Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/831597
OCG Show Daily Sunday, June 4, 2017 6 2 LONE PEAK'S "LABELER" – DEPENDABLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE An interview with Chris Appelbaum, President, Lone Peak Labeling Systems. OSD: Tell our readers about Lone Peak. CA: Lone Peak has been in business 25 years. Throughout that time, our primary focus has been to provide labeling solu- tions for grocery stores, food producers and manufacturers. We have tried to always stay on the leading edge of tech- nology with our printing systems. We also strive to manufacture the highest quality of labels that work well for their intended application. OSD: What would you say makes your company unique? CA: We consult with our customers about their challenges with labeling, and then provide a working solution. This includes label design, data management and customized software. Then we fol- low through with installation, training and technical support. OSD: What was the most significant event or series of events affecting your company in the past year? CA: Establishing a Bay Area office and bringing in house the software develop- ment and programming that fully addresses our customers' needs and demands. This allowed us to create the "Labeler." OSD: Are you introducing any new products? CA: Yes. The "Labeler" is our new sys- tem that is very user friendly. It simpli- fies the label-making process in bakeries, delis and produce and meat departments, as well as for food manufacturers. OSD: What distinguishes your products from the competition? CA: We develop complete label- ing solutions for our customers. Our systems have many features and capabilities that help our clients label and market their in- store products. This gives the "Labeler" many benefits not seen in our competi- tors' products. In this Internet age, most of our competitors like to ship boxes of software and printers, and then say, "Good luck." They don't want to make the investment necessary to provide full technical support; but at Lone Peak we make a commitment to providing full technical support to our customers. OSD: Compare the position of your products and their technology against the current market. CA: We feel the "Labeler" is the most advanced, dependable and cost-effective label printing solution available for the grocery and food industry. OSD: What is your outlook in general for this product line? CA: We have had a tremendous response to the "Labeler" system. It has generated interest all over the country. Each new client brings needs and ideas that help us continually grow and develop our products. Every market that has a bakery and/or deli will benefit greatly by installing the "Labeler" in their store. OSD: To what do you attribute your company's success? CA: We listen to our customers' needs. Being a small, independent company, we can be more nimble and quickly adapt to new technology. We have always had a commitment to providing full technical support, and we stand by our slogan, "We service what we sell." This approach makes our customers' businesses run more efficiently while helping them market and sell their prod- ucts. For more information, visit www.lone peaklabeling.com, call 801.243.9500 or stop by booth #1549. WEYAUWEGA CHEESE & SCOTT'S OF WISCONSIN ANNOUNCE NEW BRAND Weyauwega Cheese and Scott's of Wisconsin are proud to be introducing their new sister company and brand Old World Creamery. Adding to an already large list of Wisconsin's finest dairy products is butter. Quality is infused into every product made, owned by the Knaus Family, a family with more than 100 years of expe- rience in the dairy industry. As a fourth generation Wisconsin dairy family, it is dedicated to producing cheese and dairy products that are worthy of the state of Wisconsin's long tradition of excellence in this field. Specializing in a variety of dairy products, Weyauwega Cheese focuses on natural cheese conversions from cuts to shredding, cheese curds to parmesan. Scott's of Wisconsin, with awarding- winning cheese spreads, including cold pack and pasteurized process, also has a long list of special- ty items including Beer Cheese, Fudge Cheese, Cheese Balls and Logs and the always loved Cranberry Cinnamon Spread. Old World Creamery, although new to the family, is already making its mark in the Wisconsin dairy industry with its salted and unsalted Grade AA butter and salt- ed and unsalted Pure Irish Butter. The products are manufactured in SQF Level 2-certified plants supervised by team of qual- ified and dedicated person- nel. For more information visit booths #2220, #2222 and #2224. For more about Weyauwega Cheese, call 608.837.8006 or go to www.weyauwegacheese.com. Learn more about Scott's of Wisconsin by calling 608.837.8020 or visiting www.scotts ofwi.com. For more about Old World Creamery, go to www.owcreamery.com or call 920.550.4443. LARRY'S MARKET: SURVIVING AND THRIVING ON THE POWER OF LUNCH By Lorrie Baumann When Larry Ehlers started working at his local grocery store in Brown Deer, Wisconsin after his return from World War II, it was the kind of neighborhood grocery that sold everything that the neighborhood families really needed from day to day in about 3,000 square feet of selling space. Then times changed, local roads gave way to superhighways, the small village of Brown Deer became a suburb of Milwaukee, and big box stores entered into the grocery marketplace. Larry's Market changed with the times by evolving into a specialty grocer. Its produce and meat departments have been eliminated in favor of prepared foods that cater to the lunchtime needs of the workers employed in the nearby office buildings, a highly regarded spe- cialty cheese market makes the store a destination for tourists looking for the best of Wisconsin cheeses, and a busy catering department now provides more than half the store's revenue. "It's an old, old grocery store, but it's a charming building," said Patty Peterson, the Manager of Larry's Market and the daughter of Larry himself. "We're not on the highway. We're on the byway.... We don't have a thou- sand people walk- ing in front of our store each day." After his return from the war, Larry Ehlers worked for the store for years before he finally bought it in 1970. His son, Steve Ehlers, bought the store from him in the late 1980s, and Steve's wife became the owner upon Steve's death in 2016. Around 1971, Peterson's parents had become fans of French cheeses after their introduction to them at a Summer Fancy Food Show. After tasting some of those cheeses at the show, Larry placed an order. A few days after the cheese was delivered to the store, it was gone, sold to upscale customers who'd learned to appreciate traditional French cheeses during their travels overseas. Larry con- tinued ordering. "Of course my father is the con- summate sales- man. He can still sell like nobody's b u s i n e s s , " Peterson said. "He still comes in three days a week." Steve carried on that romance with French cheeses as he traveled in Europe in the 1970s for his own version of the Grand Tour once made by Victorian gentlemen to broaden their horizons as they started out on their lives as independent adults. "He loved France," Peterson said. Steve and his father decided to start carrying artisanal American cheeses in the store after Mike Gingrich of Uplands Cheese won the American Cheese Society's Best of Show Award for Pleasant Ridge Reserve, and today, the cheese counter with its 200 to 300 cheeses in it is a destination for travelers who come to Larry's Market just to buy their cheese. Most of the business rung up by the store's 15 full and regular part-time employees, though, comes either at lunchtime or through the store's catering business. The regular Friday grill-out events are also huge draws that bring 250 to 300 people into the store over the course of a couple of hours. All told, the deli and catering departments repre- sent about 60 to 70 percent of the busi- ness today. "We do a lot of corporate catering, so on any given day, we'll have five people out delivering, and we can do 400 to 500 people for lunch, just cater- ing," Peterson said. The typical lunchtime purchase for the 100 to 150 people who usually come in then is about $12 to $15, although cus- tomers will frequently spend $40 to $50 at a time if they're also buying groceries and cheese. Among the most popular offerings are killer brownies, Wisconsin artisan cheeses and fresh soups, includ- ing the turkey chili that's a particular favorite among Larry's regulars. "We sell a ton of soup, summer and winter," Peterson said. "Our local health inspector comes in for lunch quite often."