MEALS PLAN ANNIVERSARY IS CELEBRATED BY UKROP'S

ROSEANNE HARPER

RICHMOND, Va. -- Ukrop's Super Markets here has sent sales of its prepared entrees to new heights with a "Delicious Decade" promotion celebrating the 10th anniversary of the chain's central kitchen and prepared-foods program.

In the first three weeks after the program's launch this fall, sales of chilled entrees soared 35% over the same period a year earlier and sales in the entire chilled, prepared-foods category -- which includes dips, salads, dressings and side dishes as well as entrees -- went up 15%, according to officials of the 26-store independent operator.

A "Delicious Decade" logo, a new packaging design, enthusiastic associates clad in customized anniversary baseball caps, price reductions and a giveaway game are all part of the promotion. The company is also using the celebration to re-energize its prepared-foods program with new menu items and added convenience for its prepared-foods customers.

Ukrop's launched its successful, kitchen-made prepared-foods program in a new store that opened Halloween Day, 1989, and officials say the intervening decade has been a good learning experience [see "Ukrop's Homestyle," SN, Oct. 4, 1999].

"It has indeed been a delicious decade. We've learned a lot and we're very proud of our people. They've made it work," said Bobby Ukrop, the chain's president and chief executive officer.

Jackie Legg, Ukrop's vice president of solution selling, told SN about some of the thinking behind the year-long promotion.

"We know people love our food. Through our customer cards, we found that 64% of our customers have purchased a prepared food from us in the last year," Legg said.

But she pointed out that even though Ukrop's told its kitchen story when it launched the program 10 years ago, there may be people who don't know that Ukrop's prepared foods are made fresh in the chain's own kitchen. "People move to Richmond from other cities all the time. So I bet there are a lot who don't know where those little packages [of prepared foods] in our cases come from because there are a lot of retailers who don't make their own," Legg said.

She also said there's just a need to pep up the program a little so people will take note of it.

Legg said one of her friends recently remarked that "Ukrop's [prepared foods] has become sort of a commodity. It's an everyday thing for us. We buy our dinner from you all the time."

Legg said that while that comment was flattering because it showed how frequently customers buy Ukrop's kitchen-made items, it also made her think the chain needed to breathe new life into the program.

"We don't want people to take us for granted, and the 10th anniversary gave us the opportunity to call attention to the program. We formed a 10th anniversary team to figure out how to do it and we invited our marketing people to our brainstorming sessions," Legg said.

The team decided that introducing new menu items with flare and providing customers with an entire year's menu, showing them when seasonal items will be rotated on or off the menu, should be an important part of this year's plans.

"People get alarmed when we take our sweet potato casserole off the menu in the spring. We need to let them know it will be back in the fall," Legg said.

The first new items to get star treatment under the Delicious Decade umbrella are Mexican fare: a white spinach burrito and a picadillo burrito that contains red sauce, ground beef, almonds, raisins, green olives and a touch of cinnamon. Those items were announced via an over-sized postcard mailed to Ukrop's customers. The card features a full-color, close-up photo of the burritos on a crockery plate. Those items also got the spotlight in the September issue of Ukrop's customer newsletter.

Legg said Mexican items were chosen because "Mexican is colorful and festive, and also because of the popularity of Mexican dishes." She added that as the year progresses, new seasonal items will be added.

"The changing menu is what will keep it going. We'll add new items, but we'll also let customers know when something will be added or taken away. Don't forget that we have more than 100 items. We don't want to ditch anything, but there's only so much case space," she said.

Legg also said that when an in-season item is rotated back onto the menu, a big deal will be made of it. For example, "It's Back!" signs might be placed in the case and "It's Back!" notices put in the customer newsletter.

For the first time, the chain will print menus for the entire year, to be handed out to customers so they'll know when their favorites are available.

"We've always operationally had seasonal menus, but we've never done a great job of telling customers what's coming on and off the menu and when. Now they'll have that information in their hand," Legg explained. "This is a big step forward for us."

Meanwhile, the company has been receiving praise for its foresight in providing mealtime comfort and convenience for its time-starved customers.

"We have people who eat our food all the time. I had a woman tell me the other day that she's never used her oven. She said she didn't know what she and her husband would do without us," Ukrop said.