Rising To The Occasion

Retailers and manufacturers find novel ways to drive shoppers to the baking aisle.

It began with a simple invitation.

For a recent spring baking campaign, which ran from March 5 to April 30, West Sacramento, Calif.-based Raley's invited 3,000 members (a.k.a. "advocates") of its "Try-It" program who had previously purchased items in the baking category. An extension of Raley's "Something Extra" rewards program, Try-It enables consumers to sample, share and provide feedback on the grocer's products and services. (For more about the overall Something Extra Try-It program, check out the May 2013 Progressive Grocer Tech section.)

Campaign participants received a baking kit containing Raley's Vanilla Bean Baking Mix as well as five pass-along coupons for $1 off any Raley's Baking Mix, available in lemon, chocolate, vanilla or scone varieties. "These coupons were for the advocates to share with their friends and family, as well as enjoy themselves if they decided they wanted to try our other flavors," explains Kayla Anthony, Raley's marketing specialist.

"We … got members engaged by asking them to share pictures of their decorated cupcakes, and in return they were awarded Something Extra points," she adds. "We received over 129 photos of decorated cupcakes, some even including their children getting involved."

As well as online word of mouth, the program has Try-It Reviews, in which members reveal what they like — or don't like — about sampled products. "With this campaign, we had an overwhelming response of positive reviews — over 90 percent were very positive," enthuses Anthony.

Raley's isn't alone in wanting to drive traffic to its baking aisle. Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets Inc. runs periodic promotions with just that aim.

"Publix has eight cooking schools," explains Maria Brous, the grocer's director of media and community relations. "Typically, we offer baking classes during the holiday season at our schools. Some of the classes include holiday baking, cookie classes and holiday bread baking. While the class names remain the same, each year we look for fresh, new menu items for these classes. Our chefs submit new menu ideas, and we monitor for trends as well."

In common with Raley's, Publix found that cupcakes had become "very popular," according to Brous, so the grocer held holiday baking classes with cupcake recipes. "Our baking classes traditionally focus on from-scratch recipes, and we do promote items from our baking aisle, such as flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.," she adds. "In addition, this is a great opportunity to cross-promote Publix private label products, if available."

While growing the baking category is a perennial endeavor at Publix, there's a particular emphasis on special occasions. "Throughout the year, there are opportunities to cross-promote and build secondary baking displays in our stores," notes Brous. "The holidays are traditionally the perfect time of year for this type of offering. We offer customers great value (sale items) and the convenience of having the most common baking items displayed in one location."

Flour Show

"The holiday season is always the peak of the baking season," agrees Terri Rosenstock, public relations manager at Norwich, Vt.-based King Arthur Flour, billed as "America's oldest flour company," which last year added Self-Rising Flour and Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix to its product lineup. "We always try to connect with those traditions by offering recipes and other baking ideas to tie into each specific season."

To inspire greater creativity among home bakers whatever the time of year, "King Arthur Flour offers over 2,000 free recipes at kingarthurflour.com and publishes step-by-step recipes regularly on the company's blog," says Rosenstock.

Additionally, with its on-site and on-the-road baking education programs, King Arthur is the largest educator of home bakers in the world. The company conducts fall and winter Traveling Baking Demo tours for thousands of bakers nationwide, brings demonstrations to third- through seventh-grade students through its Life Skills Bread Baking Program, offers a variety of classes at its Baking Education Center in Norwich, and publishes The Baking Sheet, a newsletter of recipes and baking information.

Nuts for Baking

With regard to the baking nut segment, special occasions also loom large. "The holiday season is key for us," affirms Howard Brandeisky, VP-global marketing and customer solutions at Elgin, Ill.-based John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc., the parent company of Fisher Nuts. "It is the most popular time for buying recipe nuts. In fact, the October-through-December holiday period accounts for over 40 percent of annual Fisher recipe nut sales."

This past year, Sanfilippo supported the brand through a tie-in program with Karo corn syrup, "which, of course, is a key ingredient for pecan pie and other great baking recipes," notes Brandeisky. The program included a retail display program, a recipe tearpad featuring a three-nut pie recipe and a "Buy 2 Fisher Get 1 Karo Free" retail offer. "The response from both retailers and consumers was overwhelmingly positive," he says. "It was so positive that we expect to execute other recipe tie-in programs in the future."

According to Brandeisky, Fisher display programs, particularly during the holiday season, "are critical for the brand and for our retail partners. During the holiday time period, product movement is so great that without a display program, our retail partners run out of stock and miss important sales opportunities. We support our display programs with compelling pricing, recipe offers and tie-ins as an added incentive to purchase, and appetizing product visuals."

Beyond the holidays, Fisher Nuts and the Food Network became partners last fall, with Alex Guarnaschelli, host of the show "Chopped," acting as spokeswoman for the Fisher brand. "This integrated equity marketing program is supported by video recipe vignettes that air on the Food Network, print executions and social media vehicles," says Brandeisky. Bolstered by Guarnaschelli's contributions, Fisher offers a wide variety of recipe ideas for consumers via its website (www.fishernuts.com), in-store executions and print.

As a result of such efforts, "Fisher recipe nuts has seen very strong growth this past year, having reported double-digit gains in each of the last two fiscal quarters," notes Brandeisky.

Oil Change

Right now, oil isn't the most popular ingredient used by American home bakers, but if Bill Monroe, director of marketing at Baltimore-based Pompeian Inc., had his way, it would be.

Noting that "healthy and delicious" grapeseed and extra-light olive oils are particularly suitable for baking, Monroe explains that they don't add flavor to the finished product and have high smoke points, making them ideal for high-temperature cooking. What's more, baked goods made with oil, rather than butter, lard or vegetable shortening, stay moist longer and contain no saturated fats, he points out.

Since, as Monroe notes, oil purchasers buy higher-end products, leading to larger baskets, it behooves retailers to get shoppers to use more oil, including when they bake. To help attract these customers, Pompeian has introduced its grapeseed oil in a spray delivery system that can be used to grease baking pans, which should then be topped by a sprinkling of flour. The all-natural, naturally gluten-free "wonder product," as Monroe calls it, is expected to achieve natural distribution in late August or early September.

To encourage more consumers to bake with oil, Pompeian works with in-store nutritionists to disseminate information via grocers' newsletters, signage and other store materials; plans baking-themed ads to coincide with fall baking season; offers a wealth of baking recipes online at www.pompeian.com; and embarks on co-op programs with retailers in November to provide baking recipes for the retailers' circulars and websites.

"We offer customers great value and the convenience of having the most common baking items displayed in one location."

—Maria Brous, Publix