A&P uncorks new food and beverage merch pairings

MONTVALE, N.J. —A&P has been shaking up its food business, but now the supermarket operator is turning its attention to beverages, which will play a more concerted role in its pitch to consumers. The retailer is putting forth an effort to reshape the customer shopping experience and build on the trend of better integrating beverages into food-related initiatives.

Adult beverages are critical in more ways than one. In a move that will change how the company addresses and integrates its beer, wine and spirits business on a company-wide basis, A&P has purchased Best Cellars, a New York City-based wine retailer that has gained some notoriety with its Great Wines for Everyday merchandising strategy.

Rather than place of origin, the five-store Best Cellars chain focuses on selling by flavor, a method designed to make it easier for wine consumers in the United States, who already tend to care more about the grape a wine is made from than the appellation of its cultivation, to select wine to their tastes. Best Cellars wine designations include Fizzy, Fresh, Luscious, Juice, Smooth, Big and Sweet.

Joshua Wesson, Best Cellars co-founder, will join A&P as senior director of beer, wine and spirits. A&P will retain Best Cellars locations in its core markets, including two Manhattan units, but will sell those outside its main selling area. The disposition of two units in Boston, once discussed in terms of a sale, is being evaluated by A&P and they may have another fate, perhaps even as licensed operations, company sources said.

Wesson will report to Rebecca Philbert, A&P senior vp of merchandising and supply and logistics. He has been tasked with transforming the supermarket retailer’s free-standing and in-store beer, wine and spirits operations employing the kind of methods that Best Cellars developed.

Best Cellars’ approach to merchandising not only makes wine more approachable to novice purchasers, which can help grow sales, but also provides a solid basis for promoting food and drink pairings, Philbert toldRetailing Today. Promoting food and adult beverages together is important to A&P’s evolving strategy. The company has been placing more emphasis on premium perishables, specialty service and international grocery in its new and remodeled stores, which are based on what the company calls its Fresh prototype. It recently unveiled a new generation Fresh store built on previous Fresh models and customer reaction to its even more gourmet-oriented Food Emporium units in and around New York City.

Yet, A&P faces a challenge in adult beverage operations, given that state laws in its market area vary greatly as regards to how beer, wine and spirits may be sold. For example, in New York, beer can legally be sold in supermarkets, but not wine and liquor, which only can be sold in liquor stores. Supermarkets can’t sell adult beverages in New Jersey, but can sell beer, wine and spirits from adjoining liquor stores.

Thus, to pair food and adult beverages requires both cleverness and flexibility. In New York, wine can’t be merchandised adjacent to convenience meals, but beer might be. In New Jersey, the trick is to get someone who purchases a fresh made pizza in the A&P deli to stop at the adjacent liquor store to purchase a bottle of Chianti, or vice versa.

“We have been able to create circular events pairing food and beverages, as well as lifestyle-oriented circulars that communicate to diverse demographics,” said Philbert. “Now, we want to use the Best Cellars concept across our wine, beer and spirits business, to complement meal occasions. We can provide convenience solutions, educate consumers—for example, you can enjoy red wine with chicken—and actually coupon to the consumer who might shop the free-standing liquor store, but not the supermarket.”

Beverages are becoming so important to A&P that the company is playing both sides of adult drinkables, launching its first licensed Starbucks in November at a Fort Lee, N.J., A&P Fresh supermarket. Three more Starbucks kiosks are scheduled to open in New Jersey Fresh supermarkets by year’s end. More will follow “where they make sense,” as new Fresh stores are added to the A&P portfolio, Philbert said. Adjacencies and product relationships, including the Starbucks products in the grocery section, are being developed to maximize the impact of the up-front Starbucks kiosks.