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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 1 0 BRIEFS Cooking with Pizazz in Great Falls BY MICAH CHEEK When Veronica Ronnau bought Pizazz in Great Falls, Montana, she quickly set to building the ultimate in-store kitchen, a fully equipped cooking area that was ready for everything from cooking classes to par- ties to catering. Now dubbed Bella Cucina, the result of her work has become the cen- terpiece of the store. To accomodate Bella Cucina, Ronnau re- designed her store and doubled her square footage from 1,800 square feet to 3,750 square feet. From there, it was a matter of figuring out how to build a lot of kitchen without a lot of money. Ronnau had a helping hand in designing and building: a family friend with a knack for building cabinets. With someone will- ing to build for the price of a nice lunch, the next step was to secure appliances and fixtures. Outfitting the kitchen has been the product of radical requests from kitchenware companies and others. "I went to Italy for my 50th birthday with some friends, and we rented out a tricked out villa. It had one of those Miele coffee ma- chines on the wall," says Ronnau. "So I contacted the company, and they sponsored my kitchen! They sponsored almost $40,000 worth of appliances, including an induction stove top, steam oven, built-in coffee station and more." With that success, Ronnau set about finding other sponsors. "Now, what about the people we've done business with? Le Creuset and WÜSTHOF knives sponsored the kitchen as well," adds Ronnau. "They've all been so generous. Fagor has been the best – we use their multi-cooker in every class, and we sell a lot of them." Countertops came from Caesarstone – Ronnau just had to install them. "Some- times people say they can't afford a kitchen Kroger Announces Divisions for Scan, Bag, Go Expansion The Kroger Co. has announced plans to introduce its new Scan, Bag, Go shop- ping technology in 18 operating divi- sions, making the service available this year to customers at 400 stores. Scan, Bag, Go, a patented technology devel- oped in-house by Kroger, allows cus- tomers to use a wireless handheld scanner or the Scan, Bag, Go app on their personal device to scan and bag products as they shop for a quicker, seamless checkout experience. "With every new product, service and technology integration, Kroger is redefin- ing the customer experience and reimagin- ing the store of the future," said Chris Hjelm, Kroger's Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer. "After test- ing Scan, Bag, Go in several locations, we are bringing this transformative technology to new stores across the country through Restock Kroger." The technology also helps to create a personalized experience for customers throughout their shopping trip, allowing them to view and download digital coupons, keep a running total of their order, and view the current week's sales ad. Scan, Bag, Go customers currently visit a store's self-checkout area to provide pay- ment. Customers will soon have the ability to provide payment directly through the app, allowing shoppers to exit the store even quicker. "Many of our customers have adopted this convenient new technology and re- sponded favorably to the seamless checkout experience," Hjelm added. "Scan, Bag, Go is one more choice, like ClickList, that Kroger provides so cus- tomers can choose when and how they want to shop with us." By the end of the year, Scan, Bag, Go will be available at select locations in the fol- lowing divisions: Atlanta; Central; Cincin- nati; Columbus; Dallas; Delta; Dillons; Fred Meyer; Fry's; Houston; King Soopers; Louisville; Michigan; Mid-Atlantic; Nashville; Ralphs; Smith's and QFC. It will operate alongside traditional staffed check- out lanes. GN Report: Amazon Captured 18% of the US Online Grocery Market in 2017 Market research firm One Click Retail estimates that Amazon attained $2 billion in food and beverage sales during 2017, a market share of 18 percent of online grocery sales in the US. One Click Retail found that Amazon's American sales of cold beverages (driven by bottled water and sports/energy drinks) and coffee (driven by disposable coffee pods) earned more than double the next leading categories, with cold beverages growing 65 percent over 2016 sales. Non-perishables continue to dominate Amazon's grocery sales. space. You just have to be creative and put yourself out there!" Ronnau says. Pizazz now hosts two to four cooking classes a month, depending on the season. "What we do a lot of is private classes. We can accommodate eight to 12 people. At $55 a person, you pick your genre, you come in, cook, relax, eat and get some hands-on experience too," says Ronnau. "The best part of the evening is the end when they get to leave before clean- up." Some of these classes are offered to a vari- ety of different groups that want an activity to meet around. Ronnau has even offered free classes to people from the nearby Air Force base, noting that once they are encouraged to leave the base and check out the down- town area, they become loyal customers. "I've also partnered with hospitals because they're doing recruiting, and we run it like a supper club. They sit and talk and get to know the recruit," Ronnau adds. "We have a strict rule: What's goes on in the kitchen stays in the kitchen! The conversation doesn't leave here. We've had some people up on the counter with a wooden spoon singing karaoke!" In addition to classes, the kitchen is also used to prepare food that's sold in the store – about 20 percent of the store's sales floor is dedicated to consumable products. The store has an oil and vinegar bar and offers bulk coffee as well as prepared foods from the kitchen. "Nothing goes to waste in our kitchen: If we make a cake, we're going to sell it," says Ronnau. "After our bone broth class, we had 36 quarts of bone broth we packaged up and sold.... We got into cater- ing, private dining, private classes, just to keep the kitchen relatively busy." The kitchen class area has also become an area for local cooks and entrepreneurs to learn as they teach. "I had one woman who wanted to open a restau- rant, so we incu- bated her for a year in our kitchen. She now owns her own restaurant," says Ronnau. "There's a lot of people with great ideas but have no idea how hard work- ing in a kitchen will be, or if certain foods will work in a place like Great Falls, so we give them an opportunity to test the market up to a year in our kitchen." Over time, Ronnau wants to expand Pizazz's food options and bring more spe- cialty items to Great Falls, using Bella Cucina as a venue in which to introduce products that may be new to her cus- tomers. "In a town like this, people are al- ways talking about going other places – it's nice to offer international things here. I've always wanted an Italian deli. It's the hard- est thing I've ever done, finding someone who can run a cheese shop and charcu- terie," says Ronnau. "When I walk into Eataly when in Chicago, I think, that is ex- actly what I want for our town, our com- munity and our store, just on a smaller scale!" GN Kroger Promotes Two Steve McKinney, previously president of the Fry's Food Stores division, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Retail Divisions for the Kroger Company, effective February 5. Monica Garnes, previously corporate vice president of produce-floral merchandising, will succeed McKinney as President of the Fry's division. Kroger's Simple Truth Brand Reaches $2 Billion in Annual Sales The Kroger Co. announced that Simple Truth ® , its house brand for natural, organic and better- for-you products has achieved $2 billion in annual sales. The Simple Truth brand now offers more than 1,400 unique products across multiple categories, including grocery, meat, produce, deli, bakery, baby, household essentials, personal care and Fair Trade Certified™. Waremart by WinCo Opens in Oregon Waremart by WinCo opened its doors in Keizer, Oregon, on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. This is the third store in the chain to carry the Waremart name and WinCo Foods' 119th store overall. While smaller than a typical WinCo, the 40,000-square-foot store is designed specifically for markets like Keizer. The layout will include WinCo Foods' trademark "Wall of Values" at the entrance and will offer a wide assortment of grocery items along with full produce and meat departments, along with a wide array of WinCo's high quality private label brands. Lidl Presence Puts Price Pressure on Other Supermarket Chains Grocery retailers located near Lidl stores in the U.S. set their prices for key staple products up to 55 percent lower compared to markets where Lidl is not present, according to a new study by the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. Lidl financed the study, but the researchers say that the grocery company had no influence on the study's conclusions. On average, competing retailers near Lidl stores set their prices approximately 9.3 percent lower than in markets where Lidl is not present, which is more than three times as was typically reported in other academic work on Walmart's entry in a new market. In previous studies looking into the effect of Walmart Super Center entries, competitive price reductions were typically between 1 percent and 2.5 percent, and 5 percent at most.

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