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Mentioned earlier, The Fresh Market chain (sorry, OP, it's mostly in the east-coast and southeast US) has a great deli, split between the deli meat/cheese side and their prepared-foods section. They have a "Cheese Specialist" who only works that section and always cuts and gives away samples of even the most expensive cheeses if you ask. They had a "guacamole cheese" (green gouda!) that was absolutely terrible, but I give them points for trying something different. I mean, it's hard to re-invent the wheel (ha!) at this point, but they seem to make an effort to have the best selection.
Yes, I mentioned this as well: we have fresh Market and swear by the store except for those of us on a budget can not afford to do all our shopping there. Of course we balance in out by using Aldi's and Sam's mostly.
I’m starting to think that the good delis are in major metro areas. I started planning my travels around major grocery stores. It’s really tough being in a food desert area, forget having something as luxurious as a deli.
Can’t wait to see what HEB has, I’m going to an area that has a HEB Plus.
Yes. Do this. I will echo what has already been said. The bigger nicer HEBs are really good stores. The deli is great(since that is what the OP was about) but I also am a big fan of the meat and fish selection as well. Their produce in the Houston market will typically blow away the other grocery chains. (my opinion, of course)
Just be careful because all are not created equal. HEB does make some lower end stores but they don't have to be an HEB plus to be excellent. In fact I have never even been to an HEB plus.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IheartWA
I’m starting to think that the good delis are in major metro areas. I started planning my travels around major grocery stores. It’s really tough being in a food desert area, forget having something as luxurious as a deli.
Can’t wait to see what HEB has, I’m going to an area that has a HEB Plus.
We are limited to Safeway, Winco, one local market with a small deli and a couple of very expensive natural foods stores. The cold cuts are better at Safeway. We don't shop at Walmart.
Yes, Dierbergs has a great deli with a good variety of options.
They also have a good bakery. I was in Florida a few weeks ago, and was supposed to bring dessert to a family get together. I figured I would stop by Publix and pick up a few varieties of pie. It ends up they only had one type of pie, apple pie. Any other type of pie needed to be preordered. It never crossed my mind that other grocery stores wouldn't have a dozen or so pie flavors available to purchase at anytime, especially since people always go on about how amazing Publix is.
I also thought a decent deli selection would be standard in most grocery stores too, especially the big chain stores.
The more upmarket Supermarkets (Grocery Stores) in the UK tend to have fish, meat, cheese and deli counters. Wairose, Marks and Spencer and Sainbury's all have such counters.
The cheaper supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda (Walmart), Lidl, Aldi etc tend not to have deli counters.
There are also very upmarket deli counters at some big department stores, which tend to have very good selection but may be more expensive. There are also some very local delis, indeed it's impotant to support local shops, as the old addage goes 'use them or lose them'.
I'm beginning to think that the deli counter profit margins have become unattractive to grocers. More and more people are concerned about eating 'healthy' - i.e. organic, non-gmo, no sugar, no msg, gluten free, etc. They aren't buying the premade, unknown contents of that grocery store potato salad. They are making their own (or eating chia seeds). Cold cuts aren't purchases on the 'healthy' list.
Wastage in that area has ALWAYS been problematic. It's labor intensive. The queue is often long enough that shoppers walk away.
Whole Foods gets away with it because the perception is that everything they sell is 'healthy'. And the healthy prices help cover the wastage and labor costs.
I'm beginning to think that the deli counter profit margins have become unattractive to grocers. More and more people are concerned about eating 'healthy' - i.e. organic, non-gmo, no sugar, no msg, gluten free, etc. They aren't buying the premade, unknown contents of that grocery store potato salad. They are making their own (or eating chia seeds). Cold cuts aren't purchases on the 'healthy' list.
Wastage in that area has ALWAYS been problematic. It's labor intensive. The queue is often long enough that shoppers walk away.
Whole Foods gets away with it because the perception is that everything they sell is 'healthy'. And the healthy prices help cover the wastage and labor costs.
Very good insight
whole foods and boars head places ….with 80% margins cover the labor costs..
lots of stores do make their own sandwiches from the deli loaves to minimize shrink..
20 yrs ago deli sliced turkey breast was 4.99-5.99lb now its 7.99-10.99lb
and at these prices more will buy a ready made sandwich
Yes, I mentioned this as well: we have fresh Market and swear by the store except for those of us on a budget can not afford to do all our shopping there. Of course we balance in out by using Aldi's and Sam's mostly.
An acquaintance was involved in opening up the Chicagoland Fresh Market stores. When I walked through on opening day, the food throughout the store was really quite appealing. However, I find it really hard to justify paying 2-3x what the local independent delis were charging. I really enjoyed walking through the stores for meal ideas but never ended up making a purchase.
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