MINYARD UNIT ADDS SERVICE POULTRY

AMY I. STICKEL

DALLAS -- Minyard Food Stores has taken its service-oriented Minyard format one step further, by adding service fresh poultry to a new unit in an inner-city neighborhood here.

It is the first time the chain has merchandised service poultry in this type of format, and since the store opened three weeks ago, the service counter has the potential to be a huge hit, according to Arley Morrison, vice president of meat, deli and seafood for the Coppell, Texas-based chain.

The new 50,000-square-foot store is in the Fair Park area of Dallas, and is the first full-service supermarket to move into the neighborhood in 30 years, the company said.

"From every indication, people in that area have not seen service poultry counters," said Morrison. "We feel it's going to be excellent for our company."

Morrison said he did not yet have sales figures on the service poultry section's performance since it opened.

Minyard Food Stores operates three different formats, under the banners Sack 'n Save, Carnival and Minyard.

While its more ethnically oriented Carnivals all have service poultry counters, the 8-foot turkey and chicken counter is the first one for stores under the Minyard banner.

Minyard opted to add the service poultry case to the format's other service departments, including service seafood, deli and bakery, because service was high on the wish list of the store's potential customers, Morrison said.

"We took surveys before the store was ever planned, and we asked groups of people what they would like us to do. Their comments were that they wanted a service-oriented store," he said. "We just gave the people what they wanted." The poultry counter features whole fryers and fresh chicken and turkey parts cut to order, he said.

The 8-foot poultry counter is twinned with a 16-foot seafood counter to create a service meat area that, in turn, takes up the rear of a "power alley" of fresh merchandising in the new store, Morrison said.

The unit's lead department is floral, followed by produce, bakery and deli. The meat counter is in the back corner of the store, following the deli area.

The new Minyard also represents a concerted effort to bring a new level of service to inner city markets.

"Our company committed to trying to put in as nice a store, and as complete a store, as possible for our customers in that area. That's basically what we did," said Morrison.