NORWOOD, Mass. -- Despite White Hen Pantry being sold to 7-Eleven in 2006, the White Hen Pantry brand continues to operate in Massachusetts and New Hampshire under the guidance of New England Pantry Inc., a master franchisor of the White Hen brand for the New England area. With a current count of 56 locations, New England's White Hen Pantry stores were not part of the sale to 7-Eleven.
New England Pantry has launched a new concept store, Pantry Gourmet. This new spinoff blends several channels of business such as the convenience store and café, while taking on a new group of competitors [image-nocss] such as Whole Foods.
Through its c-stores and now with this new concept, the retailer said it has "kept a fresh gap" between itself and competitors.
The new Pantry Gourmet is located in Northborough, Mass., and is one of the anchor stores within the Post Road Marketplace. At 3,200 square feet, Pantry Gourmet features a full-service Chock Full o Nuts Café, expanded produce, the largest dedicated foodservice/food prep area in the company's history and a mix of traditional, specialty, natural and organic groceries. The store also has an organic coffee bean kiosk and a small housewares department.
A few of these changes have been incorporated into New England Pantry's White Hen stores over the past several years with a great deal of success, the company said. "However, we found that consumers already had a strong, preconceived notion of what a White Hen is and does. Ultimately, this became a limiting factor in trying to advance the brand and make it more contemporary. Customers were uneasy when we took the stores too far left or right of center," said Christopher Brosco, director of marketing and merchandising.
In developing the Pantry Gourmet concept, corporate executives took several field trips to a variety of New York City's best and unique retailers, grocers and sandwich shops. "Here, we were able to understand how to incorporate many different fresh food concepts into a single, small-format location. We also learned a great many ways to merchandise a wide array of products within a limited space," said Andrew Brothers, president of Norwood, Mass.-based New England Pantry.
Over the next year and a half, the company did extensive research into which co-branding partners, brokers, vendors and community could best support this prototype. It was also determined that the White Hen name needed to be minimally referenced if the concept was to move forward with the least resistance. "It is never easy to make a well-established brand, like White Hen, take a back seat. But facts and research led us to believe that consumers would not let us make this big leap forward if the White Hen name was over the front door. We needed consumers to enter this prototype with a clean slate—no preconceived notion of what takes place within the four walls," said Brosco.
The company moved forward with a new logo, decided not to carry lottery and minimized the tobacco set to less than 30, nonvisible facings. The unit's color scheme and atmosphere is influenced with southwestern tones, an open ceiling, accent lighting, bistro tables and chairs and a 12-foot produce and floral department.
In addition, the foodservice area of the store is completely full service.
Pantry Gourmet has co-branded with the Chock Full o Nuts Café concept and satisfies all the current beverage trends by offering dark roast coffees, lattes, cappuccinos and smoothies, complemented with a European display case filled with store-baked pastries, desserts and a line of Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes.
The deli has employees clad in chef coats slicing Dietz & Watson premium deli meats and cheeses and making sandwiches, wraps, ciabattas and personal pizzas. Soups are simmered on the Pantry Gourmet kitchen stove, visible to consumers who watch as their soup or chowder is ladled right out of the cook pots.
A large, three-tier octagonal display case features a large assortment of cut cheeses, specialty breads and crackers, along with an assortment of fresh, natural beef and chicken selections.
The grocery aisles, as well as the beverage, refrigerated and frozen food departments, have a mix of traditional, natural, specialty and organic offerings designed to take on Whole Foods, giving that shopper an alternative to their "fill-in" shopping, conveniently located within their own neighborhood.
The organic coffee kiosk, from Hogan Brothers Coffee, Framingham, Mass., is flanked by the housewares department and a Village Candle display hutch.
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