Stop & Shop brings wing bars to nearly 200 stores

Ahold Delhaize USA’s Stop & Shop chain is rolling out chicken wing bars to stores across its Northeastern market area.

Stop & Shop said yesterday it began deploying the wing bars at stores this month and plans to add them at 187 locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey through November.

Part of the company’s Taste of Inspirations brand, the wings come in eight flavors and retail for $7.99 per pound. Stop & Shop said the wing hot bars are located in the prepared food section, and the wings are freshly made and fried in-store. The Quincy, Mass.-based retailer noted that the offering comes in time for football season and fall entertaining.

The wing bar, shown here with the

“We know our customers are busy, and our new wing bars offer an easy snack, meal or entertaining solution for tailgates or at-home gatherings,” Mark Messier, executive vice president of merchandising at Stop & Shop, said in a statement. “In testing this concept at a handful of stores, the response has been fantastic. We’re excited to bring these new varieties and flavors to more customers across our footprint.”  

Varieties offered at the bars include breaded mild wings, breaded spicy wings, breaded honey wings, buffalo boneless wings, garlic parmesan wings, barbeque boneless wings, sweet chili boneless wings and pit-boss pork wings. More flavors — such as Kickin’ Bourbon Barbeque, Korean Barbeque and Mango Habanero — will be added seasonally.

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Stop & Shop said it began deploying the wing bars at stores in October and expects the rollout to continue at locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey through November. Hours of operation for the wing bars are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

The introduction of wing bars comes as Stop & Shop proceeds with a five-year capital spending plan — estimated at $1.6 billion to $2 billion — to refresh its 400-plus stores chainwide.

Dubbed “Reimagining Stop & Shop,” the initiative includes a modernized store format and a new logo that reflect a more customer-centric strategy based on convenience, particularly a wider array of fresh, fast, healthy and local food options. That includes more prepared foods — such as stir fry stations, sushi bars, hot bars and meats like brisket and pulled pork smoked in-store — along with in-store cafes offering smoothies, coffee and treats.

Stop & Shop unveiled the first remodels in October 2018 at 21 stores in the Hartford, Conn., area and last month held grand reopenings at 21 upgraded stores in Long Island, N.Y. Plans call for 60 to 80 stores to be upgraded annually under the program.

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