Karns Wins Supervalu Beef Stampede
Karns Quality Foods, in Harrisburg, Pa., has taken top honors in Supervalu’s 2016 national Beef Stampede contest. The annual month-long merchandising contest showcases beef as a dinner staple. More than 120 grocers nationwide served by Supervalu’s independent wholesale distribution division participated in the contest. All participating retailers were judged on sales results, product displays, creativity and integration across the store.
The contest is “aimed at increasing awareness of beef as an essential part of dinner,” said Mike Flack, regional director of merchandising at Minneapolis-based Supervalu. “We congratulate Karns Quality Foods’ Harrisburg store for their hard work at executing a creative marketing campaign for the Beef Stampede contest.”
The 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 in, and engagement with, customers. 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," said Scott Karns, owner and CEO of Karns Foods. "It allowed us to engage with our customers and highlight the quality and variety of our store’s meat department. 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.”
Before being selected as the overall winner, Karns was named the east region winner. Daniels’ Foods Sentry store in West Janesville, Wis., was the winning retailer in the west region. Daniels’ program featured western-themed décor and events, a chili cookoff, and a steak-and-charcoal-grill giveaway.
Following is a full list of winners by region:
East region
- Karns Quality Foods, Harrisburg, Pa. – first place
- Centre Shop ‘n Save, Pittsburgh
- Hall’s Supermarket, Colonial Beach, Va.
- Western Market, Mountain Brook, Ala.
- Vowell’s Marketplace, Forest, Miss.
- Hitchcock’s Supervalu Foods, Keystone Height, Fla.
West region
- Daniels’ Foods Sentry, West Janesville, Wis. – first place
- Dick’s Fresh Market, River Falls, Wis.
- Reese and Ray’s IGA, Laurel, Mont.
- Eureka IGA, Eureka, Ill.
- Glenwood IGA, Orofino, Wash.
