West Point Market Launches Cured Meats Line

AMANDA BALTAZAR

AKRON, Ohio — Store-made cured meats are increasing both the margins and the sales at West Point Market here. The store started making and selling porchetta, a pork roast, in May.

West Point Market in Ohio now makes its own porchetta, and will soon start making its own corned beef and pickles.

It's an Italian staple and is easy to make, said executive chef Tom Loraditch, but it can't be found anywhere in the Akron region. So, the store decided to make its own, instead of buying an imported version from Italy. The margins on this product are around 70%, whereas the former, imported product was so expensive, he said, that the margin was closer to 40%.

“We weren't reaching the margins we wanted to and we weren't moving it fast enough,” explained Loraditch. “And, sometimes it would spoil before we could sell it, so I'd make a loss. Since I've been making my own, we never throw any away — we run out.”

And in fact, the store's sales of porchetta have quadrupled from around 10 pounds per week to close to 40 pounds since the new store-cured line was introduced. West Point's Porchetta retails for $14.99 per pound. The premade version the store used to sell was $16.99.

Customer reaction has been strong. Some consumers don't know what porchetta is, so are given a taste, said Loraditch. But the porchetta has also brought in new customers, eager to try the new meat.

Porchetta is displayed as a whole roast on a platter with garnishes, and is sliced to order. It's typically served hot with a sauce, so this department cross-merchandises bottled sauce on the counter of the deli display case.

West Point Market makes sure customers are aware of the new introduction, with signs on top of the deli cases and a big sign in the in-store cafe. It's also regularly sampled with sauce, and is advertised in the store's email blasts and on its website.

“We believe that once they taste how good it is, they'll have to buy it,” explained Loraditch.

To make porchetta, Loraditch seasons pork belly and rolls it up with pork loin. It is refrigerated for two to three days, then cooked. It's sliced to order, to the thickness the customer wishes.

Loraditch's next plan is to launch the store's own corned beef this month. He anticipates that this new line will also sell around 40 pounds per week. Margins on this are also expected to be around 70% — higher than the 50% he sees with the corned beef he used to bring in. It will also be cheaper for the customers, he points out.

Corned beef is a staple in the Akron/Cleveland area, said Loraditch, but to encourage sales, the store will continue its usual tastings, and will also provide sandwich suggestions on how to use the corned beef.

Corned beef is simple to make, Loraditch said. Brisket soaks in water, salt, sugar, saltpeter and spices and is then cooked off.

If the corned beef takes off, it will be followed by pastrami, early in 2011. This is the only one of the three meats that will require an investment — a small electric smoker because the meat has a 12-hour smoke time. Pastrami could be available as soon as January or February.

And it's not meat, but it's the perfect compliment: West Point Market is introducing its own pickles this month. It will offer new pickles, which spend around two weeks in brine, and full sour pickles, which are brined for about 28 days.

“We'll start out with a dill pickle but we'll add a horseradish pickle and one with a little more garlic and some other flavors as we get going,” said Loraditch. The pickles will be sold by the individual piece, unsliced, in the cheese department.

“We should hit about an 80% margin with those because the small pickling cucumbers are inexpensive, the brine costs hardly anything and it's really simple to put together,” said Loraditch. “We're anticipating it will be a really smart move for us. And they go together so well with the corned beef. We're leaning towards what the better delis in New York, like Katz, are doing.”

“Being able to produce in-store-made products provides a real edge to a retailer like West Point Market,” said Neil Stern, senior partner with retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle, Chicago. “However, you need to have the skill set, volumes and commitment to be able to produce products in-house, which not every retailer can replicate. It's what makes the great independents so good and so hard to copy.”