STORES GEAR UP FOR EASTER HAM SALES

LAURA KLEPACKI

As Easter Sunday approached last week, retailers were completing preparations for what is traditionally the biggest ham holiday of the year.

As late as last Monday and Tuesday, some retailers were still deciding feature prices for ads that broke on Wednesday.

Most retailers contacted by SN last week predicted strong sales for the holiday, but said they were using hams mostly as a lure to get the entire holiday dinner sale.

"Ham is the lead item for Easter and we will feature both bone-in and boneless hams," said Brian Worly, meat buyer for Nash Finch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "But there is not a lot of profit in hams for Easter."

He said the hams would be sold about at cost to "hopefully get the shopper in and get the whole food order."

Duanne McKinney, meat buyer for C&K Markets, Brookings, Ore., said he planned to offer a wide variety of hams this year, including both bone-in and boneless, lower fat hams. But because of competition, he said, he would still be deciding final prices last Tuesday afternoon.

While some retailers said they expect to see more bone-in, commodity-type hams being sold this year as consumers look to go back to basics, others saw an even bigger potential increase in value-added hams. In either case, the focus is on quality, with the cheaper, lower quality, water-added hams expected to account for a smaller percentage of sales.

Joe Leathers, director of merchandising for National Pork Producers Council, Des Moines, Iowa, said there was a "tremendous amount of boneless and spiral-sliced and quality hams sold at Christmas and I think we will see a lot of that again at Easter."

He said he also expects to see more bone-in hams sold, as consumers look for quality products. Overall, he said, "I think people are looking for good taste and value."

Worly of Nash Finch also said that consumers were going for higher quality hams. "I've seen an increase in bone-in ham sales over the last three or four years and a decrease in the boneless." He said while the price per pound for bone-in and boneless hams was roughly the same this season, there is more meat on the boneless products, thus it is a better value.

Ham sales for Jack & Jill, Galva, Ill., were expected to rise this year due to good prices. "We are going with the bone-in hams. People are looking more for the old-fashioned flavor of the bone-in ham," said Keith Dexter, meat buyer.

He said this year he plans to run hams at about 99 cents per pound for bone-in and $1.09 for boneless. "We are getting better deals, so we can pass it on to our customers," he said. Regularly, prices run from $1.89 to $2 for boneless and $1.30 to $1.50 for bone-in.

Terry Kazmier, meat buyer for All American Quality Food Depot, Stockbridge, Ga., which is operated under a "cost plus 10%" format, said that while he expected movement to increase for the holiday, overall sales aren't what they used to be.

"I think a lot more people eat out for Easter," he said.

Retailers also said they would be doing some cross-merchandising for the holiday, including displaying eggs and cheese near hams in the meat department.