Grocery Guru Ep 5: Discussing the Deli Counter Demise

We all love them, buy a treat from them occasionally, but have they had their day? Are we witnessing the demise of the Deli Counter? Is it time to put them out to pasture?

You Can Read the Full Deli Counter Demise Episode Transcript Below:

Darren A. Smith:

Welcome to week five with the Grocery Guru, there is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing?

Andrew Grant:

Yeah. Good morning. I think it's still good morning, Darren. But suffice to say I'm in mourning.

Darren A. Smith:

You are in mourning.

Andrew Grant:

See what I did there? See what I did there?

The Demise of the Deli Counter

 

Darren A. Smith:

I see that was a good double pun. I understand you're in mourning because of some news about some counters. Is that right?

Andrew Grant:

Yeah. Sainsbury's closing all their meat, fish, and deli counters, which was ground zero for me as a fresh face graduate buying fish for Sainsbury's fish counters. So a little bit of history ending for me so hence the small little tear of regret.

Darren A. Smith:

So the retail landscape, the high street is changing, counters are going for one of the big supermarkets. But interestingly, I also read that Waitrose has taken advantage of this and put more lines, extended their range on their counters.

Andrew Grant:

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I've got a sneaking suspicion that a person with a calculator and a red pen made the decision to close those counters. If you dial into their half-year results presentation to the city, they said they'll save 60 million by closing the counters. Now their underlying profits are really 300 million, so that's a good 20% of profits that will get boosted when they close them. So I think it's very much been a financial decision.

Darren A. Smith:

And I'm not surprised by that. Now, did you know that MBM used to have a sister business called MCM?

Andrew Grant:

Well, I do remember you used to be in the counter business because the other point I was going to make it all right, you're going to save 60 million in operating costs. But what do you do with all that metal and perspex and refrigeration and yeah, it's an expensive kit.

Darren A. Smith:

So we used to be very big into counters. At one point for four years, we coached all the food counter people at Sainsbury's and then made a great market share difference for them. They then took it in-house and we took the idea to Tesco, had a team of 60 people coaching all the people behind counters. So I know a bit about it. Now what one of the Tesco's guys said at the time, was the counters was the window to fresh. And if shoppers saw counters looking good and feeling good and it was intangible, they said that was something we need to keep. Because it keeps shoppers coming in, even though they didn't buy from it.

Andrew Grant:

Well, I think that was unfortunately the reality. Having spent a bit of time on fresh fish and deli, unfortunately, yeah, it's poor Mrs. Miggins or Mr. Miggins shuffling along to buy six slices of crumbed ham for their lunches. So the only stuff that ever sold was the basic stuff, your pork pies and your breaded ham and cheddar cheese, which obviously you can also get in pre-pack. So the only people who tended to buy on the deli counters were people wanting tiny, tiny portions. And yeah, I can remember doing it myself trying to launch exotic stuff, exotic hams, and exotic sausages and God knows what. It just didn't sell and then after about six weeks, you get all the store managers and area managers complaining about waste. So you took the easy decision. I think it's a real shame.

Darren A. Smith:

It is. It is a shame. Unfortunately, I see counters and always did, a bit like a turkey at Christmas. I wouldn't have a Christmas without one but I don't necessarily think about it first.

Andrew Grant:

Yeah. Yeah. It is going to be interesting to see whether the decision will come and bite Sainsbury's in the bum.