Johnnie's Foodmaster Heats Up Summer Grilling

In February, 3 retailers were honored as the 2007 Retail Beef Backers. Harris Teeter, Johnnie's Foodmaster and The Kroger Company were each recognized at the 2008 Beef Industry Annual Meeting. This is the 2^nd of 3 Retail Spotlights devoted to showcasing the efforts of these outstanding retailers.

Johnnie's Foodmaster Supermarkets of Massachusetts was the winner of the 2007 Retail Beef Backer^® Award in the independent category. The company, headquartered in Chelsea, MA, operates 10 stores across the state. They did an exceptional job of merchandising beef to their customers in 2007. Their meat department is continuously developing new ways to add value to their customers' dinner experiences through the implementation of new programs.

Summer Grilling 2007
Johnnie's Foodmaster's successful summer grilling promotion in 2007 focused on prominent grilling holidays - Cinco de Mayo, Father’s Day and Labor Day. The campaign utilized a variety of point-of-sale (POS) materials including posters, bag stuffers, special advertisements, promotional labeling and contests/sweepstakes. Foodmaster also conducted in-store beef demonstrations to highlight recipes available in customer handouts found at the meat case.

The company held a fun “Love Your Steak, Love Your Dad” sweepstakes for Father’s Day that gave children the opportunity to compose essays about why their dads deserved a steak for Father’s Day. Promoted by bag stuffers that encouraged kids to get involved, the winning Dad received a family pack of steaks, a grill tool set and an apron.

Johnnie's Foodmaster also featured the Beef Bottom Round Steak (Western Griller), one of the Beef Value Cuts, during the summer grilling season. The company utilized Easy Fresh Cooking^® (EFC) labels as well, an on-package labeling program which provides easy cooking instructions and recipes.

Holiday Roasts
Johnnie's Foodmaster’s holiday roast promotion included distributing recipe brochures to customers at the meat case and the launch of disposable pop-up timers as an aid to cooking the perfect beef roast. They also began labeling packages with EFC labels to offer their customers additional recipes and cooking instructions. Posters, special advertisements and promotional labeling all contributed to increased holiday roast sales.

Due to the success of the pop-up timers during the holidays, the company elected to make the timers a permanent part of their fresh meat program. Posters were created to call attention to the timers and raise awareness on proper use.

Beef Bowl
A Beef Bowl promotion was launched in-store to drive beef sales. Beef demonstrations featured recipes like Tailgater's Barbeque Beef and Chili Beef Express from a take-home party planning brochure designed to help customers get ready for the Big Game. Johnnie's Foodmaster also conducted a sweepstakes with tickets to a professional football game as the prize. Ironman signs, wobblers and special advertisements made customers aware of the promotion.

Johnnie's Foodmaster participated in many other beef checkoff-funded programs during 2007. They have rolled out many of the Beef Value Cuts including the Beef Shoulder Top Blade (Flat Iron), Beef Shoulder Roast (Petite Tender), Beef Shoulder Center Steak (Ranch Steak), Beef Round (Sirloin) Tip Center and Beef Round (Sirloin) Tip Side.

Congratulations to Johnnie's Foodmaster!