“I was very skeptical of the wing bar being brought to my Town & Country store in Valparaiso, Ind., because wings have never been a strong item in our deli,” reports deli manager Carrie Spencer. That impression changed dramatically for Spencer when Larry Malchick, deli director of Strack & Van Til, Town & Country and Ultra Foods parent company, elected to implement the Tyson program in his stores. Assisted by their broker, Scooter Bay Sales Company, wing bars were added to the Valparaiso store as well as to Ultra Foods in Highland, Ind.
Wing sales at Town & Country went from an average of $400 per week to “well in excess of $2,000 each and every week through the football season,” reports Spencer.
Equally exciting results were reported at Ultra Foods. Taking advantage of the Midwest’s oldest sports rivalry, the wing bar at Ultra Foods opened the weekend of the highly anticipated Bears vs. Packers playoff football game. “We hit the floor with product sampling and shopper education of the product and the self-service case,” reflects Anne Hill, Highland Ultra Foods deli manager. Their total sales during game day netted out to $1,300, but the hardworking deli staff members weren’t fully satisfied. They kept up the momentum during the next few weeks leading up to football’s Championship Game. “Customers swarmed the wing bar all the way through the first half of the game,” Hill recalls. “That Sunday sales totaled nearly $2,000!”
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