Fresh fruit boosts sales of gelato at Dierbergs
In addition to promoting locally grown fresh produce in its traditional produce section, one
Dierbergs grocery store in St. Louis is keeping customers cool with fresh-fruit gelato.
The Dierbergs Market Center at 1760 Clarkson Road is home to a Benito’s Gelato, which serves up creamy Italian treats made with fresh fruits and nuts. Benito’s co-owner Judy Bellos uses an old family recipe and imported gelato machines from Italy to make the frozen treat.
Blood orange and raspberry are among the top-selling flavors of gelato, which is made with milk instead of cream so it has less fat than traditional American ice cream.
Ole Tyme Produce adds Santa Sweets
Ole Tyme Produce Inc. announced the addition of Santa Sweets Inc. tomatoes to its product lineup in its July 25 newsletter. The Daleo family has been operating Ole Tyme for more than 30 years, closing retail operations to focus on wholesale in 1985 and moving to the St. Louis Terminal Market in 1986.
Based in Plant City, Fla., Santa Sweets specializes in the santa F1 grape tomato variety, which are vine-ripened and handpicked. The company also ships its trademarked UglyRipe heirloom tomatoes, which are known for irregular shapes and distinctive individual protective foam sleeves.
Other Santa Sweets tomatoes include an organic line certified through Quality Assurance International and Sweet Ripes. The Sweet Ripes are packaged specifically for snacking in a plastic container that has vents for easy rinsing and a reclosable lid.
System helps Schnucks with inventory, orders
Operating a retail grocery business involves hundreds if not thousands of contracts. With 250 or more products in the produce aisle alone, management of contracts can easily become the giant paperwork gorilla in the middle of the room.
To ease operations, Schnucks Markets in St. Louis has opted for the contract management system from Intersource Inc., Phoenix. Intersource just rolled out the system at the end of 2010, and according to a news release from the company it can help retailers better manage their costs.
The system generates e-mail messages to the appropriate staff 90-120 days before a contract is coming up for renewal. For example, Schnucks staff recently got a reminder that the company’s cell phone contract was coming up for an automatic renewal. Staff was able to research the situation to decide whether to renew or switch companies.
A contract we signed three years ago may have been great then, but we may not need it now,” Schnucks director of procurement services John Scherer said in the release. “If we allow auto-renewals without review, we may get stuck paying for something we don’t need.”
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