THE BIG CHEESE: GOURMENT IS GAINING

CHRIS YTUARTE

Gourmet cheeses have become the prime target for the cheese enthusiast and the everyday shopper alike, retailers and category experts told SN. The once distinct line between discerning gourmand and casual cheese fan is melting faster than fondue. In fact, specialty cheeses are the fastest growing variety in the retail cheese case, according to AC Nielsen research.

"More and more we see that specialty cheeses are becoming the standard, not the exception," said Judy Creighton, co-manager of Creighton's Cheese Fine Foods, San Francisco. "Consumers are really looking for something different every time they come in."

According to USADATA Consultant and Market Research Reports, retail sales of specialty cheese will reach $2.9 billion by 2002, a 36% increase over 1997 sales.

To help people become "less wary" of cheese, Creighton's carries products in all categories, and has over 100 types of cheese on sale every day. With a 30-person cafe-style seating area, the store has two service counters that display many of the products, including a menu of 20 "exotic" specials. Two cheese specialists are on hand each day, and have been extensively trained. Among other duties, they also assist in the store's educational classes. The 22-year-old independent market is the oldest individually-owned cheese shop in San Francisco, and the proprietors pride themselves on their heavy sampling promotions, which can include any cheese in the store.

Creighton's features a cheese of the month, and highlights it with recipe suggestions and a lower price point for that period. However, non-featured cheeses also get thorough coverage with individual signage displaying the names, types, prices and select serving ideas.

The driving force behind specialty cheese's resurgence seems to be coming from an increased desire for variety and unusual flavor, as well as a reflection of customers' life experiences, according to one retailer.

Rob Katona, cheese buyer for Newport Avenue Market, Newport, Ore., said that people's travels give them a taste of something that they want to experience again at home, and noted his store get numerous requests for Italian cheeses in particular, often based on customer's recent foreign vacation memories..

Newport Avenue Market's 1,000-square-foot cheese department has all of its products air-freighted in from importers across the country, since most trucks can't make it into their deeply rural location. Though such importing costs tend to lead to higher shelf prices, Katona hasn't seen it affect purchase rates.

"When shoppers here get a taste for a certain cheese, they come back for more no matter what," said Katona.

His cheese department offers approximately 150 different cheeses at any given time, each labeled in-store using a computer program that allows Katona and his trained staff to personalize each product with various bits of information. Descriptions of the cheese and its origin and type, as well as recommendations for serving, are often put on each label.

The coffin-case display holds a wide selection of pre-packed cheeses while the service counter, staffed by either Katona or two experienced co-workers, offers specialty cheeses by the slice or by the pound. The department staff is often sent to specialty trade shows to keep them up to date on the industry and consumer trends, said Katona.

Newport Avenue Market educates its shoppers on specialty cheeses with weekly tastings, during which the staff might profile how a cheese they are tasting was made, where it comes from and with what it goes well. Occasionally, the market holds in-store cheese-making demonstrations, such as the most recent visit from a professional mozzarella maker, who put his profession on display right on the market floor.

"Customers really like the demonstrations," said Katona. "It showed that this stuff doesn't just appear on shelves, that some effort really goes into this."

Katona added that Newport Avenue Market does plenty of cross-merchandising with its specialty cheeses as well, even having the in-house kitchen produce cheese-infused sausages. It also promotes certain cheeses as excellent additions to salads in the produce department. Heavy cross merchandising is conducted with their extensive wine department, matching regional wines with cheeses of the same area, or creating new mixes among countries.

Spreading the word about their cheese isn't easy in such a rural area, said Katona, but Newport Avenue Market utilizes a weekly ad in the local newspaper to promote its offerings, which four or five times a year touts the cheese department. With the change of each season, the ad suggests different ways in which cheese can accompany meals, whether for picnics in the summer or with wine in the winter, and encourages shoppers to come down and pick up some.

Michel Bray, specialty cheese manager for Price Chopper, Schenectady, N.Y., said that cheese sales in his stores reflect the quality of the product being offered and the employees who sell it, specifically in the specialty section.

The cheese department staff consists of clerks who attend two to three cheese training seminars each year, and are shown training videos before and after joining the team. Cheese reference books are available to them at all times so they can constantly update their knowledge.

Twelve Price Chopper stores are now host to specialty cheese kiosks, located in the newly designed deli sections, which Bray said are set up as "perishable rooms," resembling fresh food markets. Each 12-foot by 8-foot kiosk includes two separate four-deck display cases, and each is manned with a trained staff member.

"The kiosks are a different look, and draw people's attention very effectively," said Bray.

The kiosks attract consumers in other ways too, in that each staffer is strongly encouraged to utilize the store's public address system four or five times a day and announce any cheese specials or promotions that may be going on, he added.

"We literally see people flowing toward the kiosks almost immediately following those announcements, so they are a very effective merchandising tool," said Bray.

Price Chopper also provides plenty of sampling, and always puts a staff member alongside the sample offerings as a "guide" to help the consumer with any questions they may have.

"Un-manned sampling displays just seem to be feeding the consumer rather than educating them or encouraging them," he said.

Bray added that cheese-oriented signage within each department is based on a "chalkboard motif," allowing quick and easy changes to the in-store displays while also providing a very consumer-friendly aesthetic. The chalkboards hang from steel structures in the store's ceiling.

Though the chain's New York locations can not legally sell wine, they do cross-merchandise their specialty cheeses with non-alcoholic wines and ciders, as well as with cheese utensils and a wide variety of crackers. Cooking magazines are often placed in the cheese department as well, as both a cross-merchandising strategy and as a means of educating consumers on cheese and other products, according to Bray.

Key to the success of today's cheese retailers and departments is another consumer trend shift, said experts -- more people are eating cheese alone rather than using it as a meal enhancer, a role it was has predominantly played over the years.

"A lot of people are still using it to top their burger, but cheese has definitely taken a turn toward becoming its own snack," said Carol Christison, executive director of the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association, Madison, Wis. "And most retailers have jumped at marketing it in that way."

Christison added that improvements in cheese marketing have boosted the product's popularity, and that creative packaging and promotions are adding another dimension to the already booming business. Manufacturers are creating more cheese blends, more pre-packaged gift displays, and combination platters that are "party-ready," she said. Retailers also told SN that cheese has become a hot commodity as a dessert lately, in true European style.