VIDEO TOUR: Giant Food's New Ground-Up Format Focuses on Fresh

“Produce is our feature coming in the door,” Budd says, noting the daily postings of organic items and local products from farms in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. It’s the gateway to Giant’s “reinvention of the prepared aisle — we’ve pushed it to the front of the store,” Budd continues, explaining the deviation from earlier store designs. “Every one of the service departments is in this aisle.”

To be sure, if it’s a meal you’re after, you’ll find it here, likely in the exact format that meets your current need.

Signature offerings in Owings Mills include quick-bake flatbread pizza (made to order in 2½ minutes) and piadinas (Italian flatbread sandwiches). “It’s a showpiece,” Chapman remarks of the baked-to-order display. “We work a lot on the details of the presentation.”

Prepared food selections also include fresh, hand-breaded fried chicken; wings; take-and-bake pizzas; and various Asian and halal offerings. Digital menu boards herald signature items, combo meals and specials. 

Grab-and-go items — sandwiches, wraps, salads and snacks — are ready for the taking right by the dedicated foodservice register, a convenience that Chapman says helps the store better compete for mealtime dollars against fast-food outlets and QSRs. “The whole idea is to improve the customer experience — help them get in and out, or sit and enjoy,” he says.

Heat-and-eat options are extensive — at least 20 varieties of fresh entrées, like chicken, salmon, lobster mac and cheese, Asian dishes, and pasta, including a “deconstructed lasagna,” along with street taco meals. Chapman says his team is working with Giant’s commissary on developing plant-based selections.

“We’ll put in new items, customers pick up on them immediately, and they’ll become best-sellers,” Chapman notes. “It tells us that people are always looking for something new. … It’s a big investment and, frankly, scares grocers to death … [but] if you’re strategic, you’ll get the return. That’s proven out for us.”

A display of meal kits includes items by HelloFresh, including up to five rotating seasonal selections that are top sellers from the service’s subscription program, merchandised with Rana branded pasta meal kits.

Items on the hot bar go for $7.99 a pound: Asian fare, wings (including pork-based “hog wings”) and barbecue selections are among the rotating items. At the end of the hot bar is soup, with three rotating selections. Giant’s rotisserie program promises fresh birds between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. or they’re free; popular choices include “touch of honey” chickens, made with an injected marinade, and no-antibiotics-ever chickens sold under Giant’s clean-label Nature’s Promise brand. Sushi is rolled fresh daily through a partnership with Hissho.

Budd notes that all prepared food items can be ordered online for pickup within a four-hour window.

Cheese Doesn’t Stand Alone

Meal solution options extend into the deli department, where bulk prepared foods like meatloaf, salads and side dishes can be had, along with in-store-roasted, Old Bay-seasoned turkey breast, a local favorite and, according to Budd, “really a differentiator in our market, a legacy at Giant Food that we’re energizing to keep it fresh” by adding new flavor options like garlic citrus.

Pre-sliced and packaged deli meat, available in store-brand and Boar’s Head options, has been a winner. “That’s where the growth is,” Chapman asserts. “It speaks to the customer and the convenience factor.” Kiosk ordering for deli items further drives this proposition home.

There’s also grab-and-go soup available in selections such as the popular Panera Bread brand as well as Soupergirl, a local clean-label brand known for its drinkable gazpacho; an own-brand soup option was expected to be available by the time this story was published.

But perhaps the crown jewel of the deli area in Owings Mills is the specialty cheese island, which Budd declares to be “a win for us.”

The gourmet cheese department features a rotating selection of fine cheeses from around the world, including in-store hand-spun fresh mozzarella from Caputo Brothers Creamery, in Spring Grove, Pa., Chapman notes.

“We take the time to educate our associates about our offerings such as our gourmet cheeses,” he observes. “We know that it can be intimidating when there are hundreds of options, so we’re doing the background work for shoppers, providing the best customer education there is.”

Cross merchandising on the cheese island is “very intentional,” Chapman says, noting the various crackers, jellies and other items positioned to inspire creative charcuterie and cheese boards, as well as drive basket rings for cheese superconsumers and others seeking to experiment with new flavors. During Progressive Grocer’s visit, the department was sampling chocolate hummus.

“We’ll reset the cheese cases twice a year, spring and fall,” Chapman explains. “It’s been a very successful strategy that touches every store in the company.”

At the far end of the cheese island is an extensive Delallo branded olive bar, creating another point of shopper engagement for associates. “We work with our marketing team to tell stories about the cheeses and educate the customers,” Chapman says.

Meanwhile, initiatives to boost bakery sales include an artisan bread program, custom cakes and decorated cookies. “We’ve really focused on improving the quality of our bakery,” Chapman says. “Innovation has been pretty static in the industry.”

Bakery breads include brioche buns and loaves under Giant’s Taste of Inspirations and Nature’s Promise brands, Alpine Valley organic selections, and products from local vendors. A line of flatbreads at a friendly $3 price point is a great entry for consumers.“We keep introducing new items so the category doesn’t get stale,” Chapman says.

The banner has reinvented its decorated-cookie program, a historic feature for Giant and one that Chapman notes has been credited by the founder of upscale bakery chain Milk Bar as an early influence on her interest in baking.

Custom-decorated cakes are an additional point of pride at the Owings Mills store. “We go after the colors, fresh fruit, decadent flavors,” Chapman says. “Fruit-topped and tres leches cakes do really well in this store.”

Other top sellers include snack portions, dessert bars in $5 4-packs, artisan sweet breads and filled muffins, the last item a move to stimulate stagnant muffin sales. “They’ve just exploded,” Chapman says, noting the chocolate- and cream cheese-stuffed muffins are a dollar upsell from the $3.99-for-four price of regular muffins. “People are willing to buy up to something decadent,” he affirms. “We get a higher ring and keep customers in the category.”

New bakery items are often rolled out at the front end; Chapman says that product tables near the registers “have been a great tactic for us” to rotate in new and seasonal flavors. “It’s a great way to launch and get customers engaged,” he enthuses.

Local Surf, Local Turf

Following the pattern elsewhere in the fresh corridor, Giant leverages regional favorites in the meat and seafood department as well.

“Our fresh meat and seafood counters offer selections from local purveyors,” Chapman notes. They include Roseda Black Angus Farm, in Monkton, Md., and Hooper’s Crab House, in Ocean City, Md.

“We’ll have them on site in the parking lot and do bushels and half-bushels of crabs,” Budd says of Hooper’s, pointing out the store’s selection of local shellfish, including clams and mussels. “This department, on a weekend, people are standing in line.”

There’s an extensive selection of value-added proteins like marinated and preseasoned ready-to-cook meats, further enhancing the store’s meal solution capabilities. Meanwhile, plant-based meats from brands including Beyond, Sweet Earth and Pine Farmland are integrated into the meat case. “It’s completely incremental,” Budd says of their sales success.

Cases for processed meat as well as produce and dairy have doors, which Budd says help save energy and boost product shelf life.

Opposite those dairy and lunchmeat doors in Owings Mills is Giant’s new prototype bread set, positioned here, near more complementary products, rather than in a traditional center store location, in an effort to drive growth in the commercial bread category, Budd explains.

Other merchandising innovations at the new store include lighted shelves in the natural product and health-beauty-and-wellness sections, along with a “men’s zone” in the latter department. “The female consumer actually prefers the men’s products segregated so they can find things for their husbands easier,” Budd asserts.

The store’s pharmacy debuted a new “pick-point” checkout system that assigns prescription pickups to specific registers, which has “drastically improved” pharmacy wait times, Budd says. “Ours is one of the strongest pharmacy businesses in the supermarket industry,” he adds. “We actually have customers who see our pharmacists like their doctors.”

Giant’s nutritionist program includes a director who oversees 11 retail dietitians in the store’s district who host events and store walk-throughs for groups, including programs for specific health needs. “We do a lot of TV morning shows and blogs,” Budd says of nutrition outreach efforts.

In the front end, along with cases featuring rotisserie chickens, drinks, snacks, dairy items and fresh-cut fruit for grab-and-go convenience, the checkstands feature two reversible lanes that can flip between cashier and self-service, depending on demand. Budd calls this arrangement “a huge win for us, especially on the weekends.”

Serving Needs, Feeling Good

The goal for the design of this store was to make everything simple for the customer, according to Kress.

“The new décor features large wall and hung signage in our various departments throughout the store, making it simple to see exactly where you are and exactly which direction you want to head to grab the rest of your items,” he says. “The new format also features wider aisles to make it easier to navigate throughout the store.”

With all of the full-service departments in the same area of the store, Kress notes: “it’s even simpler to come in and grab whatever prepared and convenient items you may be looking for, truly making grab-and-go easier than ever. Our goal was to build a convenient and easy-to-navigate store that would help us better serve the community.”

That includes offering the banner’s new Giant Pickup service for online orders, Chapman points out. “Everything we offer at our Owings Mills location was designed with the shopper in mind,” he says. “Our store offerings reflect the ever-changing needs and interests of our shoppers. There’s always something new to try.”

VP of Marketing Dyani Hanrahan adds: “This store shows our shoppers that we listen to their feedback and suggestions. The new store is easy to navigate and find what you are looking for, because with our new layout, it’s clear to see exactly where every department and section is. We work to make the shopping experience as simple and enjoyable as possible so our shoppers can get back to the important things in life.”

While this store is new, Giant isn’t new to Owings Mills, where the banner has had a presence for four decades. And although the new store replaces two older Giant stores, Kress notes that this location created more than 50 new jobs.

Response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, Kress says: “We loved seeing our shoppers’ faces when they first walked in the new store during our opening. They were surprised and delighted to see the new format and design with the large open spaces, bright lighting and clear signage.”