Blue Goose Market’s new store positions bakery first. Explore how the independent supermarket designed its bakery to introduce and complement other fresh departments.
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Seeing the potential of the department and its ability to boost the store's fresh image, Blue Goose management made its bakery and perishables departments a priority in its new store, which opened in March last year.
“We set the tone for the rest of the store,” says Bakery Manager Scott Schwartz. “St. Charles is a small town. They [top management] realize the importance of bakery when they step out into the community and hear from our customers.”
Founded in 1928 and still owned and operated by the Lencioni family, Blue Goose is a landmark in the West Chicago suburb, which has a vital downtown of its own. As part of a $100 million St. Charles revitalization project, Blue Goose built a new store 50 percent larger than its previous location. The store features a greatly expanded bakery, deli, produce, meat, floral/gift and frozen food department. The bakery also hosts a coffee bar with dedicated register. An outdoor seating area, available during spring, summer and autumn, offers barbecue fare.
Construction of the new store took about a year, and the old Blue Goose store remained open amid a literal construction zone from city works projects surrounding the store. Blue Goose lost electricity a few times and even had to evacuate the store during a gas leak. The electricity was out long enough in one incidence to force the bakery to call customers to cancel or postpone cake orders. “That's when I realized how far our cake business came from,” Schwartz says. He called clients as far away as Rockford, Ill., about an hour drive from St. Charles.
Designing the new store, which is located across the block from the old store, required significant planning and coordination between department managers and company owners. David Lencioni, president, and Mary Pearson, vice president, had final say in the design, but involved General Manager Dale Insteford and department managers particularly in planning the expanded fresh departments.
“David Lencioni was instrumental in making sure the refrigeration and freezer space will suit our needs for the coming years,” Schwartz says.
Of course not every item on department managers' wish lists were granted, but the in-store bakery department received a welcome overhaul in several key areas:
More space — The in-store bakery, including retail and production space, is about three times the size of its former location.
Labor saving equipment — Two new rack ovens and a pan washer increase production capacity and save labor.
Updated design in the retail area — Attractive showcases and well-positioned merchandising displays improved customer flow and shopping experience.
A coffee bar — Coffee products and the dedicated cash register offer customer convenience and a natural sales boost to breakfast pastries and other bakery products.
Allotting more space to the bakery was critical, not only to display products for greater sales, but also to improve production efficiency. Two rack ovens have allowed the bakery to expand its bread line and offer fresher products with more day baking. The day baker has taken over some of the things the night baker used to do, such as Danish and coffee cakes, so the aroma of fresh baking tempts customers through late afternoon.
Blue Goose's bread line, produced primarily from frozen dough, has become one of the bakery's signatures with the prominent sales space and broader selection made possible by the walk-in freezer for storage and cooler for retarding doughs overnight.
The cooler space also gave a boost to the cake side of the business, which has increased sales by more than 30 percent over cake sales in the previous store. Frozen cake layers are base iced and prepped for decorating, and finished cakes are stored in the walk-in cooler awaiting customer pick-ups.
With greater production capacity comes more clean up, so a new pan washer was an essential addition. “We love it. It is thorough and easy to use. Plus it is more sanitary than washing by hand,” Schwartz says. The deli department uses it in the evenings.
Merchandising improvements, including displaying more products in service cases, further enhanced the cake program. A refrigerated service case dedicated to decorated and mousse cakes spotlights the cake line and provides an upscale image. Some clamshell packaged cakes and cake slices are displayed for grab-and-go convenience in a refrigerated reach-in case positioned in front of the cake decorating station. Decorators work at the station in full view of customers, who often ask for piped messages on the packaged cakes.
The bakery also dropped a tired line of dessert cakes and added a variety of 8-in. and 6-in. mousse cakes finished with eye-catching glazes and decorative garnishes, such as fresh fruit and chocolates. Schwartz says the cakes have really taken off because they are different from what other in-stores are doing, and they show off the bakery staff's creativity.
“They [bakery staff] are so proud of our bakery,” he says. “I have nothing to do with their creativity; I just don't hold them back.”
Leaving much of the product line creativity to the bakers, pastry chef and cake decorators, Schwartz can focus on merchandising and sales strategies. The bakery cross merchandises products throughout the store where appropriate, but the deli provides the most opportunity for the two departments to promote one another. French breads are displayed in baskets next to the deli's signature chicken soup and the rotisserie chicken heated case. The soup and bread combination is further promoted through signage and a sticker label: “Try our homemade chicken soup and fresh baked bread for dinner tonight.”
For St. Patrick's Day this year, the bakery was part of a special merchandising program that included in-store produced Irish soda bread, corn beef and cabbage and Irish beer. Schwartz and his team help plan similar holiday and event-related promotions throughout the year.
One of the biggest boosts to bakery sales from complementary products is the addition of the coffee bar with dedicated cash register. “It is great for morning sales. Customers come in and want to get in and out quickly,” Schwartz says. Customers regularly stop at the bakery to purchase a cup of coffee while they shop the rest of the store. If they don't purchase a pastry to go with their coffee, coffee customers have at least stopped in the bakery where other self-service displays of packaged bakery products often make the cart for serving at home.
Building the new Blue Goose required some compromise as well, even with as much as the bakery gained. Schwartz says the bakery could use additional space in the production area, and the one missing item from his equipment wish list is a semi-automatic cookie cutter. For the most part, though, he is pleased with the way things turned out. In-store bakery sales have increased at least 30 percent in the new store, and the department contributes more than 7 percent to total stores sales.
Schwartz commends Blue Goose executive management for recognizing the potential of a top-notch in-store bakery. “Too often you have people who run grocery stores that try to run the in-store bakery like aisle four,” he says. “It doesn't work like that. That's always been the plague of the in-store operator.”
Luckily for Schwartz and his in-store bakery team, that plague bypassed Blue Goose Market.
Founded: 1928
Number of stores/in-store bakeries: 1/1
Store size: 30,000 sq. ft.
Bakery size: 2,000 sq. ft.
New store grand opening: March 9, 2008
Market served: St. Charles, Ill. and west Chicago suburbs
Product line: full line, including crusty, specialty and artisan breads, decorated and mousse cakes, pastries, cookies, donuts, brownies, Danish and other sweetgoods
Management: David Lencioni, president; Mary Pearson, vice president; Dale Insteford, general manager; Scott Schwartz, bakery manager
Major equipment: vertical mixer, proofer, two rack ovens, pan washer, walk-in refrigerator, walk-in freezer
Production methods: frozen dough, 50%; scratch/mix, 30%; thaw and sell, 20%
Bakery distributors: BakeMark, Dawn Food Products, Lapari
Plans: add a line of large gourmet cupcakes; adjust product line for customers struggling in current economy; explore more in-store promotions and cross merchandising opportunities with other departments
| A sampling of Blue Goose prices | |
| (St. Charles, Ill.) | |
| Bagel | $0.59 |
| Bread, French, 16 ozs. | $1.99 |
| Bread, cinnamon raisin, 16 ozs. | $3.69 |
| Bread, artisan baguette, 16 ozs. | $2.09 |
| Brownie, chocolate iced | $1.69 |
| Brownie, caramel turtle | $2.29 |
| Cream puff | $2.09 |
| Croissant | $0.89 |
| Decorated cake, 1/4 sheet, double layer | $34.99 |
| Decorated cake, 8-in. round, double layer | $18.49 |
| Decorated cake, 1/2 sheet, double layer | $52.99 |
| Donut | $0.69 |
| Éclair | $2.99 |
| Mousse torte, strawberry, 6 in. round | $12.99 |
| Pie, apple, 9 ins. | $8.49 |
Blue Goose Market quick view
Founded: 1928
Market served: St. Charles, Ill. and west Chicago suburbs
Store size/bakery size: 35,000 sq. ft./2,000 sq. ft.
Bakery contribution to store sales: 7%
Management: David Lencioni, president; Mary Pearson, vice president; Dale Insteford, general manager; Scott Schwartz, bakery manager
Company website:www.bluegoosemarket.com
Major bakery equipment: vertical mixer, proofer, two rack ovens, pan washer, walk-in refrigerator, walk-in freezer
Primary bakery distributors:
BakeMark www.bakemarkusa.com
Dawn Food Products www.dawnfoods.com
Lipari Foods www.liparifoods.com/