CANASTOTA, N.Y. -- Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes is no longer going to halfheartedly cool down its customers. In July, the 80-store chain began testing an eight-foot linear section called ChillOut that includes four two-head granata machines.
Two machines offer carbonated flavors, and two feature uncarbonated, smoothie-type drinks. Flavors include Mountain Dew and Coke, as well as generic products for flavors such as sour apple, grape and cherry. The colors of the merchandising will be frosty blue.
The chain had offered similar [image-nocss] drinks in its 27-year history, but with limited success, due in part to a lack of dedication to the type. My experience has always been, if you want to sell something, you got to really look like you are in that business and you mean business, the chain's vice president of food service, Dr. Jack Cushman, told CSP Daily News. [Previously], it was just kind of an addition to what we normally did. We decided to take a bolder step and get into the customer's face and say, 'Hey, if you want this type of product, we're the only place to come to get it'.
For the introduction, the price was 89 cents for a medium any flavor. Eventually, the price will be from under $1 to under $2. The concept, tried in a store in Cicero, N.Y., had in a month shown it was worthy of inclusion in a raze-and-rebuild slated for Rome, N.Y.
It was really under the microscope because it was so new, Cushman said. When you invest linear feet in a storethe perimeter is so valuableyou want to make sure you're going to get your money's worth. All indications are that it's generating the margin that it needs to, to justify the space. It's really doing a good job.
The smoothie, complete with bits of fruit, has the lowest margin and has been the most popular, said Cushman. The initial investment in Cornelius' new auto-fill and Bunn machines, countertops, starting inventory and menu board is between $10,000 and $15,000, Cushman said. The first store has a perfect demographic for the conceptaffluent, a lot of kids and young adults with kids and a nearby school.
The second store will be a better test of the concept, said Cushman. Its demographic is middle income, fewer children and no school. As ChillOut expands to enough stores, it will justify ordering branded cups, Cushman said. Though the concept's unveiling was in summer, Cushman isn't concerned about a honeymoon period.
If you start out good and you make sure the area's clean, the product's full, the machine's working, you rotate flavors, you keep it fresh, you keep some specials on it, you don't just put it there and walk away, then you really don't experience declines, he said. It continues to go up and up; it really doesn't have a downside. There are some limitations because there's only eight heads and there's only so much throughput you can get out of the machines. But those are good problems; if you've got to put in more machines, you just do that.
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