Help Customers Get Set for the Holidays
Encourage Rib Roast Sales!
Looking for a new and exciting way to boost sales around the holidays? Here’s an idea that incorporates several departments within your supermarket and helps you build lasting relationships with your manufacturing partners, community and customers.
Host a consumer cooking and Holiday Entertaining 101 class! With a little help from your fellow department "experts" and a dash of holiday cheer, this class will bring customers into your store during a crucial sales time and despite economic concerns.
Rib roast sales peak around the holidays, so make the holiday roast the centerpiece of your class to help your customers conquer the fear of preparing and carving incorrectly. Choose a recipe to highlight, such as a classic Rib Roast with Yorkshire Puddings and work with the other featured departments to create coordinating dishes.
- Create a "Holiday Guidebook" for your customers, including the highlighted rib roast recipe, plus one or two recipes for other roasts from the Ad Planner
- Be sure to include coupons from manufacturers or suppliers.
- Ask your fellow department managers for copies of the recipes they will be featuring during the class. For departments that may not have recipes, such as Floral or Wine, ask them to provide a "Helpful Holiday Tips" sheet to include in your Guidebook.
- Include order forms to encourage customers to place early orders for floral displays, appetizer trays and bakery rolls and desserts. Each department can offer a discount for orders the day of the class.
How to Start
- Hold the class in your store by setting up chairs and a demonstration area. Be sure to leave room to take tickets and include an area for displays for non-perishable items to be set up – fancy desserts and holiday floral arrangements, for example.
- Ask department managers to conduct the presentations.
- Have staff members prepare featured recipes in bulk to sample after each presentation.
- Ask customers to sign up at the store and limit participation to 20-30 people.
- Offer the class shortly before Thanksgiving, when people are beginning to think about the holidays, but before they get too busy. Promote the class as a "way to reduce holiday stress" before it sets in.
Get other store departments involved! Their skills and products are just as important to your customers and help create a perfect holiday evening. Involving as many other departments as possible allows others to share the responsibilities. Plus, your customers will truly appreciate the “one-stop-shop” approach to making their holidays simple but elegant.
Meat – Present the main course, a holiday beef roast. Demonstrate the correct way to prep the roast, explain the temperatures for proper doneness (include a chart or table in your Holiday Guidebook!) and show the right way to use a meat thermometer to check internal temperature. Finally, have a cooked roast ready to be carved and show how deceptively simple carving a rib roast is. Serve samples from the roast you are carving, and be sure to show your "students" how the doneness changes as you progress to the center of the roast. Check out the "Beef for the Holidays" module in the new Beef Training Camp for more information on Holiday Roasts.
- Bakery – Demonstrate a few simple appetizer recipes. Prepare both appetizer and dessert recipes for sampling after the class.
- Produce – Create colorful, delicious and nutritious side dishes and sauces. Be sure to include a recipe for cranberry sauce and explain which seasonal fruits and vegetables best compliment a beef roast!
- Wine/Beverage – Use the recipes selected by the other departments to recommend wine pairings for each course. Discuss other beverage options for the holidays, like spiked Hot Chocolate or Hot Mulled Cider and be sure to suggest non-alcoholic options, such as a sparkling punch, for little elves and Santa's helpers who may not drink. Create a non-alcoholic beverage or offer a wine sample for customers to enjoy while tasting the demonstrated recipes.
- Floral – Teach simple arrangement creation and offer tips on which colors and types of décor are popular this season. Provide wreath and centerpiece samples to create a festive class atmosphere.
Customers aren't the only ones feeling the economic crunch. How can you get partners to help you finance this opportunity?
- Manufacturer partners can help pay for the class, as well as offer coupons or goodie bags to accompany your Holiday Guidebook.
- Charge a nominal fee for the event, to create value as well as ensure an attendance commitment. Charge a smaller fee for advance tickets and offer tickets at the door for a slightly increased price.
Get the word out! Promote your event through the community using these simple tips.
- Offer limited tickets through local media promotions or charity events.
- Donate ticket sale proceeds to your local food pantry or other charitable organization in your community.
- View sample public service announcements and script ideas here, so you can promote this through your local media and help build sales.