BOOGAARTS 'HOG WILD' EVENT FATTENS FRESH PORK VOLUME

LAURA KLEPACKI

CONCORDIA, Kan. -- Boogaarts Food Stores here boosted fresh pork sales some 25% during a one-week promotion last month that encouraged shoppers to go "pork crazy."

About 80% of the stores' fresh pork items were included in the "Go Hog Wild Sale," which was announced in newspaper ads and via banners strung across the front of the stores and above the meat cases, according to Don Parker, director of meat operations for the 22-unit chain.

The lead feature item was a boneless Wilson Corn King brand ham at 99 cents per pound, for a savings of $1.60 per pound, according to an ad. Prices on all other pork items were lowered an average of 25%, said Parker.

Parker said the depression of pork prices in recent months due to record production was not the driving force behind the sale.

"We try to do this [sale] at least once a year, and it always goes over well for us. It is a way for us to stimulate growth in our meat cases. In Kansas, everybody thinks beef," said Parker. "And we wanted to get people to start thinking pork."

Two items the company does not usually carry did exceptionally well, he said. Boneless sirloin chops, priced at $1.99 a pound, and boneless pork loin in a bag, priced at $1.79 a pound, sold out completely. Said Parker, "We had to give out rain checks."

Other successful items included a 10-pound package of pork steak for $10.90, and country-style pork ribs for $1.29 a pound.

Space allocated for fresh pork items was nearly doubled in the stores' meat cases, which range in size from 32 to 56 feet. Typically, fresh pork gets an 8- to 10-foot section. For the sale, it was expanded to between 16 and 18 feet, said Parker.

To make the room "we cut back on the beef, and the heat-and-eat items, and also some of the poultry," he said.

Despite the success of the pork sale, however, Parker insisted that, generally speaking, price is not the most important factor driving meat sales in today's marketplace.

"Now it takes an educator to increase meat sales. You need to have somebody who stands in front of the case to tell [shoppers] how to prepare it."