Stop & Shop Flying Forward with Wing Bars

When Ahold Delhaize USA’s Stop & Shop chain introduced its chicken wing bars to stores across the Northeast Foodservice Solutions®, Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson stated “elevating grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food will drive incremental sales for lunch, dinner, and snacking day-parts without doubt.”

Stop & Shop began deploying the wing bars at stores last month and plans to add them at 187 locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey through November.

Stop & Shop’s team understands that mix and match bundling is a hallmark of grocerant program success; thus, the wings come in eight flavors and retail for $7.99 per pound.

Stop & Shop said the wing hot bars are located in the prepared food section, and the wings are freshly made and fried in-store. Mark Messier, executive vice president of merchandising at Stop & Shop “We know our customers are busy, and our new wing bars offer an easy snack, meal or entertaining solution for tailgates or at-home gatherings,”,… “In testing this concept at a handful of stores, the response has been fantastic. We’re excited to bring these new varieties and flavors to more customers across our footprint.”  

The Mix & Match offerings include breaded mild wings, breaded spicy wings, breaded honey wings, buffalo boneless wings, garlic parmesan wings, barbeque boneless wings, sweet chili boneless wings and pit-boss pork wings. More flavors — such as Kickin’ Bourbon Barbeque, Korean Barbeque and Mango Habanero — will be added seasonally.

Will selling fresh food fast top of mind at Stop & Shop; they have a five-year capital spending plan — estimated at $1.6 billion to $2 billion — to refresh its 400-plus stores chainwide. Dubbed “Reimagining Stop & Shop,” the initiative includes a modernized store format and a new logo that reflect a more customer-centric strategy based on convenience, particularly a wider array of fresh, fast, healthy and local food options. That includes more prepared foods — such as stir fry stations, sushi bars, hot bars and meats like brisket and pulled pork smoked in-store — along with in-store cafes offering smoothies, coffee and treats.

How are you looking a customer ahead?  Grocerant niche fresh food is driving growth in every sector of retail foodservice today according to Johnson.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869