MINYARD PROMOTES FOOD FEST WITH PEPSI AND FRITO-LAY SNACKS

RICHARD TURCSIK

DALLAS -- Minyard Food Stores used in-store displays of Pepsi and Frito-Lay products to build consumer interest in its annual Food Fest.

At the Food Fest, held for three days in late October at Market Hall here, Minyard sold 400 booths to its grocery, meats, perishables and services vendors to showcase and sample their products and services.

Originally established in 1985 to create awareness for the chain, the Food Fest has become something of a Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex institution.

"We have a ticket price of $5. To drive traffic in our stores we offer a $1 discount coupon in the stores prior to the show. It works because over 90% of the attendees have a coupon. It is a good marketing tool," Debbie Ellis, vice president of public relations at the Coppell, Texas-based chain, told SN.

Ellis said Minyard cross merchandised the Food Fest in-store for the first time this year, teaming up with Pepsi and Frito-Lay, which built displays in each of the company's Minyard, Sack 'n Save and Carnival Food Stores formats.

"We gave Pepsi and Frito-Lay display space in the stores and we drove customers to that display space because it is where we distributed the coupons," she said.

"We ran it the way we run our other sweepstakes. We didn't have a big prize, but we offered the same type of marketing approach to Pepsi and Frito-Lay to get customers to go to the display to pick up the discount coupons because we know the traffic is so heavy. It worked well," Ellis said.

Ellis said attendance at the Food Fest appears to be leveling off at the 62,000 range.