inStorebuyer - September 2011 - 42

Hen House promotes the value of sandwiches in its HenWich program.

features on an everyday basis. In the cheese department, Kempton noted that their working relationship with the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board prompted the start of a successful new project, which also ties into the concept of locally made. Hen House Market recently introduced hand-pulled mozzarella, which is produced every Friday and featured in the refrigerated deli case each weekend. “We are fortunate to work with the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board,” Kempton says. “I traveled to Wisconsin with several deli managers, and one thing we did was learn how to pull fresh mozzarella. We have embraced that here in the store. Now, we do that every Friday to have available to customers on the weekend.” Hen House also installed an upright cheese case at its new Tremont store, which helps cheese shoppers to

visually recognize the wide variety of their favorite types of cheeses. “And this fall, we are going to bring in three cheese makers from Wisconsin to focus on training sessions for the items we are going to promote during the holidays,” Kempton says. “Here at Hen House, we are very proud of our cheese program. We continue to expand that from a selection standpoint. Part of what we’re trying to do is educate our teammates, as well as our customers, as we expand that selection.”

Expanding Selection
The olive bar is another area where the varietal selection is growing at Hen House. The grocer has expanded its olive program to feature 15 to 20 olives at a time. “This gives us a chance to bring new things to our customers,” Kempton says. “We try to trend in and out and give our customer the ability to try new things.” For example, Hen House brought in stuffed olives and several new Greek varieties. “There is a lot in that category that has become available to us,” he says. “Our customer can try half a dozen olives and really feel good about coming back the next time.” An expanded selection of Boar’s Head deli meats is another key

feature of the new Hen House Market in Kansas City. Hen House has partnered with Boar’s Head for several years. “At this store, we went out across the country to look at new cases, so that we felt we could get a full presentation of the products we want to offer,” Kempton says. “At this store, we now have the largest presentation of Boar’s Head products we’ve ever had, and customers have responded by buying those products from us.” In deli meats, the bakery/deli director says he believes the category that is growing the most nowadays is chicken. Boars Head recently introduced Everroast Chicken, which Kempton calls a “fantastic” product. “The chicken category is the category of growth in the deli meat category,” he adds. “The connotation of healthy with chicken is there. The consumer perceives chicken to be a good healthy product.”

Meal Deals
Hen House Market is further strengthening the value proposition with customers through an ongoing series of meal deal programs in the deli. “We recognize that food to go is a very important thing for our consumer today,” Kempton says. “We have a What’s for Dinner Tonight? Program – a meal for four people for less than $4 per person each night. It is available all prepackaged and ready to go – from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.”

| 42 | inStorebuyer | September 2011 |

inStorebuyer - September 2011

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