The long days of summer mean that it’s time to write orders for the holiday season. This year’s prepared foods planning brings with it many new challenges and more than a few uncertainties. Will families be able to travel? How will restaurants respond? Will the recession worsen?
The LBMX event for holiday protein items opens soon, so we’ll focus on that event in this article. We plan to share additional articles over the next few months with ideas and solutions for a very different holiday season.
2020 Will Be Different
Due to COVID-19, people may be staying closer to home. Most likely they will still gather in small family and friend groups. Offering a combination of entrée solutions, individual sides and desserts or whole-meal options will help take the stress of preparation off the customer while they enjoy the co-op food they have come to love and trust.
Begin your holiday planning by focusing on key center plate menu items including turkeys and hams.
Develop the Menu
What holiday-themed dishes and specials would you like to offer? What holiday recipes are customer favorites or unique to your co-op? How can you combine items to create some bundle opportunities? For ideas and planning help, check out NCG’s Thanksgiving recipes. Cost recipes and review prices for targeted margins.
Review sales history from last year’s holiday season, and then consider current trends impacted by COVID-19. What items will you temporarily discontinue to make room for the new holiday options?
Consider the Impact of Current Events
With families potentially celebrating in smaller groups, turkey breasts and/or smaller turkeys may trend higher than past years. With the possibility of tight food budgets, shoppers may look for less expensive proteins with fewer attributes. Consider more antibiotic-free or non-GMO turkeys and fewer organic ones.
Pre-order Holiday Proteins Through LBMX
Pre-order turkeys, turkey breasts, and hams for all winter holidays in the LBMX event that opens July 9 and closes on July 28. A webinar for the 2020 Holiday Turkey and Ham program will be held on July 9.
Coordinate Across Departments
Deli and meat departments will need to work together to account for the needs of both departments.
Schedule to order other ingredients that may run short in November. For example, don’t wait until November to order canned pumpkin or cranberries, which often run out of stock in the weeks leading to the holiday.
Determine packaging needs for entrees, sides, desserts and combo meals.
Create a Merchandising and Marketing Plan
Begin planning now for a very different shopping season. We will have to be much more diligent about promoting holiday solutions.
Merchandising
• Prepared foods, meat, grocery and produce departments should work together to plan seasonal displays that best highlight holiday foods.
• Cross-merchandise and showcase limited-time seasonal products in high-profile areas to get the most customer notice.
• Combine products within a display to provide whole-meal solutions for the customer.
• Eye-level placement of foods in the grab & go will gain the most notice.
Marketing
• Use colorful posters and signage to help identify seasonal specials within each department.
• Several printable, customizable resources are available on the NCG website for holiday signage and posters.
• Direct mail postcards and modifiable coupons for a pie promotion are also available on the NCG website.
• Create and schedule your social media and advertising plans to get the word out to your customers in plenty of time for them to make plans.
• Incorporate department seasonal offerings into an online ordering guide. Use holiday promotional banners on your co-op website’s home page to draw attention to limited-time promotions.
A Successful Holiday Season Starts Now
While long-term planning may seem challenging under current conditions, working through holiday plans and evaluating key items now will result in the most efficient and complete seasonal offerings and best serve your customers with their holiday meals. We will dig deeper into more holiday-related topics over the next couple of months. The important first step is a well-thought-out holiday order for turkeys and hams.
Kristy Bowers, Meredith Provance, Colin Lyons and Chris Dick contributed to this article.
