top spot at the new incarnation of Emily's Market, which opened here May 16.

First in line inside a takeout area of the store, the bakery department features 50% more product variety, including three newly developed signature products, than at the first Emily's in Chandler, Ariz., which is now closed. Open production is featured and a new system of merchandising includes colored lights angled to envelop displayed products in a warm glow. A coffee bar is part of the bakery here as well.

"We're making a better merchandising statement with bakery. It plays a much, much bigger role in the whole concept," said Mark Cain, chief operating officer of The Meal Market, the investment company that purchased Emily's Market last fall from convenience store operator Circle K Corp., Phoenix.

Cain was director of development at Emily's when it was owned by Circle K, and, as reported in SN at the time, he and other investors formed The Meal Market to acquire Emily's. They immediately closed the Chandler site and took the concept back to the drawing board. Cain emphasized that the first store was a test and that lessons learned there have been applied at this location.

SN interviewed him the week the new store opened here.

"We didn't do as much as we could have with bakery at Chandler. We're giving it more credit at this location," Cain said, stressing that it is a crucial element in making the new Emily's concept work.

"The bakery is what customers particularly enjoy. And for us, using bakery in this way, and in this position [just inside the takeout entrance] gives us a way to address snack time in the afternoon and to cross merchandise." He said he expects bakery to account for more of a percentage of total sales than it did in Chandler, where it accounted for 20%.

At Chandler, bakery products were merchandised in different areas of the store, primarily on racks. Here, all products are displayed together.

Placing the coffee bar in the bakery creates a more compelling ambiance, part of a synergistic effect that results in higher sales in coffee and bakery products than if they were in separate parts of the store, Cain said. He went on to describe the bakery display.

"Merchandising is more linear," he said. Twenty feet of slanted tables hold wicker baskets of bread, bagels and signature cinnamon buns and pinwheels just below eye level and, right past them, ovens are in full view of customers.

"All baking and cooking is right out front at this store," Cain added. Open production adds to the homestyle character of the store and the aroma of cinnamon rolls and breads baking all day long helps generate a feeling of comfort too, he said.

Four varieties of cinnamon rolls -- traditional, caramel nut, orange and chocolate -- form the backbone of a developing signature program.

"They all have cinnamon in them, but the flavor profiles are very different, and the rolls aren't shaped like commercial cinnamon rolls. They look more like super-sized muffins," Cain said.

"They're fluffy, more like your grandmother might have baked. And the rounded look ties in with our decor here, too. Nothing has sharp edges here," he added. The decor at the 5,000-square-foot store reflects a 1940s diner look. "Diners in the 40s were classy. We have Pullman-style, high-backed booths and a lot of earth tones. It's comfortable," he said. There is seating to accommodate 100 people inside and some additional outside.

In addition to the rounded, fluffy cinnamon rolls, signature items include a cinnamon pinwheel pastry with flaky dough and an apple brown Betty that has been dubbed "apple brown Emily."

"They're served warm all day. They're large enough for one generous serving or two servings with ice cream," Cain said. The cinnamon rolls, pinwheels and apple brown Emilys all retail for $1.50 each.

Those products have been developed to Emily's specifications by Phoenix' Upper Crust Bakery, a restaurant and airline baked goods supplier. Items are delivered to the store as fresh, formed dough several times a day, Cain said. Emily's employees proof and bake them on site all day.

Breads, including a signature garlic bread made with an herb ciabatta dough, are cross merchandised in the hot-meals, sit-down area of the store.

So are a limited selection of decorated and specialty cakes.

"People get to taste the bakery products, like slices of seven-grain bread and the garlic bread, as part of the meal menu offer. And we let them know they can buy a loaf in the bakery to take home," Cain said.

Apple brown Emilys and slices of bundt cake, too, are part of the menu offerings in the hot-meals section of the store. Cakes are also merchandised there in a refrigerated pastry case.

Emily's carries no sheet cakes, only round or bar cakes, Cain pointed out. Again, that is to underscore the "homemade" quality.

The cake program is in its early stages of development but is a key ingredient here, Cain said.

"We're absolutely committed to becoming the corner bakery, where people come to order their cakes for birthdays and other special occasions and to pick up dessert for tonight's dinner," Cain said.