JUST DESSERTS

ROSEANNE HARPER

WOODBURY, Minn. -- Kowalski's Markets is looking to get a bigger slice of the market with new, fancy desserts that have been whipping up impressive sales at its newest store.

The upscale, made-from-scratch pastries are doing so well that the company has begun to ship them out to two of its other stores, and has added a second pastry chef to keep up with demand, officials said.

Hiring a pastry chef in the first place has been the key to the success story, said Bob Kowalski, director of marketing and public relations for the five-unit, St. Paul-based independent.

Given pretty much free rein with her creativity, pastry chef Ann Walker has come up with some big sellers, and Kowalski sees the company's decision to go all out with fancy pastries and desserts as particularly timely.

"We'd had customers asking for upscale desserts. There's a big demand for these kinds of pastries -- the tortes, the tarts, the great cakes she produces. [Walker's] whole line has been selling very, very well," he said.

For several months prior to the opening of the 58,000-square-foot store here last fall, Kowalski's had partnered with an outside company to supplement its own ISBs' offerings with upscale desserts and fancy cakes. The retailer's own central bakery primarily turns out breads, rolls, and traditional pies and cakes.

While some retailers are upscaling their ISBs to fill a void in neighborhoods that are lacking good, stand-alone bakeries, that's not the case with Kowalski's.

"There are lot of very successful specialty/bakery shops in the area, and that's what gave us the idea. When we saw how much business they're doing, we decided we wanted to capture some of that business for ourselves," Kowalski said.

He stressed that the first step in getting that business was finding a good, experienced pastry chef. Walker has an extensive food-service background.

"We got a talented person. That was the key. We had quite a few interviews until we found the right one," Kowalski said.

The bakery at the new store, with open production, a staff of experts and a service pastry case that runs 20 feet, represents an important stage in the bakery department's evolution, he added.

"When we built the new store, we said 'let's make sure we can do a good job of upscale desserts here,"' Kowalski said.

It was the ideal location for the new line's debut because the store sits in the middle of a tony residential area that's also home to the headquarters' offices of several national corporations.

"People in these high-end areas do a lot of entertaining, and they want to have something a little fancy for dessert when there's something special going on, like when they're having guests coming from out of town," Kowalski said.

The fancy pastry line is made up almost entirely of recipes Walker brought with her to Kowalski's from the years she spent in the restaurant industry.

Custard tarts and tartlets, made with homemade, from-scratch custard, top the best-seller list, but a close second is an all-chocolate cake with chocolate roses on it.

During the heat of summer, the hands-down favorite was a 9-inch fruit tart on a shortdough crust, said Russ Tourville, bakery manager at the store. It's topped with strawberries, kiwi slices, blueberries and raspberries, and finished with a misting of apricot glaze. The retail: $16.99.

The fruit tart's light, summery look has helped keep bakery sales on an even keel in hot weather, and the pricing makes it move, Tourville said.

"We decided to charge a little less. To help keep the price low, we don't put as much fruit on it as other people might, but it's enough [to give it the right look and taste]. And people seem to be comfortable paying $16.99 for it. We want that to become one of our signature products."

Just in the last couple of months, the bakery has begun to turn out a 3-inch, single-serve version of the tart, with a retail price of $2.49, that's getting popular, Tourville said.

Seasonal items figure prominently in the overall strategy.

"They love our rhubarb-custard torte. That's one of my favorites, too. It reminds me of a wonderful, rhubarb custard pie my grandmother used to make," Walker said, noting that the rhubarb torte probably sparks childhood memories in other people, too.

"Rhubarb season will soon be over, but as peach season comes in, I think we'll do something pecan-peach," Walker said earlier this year, when SN interviewed her.

One of the more recent addition to the pastry menu is a lemon tart on a shortdough crust with a mint leaf and a bit of white chocolate as decoration.

"I personally love that one. It adds another color to the case, but it's been a little slow-moving. People sometimes think they don't like lemon," Walker said, pointing out that the new tart is a timely candidate for sampling.

Indeed, Tourville said he'd probably put the lemon tart on special in the next few weeks and do some demos so people can see that it tastes as good as it looks.

"I encourage both our pastry chefs to be creative and let me worry about how to market the products," Tourville said.

The pastry lineup is spotlighted in a European-style case that's low-profile, making the work area behind it very visible to customers. Associates' interaction with customers is a top priority here.

"I think it's very important that the pastry chefs be here at this location so people can see them working, and can ask questions. I spend time on the sales floor, and they do, too. I can tell the difference in sales when we're out there talking to customers," Tourville added.

And Walker explained that she often gets ideas from customers and always welcomes their suggestions.

"We listen to them. They told us we needed pistachios on our cannoli to make them authentic so we did it, and they wanted flowers on the petit fours, and we said, sure, we can do that."

When sales kept climbing beyond projections, Kowalski's entertained the idea of having its central bakery turn out some of the fancy pastries, but decided against it. One of the reasons was that it would take one or both pastry chefs out of the store for some of the time. Now the idea in the works is this: The central facility could in the future produce sponge cake and custard and maybe shortdough and send it over to the store here where the pastry chefs would do the rest of the work.

At a time when some supermarkets began closing their bakeries, Kowalski's has renewed its commitment to that department, Bob Kowalski pointed out.

In fact, the company bought a production bakery seven years ago because it wasn't satisfied with the quality of rolls and bread that were available from suppliers. Then, two years ago, it moved that operation to a new, upgraded facility.

Kowalski said excellent perishables departments and service are the strong points that keep Kowalski's Markets doing just fine even as corporate giants like Wal-Mart and Super Target move into the family-owned retailer's territory.

"People love freshness and the bakery provides a terrific marketing opportunity as part of the entire store," he said.