Home-meal battle heats up: restaurants, grocery chains seek gains as Boston Market falters

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 15, 1997 by Richard L. Papiernik

The Randall's and Tom Thumb stores have a designated Busy Chef branded area for quick and easy takeout for family meals and complete holiday dinners as well as grab-and-go lunches, such as pot pies, quiche, pizza and various side dishes.

"The battleground for the HMR segment of the food business is where the future of the supermarket industry will be decided to a large degree," says Tim Hammonds, president and chief executive at the Food Marketing Institute, the Washington-based trade group for the supermarket industry. In his message to a recent FMI Meal Solutions conference in Los Angeles, Hammonds said, "We are entering an era where the store in its entirely will be the meal-solution center ... a new retail model."

The Boston Market model may not have worked financially, but it did help define and popularize the fast-growing consumer demand for convenience in meal planning.

"There has been a fundamental shift in the way that consumers allocate their eating dollars," says Jeffrey F. Omohundro, an analyst with Wheat First Butcher Singer in Richmond Va. "Food away from home is no longer considered a luxury but a fundamental component of today's convenience-driven lifestyle."

Omohundro cites a survey, conducted over a two-year period, which found that expenditures on meals away from home by dual-income households increased 55 percent, while expenditures on food at home declined 15 percent.

Supermarkets that have been leading the field for several years in meal-solutions or home-meal-replacement programs are Ukrop's, based in Richmond, Va.; Byerly's in Minneapolis; Harris Teeter in Matthews, N.C.; Kroger's in Cincinnati; and Wegmans in Rochester, N.Y. Newer NMR entries, such as Price Chopper and Genuardi's near Philadelphia, are continuing to come into the market as strong regional players.

The Fleming Cos., an Oklahoma City-based food wholesaler, has developed an HMR concept for its supermarket clients called "Chefs Cupboard." The program includes a workshop for retailers.

The Hy-Vee Food Store chain in Omaha, Neb., recently opened a 70,000-square-foot market at the site of a former amusement park, with a huge commitment to a "meal solutions" program that it calls the Hy-Vee's Kitchen. Customers can use the area as a custom-meal preparation center, including menu planning.

Hy-Vee president and chief executive Ron Pearson, who describes the new concept as a "21st century store," expects the fresh-food area, primarily through its prepared-meal program, to generate one-third of the store's revenues.

Other smaller concepts include a single-unit operator who knows the value of marketing service and calls his Vineland, N.J., store "Talk of the Town." It comes complete with an "All American Memorabilia Cafe" for pastry and cappuccino lovers. Talk of the Town also features a chef's station manned by trained culinarians who suggest menus and even cook to a shopper's specifications.

Marcia Schurer, president of Culinary Connections in Boulder, Colo., who helped plan the market, says: "Today's customers want fast, friendly, efficient salespeople who can help them plan their daily meals and give them advice on menu selections for special occasions. They want someone who can answer questions about the prepared foods being offered and who can recommend new products to try."