Retailer promotes "Locally Grown" with product farmer

From Rick Bella: There has been much talk recently about the value of promoting locally grown produce at retail. There are many approaches that one can take to do so, but one retailer recently took it to a new level. What if you actually had the grower present inside the produce department to speak with customers about their crop, items, how it was grown and the nutritious benefits their fresh produce had to offer? Wow, what a statement that could make. That’s exactly what Illinois based Dominick’s did.

Last month my wife and I visited the newly remodeled Dominick’s supermarket located in Northbrook, Illinois in support of long time friend and farmer Dan Hinkle of Hinkle Produce, Cissna Park, Illinois. During a visit at his farm, Dan explained that he would be present during a weekend at a newly remodeled Dominick’s store to promote his sweet corn. This naturally intrigued me so we decided to take a ride to see Dan on Sunday. As we entered the store, we were greeted by someone passing out fresh baked cookies from the bakery. We could also smell the freshly brewed coffee from the new Starbucks little store now located inside the store (one next door too). Yes I was getting excited as touring retail stores has been a big part of my career in the past 25 years.

As we rounded the corner we noticed that there were many vendors displaying foods, offering tastes, cooking and preparing a wonderful variety of foods. The hoopla was to celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of this store, one of many that Dominick’s operates in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Finally after a few tastes along the way to the produce department (last aisle in this store which I found odd) was a huge display of fresh sweet corn, properly signed with a very attractive retail price. Standing next to the display was the actual grower of the product himself, Mr. Dan Hinkle. Dan’s eyes lit up as we approached, but he was quickly distracted by a little girl asking about the corn and if she could try it. “Sure” he said as he placed a small sized ear of corn on the little girl’s plate. Dan was handing out samples of his bi-color fresh sweet corn; corn that was “locally grown” just 90 miles due south of the Northbrook, Illinois store location.

Most customers at first thought that Dan was just a demonstrator handing out some samples. It was to their surprise when Dan asked if they liked the corn and he said, “good, because I grew it.” The look on shopper’s faces was priceless and that allowed Dan to give his pitch about the type of seed used, when the corn was actually picked (the day before) and the process of how it actually got to market or in this case that display at the local Dominick’s store.

The store was extremely busy that Sunday as the re-grand opening advertising and great specials offered drew customers in the store. But I couldn’t help thinking what an impression Dan must have made to the shoppers there. Almost every shopper purchased sweet corn at the special price of .16 cents per ear. The produce department was top notch offing great variety and overall displayed fresh selections in bulk for customers. But that day, customers received something more. They met one of the many growers who supply the 100+ store chain with food. Food grown in a little unknown town in southern Illinois called Cissna Park by a farmer they may have never known named Dan Hinkle. One customer, named Carol Pugh of Northbrook, Illinois, really made Dan’s day when she reluctantly tried a sample announcing that her father many years ago grew fresh sweet corn and she had never found any better than that. As she and her little girl tried the sample of bi-color corn, she smiled at Dan as asked her little girl to “get a bag honey; we’re buying some sweet corn today.” That would not have happened without Dan’s presence and Dominick’s commitment to offering a great promotion idea to its customers. That moment made the 2 hour drive for Dan worth the effort. Oh yes, a couple bags went home with us too... have you ever just had sweet corn for dinner? I recommend it for sure! Hinkle Farms can be located at http://www.hinkleproduce.com/