THE MEAL SHOW

David Merrefield

Quite a big batch of folks concerned with the burgeoning meal side of supermarket retailing were in Tampa last week to learn all they could at the Food Marketing Institute's MealSolutions '98 show.

As always, the MealSolutions show was a big event both in terms of the number of workshop sessions and the exhibit floor. That makes it difficult to figure out just what its underlying theme was, but for my money it was that supermarkets have everything in the store to prepare menu items. And doing so -- offering prepared items -- gives consumers what they really want: The convenience of prepared food and the attenuation of ingredient shopping and preparation.

Obviously, that's a solution that's easier stated than achieved. Numerous workshops at the convention pointed out that menu preparation must be done with the kinds of dishes customers have in mind, but that they must also be prepared efficiently and safely. Workshop presenters also emphasized that menu offerings must be well merchandised, attractively (and theatrically) displayed and perhaps boosted by the image of a brand. And maybe -- if all that goes well -- this will add up to profitability.

As has been pointed out from time to time in these pages, profitability is the underlying challenge that looms before supermarket retailers considering the meal approach. Actually, even measuring costs and calculating profitability, or its absence, is a formidable task.

And, concerning profitability, studies have been presented at various forums throughout this year, including last week's MealSolutions show, which suggest that meal profitability may elude supermarket operators because they tend to think like supermarket operators, not restaurant operators. Naturally that's true. What that means is that supermarket operators tend to see menu items as vertical components to be sold or discarded at day's end. Restaurant operators tend to see menu items as horizontal components to be sold, or used in another configuration elsewhere in the menu offering. This means that supermarkets experience high rates of shrink, restaurants don't. The shrink factor alone may spell the difference between profit and loss.

In a bid to help point supermarkets toward both profitability, SN interviewed a number of well-known restaurateurs to see what could be learned. Results appeared in last week's SN. Here's a summary of just a few of their observations, many of which echoed at last week's show:

Supermarkets must bring full-fledged chefs into the store to conduct training and to ensure that restaurant-quality meals are being offered to supermarket shoppers; they will accept nothing less. This is extra difficult for supermarkets since they appeal to a wide variety of shoppers while restaurants can offer highly targeted menu offerings. Supermarkets must enter wholeheartedly into the food-service business if they are going to do it at all.

Supermarkets must understand the importance of "bundling." It isn't enough to sell a menu item alone. Soda and other high-margin items must be readily available to the meal shopper in order to increase the ring and move it toward profitability. Profitability is obtained by selling menus, not items.