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.

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.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

Private Brand Showcase
Private brand in-store merchandising & promotion

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" this week. It wants them to do so by buying, loading their home freezers with, and eating multiple packages of its 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals, which the grocer is promoting and displaying in end-cap, coffin-case freezer displays in all 156 of its Fresh & Easy markets in California, Nevada and Arizona this week.

As you can see in the photographs above and below, the freezer case displays feature large point-of-purchase signs touting the 'eatwell' frozen meals and the $1.49 unit promotional price point.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, has been promoting its 'eatwell' brand aggressively since the first week of January. Such healthy foods' brand and item promotions are a common theme for grocers at the start of a new year. Think of the promotions as a "new year, get healthy" type of hook for food retailers, which taps into consumers' resolutions and other goals, which often includes eating more healthy foods.

This month, the grocer also introduced a number of new items under its 'eatwell' brand, which includes products in the fresh-prepared foods, dry grocery and frozen categories, as we reported and wrote about recently in these two stories - January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011 and January 4, 2011 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell.'

Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was extending its 'eatwell' private brand into the dry grocery and frozen food categories, from fresh-prepared foods, last year. [See - August 2010 piece - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category. Also - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category and September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is focusing big on 'eatwell' frozen for January and into February. Along with the large and colorful in-store displays, the grocery chain is advertising the 'eatwell' frozen meals this week in its weekly advertising circular, for $1.49 each. The $1.49 promotional price began on January 12 and runs until February 11, 2011. The items sell for $1.99 regularly. [See - January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program.]

The conclusion to the big 'eatwell' frozen case in-store displays and advertised promotion: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market obviously doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" - it wants them to buy, stock their freezers with and eat lots of 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals.
[The photos at top were taken this week by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent.]