Friday, January 10, 2014

Food Lion piloting 'sealed-fresh' beef

This week, a reader called the Observer with an interesting question about Salisbury-based Food Lion's plans for its meat counters: Is the company planning to get rid of them?

The questioner had noticed the meat counter being removed at his local Cornelius store. We asked Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown, who said no, that meat counter is just being switched to a different model "to make it more consistent with cases in our other stores."

Phillips-Brown said the company is running a pilot program at its Roanoke-area stores with new "sealed-fresh" beef products. Vacuum-packed in individual plastic, the cuts of beef arrive ready-to-sell at each store, meaning there's no need to cut meat in-store.

That frees up meat managers to possibly assume other duties, Phillips-Brown said. The pilot program hasn't run long enough to know what customers think or whether sealed-fresh beef will spread, she
said.

Click here for a November story from WSLS in Roanoke, in which Food Lion director of operations Rob Ward discusses the merits of sealed beef. It stays fresher longer, and no spilled blood from any packages in your refrigerator, said Ward.

Ward said the program is in 61 Roanoke-area stores. In the WSLS story, you can watch him and another Food Lion market manager grill a steak.

The packages resemble what you get at Trader Joe's, which doesn't have in-store butchering, but sells vacuum-packed individual cuts of beef.

Food Lion is a subsidiary of Belgian grocery conglomerate Delhaize. The company is attempting to improve its results and increase its market share under new CEO Beth Newlands Campbell, who put it simply in August: "We just have to get better."

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I want the meat cut in front of me so I know it's fresh. I do NOT want a bunch of plastic involved, and I do NOT want to look at it and wonder: "how long did this sit around until they froze it.....and thawed it out to sell it today?"

Chris said...

Going to Food Lion and asking the butcher to cut a fresh piece of meat is like going to Applebee's and asking to speak with the Sommelier about wine choices.

Lee J. Freedman said...
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Unknown said...
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newbernbears said...

you will go out of business soon, funny how falling feels like flying.....for a little while...

Anonymous said...

Used to love food Lion but I will not buy slimmy, prepackaged meat. I want to talk to a butcher and order steaks and chops cut to the thickness I want. I know this is not a "TRIAL" at the store near me because they took out the windows and walled it in. I think the new black lion they put on their sign is a good indication of what people will do to them. Black list them. And that's just MY two cents.

Unknown said...

Sorry, I have purchased the sealed beef. It seems higher and very small packaging. I am very disappointed.

JLO said...

Love this!

JLO said...

Love this!

JLO said...

Love this!

Unknown said...

Where is Food Lion's Fresh Beef, Pork and chicken supplied from? United States, Canada, Mexico or other parts of the Country? And if so why isn't it stated on the package or signage? Also why isn't there signs stating the meat has previously been frozen?

Unknown said...

I was looking for ground sirloin for burgers and was surprised to see "ground beef" on packages with fat percentages. I asked if I could have a piece of sirloin ground and was told that there were no butchers anymore. The guy said the 93-20 beef was sirloin. I bought it and it tasted like there were pieces of cardboard in it. It didn't taste or smell like beef when it was cooking. I want real, fresh beef when I'm eating a burger, steak or stew. Looking for a butcher shop or market that cuts meat.

Hope said...

Nope! Just got “regular sliced tbones” and the Instacart person said the meat manager told her they were labeled wrong. The label had read thin it, he changed it to regular. It was prepackaged!!!!! How would he even know or how could he tell???

Done.