A lot of people come to our store for the food the chef makes from scratch, like the ham salad, chicken salad, crab cakes, pasta salad etc. But now they're getting rid of all that. I don't get it, it was a draw for some customers who say they come out of their way to this kroger to get that stuff. The ham salad is easily the best seller. But now they're getting rid of it? Many people are not happy. We've replaced everything with salad kits that come in a box.
Another reason is they simply can't find enough good chefs who are willing to work for what Kroger pays them. It's the same way with the bakery department. They got rid of a lot of the in-store baked breads and rolls and went to parbaked or fully baked items because they can't find enough qualified bakers who are willing to work for what Kroger pays. I've visited several Kroger stores and while there are some good bakers, there are some pretty lousy ones too.
Another reason is they simply can't find enough good chefs who are willing to work for what Kroger pays them. It's the same way with the bakery department. They got rid of a lot of the in-store baked breads and rolls and went to parbaked or fully baked items because they can't find enough qualified bakers who are willing to work for what Kroger pays. I've visited several Kroger stores and while there are some good bakers, there are some pretty lousy ones too.
It shouldn't be a problem with our store though. We've had the same chef for 14 years and he's not going anywhere any time soon. Now all he does is mix the salads.
Another reason is they simply can't find enough good chefs who are willing to work for what Kroger pays them. It's the same way with the bakery department. They got rid of a lot of the in-store baked breads and rolls and went to parbaked or fully baked items because they can't find enough qualified bakers who are willing to work for what Kroger pays. I've visited several Kroger stores and while there are some good bakers, there are some pretty lousy ones too.
It shouldn't be a problem with our store though. We've had the same chef for 14 years and he's not going anywhere any time soon. Now all he does is mix the salads.
You've heard of the expression, "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel"? Well, in Kroger's case, instead of bringing the bad people up to standard, they simply lower the standards. The same can be said for a lot of things.
It seems to me corporate wants as much control over its stores as possible, which in turn limits the freedom of what management and department heads and the like can do. Everything is supposed to be uniform among all the stores, with the same procedures followed and the same experience delivered to customers. From my experience, it doesn't matter if you do something that works well in your store - if it's not part of Key Retailing/Best Practices/the Kroger "Bible" then forget it. New ideas and creativity and individuality and stuff like that aren't what corporate wants. In the case of the Chef Shop, that's probably how it is, too. Kroger likely wants all chefs preparing the same dishes/sides and whatnot at all Kroger stores because Kroger wants to maximize profit and will want chefs to prepare what's most likely to sell, based on studies and surveys and whatnot compiled by Kroger's marketing research.
It may also be that Kroger wants to "play it safe". It's safer to just store expense stuff from the frozen food aisle or get salad kits or stuff like that than to be making stuff from scratch. Like, if you're making stuff from scratch, you may not be able to list all the ingredients and you certainly can't list nutritional information, whereas if you get the food from a box/container/etc... you have that information all right there for customers. There's a bigger risk of a lawsuit over someone getting sick if he or she gets sick from food made from scratch versus the stuff that comes from the frozen food/dry grocery aisles. Kroger is all about minimizing risk while at the same time minimizing cost, and this is how to do it when it comes to the Chef Shops, in my opinion.
-- Edited by GenesisOne on Wednesday 10th of February 2016 09:01:23 PM
It comes down to getting rid of workers to save having to pay them. I predict they will get rid of both deli and bakery for that reason. Everything just sold off the shelves. I never understood why people paid more to have their meat and cheese sliced when it's right there on the shelf, pre-packaged and cheaper.
I will miss the summer slaw...
They'll never get rid of the deli or bakery. As long as customers think the products are of a higher and fresher quality in those departments when compared with what's on the shelves in the other parts of the store, they'll keep buying them.
Yeah, with all the new stuff that the deli's coming out with (build your own mac and cheese? I go to the deli now JUST FOR THAT), I highly doubt they'll get rid of the deli.
