dbv

It's simple. To get consumers to buy more cheese, offer them more varieties in more places. One such place is the deli, which today is so much more than a person standing behind a counter. And the best news, deli counter operators want to offer consumers more cheese options. Are you prepared to deliver?

According to InStore Buyer (May 2005), in 2004, department sales of the in-store deli averaged $15,312 per week per store nationally. Of this figure, which encompasses the categories of deli meat, deli cheese, deli prepared foods and deli beverages, deli sandwich cheese sales had about 9.3% share. Average weekly sales of deli sandwich cheese per store were $1,428. You can help them double that figure.

InStore Buyer reports that bulk regular sandwich cheese comprised 69.1% of category dollar share, followed by pre-sliced regular sandwich cheese at 22.8%, bulk light sandwich cheese at 5.4% and pre-sliced light sandwich cheese at 2.7%. The two largest volume bulk cheeses in the deli are American (40.6% share) and Swiss (24.0%), which combined, account for nearly two thirds of subcategory sales. Provolone comes in third at 11.7% of all bulk deli cheese sales, followed by Cheddar (7.9%) and Muenster (6.3%). The most popular light deli cheese is Swiss, in both bulk (69%) and pre-sliced (70%).