Kroger Co. cooks with upscale school opening at new store

Nation's Restaurant News, August 7, 1995 by Jack Hayes

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- The Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., a 1,200-unit supermarket chain, has launched an upscale cooking school at its newest Atlanta division store, which opened in June.

In making the move, Kroger becomes one of the first mainstream chains to explore a territory blazed by such high-end grocery operators as Edina, Minn.-based Byerly's Inc. and West Caldwell, N.J.-based Kings Super Markets, both of which use the school concept to add customer appeal, strengthen market position and build sales.

The glass-enclosed 800-square-foot Kroger cooking school is fitted with an estimated $150,000 in cooking and refrigeration equipment, and it will function also as a casual banquet site, according to Kroger's Atlanta division merchandising vice president, Brent Scott.

While declining to quote costs or anticipated revenues, Scott said the school fits our philosophy to offer more to customers than our competition."

Scott said the Atlanta operating region, with 135 Kroger stores, is being studied to find sites for additional cooking schools. It's not known if Kroger's other regions will add the concept.

"Once they see how it operates, they're going to be interested," he added.

The cooking school here debuted with heavy promotional fanfare, including a public relations effort to introduce its executive chef, Bernard Kinsella -- a Johnson & Wales alumnus, a former Ritz-Carlton hotel and local catering chef, and head chef with the Nathalie Dupree cable TV cooking show.

Kinsella, meanwhile, has attracted more than a dozen of Atlanta's celebrity restaurant chefs to give classes during July and August.

"I can't wait to get in this kitchen," said Daniel Porubiansky, sous chef at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Dining Room, who will conduct a $35-per-person student-participation class called "Oktoberfest In July."

Mauro Canaglia, executive chef for the entire Ritz-Carlton property in Buckhead, is also a guest chef instructor in the Kroger school.

"I think this will raise the level of gourmet appreciation -- educate the people and bring them to our restaurant," Porubiansky added.

Scott said the school will handle a maximum of three daily classes, six days a week.

He said the cooking school's catering potential is already living up to its promise. Promotional literature invites Kroger customers to rent the facility for business meetings, birthdays and other social events.

Cindy O'Daniel, Kroger's Atlanta region fresh food merchandiser, said the cooking school project was two years in the planning. The region ran a year of informal cooking tests in Atlanta stores to test the market, she added.

Scott said his division will be evaluating the school closely.

"We'll measure the success of this unit and go from there," he said.

Another innovation at the new Kroger unit is a 20-seat beverage bar where customers can order yogurts, fresh vegetable juices, bottled waters and specialty coffees.