MDR - Editor's Column

Higher Education

Ensuring shoppers can prepare meat dishes in appetizing manners is becoming an important goal of protein merchandisers.

The more versed consumers are in proper cooking methods, the greater the sales opportunities.

A key challenge is getting wide segments of shoppers—particularly younger consumers who lack basic cooking skills—comfortable in the kitchen.

Among retailers’ tactics are having meat department associates prepped to answer customers’ questions and make meal recommendations, and affixing on-pack cooking labels to proteins.

While neither method is being used by all operators, some analysts say they are two of the most effective ways of educating shoppers.

Survival Strides

Merchandising-savvy supermarket meat and deli operators are in position to register further gains from the restaurant industry’s continuing pain.

More budget-conscious shoppers are eating out less—and many are seeking to replace those meals with prepared and value-added proteins from meat and deli departments.

The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research company, reports that restaurant dinner and lunch revenues were down 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, for the 52 weeks ending Nov. 30, 2009 compared to the year-earlier period.

“Restaurants are in a survival mode,” says Nancy Kruse, president of The Kruse Co., an Atlanta-based food industry consulting firm. “They are losing business to supermarkets.”

To help slow the exodus, foodservice operators are rolling out new recipes and meal concepts, many of which are centering on burgers, which Kruse says is the fastest growing segment in the restaurant industry.

Remembering Al Kober

There is a large void in the meat-merchandising sector with the death in April of Alfred S. “Al” Kober at age 72.

Al for the past eight years was director of retail for Wooster, Ohio-based Certified Angus Beef. He joined the organization after spending 50 years with Kulpsville, Pa.-based Clemens Markets Inc., where he moved up the ranks to become Clemens’ meat director.

I would routinely interview Al for Meat & Deli Retailer stories and also saw him speak at the Annual Meat Conference. I marveled at his enthusiasm and knowledge.

At last year’s Meat Conference, an audience member commented near the end of Al’s session that it was the finest presentation he heard at the show. Others agreed.

John Stika, Certified Angus Beef president, says Al was the consummate trainer and teacher.

“He enabled us to understand the practical world of protein retailing,” Stika notes. “I’m not sure where we would be today without Al. He helped us advance our knowledge base and credibility as a program and to understand the challenges that retailers face.”

A Fine Price

The sluggish economy is keeping price the preeminent food purchasing criteria for many consumers.

A study by New York-based The Nielsen Co., for instance, found that 78 percent of shoppers look at unit prices to compare products on most or some trips to the supermarket.

The September Nielsen online Homescan survey of 58,000 U.S. households also revealed that 72 percent of respondents access store circulars on most or some trips, and 67 percent use coupons on most or some shopping excursions.

As our cover story on Wegmans Food Markets Inc. illustrates, more retailers are maneuvering to attract those budget-conscious customers. Wegmans is heavily merchandising meat value packs and prepared food meal deals.

Such deals are important as they enable supermarkets to better compete with other grocery outlets and quick service restaurants for consumers seeking convenient and economical meals, notes Sherry Frey, vice president of The Perishables Group, a Chicago-based marketing and consulting firm that focuses on the fresh sectors.

A New Age

It might be the granddaddy of U.S. supermarket operators, but The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. is anything but complacent.

The retailer, whose roots can be traced to a single store-warehouse that opened in New York City in 1859, has undergone a plethora of expansions and contractions since that time.

While A&P was once operating more than 15,000 outlets and had a presence in 37 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, its 435 units today are confined to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Yet, while it is smaller in scope, the company still is a major meat and deli trendsetter.

As noted in the cover story on page 24, A&P, Meat & Deli Retailer’s 2009 Retailer of the Year, is upgrading its fresh departments and giving the strongest merchandising emphasis to perishables.

Valuing Value

Value is become an increasingly important motivator for meat and deli shoppers.

Many cost-conscious consumers seeking to slash their food spending are zeroing in on higher-priced proteins and prepared foods for their cutbacks.

Indeed, in its recently released The New Value Shopper report, the Madison, Wis.-based International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) notes that consumers are switching away from expensive cuts of meat “en masse.”

The Foodservice Shuffle

The evolution of supermarket delis into destinations for hot and cold prepared meals is putting added pressure on foodservice operators.

About 15 percent of consumers list supermarkets as their primary source for foods that are consumed, but not prepared, at home, the Washington, D.C.-based Food Marketing Institute notes in its U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2009 report. The data is from an on-line survey of 2,040 shoppers.

The Search For Savings

The change in shopper purchasing patterns in response to the economy goes beyond their in-store behavior.

Seeking the best deals in meat and poultry, the majority of consumers are turning to traditional supermarkets and big box stores for their proteins.

Meeting The Challenge

Marcia Schurer is urging retailers to make their meat and deli departments bastions of healthy eating.

Schurer, president of Culinary Connections, a Chicago-based food consulting company and author of a new book, FitDelicious, says that despite the well-publicized health hazards, a large majority of perishables still are high in sodium, fat, sugar and calories.

Way Of The Wise

With the opening over the last 17 months of its first three GreenWise Market stores, Publix Super Markets Inc. has become one of the most prominent food retailers to target the expanding base of shoppers who are focusing on wellness and the environment.

Stuck On Store Brands

The recent launch of Supervalu Inc.’s Culinary Circle line of store-branded items is just the latest incursion of private label into supermarket meat and deli departments.

In Tune With The Times

Keeping pace with evolving consumer interests and lifestyles is a key element in a merchandiser’s drive to remain relevant. And few perishables marketers are as prominent in that quest than Giant Eagle Inc., Meat & Deli Retailer’s 2008 Retailer of the Year.

Opportunity Knocks

The economically challenged retail environment is making the competition for foodservice customers increasingly cutthroat. Yet it also is creating powerful revenue opportunities for deli operators—provided the merchandisers respond to changing consumer dining patterns with a potent and targeted product mix.