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How
Shop 'n Save Makes a Difference
 How
Shop ’n Save Beats the Competition
By Martin
Schultz
The pre-made sandwich represents an ideal
combination — ready-to-go convenience using fresh, flavorful
ingredients at a reasonable price. That’s why consumers keep
coming back to South Fayette’s Shop ’n Save
Every Friday starting
at 7.00 am, a long table is set up at the end of the deli counter.
Five associates form a sandwich production line. Starting with
Italian bread for a 14-inch sub, they cut it lengthways, and add
lettuce and, tomato, and finally load it up with cooked ham,
Provolone cheese and hard salami.
“Our sandwich
specialists then add packets of mayo and mustard, wrap the whole
thing in paper, apply price and ingredient labels and stack up the
sandwiches at the end of the table,” explains Silvio, the deli
manager. From here, the sandwiches are loaded into a designated
section of the refrigerated deli case.
By 3:30 pm, consumers
are pulling sandwiches off the pile. This will be the evening meal
for families all over South Fayette, a tradition residents have
followed for decades.
Employees keep making
sandwiches and stacking them up. They build close to 2,600
sandwiches over a 12-hour shift, restacking the shelves almost as
fast as consumers take them out. It is no longer why they are
popular. Apart from freshness, convenience and taste, at $5.98 for
two, the sandwiches represent some of the best value to be found
in the area.
It is not until the
early evening that demand finally begins to slacken. By then, very
few sandwiches are left over. Shop ’n Save has been running its
pre-made sandwich program for eight years. And it is obviously on
to something if it is accepted that imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery.
From warehouse club
operations such as Costco and Sam’s Club, to national retail
grocery chains, the pre-made sandwich concept has recently gained
in strength and popularity. Today, drug stores, military PXs,
convenience stores, hotels, hospital cafeterias and museum cafes
have discovered the convenience of retailing the pre-made
sandwich.
As Silvio points out,
“We are constantly trying new approaches to upgrading the
consumer’s deli experience.”
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'Tis
the Season
