HAVING THE FACILITY

DONNA W. CROTHERS

'Chill out" is more than a quip for retailers who are selling value-added produce.

Yet retailers could be their own worst enemies when it comes to merchandising value-added. Supermarket produce executives interviewed by SN said that despite widespread awareness from years of preaching about the need for adequate refrigeration, the weakest link in the cold chain continues to be at the store level. Everyone seems to know that maintaining products at sufficiently cold temperatures is vital to reducing shrink, increasing customer satisfaction and even to the safety of the products.

However, conventional produce cases typically don't have the capacity to reach temperatures hovering about 34 degrees Fahrenheit, the optimal temperature for cut produce; and the new multideck dairy-type cases that are optimal for value-added produce cost thousands of dollars.

Furthermore, store personnel in many cases continue to treat fresh-cut produce like more durable raw produce items.

All this still adds up to persistent problems in the stores.

"I would say the weakest of all links is at the retail end," said Michael Genuardi, produce director for Genuardi's Family Markets, a 26-store chain based in Norristown, Pa. "It is exposed to light, different temperature and humidity levels, and 16-year-old kids who handle it."

Even Vons Cos., Arcadia, Calif., considered by many to be on the beam when it comes to understanding the importance of refrigeration, is still catching up with installing optimal refrigeration in all its stores.

Dick Spezzano, vice president of produce and floral, said he is only gradually converting his stores to five-deck dairy cases that maintain a temperature of 32 degrees to 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Not enough stores have the new cases; out of 335 stores, probably 30 to 40 stores do," said Spezzano.

The majority of the remaining stores use wet racks for the display of fresh-cut salads, and Spezzano estimated these fixtures keep the produce at 40 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

About 80 stores have coolers that have been converted for fresh-cut salads and maintain temperatures of 45 to 50 degrees, he added.

Meanwhile, the stores that have moved to the multideck cases are seeing tangible benefits, he said. Shelf life has increased two days compared with salads kept at 40 to 45 degrees, and four to six days over salads that were kept at 45 to 50 degrees.

"There is no doubt we have gotten better shelf life and decreased shrink in the stores where we have done it," said Spezzano.

Further up the chain, processors generally do a good job maintaining the cold chain, said Kristi Johnson, director of merchandising and procurement of produce for Sutton Place Gourmet, a 12-store chain based in Washington. It's retailers who drop the ball.

"I really feel that this product is handled pretty consistently in the cold chain, until it gets to the retailer," she said. "Certainly, the processors are stringent about how they handle the product and how fast it gets on the truck. But the sense of urgency and level of knowledge gets watered down and watered down until you get to the retailer."

Johnson, like many other retailers, said she did not have the equipment at store level to maintain the cold chain when she first considered adding fresh-cut salads. For her, however, that meant not having the product, either.

Adequate refrigeration was "the one thing I would not budge on," said Johnson. Sutton Place Gourmet is renovating one store and building three more stores, and in the process is putting high-density dairy cases in each of these units. It started with a 20-foot case in the renovated store, she said. "This is something we are planning to do in every store, maybe 8 or 12 feet instead of 20."

At the renovated unit, the new case has increased sales dramatically on just about everything it holds, she said. Johnson is also experimenting with retrofitting a wall case with a 4-foot section of shelving. Cut produce respires faster than uncut, which accounts for the decrease in shelf life, according to an industry expert.

"When produce is cut, all the spoilage processes are increased, and the trauma of being cut causes an increase in respiration," said Edith Garrett, president of the International Fresh-cut Produce Association in Arlington, Va. "Temperature is a major key in slowing down the respiration rate and slowing any bacterial growth. Ideally, we would love to have everyone maintain 35 degrees, but we recommend fresh-cut produce stay between 34 and 40 degrees," Garrett said. Many chains, meanwhile, are facing the question of whether to buy new cases or retrofit old ones to accommodate the fast-growing value-added produce category. "The best equipment is the upright dairy case converted to a produce case" with multideck shelving, according to Thomas A. Meyers, general manager of Carlson AirFlo Merchandising Systems, based in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Meyers is a member of the International Fresh-cut Produce Association's Task Force on Refrigeration Guidelines, as well as chairman of the Produce Marketing Association's past Subcommittee on Refrigeration Guidelines for Fresh-cut Produce.

Dairy cases are preferable because "they are made to refrigerate dairy products that need colder temperatures," said Meyers. He noted, however, that such cases can cost $12,000 or more, depending on size.

Genuardi's Family Markets has reaped rewards from putting in new multideck cases for value-added produce items in some of its stores, according to Genuardi.

"What we are seeing from the five-deck dairy cases is a more constant temperature. The product lives better," said Genuardi. "If you adhere to the cold chain, this product will live two weeks past its [usual] shelf life. "In any new store we open up, much thought is given as to where this product will go," said Genuardi. "Long-term, it pays off. It's not just salads in these cases; it also is other items like dips, dressings."

At Randall Stores, a 23-store chain based in Mitchell, S.D., shrink is better than it used to be in stores fitted with upright, 12-foot cases with five to six shelves for value-added produce, according to Robert Hunter, supervisor. "Some of the old cases weren't that cold . . . so as we remodel and fix up the stores, we add them," commented Hunter. With the new cases, "temperatures are running very cold, and you can control the temperature . . . the air coming out of the back is almost freezing, and by the time it gets to the front, it's 34 or 36 degrees."

Setting up a refrigerated case for value-added produce increases profits not only by cutting shrink but also by providing an attractive display where consumers can easily pick up all the items they need for a salad or other produce dish, according to several retailers. That is borne out by the experience of Gary Zastrow, produce manager for Ryan's Big M store in Brockport, N.Y., where a 12-foot-wide upright case with six shelves was added two years ago. "It is phenomenal . . . we have sold so much out of it that it has paid for itself." In the two years he has used the case, Zastrow has more than doubled sales of value-added produce, including salad mixes, celery sticks, baby carrots and other items.

Refrigerated cases have become a destination point in the produce departments at Fry's Food Stores, Phoenix, according to David Coons, head produce buyer.

"We have gone to multidecks in our new stores where you can keep tomatoes at 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and keep cut fruit even colder" than the fresh-cut salads, said Coons. But while they work to improve conditions in the department, retailers said they also struggle with the cold chain link in the back room.

"Once produce is received at the store, that is where the real drop-off in temperature can occur," said Vons' Spezzano. The need for proper refrigeration for value-added produce will only become more intense as new products continue to come to market, particularly fresh-cut fruit, said many sources. For these reasons, IFPA would like to see 35 degrees as the standard temperature for holding fresh-cut fruit products.

Widespread distribution of fresh-cut fruit from central processors is probably 18 months away, said Meyers of AirFlo. "But now is the time to plan for your equipment for that product."

"We all know what needs to be done," said Vons' Spezzano. "It's just a matter of how fast we can do it."