Let’s take a test. Are you a leftbrain or right-brain thinker? OK, now how do you run your roller grill?
Like a foodservice program, with recipe cards, theoretical food costs and waste goals? Or do you run it like a retail category, with plan-o-grams, basic margins and SKU rationalization? Like the two sides of your brain, both foodservice and retail schools of thought are important, and both are crucial to the success of a roller-grill program. After being asked by many industry members over the years whether there is an optimal roller-grill set, we decided to find out. And while it’s unfortunate that there’s no magic equation, what we found was a basic road map for building an ideal program.
Plan-o-gram the Roller Grill
Although an individual store’s roller grill is going to depend greatly on space allotted, grill size and traffic, there are benchmarks to keep in mind.
Catherine Porter, senior manager of convenience store marketing for Sara Lee Foodservice, Downers Grove, Ill., recommends operators with a smaller grill start with no more than three hot-dog or smoked-sausage items, plus an ethnic offer. Too many products, she says, leads to double-stacking without complete horizontal rows of a SKU, “and that gets really hard for the consumer to navigate around the grill tags without knocking stuff over.”
Also, a SKU-squeezed grill doesn’t allow for adequately stocking each flavor. “If you’re trying to pack that grill with six flavors, you’re always going to be down to one of something, and then you’re guaranteed you’re never going to sell another one of that poor little one,” Porter says.
As for limited-time offers (LTO), Porter recommends one at a time to help expand a consumer’s reach without creating confusion. And have the LTO item on the roller grill all day long, so customers seeing any in-store signage won’t be disappointed that it’s not available.
Johnsonville Sausage, Sheboygan Falls, Wis., last summer launched a website with calculators for operators to get a baseline idea on plan-o-grams and profit scenarios (www.cstore.johnsonville. com). Gene Rech, director of foodservice sales for Johnsonville, stresses that it all depends on the operation; nonetheless, the site offers a good sales baseline of five links per SKU per day for low-volume stores, and 12 links per SKU per day for high-volume stores.
“But the key after that is how they [track] at the store level,” he says, encouraging scorecards and build-to sheets to track how many items were displayed, sold and tossed during each shift.
As for SKUs, Rech recommends a hotdog product, a bratwurst/sausage item and an enrobed product such as a taquito or eggroll, as well as a quarterly LTO to keep things fresh.
Brad Duesler, president and CEO of Food Concepts Inc., Middleton, Wis., recommends offering more than one flavor per protein category (“It’s good to have an A and a B”) and at least one enrobed item.
Day-parts can mean something different on the roller grill, and operators should pay attention to what’s really selling at each meal. “Less than half of hot dogs are sold during the 10 a.m.- to-2 p.m. time frame, and almost 30% are sold during the p.m. commute,” says Sara Lee’s Porter. “It’s really important to make sure you have a full grill throughout the day—and breakfast items sell as much in breakfast as in the p.m.”
Ruiz Foods, Dinuba, Calif., which manufactures enrobed products such as Tornados, has a grill management form to help retailers determine which flavors generate the most profit in each daypart. The company recommends building sales with two-for specials such as a Tornado and a coffee or cold drink, and highlighting a new flavor every month.
Waste Not, Sell Not
Once you’ve created a baseline plan-ogram for the roller grill, it’s time to start following some foodservice fundamentals. Before a single sausage starts rolling, create a recipe cost card for each item that details its cost, including condiments, packaging and bun. This will provide a good theoretical cost (the expectation of what a food cost should be, if you comply with all cost-control procedures) to help track sales and even find additional opportunities. (See sidebar on p. 94.)
“We’ve had really good success with chains that actually generated millions of dollars in incremental profit through good menu modeling on their costs and average prices,” says Duesler.
He offers the example of a roller-grill program with an eight-to-one (eight links per pound) hot dog that sells for 99 cents, or two for $2. To grow check averages, an operator could try a five-to-one for $1.29 (on discount) to $1.79 (with condiments).
“What happens is, people come in and see the eight-to-one compared to the fiveto- one, they are comparatively appealed by the five-to-one, and you start increasing your check averages,” he says.
Of course, with the foodservice mindset comes waste. And just as most retailers will not divulge their waste percentage, nor will most manufacturers offer a suggestion. Sara Lee’s Porter does recommend a simple tool: If your shrink is going down, try putting some more on the grill and see if your sales start going up.
In essence, remember that some waste is necessary. “Make sure you’re not managing your shrink at the expense of your sales potential,” she says.
Duesler concurs: “You can manage yourself right into some pretty low sales and pretty bad presentation.” For operators just starting out with a roller grill, or those hoping to revitalize the category, create a six-month or one-year commitment in which a certain amount of waste will be permitted, no matter what.
Flavor Trends
While not helping the issue of the overcrowded grill, a plethora of new products has certainly expanded the breadth of flavors available.
“If you looked at this industry 10 years ago, you probably thought hot dogs were just the mainstay on the grill. Now you’re starting to see a real dynamic shift from hot dogs to sausages, and now breaded items,” says Sarah Babb, Johnsonville’s senior brand manager, foodservice.
For Johnsonville, the spicy German bratwurst, jalapeno Cheddar sausage and Southwestern chorizo sausage are quickly gaining on the company’s stalwart Stadium Style bratwurst, smoky Cheddar and all-beef hot dog. The spicy German bratwurst jumped up to third top-selling SKU in less than a year.
Of course, the spectrum of enrobed products—from egg rolls to Tornados— has further opened the category to new flavor preferences. To help keep the display and signage streamlined, some manufacturers of protein and nonprotein products are teaming up to offer retailers one merchandising solution.
But with new nonprotein products come additional operational dynamics. Enrobed products require a higher temperature, which isn’t good for sausage products. Flavor migration is also a factor for all products. Even with dividers on the grill, operators must ensure the grill is level to avoid drips. Duesler prefers two grills as a way to ensure proper temperature management and the elimination of flavor migration.
Equipment Innovations
It’s not just the food that’s getting an upgrade. Equipment manufacturers are also improving the roller-grill experience, using different color options, more stylistic lines in design and utilitarian elements such as thermal drawers and micro-merchandisers.
“You’re going to see a lot of expanded offerings from manufacturers down the road, a greater focus on aesthetics. And you’re going to see a greater deal of customization,” says Jason Guilliam, sales manager for Nemco Food Equipment, Hicksville, Ohio.
Nemco has been appealing to highvolume operations with its thermal drawers that bring product up to temperature. “People like it because there’s no chance your customer is going to grab a product that’s not ready. Every time that product hits the roller grill, it’s already up to temp,” Guilliam says.
For enrobed products, manufacturers are innovating with textured rollers. The Roll Rite from Carol Stream, Ill.-based A.J. Antunes & Co., launched a year ago, has oblong-shaped rollers with a textured grip to ensure food keeps rolling. “If you have a breadth of products but they aren’t turning, they are DOA,” says Pete Hope, regional sales manager.
To help organize all the products on the grill, manufacturer Spirit Specialty Solutions, Lansdowne, Pa., has a new Roller Thimble: a rotating, double-sided tool that helps divide the grill while offering micro-merchandising. The thimble rotates with product, helpful for multilingual advertising or promoting LTOs.
Above all equipment and product choices, Duesler says, make the right decisions based on your demographic and traffi c, and then make the commitment to quality.
“The bigger you’re in it and the more you have to offer,” he says, “the higher the likelihood you’re going to get trial and build frequency.”
Roller-Grill Tips
- Use a day-part-based plan-o-gram as a foundation, but be prepared to adjust regularly based on sales and waste.
- Start with three hot dog/sausage items plus an ethnic/enrobed offer and an LTO.
- A good sales baseline is five links per SKU per day for low-volume stores, and 12 links per SKU per day for high-volume stores.
- For new or revamped programs, create a six- to 12-month commitment in which a certain amount of waste will be permitted, no matter what.
- While day-part-specific items are important, sales don’t necessarily match the meal. Track what’s selling when and merchandise accordingly.
- Create a recipe cost card for each item that details its cost, including condiments, packaging and bun.
C-Store ‘Game Changer’?
Roller-grill customers may be some of c-stores’ most loyal shoppers, but where do they go when they’re not in the mood for a dog? be used for other products during off hours. Likely a burger or chicken joint for a hot sandwich.
A new program from AdvancePierre Foods is meant to capture those customers with a hot-sandwich program that mimics the process of the roller grill, with minimal employee handling.
The Fast Fixin’ Sandwich Bar program consists of a smallfootprint hot-holding unit with wells to hold three prepackaged trays of fully cooked proteins: Angus beef patties, breaded chicken and barbecue pork rib patties. The proteins are brought to temperature in a microwave, conventional or convection oven inside the packaging (about 3 minutes in a microwave), eliminating any employee contact with the food.
All the equipment is component-based, so retailers can build the program based on their own equipment needs, be it bun warmers or condiment bars. The hot holder has inserts so it can
“We see this as the next level of hot food, being able to sell a product that’s more like a fast-food restaurant chain,” says Grant Wilson, vice president of convenience sales for the Cincinnati-based company. “We view this, to a certain degree, as a game changer in the c-store industry.”
The protein comes in six pieces per tray, and the suggested retail price is $1.99, or $2.49 to $2.99 for double-meat sandwiches, already a popular option in the dozen stores the program has been tested in.
“Operators are really excited that this is an easy hot-food solution, and I see that as revolutionary in the business,” says Tony Schroder, president, convenience. “Once we’re able to sell hot, we’re truly in the foodservice business and truly competing with fast-food chains.”
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