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What's For Dinner?

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By MICHAEL SASSO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

TAMPA - Sometimes she just wants a side dish. Sometimes the main course. But these days, dinner can be as easy as the corner grocery store for Harriet Foundas.

"It's just a wonderful alternative to know that it's out there," said Foundas, who was picking up mashed potatoes to complement her salmon Thursday evening at a Publix in South Tampa.

Grocery stores in the Tampa Bay area and elsewhere say they have seen the popularity of their prepared foods grow as consumers try to save time, money - and sometimes calories. The economic downturn has fueled the trend as people trade down from restaurant meals to dinner at home.

In response, grocers are boosting their selections to accommodate customers' growing appetites for prepared foods. Locally, Publix Super Markets and Sweetbay Supermarket have expanded or transformed their prepared-foods selections to meet consumers' changing demands.

When people "are trying to return to more meals at home, they don't want to start from scratch like we would a generation or two ago," said Tim Hammonds, president and CEO at the Food Marketing Institute, an industry trade group. "That's why the prepared foods are so popular."

Meals come ready-to-eat - for example, rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes or sandwiches - or in ready-to-heat styles such as stuffed salmon, lasagna or meatloaf that need only to hit the oven.

Lakeland-based Publix has jumped headfirst into the trend, stocking food from its Crispers restaurants inside some of its supermarkets and contracting with the Carrabba's Italian Grill chain to place a Carrabba's inside one of its Sarasota stores. Plus, inside its small chain of natural and organic food stores, called Publix GreenWise Market, the company has 4,500 square feet of prepared foods, far more than a traditional Publix, spokeswoman Shannon Patten said.

The GreenWise selection is big enough that the stores have several stations for different foods, such as a Mediterranean station with pasta and pizza, an Asian wok station and a soup-and-salad bar, among others, Patten said. Publix is building its first Bay area GreenWise store on Armenia Avenue in South Tampa.

Tampa-based Sweetbay has a smaller prepared-food operation but has begun branding its prepared-food line with the On the Go Bistro name. The line is lower in fat, calories, additives and preservatives than most restaurant meals, Sweetbay spokeswoman Nicole LeBeau said. Items include lemon pepper rotisserie chicken, baked ziti, chicken alfredo and pork loin.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., which has long offered prepared foods at its stores, recently expanded its options to include lobster bisque, baked ziti and dinner packages that feed a family of four for $10.

But many grocers say they are seeing the biggest growth in simple comfort foods.

Whole Foods Market said its best sellers in some stores include macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. The company recently added a family-size savings program that allows shoppers to get a discount when they buy two or more pounds of some prepared foods.

"They can basically pick up dinner in one stop," Whole Foods Market spokeswoman Libba Letton said.

About 28 percent of shoppers do not know what they are having two hours before a meal, according to the Food Marketing Institute, creating a great opportunity for grocers.

"I would think almost everybody is going to have their stores outfitted with full-blown food offerings because they have to, or folks will go down the street," said Jack Horst, a grocery specialist and principal at the retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates.

He said it's part of the trend of grocery stores expanding their offerings, trying to draw in shoppers with Web sites, recipes, cooking classes and other options beyond traditional supermarket fare.

Hammonds said it's a change that isn't likely to end when the economy improves.

"It accelerating basic trends - recognizing that food at home is healthier, there is better control of the calories, content of food, less expensive and in tune with family values," he said.

"We are seeing the economic downturn speed up a transition that is in tune with their lifestyles."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

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