HAPPY TO OBLIGE

ROSEANNE HARPER

LANGHORNE, Pa. -- Genuardi's Family Markets is clearly aiming to make its new store here a destination for meals shoppers and has designed new elements to serve as road markers along the way.

For example, the company has taken particular care at this store to call attention to the freshness of its products with graphics and food presentation. Officials at Genuardi's corporate office in Norristown, Pa., also emphasized that giving customers the convenience they are asking for is expected to keep them coming back.

Prior to opening this store, the company ran focus groups and found that convenience was a very big concern of its customers.

"They were adamant about it. They said it came near to being an insult to ask them to walk across a huge store to buy milk and eggs," said Ray Taglialatela, director of perishables merchandising, for the 27-unit chain.

In response, the chain has not only placed a portable, refrigerated merchandiser near the check-out lanes that's stocked with milk and eggs and other everyday essentials; it also has created a separate entrance into the fresh-food aisle and has dedicated a cash register for that area. In addition, a portable cash register is put into service to help out in that area during lunchtime.

Most notably, the chain has quadrupled space for self-service chilled, prepared foods and has boosted variety in that category by 20% at this store.

Customers can now come in and get ready-to-eat food for tonight's dinner or tomorrow's lunch and spend a minimum of time in the store, Taglialatela explained.

"They've told us they like us, but they've also made it clear they don't want us to waste their time,," he said.

The demographics of the area cry out for quality, prepared foods in big variety but they have to be easy and quick to purchase, Taglialatela said.

The store is situated in a growing residential area that's home to young families that fall into the high-middle- to high-income bracket, usually with both parents working, he added.

SN interviewed Taglialatela at the store shortly after it opened last month.

As he pointed to a shopper with two young children, Taglialatela said,"They're a relatively young crowd, and one that appreciates quality food."They're sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate some of the more esoteric items introduced at this store, such as pan focaccia and upscale Italian entrees.

"This is a good place for us to try a lot of things," he said, adding that the customer base here is ideal for freshly prepared items such as the fresh pasta station launched here. And while sushi isn't new for Genuardi's, at this store, a service sushi bar has a particularly prominent spot at the head of the fresh-food aisle. "On opening day, we sold as much sushi as we did sliced deli meats and cheeses," Taglialatela said. "Customers reached a comfort level quickly. You could tell by watching them. They love this store.

"By responding to their requests for convenience, having the best possible foods, and associating our name with them in our advertising, we'll gradually become a destination," said Taglialatela.

He added that the company also has attempted to create an ambiance at this store, with lighting and displays and more of a cafe atmosphere, which may be missing at other stores. Those changes are intended to make customers perceive Genuardi's as a place to come to buy ready-to-eat food or fresh food they can take home an serve without much time involved, he said.

One new feature at the 62,000-square-foot store, which opened last month, is a sculpture representing huge hunks of fruit and vegetables, painted and spotlighted in glass towers that can be seen from a major highway that passes by the store. Those sculptures high overhead at both front entrances are intended to associate Genuardi's with fresh food in people's minds, said Bill Chidley, vice president of Design Forum, Dayton, Ohio, a firm that helped Genuardi's conceptualize this new prototype store.

While the emphasis here is on prepared foods, produce is a good messenger of "fresh," he explained.

"Whether it's a deli sandwich or a meal, it's freshness the customer is buying. And it all comes back to produce," Chidley said, pointing out that it's the crispness of the vegetable and the perkiness of the lettuce that customers tend to use to gauge freshness.

The produce department at this store has been brought over for the first time to join the prepared-food aisle, as reported in the Feb. 17 issue of SN. At the chain's former prototype store in St. David's, Pa., produce is on the opposite side of the store from the hot and chilled prepared foods.

A warm-looking coffee bar/cafe with hanging lamps, posters, an impressive-looking espresso machine and high-backed, wooden stools can be seen from the parking lot through floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the store. That's intended to make people think of eating before they even get into the store, Taglialatela said.

In other Genuardi's stores, the coffee bar is simply a kiosk, and a nonadjacent seating area provides a place for people to sit down to eat if they choose to.

"One thing we've missed on in our other stores is the importance of ambiance," Taglialatela said as he gestured toward a wall of posters and a wall decoration with a rustic motif in the coffee bar/cafe. Those and the hanging lamps have been added at this store, he said. It works. It feels a little like a Starbucks, but with more food choices.

The coffee bar/cafe is situated to the left of the fresh-food entrance, but straight ahead is a new element that hasn't had a try-out at any other store: The Italian Market. Customers faced with the 1,700-square-foot store-within-a-store for the first time might think they've been transported to New York's or Philadelphia's Little Italy.

In fact, one customer said, "This is great. I won't have to go to south Philadelphia to the Italian market anymore."

The aroma of espresso rises from the coffee bar; a cloud of steam engulfs the head of an associate who is dishing up freshly cooked pasta and sauce at a new pasta station that's part of the Italian Market; and cheeses and sausages and ropes of garlic heads and red onions dangle from the ceiling. And a well-lit length of European-style case shows off heaping platters of chilled, prepared, Italian entrees.

"It's makes one more destination and we wanted to take possession of a line of food. There's no other Italian market in the area and we thought it was appropriate for us to do it," Taglialatela said.

"With the combination of the coffee bar and the Italian Market, we're trying to appeal to all the senses," Taglialatela said. And it appears they are succeeding.

If the fruit and vegetable sculptures were designed to say "fresh" and the coffee bar proclaims "warmth," the Italian Market says, "Let's eat."

Italian specialties such as fritatta, polpettes, meat lasagna bolognese and stuffed hot peppers, are heaped on platters and displayed on a slanted riser -- an 8-foot, European-style case which is the focal point of the Italian Market. Those products are sourced fresh from a local manufacturer of Italian foods. But colorful roasted vegetables that also have a prominent spot in that case are made in-store, Taglialatela pointed out.

An adjacent, tiered, service case offers up gourmet pastries such as a ricotta pie for $14.99 and cappuccino cake at $2.49 a slice. The pastries are brought in from outside for the most part, but they sell so fast that the in-store bakery often fills in the case with products such as fruit flan and cannoli, Taglialatela said.

"We can't keep tiramisu in stock, it sells out so quickly. And that's at $4 each," he said. Boxed and bottled Italian specialties, such as wine vinegar in a bottle shaped like a bunch of grapes, and even espresso machines and pasta makers, are also displayed in the Italian Market.

"Everything is for sale," Taglialatela said. Indeed, on opening day, a bottle of balsamic vinegar for $75 was rung up.

At an angle, adjacent to the Italian Market's pastry case, is the pasta station. An overhead menu board lists the pastas and sauces of the day.

"This gives us some theater and another choice of food. We wanted to go beyond the pizza and sandwiches and hot table," Taglialatela said.

He said that while those programs are top quality, they fall into the fast-food category and Genuardi's is looking to add more cooked-to-order programs like the pasta station in upcoming stores. He declined to offer more details on that subject.

An imported pasta, one of the top sellers in Italy, is used at the pasta station, Taglialatela said. The associate tending the station blanches the pasta ahead of time so cooking time will be minimal. While fresh pasta is brought in from a local supplier and cut and packed in-store for the self-service case, fresh pasta is not used at the cooked-to-order station.

Taglialatela explained that since fresh pasta cooks so quickly, it would be difficult to control the quality. Overcooking it could be a problem, he said.

The pasta station is meeting the company's sales expectations, but Taglialatela said all the costs of the labor-intensive program have not been thoroughly analyzed yet. Even if profits are found to be not up to par when the analysis is done, Genuardi's will keep the pasta cooking because of the theater it provides and because "it will grow." He explained that so early into a new program, customers are still getting used to having it available.

In logical sequence, the pizza station is next in line. Associates can be seen behind the counter tossing dough for fresh-baked pizza. Interesting varieties, listed on a menu board, include pesto abruzzi (sun-dried tomatoes and zucchini), chicken Florentine and Hawaiian. The specialty varieties range in price from $10.50 to $13.25 for a small pie. A small plain pizza is $6.50; a large, $7.50. Pizza is also offered by the slice. The retail: $1.10 to $1.95, depending on the variety.

At the pizza counter, Taglialatela pointed out that, at this store, the company has retrofitted a secondary glass shelf halfway up the glass that separates customers from whole pizzas displayed there. Panini sandwiches are displayed on that shelf. That's a departure from other stores, where the grilled Italian sandwiches are offered in the service deli case.

Using the space at the pizza station to put panini at eye-level was part of "surrounding you with food," Taglialatela said.

"It also seemed more logical to have them with the pizza," Taglialatela said. He added that the idea for the secondary shelf came from looking around at pizza shops.

"We've looked all over at what other people are doing and we've borrowed some ideas. We've traveled to Syracuse, [N.Y.] and Atlanta and Dallas, and we took our merchandising team into New York to some of the specialty stores," he said.

Next in line is a sandwich station and a service counter with hot side dishes. Then comes a carving station which features four store-roasted meats each day. This element, which is in three other Genuardi's stores, is a stand-out feature here. The aroma and the activity as carvers slice the hot meats just behind a low, glass partition, draws attention. The day SN visited the store, associates also were enthusiastically sampling the products.

"We want to give customers so many choices that they'll have no reason to go anywhere else," Taglialatela said. He added that presentation is everything. Quality and variety are given, he said, but dramatic presentation is just as important.

"Here, our food is on stage. We've tried to make display fixtures disappear. We just want people to see food everywhere they look," he said.

But all of the activity, the cooking, the carving, the sampling, can be seen as a warm-up for a display of self-service, chilled, prepared foods that is unprecedented in its size at Genuardi's. It's the centerpiece of the fresh-food aisle. At 48 linear feet, the self-service display is four times as big as the next largest at another store, Taglialatela said.

The foods are presented in an island case situated across the aisle from the pizza and sandwich stations and the hot sides counter. Standing in the Italian Market, looking beyond an octagonal olive bar in the Market, the sushi bar is the first part of the self-service island seen. Four feet of tiered shelves display packages of sushi just below the small counter where the sushi chef prepares fresh product.

In the middle of the island, at eye-level, a sign displays the Genuardi's green, red and white logo with a stylized knife and fork beside it. The sign says, "Meals Solutions Center." At that level, too, colorful Mexican pinatas in the shape of donkeys and hats signal the availability of a new line that's being launched at this store, and soon will be rolled out to additional stores. It's a line of fresh, Mexican entrees sourced from a Mexican restaurant in nearby Philadelphia. Some examples of those are grilled vegetable and black bean enchiladas, $4.99; and grilled chicken enchiladas, $5.99.

Alongside that display, a 6-foot length of tiered shelves displays heat-sealed packages of entrees and side dishes with Genuardi's name and logo on the tops. They include meat loaf and mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak and noodles and Tuscan beef stew. Entrees are all $3.99 and sides, $1.99. Those items are produced and packed by Celentano, Verona, N.J., and delivered on an as-needed basis. SN reported on the link-up with Celentano in the Oct. 21, 1996 issue.

"We're happy with that partnership and we've created others, too, since then. For example, the company that supplies our salad bar is now supplying us with some of our new items," Taglialatela said.

The choices at the self-service case are huge. There are many that are brought in and carry the manufacturer's brand name, but all are freshly prepared, packaged items.

A whole meal can be put together at this case. The produce department displays domed packages of cut fruits here and small trays of cut vegetables with a cup of dip in the middle. Cooked seafood entrees have been sourced from outside. Familiar brands of products usually displayed elsewhere are here, too, such as Perdue cooked chicken pieces. There's a whole range of items to choose from. Meatballs, quiche, spinach, knishes and even some carving-station items in dome packages. One was roast turkey and gravy, priced at $6.99 a pound. A label on the package said, "From our carving board."

In a 2-foot area at the corner of the case, gourmet cakes are offered. Just two were displayed there the day SN visited: a black forest cake for $9.99 and a raspberry cheesecake for $16.99.

Cross merchandising between departments is a feature at this store, Taglialatela said. Grocery items such as chips, crackers and soda are displayed in the prepared-food area and several departments share the self-service meal-solution case. This has come about as a result of unprecedented cooperation between the store's departments, and that was accomplished by forming a merchandising team that includes representatives from each department, Taglialatela said.

"We all share the store's space and we get together to figure out what would sell best where," Taglialatela said. Each department gets the ring for its product no matter where in the store it's displayed.

The length of self-service case at this store is flanked on its opposite side by an extensive salad bar, which was doing a brisk business the day SN visited the store. At this store, associates pack up a few side-dish salads and Caesar salads for grab-and-go.

"Sales of those has surprised us. They're doing great. We tried that six years ago with marginal success and then stopped it. We thought that [potential customer] was being satisfied by our salad bars, but times have changed. There are enough people who don't want to spend the seven or eight minutes it would take them at the salad bar," Taglialatela said.

"Everything here is about convenience. We're aiming to make things as easy as we possibly can for our customers and we're still thinking of ways to do it," he said.

Asked about the expanse of the aisle which occupies 25% to 30% of the store's space and the large amount of space devoted to self-service, Taglialatela said:

"This is our store of the future. The space may seem excessive right now, but it's difficult to go back and refit stores when you need to if you don't have the space." He added that this store reflects the growth in the fresh-food categories that Genuardi's anticipates.