Last updated on March 25th, 2021 at 07:23 pm
Karns Quality Foods in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, took top honors in Supervalu’s 2016 national “Beef Stampede” contest. The annual merchandising contest is a month-long program held each fall to showcase beef as a dinner plate staple. More than 120 grocery retailers nationwide served by Supervalu’s independent wholesale distribution business participated in the contest.
“Supervalu applauds all of the participating retailers for their exceptional programs aimed at increasing awareness of beef as an essential part of dinner,” said Mike Flack, regional director of merchandising at Supervalu. “We congratulate Karns Quality Foods’ Harrisburg store for their hard work at executing a creative marketing campaign for the Beef Stampede contest.”
Karns Quality Foods’ winning campaign featured a comprehensive program that included advertising, digital and social media promotions, a “Win 100 Pounds of Beef” sweepstakes, recipes and in-store merchandising to drive awareness and engagement with customers throughout the store. The campaign resulted in an 11 percent increase in sales.
“Karns Foods has always been proud of our full-service meat department and the Beef Stampede was the perfect opportunity to drive that message home. It allowed us to engage with our customers and highlight the quality and variety of our store’s meat department,” said Scott Karns, owner and CEO of Karns Foods. “The contest was a great opportunity for our employees to have fun and show their creativity. The hard work everyone on our team put into the campaign really paid off.”
In addition to receiving the overall grand prize, Karns was selected as the East region winner. The winning retailer in the West region was the Daniels’ Foods Sentry store in west Janesville, Wisconsin, whose program featured western-themed décor and events, a chili cook-off and a steak and charcoal grill giveaway, along with advertisements and social promotions.
Winners by region are:
East
• Karns Quality Foods, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania—first place
• Centre Shop ‘n Save, Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania
• Hall’s Supermarket, Colonial Beach, Virginia
• Western Market, Mountain Brook, Alabama
• Vowell’s Marketplace, Forest, Mississippi
• Hitchcock’s Supervalu Foods, Keystone Height, Florida
West
• Daniels’ Foods Sentry, west Janesville, Wisconsin—first place
• Dick’s Fresh Market, River Falls, Wisconsin
• Reese and Ray’s IGA, Laurel, Montana
• Eureka IGA, Eureka, Illinois
• Glenwood IGA, Orofino, Washington
Participating retailers were judged on sales results, product display, creativity and integration across the store. Supervalu provided marketing support to participating stores.
