Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 54

SPOTLIGHT
SANDWICHES
by Andy Nelson
IN 2021, SAN RAMON,
CALIF.-BASED RAYBERN'S
WAS DEALING WITH LABOR
SHORTAGES AND THE
LINGERING EFFECTS OF THE
COVID PEAK.
In 2022, Raybern's made
many of the new hires it had
its sites set on last year. And
America continues to get back
to doing the things we all did
pre-pandemic.
But there are new hurdles
for Raybern's and almost
everyone else in the food
business. Just when it seemed
like we were fully returning to
something resembling normal,
inflation struck.
" Inflation is definitely impacting
what consumers are buying, and
we've had to adjust, " said Doug
Hall, the company's marketing
director. " It's not uncommon for
suppliers to come to us with price
increases of 24%, increases we've
never seen. We're used to 2 or
3% increases. Not a surprise that
it's forced us to reevaluate what
consumers are willing to pay. "
One thing Raybern's won't
budge on is quality, Hall said. The
company is very protective of the
ingredients it uses, for instance.
But Raybern's has found
savings other ways. The company
switched from hand-wrapping its
sandwiches to flow wraps. That's
reduced labor on the packing line.
Raybern's has also purchased
more cost-effective carton board
when possible.
The company also added a
second shift at its plant, which
not only handles increased
demand over the past year, but
also maximizes the value of its
physical space and resources,
savings which can then be
passed on to consumers, Hall
said. Increased use of automation
at its plant has also helped.
Raybern's continues to
see strong demand for its
sandwiches from both retailers
and commissaries and central
kitchens that supply grocery
instore delis.
" Consumers are going to
grocery stores more for breakfast,
lunch and dinner, " Hall said.
" And there's a nice spectrum of
offerings, from value to mid-tier
to premium. "
Despite inflationary pressures,
Raybern's is confident that its
retail and commissary partners
are open to new products.
After it mostly shut down its
new product operations during
COVID, the company is now
rolling out new ideas to its
customer base.
" There's definitely room for
innovation now, " Hall said.
" Consumers are looking for
change, for alternatives they
haven't tried before. "
Some of those innovations
are in the " top secret " category,
Hall said, but ideas Raybern's is
willing to go public with include
BBQ pork and pulled chicken
and other chicken sandwich
products. Both should see wider
distribution in the next year to
year-and-a-half.
A meatball sub that Raybern's
launched in late 2021 has been
discontinued, but it was only ever
intended as a stopgap product
for retailers who couldn't source
their meatball subs elsewhere,
Outsourcing deli sandwich production to commissaries and other offsite production facilities gives retailers
more time and resources to focus on cross-merchandising and other efforts to grab consumers' attention.
54 - NOVEMBER 2022
supermarketperimeter.com
Hall said.
" It was a shelf filler, " he said. " A
lot of manufacturers were unable
RAYBERNS, UNIFILLER
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Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022

Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - Intro
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 1
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 2
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 3
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 4
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 5
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 6
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 7
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 8
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 9
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 10
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 11
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 12
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 13
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 14
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 15
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 16
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 17
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 18
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 19
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 20
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 21
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 22
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 23
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 24
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 25
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 26
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 27
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 28
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 29
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 30
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 31
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 32
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 33
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 34
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 35
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 36
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 37
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Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 40
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 41
Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 42
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Supermarket Perimeter - November 2022 - 60
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