WEGMANS MARKETS AND DEL MONTE HAVE 'CAND DO' ATTITUDE

MARYELLEN LO BOSCO

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Wegmans Food Markets here has embraced Del Monte's "Can Do" campaign as one more way to create meal solutions in Center Store.

Del Monte Foods, headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., expanded its Can Do promotional program this September to encompass all its vegetable lines -- core, specialty and buffet. Currently the program has 28 recipes that use the company's vegetable and tomato products to create a complete meal, said Dave Austin, senior product manager for Del Monte.

Wegmans is one of the first retail chains to collaborate with Del Monte on the Can Do promotion. In September, when Del Monte dropped its national freestanding insert advertising products and recipes, the chain ran four-hour demonstrations in all 55 Wegmans units in New York and Pennsylvania, over a three-day period, according to Mike Hegarty, business development manager for Pezrow Upstate New York, Buffalo Market, N.Y.

This year, Del Monte expanded the Can Do program in a number of ways, Austin explained. First, the chain's entire vegetable line, not just specialty products, is now used to create recipes. Second, Del Monte will provide interested retailers with ad slicks that they can incorporate into in-store circulars. In the area where a coupon would normally appear, the retailer can write the price of the items at his or her store and the total cost of the meal, Austin explained. The vendor is also offering point-of-sale materials and tear-pads with recipes.

As always, the Can Do ad that appeared in the national FSI included coupons for featured items and four recipes, Austin said. The ad runs four or five times a year, and the program is now in its second year.

Wegmans used the Pesto Primavera recipe in its weekly flyer during the September promotion. Displays of product, including Del Monte tomatoes and vegetables and Barilla pasta, were put on endcaps at the front of the store or near the meat department, since many recipes called for beef or chicken, Hegarty said.

Demonstration stations were set up near product displays. In addition to handing out recipe cards for the featured recipe, the chain also distributed to customers additional recipes in the Can Do line.

"The numbers were fantastic for September," Hegarty told SN. "There was a tremendous lift, and we have every intention of continuing." Wegmans will probably run another demonstration and promotion at store level in January, Hegarty said, and he is currently talking with Tops Friendly Markets, Williamsville, N.Y., about doing a similar promotion there at the beginning of the year.

Wegmans declined to comment on the Can Do promotion, although Alex Weatherall, grocery merchant for the chain, told SN, "We have partnered successfully with Del Monte to present canned vegetables as a meal solution."

Austin explained that the Can Do program is a response to consumers who need simple dinner ideas.

"We know people are looking for a simple way to make meals in a short period of time, and retailers are looking for things to get people back into the center of the store," he explained. "The profile of the recipe is that it has three steps with no more than five items, and it can be prepared in 20 to 25 minutes."

He went on to say that the Del Monte combinations create easy, nutritious and wholesome meals for consumers. Other chains that have had some level of participation in the Can Do promotion include Giant Eagle, Dominick's, Farmer Jack and Super Fresh Supermarkets.