Foods from Spain....

RETAILER'S PROMO HOME RUNS
Say 'Si' to Some Tasty Success Stories

Sometimes selling “foreign” foods is just a matter of taste--like letting the customer taste the food. Those tastes often lead to sales, as many retailers selling foods from Spain have found. That’s certainly been the case at New York City’s Despaña. “Since we opened our retail store two years ago in Soho, our main focus was introducing our high quality products mainly to an American consumer who was in love with Spain or perhaps curious in trying our high quality products,” says Angelica Intriago, vice-president of the Despaña retail store Despaña Brand Foods (their huge wholesale component). “In order to successfully do this, we knew we had to invest in a tasting campaign throughout our store. We were quite confident that, as consumers approached our different tasting stations with curiosity, they were bound to fall in love with one or more of our products and decide to purchase.”

Angelica says their Despaña Brand Morcilla provides a perfect example. If they call it “blood sausage” and don’t allow customers a taste, they will sell very little. However, once they put it on the counter for tasting and call it Morcilla--Black Pudding Sausage, customers try it--and buy it! “We do this with most of our products at our store including Iberico Ham,” Angelica elaborates. “How can someone decide to purchase such a luxurious item if they have never been awed by it? We can talk about it all we want, but we know it is only in tasting the product that our consumer will really fully experience what we are trying to transmit. Our customers end up purchasing a couple of slices or even a quarter- or half-pound of this product. They are not focused on the price as much but on having the whole authentic experience of the unique product available at our store.”

In addition to almost constant tastings, Despaña uses published books like 1080 Recipes to market Spanish Foods. They organized a tasting for a select group of 40 of their customers to come in and taste eight recipes that were reproduced from the book.

They have a chef consultant that helps them put these events together. And, because they are in direct contact with many chefs in the industry (from their Despaña Brand Foods wholesale division), they also extended an invitation to one of the chefs collaborating on the book (Alex Raij) to come to the store. As an added bonus to tasting food and wine, lucky customers could buy an autographed book.

Despaña has also organized many olive oil tastings at their store. “We invited a professional from Spain who gave us a presentation of the different varietals found in Spain and guided us through a formal tasting--indicating what we should look for when purchasing this liquid gold,” Angelica recalls.

They have always supported initiatives to highlight high-quality foods from Spain. Although they do not cater, they do occasionally decide to have a presence at target events. At these, they take great care to present the products themselves--to not only allow people to taste the product, but also explain how they are produced and what makes them so special. They have even prepared paellas on-site, which Angelica reports is a real crowd-pleaser.

“I also collaborate with the Instituto Cervantes where I lead Gastronomy Seminars on Foods from Spain,” she says “I promote these classes at our store and I teach at Alcala Restaurant.” This is a sit down dinner, with wine and plenty of food based on the different themes. Past topics have included: “Fabulous Foods From Spain,” “Foods of the North,” “All You Ever Wanted to Know About Olive Oil,” and “The Glory of Paella and Tapas.”

“More than enticing people to purchase our products at Despaña and Despaña Brand Foods, we see it as a mission and personal challenge to present our Spanish culture and diversity of gastronomy that is constantly evolving,” Angelica says. “I believe this is how our consumers end up seeing it and really appreciate our efforts. It then becomes an easy selling point for us.”

That’s also true down in Chapel Hill North Carolina, where A Southern Season has successfully sold an array of Spanish foods since their opening in 1979. The huge gourmet food retailer (including a highly successful online business) has grown from an 800-square-foot store to today’s 59,000-square-foot behemoth.

“We do an annual ‘Foods from Spain’ promotion that’s very successful,” says Deborah Miller, A Southern Season’s marketing and communications director. “It’s always in September and lasts two to three weeks.” Past events have included visits by Trade Commission of Spain representatives, flamenco dancers, cooking demonstrations, lots of tastings, and much more.

This year’s event runs from September 10 to the 30th and includes Spanish wine tastings during their regular “Fridays Uncorked” and “Saturday Wine Nights,” several cooking classes revolving around Spanish food and wines, a Spanish wine dinner at their popular in-house restaurant, Weathervane, and even the occasional flamenco dancers and guitarists!

Miller says this promotion always leads to increased sales of Spanish wines and foods. In addition, this year, they’re working with the Nasher Museum over at Duke University in nearby Durham to cross-promote their Spanish products with the museum’s exhibit, “El Greco to Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III” (through November 9, 2008).

"Working with the Trade Commission of Spain is such a treat," Deborah continues. “They have worked hand-in-hand with us since our first promotion, when we were fledgling, to now when it has become one of our more popular and signature events of the year. We've been thrilled to welcome Mercedes Lamamie and Paz Tintoré as special guests. Their presence shows their support and I think they have a really good time while they are here.”

The Spanish Table, which now has four locations, has also held many special events over the years. Based in Seattle, where their first store opened in 1995, The Spanish Table also has stores in Berkeley, Mill Valley, and Santa Fe, as well as a popular website for mail-order sales.

Their Santa Fe store is typical of the possibilities. Assistant manager Isaac Rivera says, “We are constantly educating our customers about the products we carry, while providing them with genuine service.”

That educational emphasis has led to varied events over the years. They have a paella demonstration every year during Spanish Market, which is held the last weekend of July. They also recently conducted their first annual olive oil tasting, which was free to the public and featured five olive oils from Spain that varied in flavor, texture, and aroma. “We also make sure that all of our bottles of olive oil are on-hand for an impromptu tasting,” says Isaac.

“Through the Berkeley store, we offer paella classes and we periodically hold demos as well,” says Tanya Booth, co-owner of the Berkeley and Mill Valley stores. She says cookbook signings, winemaker dinners, and more have also been pro-active ways to expose people to foods from Spain.

Olive Oil from Spain is also active in the Bay area, according to promotion manager Alberto Solis. “We offer stores the opportunity to promote products by going into retailers in the Bay area and sometimes L.A. and doing in-store demos and samplings,” says Alberto. “The stores promote the events through flyers and in-store discounts. The sampling really helps--not only in terms of sales, but also product knowledge.” He says they’ve worked with Whole Foods, Mollie Stone’s, and several other retailers who carry Spanish foods.

Then there’s the “Big Cheese”--New York’s Murray’s Cheese--a company that’s long promoted the Spanish cheese cause (along with other Spanish delicacies). As one of the oldest and largest cheese retailers in Manhattan (two locations), Murray’s Cheese has five branches that all get involved in various promotions: retail; mail order; catering; wholesale; and education.

Last September, the company worked with Foods from Spain on a new promotion called “Que Españole.” Catering manager Ivy Ronquillo says every department got involved in the highly successful promotion.

The retail branch created displays and end caps for both stores, while a number of prepared foods were made with Spanish products. One highlight was a tasty “Las Ramblas” sandwich, with La Serena cheese, roasted mushrooms, piquillo peppers, and reduced sherry vinaigrette--served on a Picholine olive bread.

In the mail order department, they actually created a Spanish basket called “Manchego, Membrillo, and Marconas,” with the website calling the combo the tres amigos of Spanish culinary lore. The wholesale department used Que Españole to promote their Spanish products to wholesale customers, while the education branch increased the use of Spanish wines and cheeses in their nightly class schedule.

In addition, Ivy’s catering department featured Spanish dishes and ingredients on their catering menus for the month. “Some items that were created for the promotion have become permanent fixtures, including the Spanish basket,” Ivy says.

Out in Michigan, Ann Arbor’s hugely popular Zingerman’s also features Spanish products year-round--but, particularly during their annual “Fiesta de España.” “Every September, we highlight Spanish food with a month of promotions, including huge hand-painted signs hanging in the Deli extolling the virtues of our favorite products,” says their marketing manager, Pete Sickman-Garner.

The Deli hosts weekly tastings that focus on Spanish foods--last year they did a tapas party and a gazpacho tasting. They also provide samples of Spanish foods in the Deli throughout the month.

Pete says the highlight of the month is their huge Paella Party, which takes place on the Deli’s adjacent patio and draws hundreds (this year will be the 23rd edition). At the Paella Party, Zingerman’s legendary co-founder and CEO Ari Weinzweig speaks about the history of paella and proper preparation techniques.

“When we first started to promote Spanish foods in the late-’80s hardly anyone in Ann Arbor knew what they were,” Ari says. “Most people thought Spanish food included guacamole, burritos and tacos! All these years later, the foods of Spain are solidly part of the core of what we do--olive oils, vinegars, cheeses, chorizo, hams, olives, anchovies, tuna, honeys, sauces, peppers--it’s a long and very flavorful list. And customers start asking when the paella cooking is going to be about six months in advance!”

Thus, from coast to coast, it’s obvious that selling foods from Spain is sometimes as easy as giving customers a taste. Those tastes often lead to some tasty sales!