Can food retailers replicate the restaurant experience?
Have you noticed that supermarkets are now investing in the space and equipment to not only provide grab-and-go items like sandwiches, hot dogs, pizzas and other premade ready to eat food, but are also expanding their food service offerings by squeezing in ‘sit-down-and-eat’ areas in between the aisles of stocked groceries?
Supermarkets are invading restaurant terrain as they meet customers where they want to be and then offering those deals on meals, better prices and new shopping experiences. The message to customers appears to be ‘”When you come into our store, we’re food service as well. You can sit down or carry out.
All well and good…and as you stroll along the store, you might contemplate buying that meat and sauce oozing hotdog or the juicy chicken filled burger. Pause awhile though – all these food and many more, can carry contaminates that could make us fall ill. Cases of unhygienic food items prepared and sold in supermarkets have been reported, highlighting the issue of cleanliness and sanitation.
The recent video of a customer finding a cockroach running underneath food, placed inside the display cabinet, which went viral, is ample food for thought. It occurred at a supermarket operated by a reputed company, which, when listing the names (in alphabetical order) of supermarket operators in Sri Lanka - would appear right at the top.
Watching the video which captures the pesky delinquent, one hears the customer ask the staff including the store manager who was summoned, as to why the food display cabinets are not cleaned? As he questions them, more of the tiny roaches come out of hiding - in a show of defiance.
A closer scrutiny of the video reveals that many of the food hygiene principles that should prevail in a professional food commercial kitchen are not practiced. Food employees observed in the deli-area were not wearing proper hair restraints (females - nets / males - caps). No one wore gloves when handling food trays or when bringing in re-fills. The four persons observed inside the food prep area neither wore any hats or gloves. Interestingly, the food handlers all wore dark blue uniforms – hard to say how dirty or how often they are laundered. If this is visible to all and sundry, imagine how food is prepared and the level of cleanliness…inside?
I am all for supermarkets and food retailers grabbing the opportunity to attract cost-conscious consumers’ to their stores by offering their made-to-order meal options or crafting their stores around meals. Especially, when the gap between grocery and restaurant prices widens and service levels at the latter hover at or just above average.
What needs to be done by those looking to capture the essence of restaurant dining is to model their food preparation staffing after those establishments. Employees need to be educated on food hygiene and proper sanitation practices, because making sandwiches without them will simply not cut the mustard.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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