Help
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t’s a tricky time to be selling the high-quality foods Heinen’s offers. Egg prices in May were up 18.2 percent from a year ago, while bread rose 15.9 percent and milk was up 10.2 percent, according to Consumer Price Index data. With those kinds of spikes, the big question most consumers are asking is whether it’s time to switch grocers.
On those phone calls, Heinen’s customers are indeed complaining a lot about prices. But so far, most of them seem to have stuck by the chain.
Their loyalty suggests a couple of things about the kind of middle- and upper-class shoppers Heinen’s tends to attract. While they are concerned about price, they’re increasingly thinking about their foods’ origins and quality. So they would just as soon not trade down from a store like Heinen’s that offers handsome local radishes and an excellent stir-fry station.
And they almost certainly don’t want to drive around to six different stores cherry-picking deals. “With two adults working and the kids going to soccer, I defy you to show me how they can do it,” Mr. Heinen said. “They’ll be in the nuthouse.”
But the chain has chosen to do a number of things differently, given that Whole Foods entered the Cleveland market last year and regional chains have been relentlessly papering the area with circulars. (Whole Foods itself has its own initiatives under way, which I’ll describe below.)
On those phone calls, Heinen’s customers are indeed complaining a lot about prices. But so far, most of them seem to have stuck by the chain.
Their loyalty suggests a couple of things about the kind of middle- and upper-class shoppers Heinen’s tends to attract. While they are concerned about price, they’re increasingly thinking about their foods’ origins and quality. So they would just as soon not trade down from a store like Heinen’s that offers handsome local radishes and an excellent stir-fry station.
And they almost certainly don’t want to drive around to six different stores cherry-picking deals. “With two adults working and the kids going to soccer, I defy you to show me how they can do it,” Mr. Heinen said. “They’ll be in the nuthouse.”
But the chain has chosen to do a number of things differently, given that Whole Foods entered the Cleveland market last year and regional chains have been relentlessly papering the area with circulars. (Whole Foods itself has its own initiatives under way, which I’ll describe below.)
Gotta be fast...
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HOW MUCH ARE YOU THROWING OUT? -----------The theory here is that if you buy marinated meat or washed lettuce or other convenience items, you’re not creating any waste in the preparation. If you chop and stuff those peppers with sausage yourself, however, you may buy too much of one or the other and neglect to use it or throw out parts of the pepper that don’t work in the recipe. You may also buy the ingredients but never get around to making the dish.
WHERE ARE THE ARTISAN-QUALITY DEALS? ------------“We went to vendors and said to them, ‘Go out and find us artisan equivalent cheese,’ ” said Chris Foltz, the company’s director of operations. What Heinen’s was looking for was the unusual, the delicious and the gently priced.
Now, Heinen’s is selling an Australian cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese for $5.99 a pound and is promoting those new offerings with signs that say “Heinen’s Great Value Cheeses.” There’s an offering from Wisconsin, too, for shoppers concerned about how far their food has traveled.
IS IT LOCAL? One way to keep prices low is to buy local produce, since it travels fewer miles to the store and tends to pass through fewer hands. Heinen’s now has a produce buyer whose primary job during the warm months is to shop the local produce auctions. The chain buys from 45 farmers, most of whom are no more than two hours away.
WHO’S MY TOUR GUIDE? Not every grocery store bothers to highlight local products. So you may need to ask what comes from nearby and who grew or made it. “One of the things Whole Foods taught us is the need to tell stories” about our products, Mr. Heinen said. In fact, Heinen’s has 50 stories that it trains employees to tell customers about its meat, produce, baked goods and other items.
WHERE ARE THE ARTISAN-QUALITY DEALS? ------------“We went to vendors and said to them, ‘Go out and find us artisan equivalent cheese,’ ” said Chris Foltz, the company’s director of operations. What Heinen’s was looking for was the unusual, the delicious and the gently priced.
Now, Heinen’s is selling an Australian cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese for $5.99 a pound and is promoting those new offerings with signs that say “Heinen’s Great Value Cheeses.” There’s an offering from Wisconsin, too, for shoppers concerned about how far their food has traveled.
IS IT LOCAL? One way to keep prices low is to buy local produce, since it travels fewer miles to the store and tends to pass through fewer hands. Heinen’s now has a produce buyer whose primary job during the warm months is to shop the local produce auctions. The chain buys from 45 farmers, most of whom are no more than two hours away.
WHO’S MY TOUR GUIDE? Not every grocery store bothers to highlight local products. So you may need to ask what comes from nearby and who grew or made it. “One of the things Whole Foods taught us is the need to tell stories” about our products, Mr. Heinen said. In fact, Heinen’s has 50 stories that it trains employees to tell customers about its meat, produce, baked goods and other items.
