Gardner Merchant's Signature desserts entice customers with 'decadence.'

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 24, 1992 by Robin Lee Allen

TRUMBULL, Conn. -- Sweet tooths are the target if Gardner Merchant Food Services Inc.'s new Signature Series, a dessert program designed to vanquish willpower and health-and money-centered guilt.

Numbering 19 in all, the fancy desserts were introduced in December at 400 of the company's contract-feeding accounts nationwide. The new line is intended to boost check averages and profits by keeping customers buying dessers, which are often abstained from when people watch their wallets and their waists.

Signature Series desserts, available once a week at most account sites, have been building sales.

One unit manager estimated that his dessert sales rise by as much as 12 percent on Signature Series days, but he added that a desert cart employed at his operation might be contributing to the notable gain. The cart is rolled through the dining room to snag both the hearts and the stomachs of diners who might have displayed enough self-control to pass up the desserts arranged on the food line.

"The cart is catching a lot of people who would not normally eat a dessert," explained Rush Sherman, Gardner Merchant's account general manager at Bristol-Meyers Squib in Princeton, N.J. "Now we're bringing the food to them."

Officials at Gardner Merchant are watching Sherman's cart program with interest.

Sherman observed that customers sitting together often splurge together.

"If you can sell one, you can sell more than one," he said.

Among the Signature Series offerings: white chocolate decadence, a puff pastry filled and topped with white chocolate mousse on a pool of strawberry coulis; cranberry cream wave, a semolina pudding with a cranberry chutney; and apple valley surprise, a wine-poached apple with nut filling and vanilla custard sauce.

"We have a healthy food program, and it's our responsibility to provide that," said Alice Correri, Gardner Merchant's merchandising and design director. "But the customer makes that choice. They will eat healthy, and then they will go for the desserts. Everybody does."

The program's success record lies heavily on the presentation of the desserts, which are intended to mirror those found at fine restaurants, Correri said. The idea is to abolish customer willpower with treats that look too good to pass up.

"We're trying to present food that looks like a picture to entice customers to buy," she said. "The American public is [now] much more aware of presentation."

To ensure that the new items are properly prepared, Gardner Merchant created an extensive instructional package that includes workbooks, color photos, recipes, styling tips and production information. Unit bakers receive on-site training and have a hot line for questions.

The company also provides point-of-sale materials.

Signature Series desserts are priced considerably higher than the standard fare, such as cake, pie and flavored gelatin. Premium pricing not only covers the higher cost of production but also yields a higher profit, Gardener Merchant officials said.

"If you're selling Jell-O for 30 cents and it takes 20 cents to make, then you make a dime and have a 67-percent food cost," Sherman said. "If you charge $1.45 for white chocolate decadence and the cost is $1.20, you made 25 cents' profit, but food cost percentage is 83 percent."

He said he has charged between 95 cents and $1.45 for Signature Series desserts.