»SUPERMARKET & FOODSERVICE PANEL
sumer to a website featuring recipes. The
site is optimized for smart phones and illustrated with photos of tempting-looking
dishes so the consumer can easily pick a
recipe and buy the ingredients while he
or she is in the store.
Yum Brands use social media
Each of the ;ve major Yum brands –
KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John
Silver and A&W – have a Facebook page
and a Twitter feed, said Mike Ledford,
senior director of purchasing for poultry
for the Uni;ed Foodservice Purchasing
Co-Op based in Louisville, Ky. The co-
op serves the company’s 21,000 locations
across all brands.
Customers seem to be enthusiastic
about the new media. KFC’s Facebook
page, for example, has 3. 5 million friends
and its Twitter account has over 69,000
followers. The company’s Twitter staff
engages in banter with individual fol-
BUYER SNAPSHOTS
Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc. Headquarters: Milwaukee Founded: 1872 Units: 156 Annual Sales: $4 billion CEO: Robert A. Mariano Retail Banners: Pick ‘N Save Copps Rainbow Metro Market Mariano’s Fresh Market Represented by: Jim Beauvais, vice president of meat & seafood
Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-Op
Headquarters: Louisville, Kentucky
Founded: 1980
CEO: Daniel E. Woodside
Units: Serves over 21,000 restaurants under
the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Sil-
ver’s and A&W banners
Annual expenditures on food: $4.7 billion
Represented by: Mike Ledford, senior director of
purchasing, poultry
Save-A-Lot Food Stores
Headquarters: St. Louis
Founded: 1977
lowers, takes complaints about service
issues and keep followers posted on
promotional activities at the stores. Social
media serves the company’s goal of “
attracting younger consumers while keeping our core,” which skews somewhat
older, Ledford said.
Jason’s Deli builds ‘digital
district’
Jason’s Deli is a quick-service concept based in Beaumont, Texas, with
225 units in 28 states. The
company allows its fans to
post to its Facebook page,
which yields overwhelmingly
positive comments (“Organic
turkey wrap was great today!”
wrote one fan) sprinkled with
some complaints about service at
particular locations, which allows the
management to zoom in on problem
areas.
A unit of Schwan Food Company Headquarters: Marshall, Minnesota Founded: 1975 (parent company founded 1948) CEO: Gregory Flack (Schwan Food Company) Sales: Privately held Represented by: Michael Pennella, senior vice president & general manager, national accounts
CEO: Santiago Roces
Units: 1,285 stores; 15 distribution centers
Sales: Not stated separately from parent
company SuperValu
Represented by: Robert Orton, director, meat and
seafood Schwan’s Food Service
Headquarters: Beaumont, Texas
Founded: 1976
CEO: Joe Tortorice Jr.
Units: 225
Sales: Privately held
Represented by: Ed Wahlenmaier, director of
purchasing
“We are building a digital district
for promoting the brand cost-effectively
via Google, Facebook and other similar
means,” said Ed Wahlenmaier, director
of purchasing. “Social media is a very
big player for us.”
Hitting the price point
The fact that chicken sells for less
money per pound than beef or pork is
a longstanding source of competitive
advantage. But that isn’t the only reason
Social media serves KFC’s
goal of “attracting young-
er consumers while keep-
ing our core,” which skews
somewhat older.
– Mike Ledford, Yum Brands
chicken is attractive to food manufacturers, according to Michael Pennella,
senior vice president & general manager, national accounts, Schwan’s Food
Service. The unit is part of Schwan Food
Company of Marshall, Minnesota, which
manufactures and distributes a wide variety of frozen products. The company
is famous for its ;eet of buff-colored
home delivery trucks, but it also sells into
supermarkets and foodservice outlets,
including schools.
“Chicken right now, as we all know,
is the less expensive protein, but it also
;avors the best,” he said. “There is a lot
you can do to ;avor chicken that you
can’t do with pork and beef.”
Schwan’s is currently at work on
variations of the empanada, the meat or
fruit-;lled pastry ubiquitous in Latin cui-
sines, he said. New products will include
variations with beef, pork, chicken and
sometimes seafood, he said.
“Chicken more often than not makes
it to the ;nals with both consumers and
with the trade, because we can reach
food cost percentages at the chains,
which would retail it between a full-size
sandwich and an appetizer or snack,”
he said.
