The third-largest U.S. grocer is reaching out to time-pressed, value-conscious consumers by adding "destinations" to more than 1,300 of its stores featuring easy-to-assemble meal solutions.
Supervalu this week launched its Simply Good Meals™ program, available in all of its supermarket chains: Acme, Albertsons, Bigg's, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy.
Most stores will contain up to four Simply Good Meals destinations: two in the produce department, one in the meat department and one in the deli department. One destination, called 4:15™, will feature a selection of items geared toward mothers seeking to prepare a healthy meal for a family of four in a timely manner for under USD 15 (EUR 11).
"Research shows that most people don't know at 4 o'clock what they are having for dinner that night, and in many cases these hurry-up meals result in less-than-balanced and more expensive food choices," said Jim Smits, Supervalu's VP of fresh foods merchandising. "We wanted to make it easier for our customers to answer that inevitable 'what's for dinner?' question by providing them with simple, convenient, affordable ideas for creating a real home-cooked meal."
Supervalu cited a 2008 Food Marketing Institute survey that found 71 percent of consumers are cooking at home more often and eating out less frequently. The company also pointed to NPD Group research that showed nearly 53 percent of consumers on weekdays decide what's for dinner less than two hours before the meal.
The Minneapolis company has annual sales of about USD 45 billion (EUR 33.3 billion).
