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12 RETAILER NEWS GOURMET NEWS FEBRUARY 2014 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News Peppers of Key West: Specialty Food Sales as Performance Art BY LORRIE BAUMANN Peppers of Key West is a purveyor of the multisensory gastronomic, physiological and psychological experience originating from intimate contact with the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum. Sure, you could also call it a south Florida hot sauce shop, but that does not begin to explain why this particular store draws tourists from as far away as Alaska, why it has garnered the interest of Japanese and European television crews, why the Today show paid the shop a visit or why and it has received a host of rave online reviews. More than 150,000 people a year wander into the 1,500 square foot shop, located in Key West a block and a half off Duval Street, the island's version of Chicago's Rush Street or Memphis' Beale Street. About half of the shop's visitors come from the 25 or so cruise ship that call in at Key West each month, and many of the rest are on Florida vacations. One way or another, the majority of the store's visitors take the short walk away from the lights and music of the main drag, because they have somehow heard of the store—either from a friend who passed by or from a travel show on television. Regardless of how they first learned about the show, they want to try the Peppers of Key West experience for themselves. That is the key right there—Peppers of Key West is not just a store, it is an experience. Should you ever walk into the place yourself, you will be invited to belly up to the tasting bar to try a few hot sauces. Whether you already know you like hot sauce or you are not yet a fan, store owner Pete Legrady is positive that he and his knowledgeable "tasting counselors" can match you up with a sauce or two or three that matches your taste preferences and the foods you already enjoy cooking or serving. "The store itself is set up as a regular bar, but we do hot sauce instead of beverages," Legrady says. "The bar is created to be an interactive experience. When you purchase a sauce from my store, I want you to know what the sauce tastes like, what you can do with it, and that when you get it home, you'll know from past experience that you're going to enjoy it." To that end, the store's staff is encouraged to take sauces home and experiment with them, developing their own recipes and stories so that they can come back and share those ideas with the customers. The staff at Peppers of Key West will start you off with the milder sauces in your taste range. Depending on how adventurous you feel, you will then work your way up to some of the hotter varieties among the 900 or so different hot sauces that Peppers of Key West stocks on its shelves. When you have tasted the sauce that brings tears to your eyes, sweat to your brow and makes your nose run, that is when the friend who came with you will snap your picture on his cell phone and post it to his Facebook wall, spreading the word about Peppers of Key West to his or her entire social circle. "A certain amount of performance art is part of the experience," Legrady says. "I'm in a really lucky position in that we have people who come into the store who know a lot—all the way from people who are growing and breeding their own chili peppers to those who think they don't like hot sauce and wonder why anyone would. We get them joking and interested, and that's the fun part." "When you see it in person, the energy is going, and everybody's laughing," Legrady continues. "That all helps, and then when everybody else sees the reaction that another customer has, then they think they have to try that too." If you are the average customer, you are likely to leave with four bottles of hot sauce. That is unless you ask the shop to ship the bottles to your home because you are traveling by air. (As the TSA officials at Key West's airport are accustomed to announcing, hot sauce counts as a liquid, and you may not bring it onto an aircraft in your carry-on bag.) "The average bottle sale is 3.9 per sale," Legrady says. "Some people leave with three cases, and some people leave with nothing. I'm happy with that average." Peppers of Key West has been around for 19 years. Legrady has owned the store for the past six, ever since he first came to Key West on a few cruises. He fell in love with the place and decided to chuck the corporate rat race for a business of his own that he could feel passionate about. "Everything came together here with the right timing," he says. "It was just the right move at the right time." In addition to the hot sauces, the store stocks a revolving selection of chili-related items. Everything in the store is either made from chili peppers or decorated with chili peppers. The store's inventory also includes spicy snacks, salsas, some home textile items, a few dishes and, of course, chili pepper Christmas lights. The store also does a hefty amount of online business at www.peppersofkeywest.com. Online business is heavy during the Christmas holiday season, with a noticeable uptick on Cyber Monday each year. The brick and mortar store is busiest in January through March, at the height of the cruise season, and slows down considerably during hurricane season, which runs from June through November. "As soon as the first hurricane starts blowing off the Horn of Africa, that's when people start second-guessing their trips down here," Legrady says. "That's life on a tropical island." GN BRIEFS Chocolate Works Opens New Long Island Location in Bellmore/Merrick The second Long Island location of Chocolate Works, the burgeoning franchise concept that transforms the corner candy shop into an interactive chocolate factory experience, is now open in Bellmore/Merrick, located at 2350 Merrick Road in Bellmore N.Y. The Chocolate Works franchise concept is the brainchild of second-generation chocolatier and company owner, Joe Whaley, a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran. Whaley's family has been crafting and selling high quality gourmet chocolates for over 40 years. What sets Chocolate Works apart from other candy stores is its unique 3-tier model for satisfying the public's sweet tooth. The combination of chocolate and candy retail, on-site parties and workshops and custom corporate products offers multiple opportunities to generate revenue and community relationships. For more information on Chocolate Works and a complete list of locations, visit www.chocolateworks.com. Safeway Announces Sale of 11 Dominick's Stores Safeway Inc. recently announced it has reached a definitive agreement to sell 11 of its Dominick's stores in the Chicago metropolitan area in a cash and lease assumption transaction to Roundy's, Inc. Roundy's will take possession of the stores during a transition period that will take place in early 2014. Earlier this year, Safeway announced its decision to exit the Chicago market and focus its efforts in other operating areas where its business is stronger. The company continues to be actively engaged in a process to identify purchasers for its remaining stores in the Chicago market, and announcements will be made when pending deals are finalized. Safeway previously announced the sale of four stores in the greater Chicago area to New Albertsons, Inc., which operates Jewel-Osco grocery stores. For more information, visit www.safeway.com. Food Lion Announces Investments in 169 N.C., S.C. Stores Food Lion recently announced that it has made significant investments in 169 stores in North Carolina and South Carolina and created 500 new jobs. Key markets include Greenville, N.C., Wilmington, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Charleston, S.C. and Myrtle Beach, S.C. The company is also improving its produce as part of its "Fresh From the Field" initiative. Customers will experience better quality, enhanced freshness and expanded variety in Food Lion's produce section. The investments are based on customer feedback. A list of the 169 stores receiving investments is available at www.foodlion.com/newsroom. Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., is a company of Delhaize America, the U.S. division of Brussels-based Delhaize Group. Food Lion operates more than 1,100 supermarkets in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs approximately 57,000 associates. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com.

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