Brand Extension: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces 'eatwell' Fresh Meat Lines

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has extended its eatwell healthy foods' private brand into the fresh meat category, with the launch of a new line of Chicken Sausages and two value-added meat lines - eatwell Chicken Bake and eatwell Chicken Stir Fry (pictured above and below) - into its 182  fresh food and grocery stores in California, Nevada and Arizona.

The eatwell Chicken Sausages line, which hit some Fresh & Easy stores last week and others this week, based on our regular store visits and conversations with store workers, includes varieties like the Mild Italian and Apple Cinnamon varieties pictured below.

The Chicken Bake items, which include a tray for cooking in the oven, and the eatwell Stir-Fry SKUs come in varieties like the Roasted Red Pepper, Chipotle and Mango and Cajun-Style, pictured at top.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is currently featuring the eatwell sausages at a 2-for-$7 (16oz pkg.) introductory price. The Chicken Bake and Stir-Fry items, both of which as also 16oz, are being offered at a 2-for-$10 introductory price in the stores.

The extension of the eatwell private brand - Fresh & Easy uses F&E as a co-brand on the items - into the meat and value-added meat categories is part of a major expansion of the brand, which the El Segundo, California based grocery chain began in December 2011.

In January of this year Tesco's Fresh & Easy began launching numerous new eatwell items in the brand's existing categories - fresh-prepared foods/refrigerated, dry grocery and frozen foods. That launch, which includes about 60 new items, continues this month.

In the summer of 2010 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market extended its eatwell private brand into the dry grocery category, as we reported in this story -  August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category. Prior to that the brand was only used for fresh-prepared foods.

Up until late last year the grocery chain offered just a few eatwell items in the dry grocery category, such as canned chili and snack crackers.

But beginning in December 2011 and continuing through the present, Fresh & Easy has been launching numerous eatwell dry grocery items, such as: boxed breakfast cereals, instant oatmeal, whole grain and vegetable pasta SKUs, pasta and grill sauces, boxed meal kits (like Macaroni & Cheeseburger; just add meat and prepare), chocolate chip fiber snack bars and some others.

Fresh & Easy also introduced refrigerated tortillas under the eatwell brand in January, a line of frozen dairy desserts, bagged Italian salad kits (produce), a line of refrigerated heat-and-eat soups similar to those if offers under its Fresh & Easy brand, and numerous new fresh-prepared meal items.

The grocery chain also promoted its eatwell healthy foods' brand in January (see the instant oatmeal and cereal endcap display below, for example), offering numerous items at sale prices in its weekly advertising circulars and via its "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail flyer, which it now combines with its "Friends" loyalty/rewards card.

For example, for about three weeks last month Fresh & Easy promoted its eatwell frozen meals, which as we reported here the grocer introduced in September 2010, a month after it extended the healthy foods' private brand into the dry grocery category in August 2010, in its stores, as well as featuring them in the two promotional media vehicles noted above.

As you can see in the photos below, which were taken at a store in Northern California on January 7, 2012 by Fresh & Easy Buzz's senior correspondent, Tesco's Fresh & Easy gave its eatwell brand frozen meals multiple facings and plenty of freezer case space during the January 2012 promotion.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market introduced its eatwell healthy foods' brand in April, 2010, a story we broke here - April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line; and followed up on with this piece the next day - April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy announced the launch of the eatwell brand not long after the publication of our April 1, 2010 story.

By extending its eatwell brand into the meat and value-added meat, the healthy foods private brand is now represented across all consumable food categories at Tesco's Fresh & Easy - dry grocery, frozen foods, perishables- refrigerated, produce, fresh-prepared foods and meat, which is something we reported over a year ago that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would do.

Take a look at this piece we published in February 2011: Getting There First...Plus, Are Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Safeway Traveling Down A Similar Private Brand Aisle?

Also see these additional stories about Fresh & Easy's eatwell brand:

January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011

 January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program

January 20, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

May 18, 2009: Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy

April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

[Editor's Note: All photographs credit Fresh & Easy Buzz. The eatwell Sausages, Chicken Bake and Stir-Fry photos were taken February 12, 2012. The eatwell grocery endcap display photogrpahs was taken January 9, 2012, The eatwell frozen meal photos were taken January 7, 2012.]

Tesco Celebrates the Holidays With Mince Pie Ice Cream in the UK and Pumpkin Spice at Fresh & Easy in America

Private Brand Showcase

A slice of pie, often with a scoop or more of ice cream on the side à la Mode style, is a post-Christmas dinner dessert tradition throughout much of the world, particularly in Europe and America.

For example, no proper British family would be caught dead without having a mince pie on the cupboard for dessert on Christmas Day.

By the same token, most American families include pumpkin pie as part of their holiday dessert offerings, often along with apple pie, and in some cases even mince.

As any kitchen anthropologist knows, when it comes to pie à la Mode, there are two types of eaters: the ones who like just a bit of ice cream to go along with a healthy slice of pie; and those ice cream lovers who prefer just a smidgen of pie to go along with their ice cream.

Those in the latter camp can rejoice this holiday season - at least if you live in the United Kingdom, California, Nevada or Arizona.

Why: Because Tesco in the United Kingdom and its sibling in America, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which has 184 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, are celebrating the holiday mince and pumpkin pie traditions in each respective country with special seasonal ice cream flavors.

Just in time for Christmas, Tesco has come out with mince pie ice cream under its Tesco Finest premium private brand, which it's offering in most of its 2,700-plus stores in the United Kingdom.

The ice cream is the second seasonal Tesco Finest brand product it's come out with a mince pie theme and taste. The other one is noted and pictured in this December 4, 2011 story: 'Merry Crispmas' ... From Tesco.

The Tesco Finest Mince Pie Ice Cream includes mincemeat made with French brandy and ruby port wine and bits of buttery pastry (the crust). There's also citrus and loads of spices, including cloves and cinnamon.

The limited edition ice cream, which is designed to stand alone rather than merely share a plate with mince pie, although mince pie lovers might find themselves "double-dipping" in a like-for-like à la Mode fashion.

Fresh & Easy, which is owned by Tesco, is offering its own frozen version of pumpkin pie, with its limited edition fresh&easy brand Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream, pictured above.

The ice cream, which retails for $3.99 (1.25 quarts) is spiced with nutmeg, ginger and cloves, similar to how a traditional pumpkin pie is.

Like the Tesco Finest Mince Pie Ice Cream, Fresh & Easy's Pumpkin pie version is also designed to stand alone, although we see numerous à la Mode opportunities. A scoop or two sharing the same plate as a white or vanilla cake might make for a nice taste contrast, for example. Sort of turning the pie (or cake) à la Mode tradition on its head, so to speak.

Mince pie used to be a much more popular Christmas holiday dessert item than it is today in the United States. It remains so for Americans of a certain age but ask most Americans under about age 60 if they would like mince pie for dessert come Sunday and, with some exceptions (British expats for one), the answer will be no thanks.

Pumpkin pie remains a holiday favorite in America though, its popularity usually knowing no age boundaries. For example, here at Fresh & Easy Buzz we know numerous kids as young as 6-years-old and on up who love the spicy custard pies, and not just for the holidays.

But ice cream could be another matter. For example, we've searched pretty comprehensively and haven't found a mince pie ice cream in the United States, perhaps for the reason described above regarding the overall popularity of mince pie in America.

But perhaps those mince pie adverse younger folks might like the pie's flavors offered in ice cream form?

As such, perhaps Fresh & Easy's product developers should consider giving a fresh&easy brand mince pie ice cream a go next holiday season. The recipe is in the family, after all.

And even if younger consumers don't take to it, there's definitely a age 60-plus (which happens to be the fastest growing population cohort in the United States) or so group of people out there in California, Nevada and Arizona that would likely give it a try.

[Photo Credit #1: fresh&easy Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream = Fresh & Easy Buzz.]
[Photo Credit #2: Tesco Finest Mince Pie Ice Cream = @Cinabar, via Twitter.]

Recent Private Brand Showcase Stories

December 5, 2011: The Tesco Christmas Dinner Pizza - A Festive Feast Without the Fork

December 4, 2011: 'Merry Crispmas' ... From Tesco 

December 1, 2011: Master Chocolate-Maker Tells the Story Behind Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Holiday Confections

November 14, 2011: Safeway Puts its Brand on Ice in San Francisco For the Holidays

November 13, 2011: Trader Joe's Introduces 'Wasabi Arugula' ... Minus the Wasabi

November 9, 2011: Glatt to Meet You Paisan - Kosher 'Meats' Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets

Readers: Click here to read all past stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature.

The Tesco Christmas Dinner Pizza - A Festive Feast Without the Fork

Private Brand Showcase

United Kingdom-based Tesco, which owns 184-store El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, is having trolley carts full of fun in Britain this year developing and merchandising limited edition private brand food products for the Christmas holiday season.

For example, yesterday (read here) we wrote about Tesco's limited edition Tesco Finest brand "Crispmas Dinner" collection, a line (range in British industry terminology) of Christmas dinner-inspired crisps (potato chips) in flavors like mince pie and roasted turkey with stuffing, which it's now offering for sale in its stores in the UK, for the Christmas and New Years' the holiday season.

But saying "Merry Crispmas" to shoppers with its "Crispmas Dinner" snack crisp collection is merely the tip of the festive feast-inspired iceberg of creativity coming from Tesco's private brand product developers.

Enter Tesco's first-ever Tesco private brand Christmas dinner pizza (pictured at top and below), which the retailer is introducing in its stores in the UK this week.

The chilled, ready-to-heat pizza, which is a carnivore's delight, features a turkey, sage and onion stuffing, and is piled high with sausage, smoked bacon and mozzarella cheese.

Here's how chilled foods range product developer Louise Sampson, the proud parent of the turkey and pork-packed Christmas dinner pizza, describes the Tesco holiday creation:  "We set out to create a pizza for all those people who simply can’t wait until Christmas Day for the festive feast and wanted a sneak taste beforehand. We have created a pizza worthy of the big occasion with a stone-baked thin base which allows the toppings to take centre stage."

The timing of the Christmas dinner pizza could be spot on for Tesco.

Why? Because pizza has recently become the most-popular prepared foods item (chilled and frozen) sold in UK supermarkets.

For example, in 2010 British consumers bought a total of 466 million pizzas from UK stores, as compared to a mere 156 million curries, according to data compiled in August of this year by Kantar Worldwide's UK office.

Tesco has been taking advantage of the booming pizza market in the UK - its corporate spokesperson says over the last 18 months its been overhauling, upgrading and developing new pizza varieties, and now offers 119 different refrigerated and frozen pizza varieties in its stores there.

Tesco is the leading food, grocery and general merchandise retailer in the UK.

It has an about 30% market share, according to research firm Kantar Worldwide, which is nearly as much as the number two and three chains, Walmart-owned ASDA and Sainsbury's, have combined, which is about 36%. Number four supermarket chain Morrisons has about 13% .

Together the four supermarket chains are refereed to in the UK as the "Big Four," largely because together they account for nearly 80% of all the food and groceries sold in the nation.

The Tesco Christmas dinner pizza not only is a creative seasonal item for Tesco, it also allows for plenty of food product fun and buzz creation. We're writing about it after all.

The idea of taking the makings a traditional Christmas dinner and putting it on a pizza might seem odd at first. However, with the exception of the turkey and stuffing, the other items - turkey, ham, bacon, onions and cheese - are pizza-topping mainstays. In the case of turkey, we're surprised it isn't used more often than is it as a pizza-topping, particularly since roasted chicken has become a popular choice for more upscale pizza offerings.

In our analysis and opinion, Tesco's Christmas dinner pizza could serve two classes of consumer, those, like Louse Sampson opined about, who want an early taste of what will be their traditional Christmas dinner to come in a few weeks, and those who, not wanting to go to all the work of shopping for and preparing a traditional Christmas dinner for Christmas Day, instead buy a few Tesco Christmas dinner pizza's along with their favorite beverages and keep it simple, enjoying a festive feast without all the hassle - and without the fork.

Suggestion: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain should jump on the Christmas dinner pizza bandwagon and whip up a limited edition version of its own at its kitchen facility in Riverside County, California.

Why? No U.S. grocery chain offers such an item, for one. But even more so, it would be a fun and attention-getting creation (and in our estimation perhaps even a good seller) - the Fresh & Easy Christmas dinner pizza - for the grocer this Christmas and New Years' holiday season.

The clock is ticking. But there's still time if the Fresh & Easy fresh-prepared foods' product development team obtains the recipe from the mother ship in the UK this week and gets producing, post-haste.

Photo credit: SMS, exclusive to Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Recent Private Brand Showcase stories

December 4, 2011: 'Merry Crispmas' ... From Tesco 

December 1, 2011: Master Chocolate-Maker Tells the Story Behind Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Holiday Confections

November 14, 2011: Safeway Puts its Brand on Ice in San Francisco For the Holidays

November 13, 2011: Trader Joe's Introduces 'Wasabi Arugula' ... Minus the Wasabi

November 9, 2011: Glatt to Meet You Paisan - Kosher 'Meats' Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets

October 28, 2011: October 28, 2011: Move Over Chipotle - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces its Own Brand of Burrito Bowls

Readers: Click here to read all past stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature.

'Merry Crispmas' ... From Tesco

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco is wishing shoppers in the United Kingdom a "Merry Crispmas."

The UK-based global retailer has taken some of the most iconic foods and desserts associated with Christmas dinner - mince pie, turkey, stuffing and cranberries - and used them as the flavor inspirations for its Tesco Finest private brand "Crispmas Dinner" collection, which is a limited edition line (range in British terminology) of sweet and savory crisps (potato chips to uninitiated Americans) that it's introducing in its stores in Britain for Christmas and New Years.

The "Crispmas Dinner" collection includes mince pie flavored crisps, which Tesco is billing as the "first ever" sweet crisp in Britain. The hand-cooked mince pie crisps are seasoned with dried fruit, spices and buttery pastry, according to Chris Gee, the crisps' buyer at Tesco in the UK.

In addition to the mince pie flavored snack chips, the Tesco Finest brand crisps also come in three other varieties: roast turkey with stuffing and onion gravy, spiced gammon, and Wensleydale and cranberry cheese flavor.

Gammon is pork, as in Christmas dinner ham. Specifically, the meat comes from the hind-leg of the pig, which differentiates it from bacon. Wensleydale is an aged cheese produced locally in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England.

Tesco Finest is the United Kingdom-based global retailer's premium food brand, which is uses on fresh foods, perishables, frozen foods and grocery products.

Tesco, which owns 184-store Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market in the U.S. (California, Nevada and Arizona), is the UK's leading food and grocery retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world, after number one Walmart Stores, Inc. and Carrefour of France. The UK, where it has 3,000-plus stores, accounts for about 70% of Tesco's overall global sales. It has operations in 14 countries.

The Christmas dinner-inspired crisps also have multiple local angles, in addition to the use of Wensleydale cheese, according to Tesco. For example, the snack chips, which are produced in Devon UK, are all made from Hermes variety potatoes, which are grown in Cornwall and Hamshire in the United Kingdom.

"These limited edition crisps have been launched with the party season in mind – we think people will be able to have a lot of fun with them," says snack buyer Gee. "We’ve worked with top crisp-making experts to make sure they taste as special as you'd expect of the grandest meal of the year.

Flavored (including exotic flavors) potato, vegetable and other types of chips and crisps are currently very popular in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere throughout the world.

For example, the Terra Chips brand, which features numerous flavors and varieties of potato and vegetable chips, is extremely popular in the U.S. Some of the more exotic chip flavored we've spotted in stores throughout the world include: shrimp, Marmite, horseradish, pickled onion and many others.

Last year, Tesco's El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain introduced its own semi-exotic crisp variety, Crunchy Plantain Crisps, which we wrote about here - October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item.

This exotic flavor growth-trend in the snack chip or crisp category, combined with the fact that in the case of mince pie, which we're told is thus far the top-seller in the Tesco Finest limited edition crisps' range, is about as British as mum and, well ... mince pie when it comes to Christmas, leads us to the reasoned conclusion that Tesco has hit a home run with its "Crispmas Dinner" collection.

The holiday season crisps are creative (the concept, flavors and positioning), fun (allow for plenty of word play) and in the best spirit of branding tell a story - that story being the taking of some of the most iconic foods of Christmas and using them as the flavor inspirations for a popular snack item - crisps - giving them a holiday season flavor and marketing spin.

And the tag-line potential isn't bad either - "Merry Crispmas."

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December 1, 2011: Master Chocolate-Maker Tells the Story Behind Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Holiday Confections

November 14, 2011: Safeway Puts its Brand on Ice in San Francisco For the Holidays

November 13, 2011: Trader Joe's Introduces 'Wasabi Arugula' ... Minus the Wasabi

November 9, 2011: Glatt to Meet You Paisan - Kosher 'Meats' Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets

October 28, 2011: Move Over Chipotle - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces its Own Brand of Burrito Bowls

Readers: Click here to read all past stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature.

Master Chocolate-Maker Tells the Story Behind Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Holiday Confections

Fresno, California-based master chocolate-maker Guy Debbas tells the story behind some of Fresh & Easy's private brand holiday chocolate items in the two-minute video above.

Turkey and Technology -- Grocers, new technologies and holiday promotions

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has combined the age-old tradition of storytelling with digital-video technology (YouTube in this case) to offer shoppers a two-minute look behind the company that's crafting some of its fresh&easy private brand holiday confections.

The video features master chocolate-maker Guy Debbas, who owns artisan chocolate-maker Go Pure Foods in Fresno, California, telling his story, and the story behind how he makes a variety of confectionery products for Fresh & Easy.

In the video, Debbas steps away from his chocolate factory in Fresno after offering a quick tour of the facility and takes a trip to one of Fresh & Easy's seven stores in the Fresno area, where he talks to some of the store's customers about the sweet treats he crafts for the 184-store fresh food and grocery chain, along with offering the shoppers a free taste or two on his dime.

Consumers are increasingly interested in where the food they eat comes from, regardless of the product's brand.

Is it locally-grown or produced? Is it imported from another county? If so, where? In the case of chocolates and coffee particularly, is it Fair Trade? Is it Organic? If not, are a lot of pesticides used in its production?

These are just a few of the numerous questions consumers are asking about the food products, including store brands, grocers are offering for sale.

When it comes to a food and grocery retailer's own-brand products, telling shoppers where the products and the ingredients used to make them come from and how they're produced can be even more important and significant since the names of the companies that produce grocers' private label brand products are generally treated as top-secret information, largely for competitive reasons by the retailers.

For example, Do you know the names of the numerous food companies who make your favorite Trader Joe's branded products? How about just the names of the producers of your two favorite TJ's branded items?

What about knowing the name of the company that produces Safeway Store's O' Organics organic olive oil and the scores of other products under the brand? Do you know? You most-probably don't. It's nearly top-secret. It's also not easy to find out from Safeway.

And, do you know the names of the food companies behind the many other fresh&easy private brand food and grocery products, other than those FResh & Easy Neighborhood Market has in the past highlighted in a similar storytelling way for marketing purposes?

Do you care if some are huge global food companies? Would it please you to know that many are entrepreneurial companies, like Fresno-based confection-maker Go Pure Foods?

Questions, questions.

Today consumers are demanding much more transparency from food retailers when it comes to their own brands. And smart retailers are using this to their advantage, telling the stories behind some of their private brand products, like Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is doing with its holiday confectionery items.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to retailers, used well of course.

Video technology like YouTube provides retailers with an inexpensive way to tell those stories and potentially reach a whole lot of customers and potential customers, as the two minute video featuring chocolate-maker Guy Debbas telling the story behind some of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's private brand holiday chocolates demonstrates.

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Safeway Puts its Brand on Ice in San Francisco For the Holidays

Branding on ice: The Safeway logo covers the middle of the ice rink above.


Private Brand Showcase

Pleasanton, California-based Safeway Stores, Inc. is extending its brand to an outdoor venue that defines fun, excitement and entertainment during the November -to- January holiday season.

That outdoor venue is the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in San Francisco's Union Square.

The popular ice rink in Union Square, a shopping area in the heart of the city that's packed with huge department stores like Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue, along with scores of other retail shops, boutiques, restaurants and cafes, opened November 9, and runs until January 16, 2001.

Safeway, which has a long history of business - it has 14 supermarkets in the city of nearly 900,000 which is located about 30 miles from the Pleasanton corporate headquarters - civic and public involvement in San Francisco, has sponsored the Union Square Ice Rink since 2007.

In addition to the supermarket chain's lead and named sponsorship, a number of other businesses, such as department store retailer Macy's and Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, which was founded in the city-by-the-bay, along with a number of radio and television stations, have signed on as co-sponsors of the Safeway Ice Rink in Union Square.

As part of its sponsorship, Safeway Stores, Inc. is helping to keep the cost of using the ice rink low - tickets cost just $10 for adults and $6 for kids eight years-old or younger. Ice skate and hockey skate rentals, for those who don't have their own, which is probably a fairly high number of people in San Francisco where it's know to get chilly - but not that chilly - are $5 pair

There are also specialty group rates, starting for parties of 15 or more persons.

A portion of ticket proceeds are being donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

And to make the day or night on the ice last a bit longer, there's even a photo booth at the union square ice rink, which is open from 10 a.m-11:30 p.m daily, where skaters can have their photographs taken for $2 a pop. The photos are printed out on the spot. The photo machine will also send a digital version to your e-mail address.


The logo above is used in various places around the ice rink to reinforce the Safeway brand and the grocer's sponsorship.

The Safeway sponsored and branded Union Square Ice Rink is also holding a number of special events for the public this month and in December.

The first event was the opening of the ice rink last week. The opening ceremonies, which were held from 9 a.m-10 .a.m on November 9, was hosted by "The Ghost of Christmas Past," a member of the cast of San Francisco's internationally renown American Conservatory Theater's annual A Christmas Carol production.

Among other opening morning festivities on the ice was a performance by the popular Irish tenor Michael Londra, who is currently staring in Celtic Yuletide at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre in the city. Londra performed his hit song "Beyond A Star."

Skaters enjoy the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink over the weekend.

On November 25 the Safeway Ice Rink will be a part of San Francisco's annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at Union Square, which is held each year the day after Thanksgiving.

But in typical San Francisco style - and flair - the two other events planned for the Safeway Ice Rink are a bit less traditional.

On December 1, the rink is hosting Speed Dating Skating, which is an on-the-ice version of speed dating. The singles, which there are many of in San Francisco, are being invited to wear their most unusual holiday-inspired sweater as a way to "break the ice" and get conversations started, which in-turn might lead to a future date - or even one later that night.

There's also an interesting freebie included as part of the event: The first 100 singles to arrive get a mistletoe headband, which should spark a little more than just conversation while on the ice.

The "singles night" event happens to share a "branding" angle with one of Safeway's stores in San Francisco - although we're not sure the ice rink's producers were aware of it or had it top-of-mind when planning the event.

Safeway's store in the city's Marina District - where former chairman and CEO Peter McGowan, who also led the ownership group that kept the San Francisco Giants from moving out of the city over a decade ago, has lived for many years - is known as the "Singles Safeway" because of the number of single people who first met in the aisles of the supermarket. Many of those meetings led to a first date - and often two, three or more and, in some cases, even marriage.

In June Safeway Stores, Inc. held this event - Safeway Has A Picnic in San Francisco Featuring the 'World's Longest Picnic Table' to Showcase its 'Open Nature' Natural Foods' Brand - on the Marina Green, which is across the street from the Marina Safeway store in San Francisco.

But the city's unique style and flair really comes out in full bloom on 8 (8-9:30 p.m) when the ice rinks promoter is presenting Drag Queens on Ice.

Willy Bietak Productions, the producer for the Safeway Ice Rink in Union Square, tells us it's giving Santa a break for the night and instead it's invited a number of the San Francisco Bay Area's most colorful professional drag performers to skate and perform at the rink.

The promoter says its also inviting the public to don their own wigs and outfits and skate alongside the Drag Queens during the evening.

Prediction: Not only will it be a colorful evening but you can also bet the photo booth at the ice rink will be getting a lot of use and bringing in plenty of cash during the event.

Sponsoring the holiday ice rink is smart marketing and provides a major branding-plus for Safeway Stores in the San Francisco Bay Area and corporately, in our analysis.

Why? It's the holidays, a time of joy and family, it's an ice rink in San Francisco, a once-a year-event (although this year the city has two such outdoor rinks for the holidays) and its fun.

Therefore as the sponsor of the ice rink in Union Square, Safeway gets its eponymous brand, which it also uses in various versions as a product brand - Safeway, Safeway Select, Safeway Kitchens, Safeway Farms - on food, grocery and general merchandise products in its stores, associated with holiday joy, individual and family fun, a unique, once-a-year experience, and fun and happiness.

All the characteristics noted above pretty much sum up a marketer's dream list when it comes to branding.

Many Bay Area television and radio stations are co-sponsors of the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square. Each year since 2007 these and other local broadcast and print media outlets provide millions of dollars worth (if it were paid advertising) of free publicity for the event - and thus to Safeway Stores' as the sponsor.

It's all third-party endorsement publicity as well - television coverage of the skaters and special events at the rink, radio stations producing and airing live remotes from the venue, photographs and stories in the local papers -which is much more powerful from a marketing perspective than paid advertising is.

Putting its Safeway brand on ice in San Francisco, which is the "go to" city for residents of Northern California, where Safeway is the market share leader with about 250 supermarkets (the second highest U.S. division in gross sales after Vons' in Southern California), is not only a "cool" thing for Safeway Stores, Inc., to do, it's also good business - and smart branding.

Related Stories

October 26, 2011: Farms ... at Safeway? Grocer Launches its Newest Private Brand ... 'Safeway Farms'

June 19, 2011: Safeway Has A Picnic in San Francisco Featuring the 'World's Longest Picnic Table' to Showcase its 'Open Nature' Natural Foods' Brand

May 28, 2011: At The 'Brand Factory': Safeway Stores' Launches Newest Private Brand - 'Safeway Kitchens'

February 7, 2011: Getting There First...Plus, Are Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Safeway Traveling Down A Similar Private Brand Aisle?

January 5, 2011: Safeway Adds 'Open Nature' to its Natural-Organic-Healthy Foods' Private Brand Portfolio

April 8, 2011: The Branded 'Signature Cafe' in Safeway Stores' Soon to Open 'Social Safeway' in Washington D.C. Should Turn A Few Heads

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

Click on this link - Safeway Stores Inc. - to read additional stories about Safeway.

Click on this link - private brand showcase - to read past stories in our 'Private Brand Showcase' feature.

Trader Joe's Introduces 'Wasabi Arugula' ... Minus the Wasabi

Private Brand Showcase

Trader Joe's, which we often refer to as an iconic grocer because of its rabid fan base and creative private brand development and merchandising, has introduced an interesting new addition to its eponymous store brand fresh, packaged produce line - Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula.

What makes the new Wasabi Arugula item interesting isn't so much what's in the bag though. Instead, it's what's not inside that grabbed our attention.

Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula doesn't include actual wasabi. Instead, what's inside the bags is a spicier version of the common arugula, also called rocket lettuce, that's sold in many U.S. supermarkets and grocery stores.

The grocer, which has about 360 stores in the U.S., already offers basic arugula or rocket lettuce under its Trader Joe's brand, packaged in cello bags similar to the new "Wasabi Arugula". Therefore, when its private brand development team and the marketers at the corporate offices in Southern California decided to introduce the spicier arugula variety under the same brand, they needed a catchy name. TJ's specializes in catchy names for its various private brand products, after all.

Enter wasabi, that extremely popular - except among the faint of palate - Japanese condiment (it's Japanese horseradish to be specific) - that's not only the staple at every sushi bar in the world but also provides a special kick when paired with many types of foods (and with other condiments like mayonnaise). it's also a catchy and fun word to say. If you don't believe us, say Wasabi fast three times straight right now.

The result: Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula. And below the product name on the package a tag line says: "Arugula with a little extra punch."

The Wasabi Arugula packaging isn't deceptive. It makes no claim of containing actual wasabi - although including a packet of wasabi salad dressing would make some lovers of the Asian condiment do back flips of joy.

But when spotting the package of Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula in the produce case from a slight distance away in the grocery aisle (point-of-purchase), the first thing that does come to mind is: "Interesting, arugula with wasabi." That is, until you pick the package up and look at it closely. In other words, the name (the hook) works to draw shoppers' attention to the product. That's good brand marketing.

The 7oz bags of Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula sell for about $2.39-$2.59, depending on where the particular TJ's grocery market is located in the U.S.

We didn't see any cross-merchandising of chopsticks near where the Trader Joe's Wasabi Arugula was displayed in the refrigerated produce case. Doing so might be a cute idea though, in keeping with Trader Joe's whimsical merchandising philosophy.

Related Stories

November 9, 2011: Glatt to Meet You Paisan - Kosher 'Meats' Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets

October 28, 2011: Move Over Chipotle - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces its Own Brand of Burrito Bowls

October 26, 2011: Farms ... at Safeway? Grocer Launches its Newest Private Brand ... 'Safeway Farms'

>View all the past stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature at these links - private brand showcase, private brands showcase.

Glatt to Meet You Paisan - Kosher 'Meats' Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets

Although the item won't be introduced until early next year, Mollie Stone's is giving Fresh & Easy Buzz and our readers the first look at the label for its Nonna Luisa brand organic tomatoes, above.


Private Brand Showcase

Central to the 26-year run of success for privately-owned Mollie Stone's Markets, which operates nine supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area, is its format, which combines a strong selection of everyday food, grocery and general merchandise essentials - what it calls neccessity shopping - with a healthy assortment of specialty, gourmet, ethnic, natural, organic and fresh-prepared foods, which it calls passion shopping.

In many ways the format is the brand for Mollie Stone's.

And speaking of branding, a growing and evolving aspect of the grocer's neccessity and passion shopping approach and format - the stores are neither basic supermarkets or specialty markets - is its focus on private brand development, merchandising and promotion.

For example, although Mollie Stone's has only nine-stores, the grocer, which is majority-owned by partners Mike Stone and Dave Bennett, has three private product brands of its own - Mollie Stone's, which it uses on assorted dry grocery items, fresh meats, produce and baked goods; Mollie O Organic (for organic products); and Nonna Luisa, which is the retailer's Italian foods' brand.

Earlier this year Stone and Bennett also introduced the first item in what we call their "personal brand." That brand is Mike & Dave's, taken from the partners' first names. The first product is Mike & Dave's Wing Sauce.

Mike & Dave's is technically a fourth private brand for Mollie Stone's. But we call it a "personal brand" because not only is it named after the two partners who serve as each others wingmen, but they're also marketing the brand to other retailers via wholesalers and distributors, in addition to selling it in the nine Mollie Stone's stores. Therefore it's a venture product brand for the partners in addition to one sold in their stores.

There will be additional items under the Mike & Dave's brand, according to Dave Bennett, who is the retail operations, marketing and buying/merchandising-focused half of the ownership team. Stone focuses on the overall running of the chain from a headquarters perspective, along with finance, administration, new store development and other related tasks.

Mollie Stone's, which has its headquarters office near the bay in the Marin County town of Mill Valley - its stores are in San Francisco (three units) and (one each in) Sausalito, Greenbrae, (Marin County), Burlingame, San Bruno, San Mateo (San Francisco Peninsula) and Palo Alto (Silicon Valley) - is currently beefing-up its private brand offerings as part of that neccessity shopping/passion shopping overall brand its been developing since Stone and Bennett founded the small but high-volume chain in 1985.

For example, this week the grocer is introducing a line of fresh-cut Glatt Kosher meats under its Mollie Stone's private brand in a number of its San Francisco Bay Area stores, including the three small in size but high in sales volume markets it operates in San Francisco.

The Mollie Stone's brand Glatt Kosher meat line features a selection of  in-store cut, prepared and packaged cuts of beef roasts and steaks, ground meats and other varieties, as you can see in the photos above and below.

Kosher foods are a specialty of Mollie Stone's - and a passion of co-owner Bennett, who is one of the leading kosher category mavens in the food and grocery business.

For example, earlier in Mollie Stone's history, Bennett managed the Palo Alto store in addition to being involved in running the other stores the partners' operated at the time.

Over the years Bennett and his team at the Palo Alto supermarket created one of the most extensive kosher category product assortments of any chain or store in the Bay Area.

They also focused on enhancing the kosher offering for the key Jewish holidays, which has resulted in the Palo Alto location becoming a shopping venue for many Jewish consumers from throughout the nine-county Bay Area, particularly during the key Jewish holidays like Passover. There are nearly 7 million residents in the region, many of whom are observant Jews.

But Bennett isn't a kosher-centric kind of grocer when it comes to private brands or products of any kind, nor is Mollie Stone's a on-trick food retailer when it comes to ethnic and specialty foods and its own brands.

For example, Bennett tells us Mollie Stone's is in the process of growing its Nonna Luisa Italian foods private brand, which is named after the most important member of any Italian household, not to mention the entire culture. That person, of course, is Nonna (grandmother).

The grocer, according to Bennett, is in the process of adding two new items to its small but growing Nonna Luisa private brand line, both imported from Italy - shelf-stable Gnocchi and Organic San Marzano tomatoes. The label for the tomatoes is pictured at the top of this story.

Bennett tells Fresh & Easy Buzz the new items are will be introduced in the nine Mollie Stone's stores between January-March of next year. There are currently pasta, oils and vinegars under the Nona Luisa brand.

We aren't surprised Mollie Stone's has decided to grow its Nonna Luisa Italian foods' brand because, just as Bennett is the in-house kosher foods maven, the grocer also has its own in-house Italian foods maven, who's also a mensch, and has been with Stone and Bennett since nearly the beginning in 1985, when Mollie Stone's Markets' was founded.

That maven, mensch and Italophile, all rolled up into one, is Angelo Demante, who's managed the Sausalito Mollie Stone's grocery market  since it opened in 1988.

Demante, who's worked in the food and grocery retailing business for over a half century, not only is and speaks Italian, he knows the Italian foods' category inside-out, and regularly creates in the Sausalito store some of the best-looking Italian food product displays we've seen, particularly during holidays such as Columbus Day, Easter and Christmas, when many Italian specialty foods are popular and in demand.

In fact, we're told by a source we're only identifying as Deep Clerk that Demante, who may be the oldest-in-age but youngest-in-spirit - particularly when it comes to the Italian foods category - supermarket store manager in America, may already have an end-cap picked out in the Sausalito store for the new Nonna Luisa brand Gnocchi and canned tomatoes set to be introduced early next year.

If Mollie Stone's can make the launch happen in January, the timing could be perfect: Angelo Demante, the grocer's Italian foods' maven and mensch, can simply replace boss and kosher category maven Dave Bennett's current holiday kosher foods end-cap with his own, featuring the two new Nonna Luisa items imported from Italy, which would be another great way for kosher to meet Italian at Mollie Stone's Markets'.

Related Stories

May 16, 2011: 'Wing Man-to-Wing Man' - Mollie Stone's Markets' 'Mike & Dave' Create, Set to Launch 'Personal Brand' Wing Sauce

June 23, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets' Owners' Eponymous Mike & Dave's Wing Sauce Grows Display Wings

July 14, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets' Takes Next Step in its Social Media Journey By Hiring First In-House Manager

August 4, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets' Year of Passionate Improvement Continues With Launch of New Website Tomorrow; But There's Also More In-Store

Read additional stories about Mollie Stone's Market here.

You can view all the stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature, including our most recent about Safeway Store's new private brand and Fresh & Easy's new burrito bowls, here.

Move Over Chipotle - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces its Own Brand of Burrito Bowls

Private Brand Showcase: Fresh-Prepared Foods

Taking a cue perhaps from the super-popular Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has introduced a new line of refrigerated, fresh-prepared ready-to-heat burrito bowls under its fresh&easy kitchen fresh-prepared foods private brand.

The 15 ounce burrito bowls (pictured at top), which come in three varieties -  pollo asado (chicken), carna asada (beef) and carnitas (pork) - recently hit the refrigerated display cases in the 183 Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery markets in California (134 units), Arizona (28 stores) and Nevada (21 units).

In addition to the meat main course, the burrito bowls also contain ingredients eaters would expect to see inside a traditional tortilla-wrapped burrito, including rice and beans. We spotted corn in one of the bowls as well.

The everyday retail price for all three varieties of the fresh&easy kitchens' burrito bowls is currently $4.49 each.

Chipotle's famous burrito bowl.

Burrito bowls,which are essentially open-face traditional burritos in a bowl, have been a big hit for Chipotle Mexican Grill, the natural foods and ingredients-focused fast-casual food chain that's been growing rapidly since the first restaurants were opened in 1993.

There are currently about 1,200 Chipotle restaurants, with many more on the way. Most of the units are in the U.S. Chipotle also has restaurants in Canada and the United Kingdom.

The chain, which has as its motto "Food With Integrity," takes great care in sourcing the ingredients it uses in it ready-to-eat food items. It also puts a major effort on ethical and local food sourcing, along with environmental sustainability.

Unlike most U.S. fast food chains, Chipotle doesn't attempt to offer every sort of food combination possible on its menu, instead offering a limited assortment of items, using a mass customization approach that offers the basics, such as beef, chicken and pork as the base, and then lets customers customize the offering and build their own meals. For example, see the burrito bowl menu item here.

At $4.49 each, Fresh & Easy's burrito bowls retail for 30%-40% less than Chipotle's.

A number of U.S. natural foods companies have had frozen burrito bowls on the market for some time. Among the most popular brands are Evol Foods, Amy's Kitchen and Helen's Kitchen. The food-makers offer all-vegetarian varieties of burrito bowls as well as the meat versions. The frozen bowls take just a few minutes to heat in a microwave oven.

All three of the above noted brands are carried by numerous grocery chains, independents and natural foods retailers.

For example, Whole Foods Market carries the Evol and Amy's Kitchen burrito bowls in most of its 300-plus stores in the United States. The Amy's Kitchen brand is popular with big supermarket chains as well as in natural foods stores.

We've also spotted ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat burrito bowls in the deli/prepared-foods departments (refrigerated and heated cases) in a number of Whole Foods stores, including in California.

Iconic specialty grocery chain Trader Joe's also offers a line of frozen burrito bowls under its Trader Joe's store brand. Varieties include chicken, beef and pork.

California, Nevada and Arizona, the three western states where Tesco has its 183 Fresh & Easy stores, are, along with New Mexico, Texas and Colorado, the most Mexican food-focused states in America. The traditional burrito, for example, has become the first cousin to the hamburger among eaters in the three states, regardless of nationality.

The burrito bowl, in our culinary analysis, is sort of the California-Mex version of the traditional burrito - a blend of Mexican food tradition meets California cuisine.

From a culinary perspective the burrito bowl can also be conceptualized perhaps as the spicy Latin relative of the open-face sandwich, which is served on a plate rather than in a bowl though, and hasn't been a very popular restaurant item in America since the 1970's.

The burrito-minus-the-tortilla is becoming increasing popular, particularly in the west. Therefore, if Fresh & Easy displays its new private brand line of burrito bowls properly in-store, which it's currently doing in our observation, and promotes the new line, we think the grocer just might have a winner on its hands.

We also think a couple all-vegetarian burrito bowl varieties, and maybe a couple breakfast burrito bowls, are the  logical SKUs for a line extension when the time comes.

[Readers: Click on this link - private brand showcase - to read a selection of related stories.]

[Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

Farms ... at Safeway? Grocer Launches its Newest Private Brand ... 'Safeway Farms'

Private Brand Showcase

Farms ... At Safeway?

The answer to the sentence above is yes, if the specific question is ... What's the name of Safeway Stores' newest private brand.

Pleasanton, California-based Safeway Stores, Inc., which we've nicknamed the "Private Brand Factory" because of its prolific practice of creating new food and grocery brands, is this week launching its newest own brand - "Safeway Farms" - which it's debuting on a line of packaged fresh produce items and salads.

We counted around 17 SKUs in the fresh produce and packaged lettuce/salad categories under the new Safeway Farms fresh produce brand in store visits.

Those items include fresh produce category staples like packaged Red Leaf, Green Leaf and Romain lettuce, bagged spinach, and petite baby carrots (pictured at top and below), along with bagged salad blends - American Blend, Spring Mix and Italian Mix, for example - salad kits, like Caesar and Southwestern Ranch, and ready-to-eat salad bowls in four varieties.

We also spotted one Safeway Farms steam-in-the-bag SKU, which is a steam-and-eat vegetable medley item.

The grocer's new Safeway Farms brand also features a selection of ready-to-eat salad bowls, called "Safeway Farms Cafe Bowl," in varieties including Cranberry-Walnut, Cobb and two others.

A list of the Safeway Farms' SKUs we've identified is at the end of this piece.

Safeway Stores hasn't announced its new private brand to the press via a press release or statement. Therefore it's likely you're reading about Safeway Farms for the first time in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

With the addition of Safeway Farms to its store brand portfolio, Safeway Stores, Inc. now offers three private brands in its fresh produce departments. In addition to the new brand, the others include - O' Organics (for organic packaged produce) and Eating Right, which is the retailer's healthy foods brand.

Safeway Stores' also offers a few packaged produce items under its "Safeway" value brand. The "Safeway" brand will go away in produce however, in favor of Safeway Farms, we're told.

Dual corporate name, no corporate name PB strategy

Safeway Farms is the second new private brand the supermarket chain has introduced this year that includes the the "Safeway" corporate name as part of the brand name.

The other Safeway name-inclusive brand is Safeway Kitchens, which we wrote about here in May. The brand featuring the corporate name was launched earlier this year, featuring a variety of bread and bakery items. The supermarket chain recently extended the Safeway Kitchens brand, which we said in the May 2011 story it would do, from the bread and bakery items into a two or three SKU line of breakfast cereals.

The Northern California-based grocer now offers four private brands featuring the Safeway name. Those brands are: "Safeway" (it's everyday value store brand), Safeway Select (a premium-oriented brand), Safeway Kitchens (so far in the bread/baked goods and breakfast cereal categories), and now Safeway Farms, which it's debuting in the fresh produce category.

At the other end of its private brand spectrum, Safeway Stores, Inc. offers numerous brands that don't include the "Safeway" name as a part of the brand name.

Those brands include: 'O Organics, which has become the leading organic foods brand in the U.S. with over $1 billion in annual sales; Eating Right (healthy foods) and Open Nature, the natural foods brand the supermarket chain introduced early this year with a line of fresh meats and poultry, and has since expanded into multiple categories encompassing perishables (deli, dairy), bakery (including a full line of breads), frozen foods and dry grocery (salad dressings, breakfast cereals, cookies and crackers and more).

Additional non-Safeway labeled private brands include: Signature Cafe (ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods); Primo Taglio (lunch meats, cheese and related perishable deli items); Rancher's Reserve (fresh beef in the meat department); Waterfront Bistro (fresh and frozen packaged fish and seafood); Lucerne (dairy products); mom to mom (a line of baby products including disposable diapers, infant formula and toiletries); Priority Pet Care (pet supplies); and Bright Green, which is a line of environmental-friendly or "green" household product (cleaners, paper goods, light bulbs) and general merchandise items.

In early summer Safeway also introduced a new value-priced and value-positioned private brand called Pantry Essentials.  So far we've seen a handful of consumable items under the new brand, including toaster pastries and pancake mix in the dry grocery category, and packaged hot dogs in fresh meat.

Safeway Stores has also replaced the non-consumable products it previously offered under its Basic Red brand, which before that was called Value Red, with the Pantry Essentials brand. The products are household items - toilet tissue, paper towels, facial tissue, garbage bags, paper plates, plastic cups and a few others.

Safeway sells its 'O Organics and Eating Right brands to other retailers in the U.S. and overseas through an entrepreneurial venture business it created in 2009. It plans to offer its fast-growing (in SKU-count and dollar sales) Open Nature natural foods' brand as part of that brand marketing and wholesaling business in the near future, a source in a position to know at the grocer's headquarters in Pleasanton recently told Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Meanwhile, the addition of the Safeway Farms' brand and the new produce items under it demonstrates that Safeway Stores, Inc. plans to continue extending the "Safeway" product brand name (and corporate name) throughout store departments - it's in the dry grocery, bakery, perishables, frozen food and general merchandise categories under the Safeway and Safeway Kitchens brand names already - along with putting a focus on its various non-Safeway-named private brands, the two most recent being the price and value focused Pantry Essentials brand and the value-added Open Nature, both of which were launched this year.

Below are the Safeway Farms' brand produce SKUs we've identified:

Packaged Specialty Produce
Safeway Farms Petite Carrots
Safeway Farms Steam In Bag Vegetable Medley

Packaged Lettuce
Safeway Farms Romain Lettuce Singles
Safeway Farms Hearts of Romain
Safeway Farms Green Leaf Lettuce
Safeway Farms Red Leaf Lettuce

Safeway Farms (packaged) Lettuce Mixes
Spring Mix
American Blend
Baby Spinach

Safeway Farms (packaged) Salad Kits
Apple, Blue Cheese & Pecan
Southwestern Ranch
Italian Salad
Supreme Caesar

Safeway Farms Cafe (salad) Bowls
Cranberry-Walnut Salad
Chef Salad
Cobb Salad
Spinach Dijon Salad

Related Stories

June 19, 2011: Safeway Has A Picnic in San Francisco Featuring the 'World's Longest Picnic Table' to Showcase its 'Open Nature' Natural Foods' Brand

May 28, 2011: At The 'Brand Factory': Safeway Stores' Launches Newest Private Brand - 'Safeway Kitchens'

February 7, 2011: Getting There First...Plus, Are Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Safeway Traveling Down A Similar Private Brand Aisle?

January 5, 2011: Safeway Adds 'Open Nature' to its Natural-Organic-Healthy Foods' Private Brand Portfolio

April 8, 2011: The Branded 'Signature Cafe' in Safeway Stores' Soon to Open 'Social Safeway' in Washington D.C. Should Turn A Few Heads

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

Click on this link - Safeway Stores Inc. - to read additional stories about Safeway.

Click on this link - private brand showcase - to read past stories in our 'Private Brand Showcase' feature.

Northern California-Based Grocer Raley's Adds Private Brand Value With its Family Picnic Pack

Raley's adds value with its Family Picnic Pack in two key ways: The product's the-whole-is-greater-then-the-sum-of-its-items nature offers a convenient and affordable concept for shoppers; and the reusable thermal carry bag provides a value that keeps on giving long after the picnic is over and the food is consumed. [Photo credit: Fresh  & Easy Buzz.]

Private Brand Showcase

We're always on the lookout for retailers that come up with creative, value-added ways to merchandise and promote their own-brand products.

One such development that recently caught our eye is the Family Picnic Pack created and now being offered for sale by West Sacramento, California-based supermarket chain Raley's, which operates 133 stores under the Raley's (superstores), Nob Hill Foods, Bel Air (supermarkets) and Food Source (discount warehouse) banners in Northern California and Northern Nevada.

Raley's Family Picnic Pack features all the fixings needed for a summer picnic (except for the drinks and napkins), and includes a reusable thermal carry-bag to tote everything in.

The centerpiece of the retailer's picnic pack is a 16-piece assortment (4 breasts, 4 wings, 4 thighs, 4 drumsticks) of Raley's in-store-made ready-to-eat fried chicken, which comes chilled so it can be kept cold in the thermal carry bag.

Along with the fried chicken, the Family Picnic Pack includes a 3lb container of potato or macaroni salad, a 15-count package of cookies from the in-store bakery, a 12-count package of paper plates and a dozen-pack of  forks, all under the Raley's store brand.

In addition to the selection of Raley's brand ready-to-eat foods, paper plates and cutlery, the grocer's Family Picnic Pack also includes a package (12-count) of King's (brand) Hawaiian Rolls, which is a popular brand and item in the market regions where it has stores.

The reusable thermal bag is designed to keep all of the refrigerated items at a proper temperature while traveling to and while at the picnic, along with serving as a carry bag to hold the Family Picnic Pack, which is retailing for $19.99 and designed to feed eight people, which works out to just $2.50 per-person.

Raley's Family Picnic Pack is a hit on three levels from a retailer product creation standpoint, in our analysis.

First, it's value-added, meaning it takes various existing single items sold in the stores and bundles them into a seasonal (summer picnic) theme, thereby creating a product (the Family Picnic Pack) which previously didn't exist.

A major benefit of this is that most customers aren't likely to purchase each of the private brand items contained in the picnic pack individually while on a shopping trip. However, by bundling the products into a thematic single product, customers are more likely to do so because of the suggestive merchandising and selling aspect of the Family Picnic Pack.

The added value comes both in creating the meal concept of the Family Picnic Pack - (almost) everything needed for a picnic - along with including the reusable thermal carry bag as part of the package.

Second, by focusing the picnic pack item selection primarily on Raley's brand products, the retailer not only can achieve incremental sales on the own-brand items (see above) but also achieve secondary marketing and product promotion for the private brand ready-to-eat and non foods items.

For example, buying the Family Picnic Pack might be the first time many customers will have tried some or all of the Raley's brand products that comprise it. So in that instance it has the ability to generate brand and item trial, which is a key brand marketing objective.

Further, since all but one of the items in the picnic pack are private brand, it also serves as a promotional vehicle for the Raley's brand products.

Lastly, at $19.99 the Family Picnic Pack is affordable - the total cost is less than buying the fried chicken, potato or macaroni salad and rolls at KFC, and the plates and forks separately, for example, plus you get the thermal carry bag (added value) - while still providing a high single-SKU-ring for Raley's.

For example, for each shopper who adds a Family Picnic Pack to his or her grocery purchases at a Raley's-owned store, that total order jumps by $20, which is music to a grocer's ears because the more a customer spends during a single shopping trip (market basket size) the better it usually is for a food retailer's profit margin on the order.

Additionally, affordability combined with a high ring is a great combination for a retailer, assuming the product sells, because it offers a greater opportunity for higher volume sales. When the $19.99 Family Picnic Pack is broken down to its per-serving price of $2.50 person (for eight), which Raley's isn't doing in its promoting and advertising of the seasonal item but should, the value becomes much more apparent. A compare the price-per-serving to KFC sign in the stores would likely sell additional picnic packs for example.

The family-owned grocer, which has about $3.1 billion in annual sales, is currently offering its Family Picnic Pack in selected Raley's, Bel Air and Nob Hill Foods banner stores. According to a Raley's spokesperson, plans call for the retailer to offer the picnic pack through most of August. Customers can also pre-order it on the grocer's website for later pick-up in-store.

In addition to its flagship "Raley's" store brand, the West Sacramento-headquartered chain also offers products under its Sunnyside Farms and Bayview Farms (dairy products) private brands, both of which it shares with Modesto, California-based competitor Save Mart Supermarkets, and Nob Hill Trading Company, which is an upscale-oriented specialty foods' brand.

Raley's is also an owner-member of the Topco private brand development and marketing cooperative. The grocer features a number of the cooperative's brands in its stores, including Full Circle, which it uses as its natural and organic products' store brand.

Adding value like Raley's has done with its Family Picnic Pack not only is a good way for food and grocery retailers to increase sale but it's also an excellent way to draw attention to their private or store brands. And using seasonal themes, such as summer and picnics, affords grocers an ongoing way to create value added items like Raley's has done with its summer season picnic pack.

Related Stories

July 20, 2011: Limited Edition Sunnyside Farms Ice Cream Flavors, Including the Latest Featuring an Iconic Cookie Brand, Hit Save Mart and Raley's Stores For the Summer Season

April 20, 2011: Raley's Supermarkets Introducing New 'Raley's Tonight' Fresh Heat-and-Eat Gourmet Entrees

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

Click here to read additional stories in our Private Brand Showcase feature.