By Denise Purcell
In advance of the Winter Fancy Food Show, the Specialty Food Association hosted its 5th Super Retailer Summit, where more than 60 specialty food retailers and industry professionals met at the Golden Gate Club at San Francisco's Presidio for a day of seminars, tastings and networking.
In the opening session, "The Theater of Food: Shaping Perception through Context & Environment," Kevin Kelley of Shook Kelley, a design firm that incorporates principles of marketing, design and science, encouraged the audience of mostly small, independent retailers to think of their stores not as competitive battlegrounds with other retailers, but as performing arts centers. "Everyday, you have a play going on; the staff are your characters and they need costumes, a plot and a script. And you have on average one hour to entertain your [customer] audience enough to make them want to come back."
"Too often, " Kelley said, "stores are treated as warehouses of products and not as a place for stories and solutions"—the things shoppers crave. Retailers need to focus on innovation and differentiation; once you have your story, you need to manifest it in place, he added.
"You only have so long to get someone into the plot of your story. Visually, break your store into scenes, not departments" Kelley advised. "You make the scenes exciting by finding the value in bread, milk, produce, etc. You want to take customers out of their world and bring them to yours."
Among examples and case studies Kelley offered was recommending to clients that they phase our generic department names like produce or meat, in favor of "Texas Fresh" or "Smokehouse" or whatever names fit the story.
According to Kelley, the whole objective of the store is to change shoppers' mindsets. "It's the same as with a movie. You don't want people watching it and thinking about their electric bill. You're making a movie."
Other topics throughout the day included "Food Safety: What Retailers Should be Thinking About," by Marsha Echols, Specialty Food Association's legal advisor, and George Latella, professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University. "As a specialty retailer, you are looking for new products, often imports or ethnic items. Your focus is on innovation but these products can raise safety concerns among regulators," said Echols. "You need to be prepared; it is crucial to know about the producers your are using."
In "The Future of POS Systems," James Dion of Dionco, a consultantcy specializing in store operations, pointed out that retail spends vastly less than other industries on information techonlogy, yet the cost of things such as POS systems has decreased dramatically. "The retality is you have the same information capability as Walmart. Technology is cheap today; POS systems are well under $1000."
As for future innovations, Dion says the familiar cash register area will soon be a thing of the past as retailers reclaim the lost space is occupies and opt for more personal exchanges, "It creates a physical barrier between the cashier and customer. Standing side by side with someone and scanning items creates more of a relationship," the very thing independent retailers especially seek to foster.
BYOD, or bring your own device, will be the next frontier where customers can scan and check themselves out via smartphone or tablets. And good POS systems will advise the customer as to what else they can purchase as they are DIY-ing their scanning, he added.
In "The Strategy to Buying Local," Bi-Rite Market's Sam Mogannam, whose two stores in San Francisco are in the forefront of local sourcing, spoke along with Laurence Jossel and Jeff Hanak from Nopa, a San Francisco restaurant that emphasizes a local menu. The panel stressed the unique kind of assurance that comes from seeing the field where your food comes from because local farmers aren't anonymous.
The day's final session was "How to Grow a Team: Recruitment, Interviews and Hiring to Match Your Stores Culture." A panel advised on such topics as the benefits and at what stage of business to bring in an HR person ("You need it when your time needs to move from managing to leading," said Richard Tarlov of Canyon Market) to the interviewing process ("We do it as a group, said Paula Brannon, Bi-Rite's HR director. "You can tell right away if someone will fit in.") to training ("We cover everything including ergonomics. Behind the counter, you'll use muscles you never used for hours at a time, you need to understand how your body is moving," noted Juliana Uruburu of The Pasta Shop and Market Hall Food.
Finding the right employee fit can be organic when the culture is strong. "We almost never need to fire someone," said Emilio Mignucci of DiBruno Bros. "They come in and see who we are, how we treat the customer, how much extra we do. And they know if it's not for them and they leave. If they aren't willing to do that, they can tell it's not a fit, they don't belong here."
