Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

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Brian Lutz
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Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by Brian Lutz »

On several different occasions now I have gone to the Fred Meyer in Snohomish around lunch time, and even though the deli section of the store appears to be operating and staffed, the hot side of the deli seems to be vacant, even though the electronic signs for the department were active. Asking a deli employee on my last visit confirmed that none of the hot deli items were available. There were some cold items (such as fried / rotisserie chicken) available, but I had no way of telling if those items were being made in the store or if they were being supplied from a different one . I suppose it's also possible that they only sell hot foods during dinnertime, but it seems more likely that they just aren't doing them at all right now.

I suppose it could be a matter of staffing, but it does seem odd that the store would just choose not to run this department. Has anyone seen anything similar elsewhere?
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by babs »

Brian Lutz wrote: August 24th, 2022, 1:37 pm On several different occasions now I have gone to the Fred Meyer in Snohomish around lunch time, and even though the deli section of the store appears to be operating and staffed, the hot side of the deli seems to be vacant, even though the electronic signs for the department were active. Asking a deli employee on my last visit confirmed that none of the hot deli items were available. There were some cold items (such as fried / rotisserie chicken) available, but I had no way of telling if those items were being made in the store or if they were being supplied from a different one . I suppose it's also possible that they only sell hot foods during dinnertime, but it seems more likely that they just aren't doing them at all right now.

I suppose it could be a matter of staffing, but it does seem odd that the store would just choose not to run this department. Has anyone seen anything similar elsewhere?
I've seen the same thing in the Portland area at multiple Fred Meyer stores. At first I thought their oven was down but when I saw another store with the same issue I wondered if it had to do with staffing.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: August 24th, 2022, 9:45 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: August 24th, 2022, 1:37 pm On several different occasions now I have gone to the Fred Meyer in Snohomish around lunch time, and even though the deli section of the store appears to be operating and staffed, the hot side of the deli seems to be vacant, even though the electronic signs for the department were active. Asking a deli employee on my last visit confirmed that none of the hot deli items were available. There were some cold items (such as fried / rotisserie chicken) available, but I had no way of telling if those items were being made in the store or if they were being supplied from a different one . I suppose it's also possible that they only sell hot foods during dinnertime, but it seems more likely that they just aren't doing them at all right now.

I suppose it could be a matter of staffing, but it does seem odd that the store would just choose not to run this department. Has anyone seen anything similar elsewhere?
I've seen the same thing in the Portland area at multiple Fred Meyer stores. At first I thought their oven was down but when I saw another store with the same issue I wondered if it had to do with staffing.
I have not seen this at Smiths. They operate hot food until about 7 PM, and throw giant trash bags worth of it out daily even after salvaging some of the leftovers to sell as cold to food stamp customers (the quality is terrible whether it is hot or cold). Safeway does the same thing (even bigger trash bags worth).

Fred Meyer always seemed to do a pretty high volume of hot food. With the high number of employees in the store, that creates a lot of potential customers. They also gave it away for half price an hour before the deli's official closing time to reduce shrink.

With how short staffed the delis are, I could see not doing hot food as a good idea. It takes a major stress off of the employees to not have to worry about the oil, cooking, holding times, breaking down the case, etc. Something has to give...
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by bryceleinan »

Coos Bay did not have any hot deli items while I was up there a couple of weeks ago. Did not check to see if Newberg had hot deli or not, I know Newport did when I was in there. It was odd for Coos Bay not to have hot deli - the Safeway across the street does a brisk business out of their deli.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: August 25th, 2022, 7:36 pm Coos Bay did not have any hot deli items while I was up there a couple of weeks ago. Did not check to see if Newberg had hot deli or not, I know Newport did when I was in there. It was odd for Coos Bay not to have hot deli - the Safeway across the street does a brisk business out of their deli.
Sounds like Fred Meyer has made a regional decision to cut back on hot food. They need to post signs so customers understand what is going on. I have seen some chains, primarily low volume chains, do something like only have hot food from 11-2 then throw all of it away that is left then do hot food again from 4-7 then throw all of it away... but signs were posted explaining the hours product was available, and also noting prepack roasted chickens were available self serve during a different set of hours all day (let's say 11-7); part of the explanation I was given for the limited timings was to ensure holding times were not exceeded.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by Greggo »

Why throw it out? Package leftovers and put them in the cool case. Randalls does this with fried chicken, etc. If kept cold, they can leave it in the case another day or two. Even at half off it’s better than just tossing it.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by Super S »

It makes sense to close a deli earlier if demand falls off after a certain time. It would be troubling though if you went during daytime hours and the deli was closed.

Ironically, I took a trip to Ohio in the 1990s and remember seeing several signs for local Kroger stores, in towns large and small, that advertised "Deli open 24 hours". I wonder how long that lasted.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by Bagels »

Greggo wrote: August 26th, 2022, 8:03 am Why throw it out? Package leftovers and put them in the cool case. Randalls does this with fried chicken, etc. If kept cold, they can leave it in the case another day or two. Even at half off it’s better than just tossing it.
Because it doesn’t sell. Historically, most grocery stores would intentionally reserve items to be refrigerated and sold cold as that made it food stamps eligible. However, the food stamp program was expanded some years back to include hot foods, diminishing the demand for cold foods in states that have implemented such policies (not every state has adapted the policy yet). SoCal was one of the first regions to adapt to the new policy, and most fast food restaurants (and many family ones as well) now take EBT, and the impact on grocers has been stunning - Walmart in Anaheim, for example, use to have over 100 reheat-and-serve entrees and was constantly restocking them in their deli… but now has none. Nor does it look like consumers are choosing hot food, either.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by storewanderer »

If you want to see customers flock for deli hot food, look no further than Safeway when they run 8pc Dark Meat Fried Chicken $5 special. They can't even keep the case full. There is steady traffic coming and going for this chicken. But on a normal day when the price is now 9.99 for 8pc Fried Chicken, business is very slow.

I think these store delis have largely priced themselves out of selling much hot food. With some chains now wanting $10.99 for what is a marginal quality 8pc Chicken, that is simply too high of a price. And when you don't sell much of it, quality suffers for the few people who do buy it because it isn't fresh.

I am also seeing a LOT of waste on those whole roasted chickens at basically every store (except places like Raleys who hardly makes any of them). Again the price has increased significantly on these and sales have fallen off. Many chains do repurpose those into various deli products; chicken salad, etc. But some chains like Wal Mart, Safeway, I see dozens of these thrown out every night. Plus bags and bags from the hot case in the case of Safeway. It is a sickening waste of labor and waste of food.
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Re: Fred Meyer - No Hot Deli?

Post by Brian Lutz »

I haven't tried the Safeway fried chicken recently (if I ever get lunch at Safeway I tend to get the China Express stuff instead) but I recall that they adopted the old Albertson's recipe (which I thought was pretty good) after the merger. The old Safeway stuff was pretty mediocre. I also had the Winco deli chicken recently and thought that was pretty decent too.
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