Sampling Free Samples Or Biting Off More Than I Can Chew: Wegmans Revisited

Wegmans, that store that puts the “super” in “supermarket” has done it again.

Having visited them initially shortly after , I have since been there several times. On my most recent visit, I brought along a short grocery list, a few coupons and two other family members (to restrain me if necessary), planning a quick uneventful trip.

Little did I know what literally was “in store” for me. This particular Saturday, January 28, was anything but ordinary. It just happened to be the day of the “Everything Organic Festival.” I didn’t know too much about organic food, but thought it was probably more expensive (and healthier) to eat than other food.

I certainly did get an education on the trip to Wegmans. I have to confess that I don’t really think that there has been or ever will be anything to compare with a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries. I have had to do some pretty “creative explaining” when I come home from the drive thru window with so few fries left in the bag. I'd proclaim to my husband, “I guess they were in a hurry and didn’t give us as many fries as they used to” or, “That McDonalds sure isn’t what it used to be. Guess they are trying to save a few dollars by having smaller portions.”

I have to live with the guilt of my shady explanations but I’m open to new products and information especially the way Wegmans markets their products. They make the nutritional information really “easy to digest.”

From the moment I stepped in the door (actually even before I walked inside) I could smell these amazing aromas. In retrospect, this probably came from the café and eateries near the entrance and not from the food station displays but it sure got me in the door quickly. From that point on, somehow that grocery list I made went from a “let's get in the fifteen or less line” to a real culinary adventure.

Wegmans samples create a totally unique experience. First of all, most of the samples are cooked or prepared right in front of you and if the enthusiastic employees don’t draw you in, your nose does. You get a chance to see how the food is prepared. This helps because for me, the most important ingredient is time. I can see for myself if I want to take the time to prepare a particular item.

The whole food sampling experience really is a multisensory one. First you smell what's being cooked, you see it being prepared. You talk with the people preparing it (they are all so friendly and smiling, you think that they really should be working in Disney World). The experience reaches its peak when you actually taste the product. The end result is that much of the time, you’re going to buy it. You buy it not because you have to, but because you want to.

I think I know how this clever marketing technique got started. Over the years I have attended many different kinds of “home parties” where you are invited to someone’s house to see a demonstration of different kinds of products. These products can range from jewelry to cosmetics to home décor (there are now even   “romance parties” offering items that can be delivered to your house in plain brown packaging. I haven’t been to one of those… not that there’s anything wrong with them).

These house parties have dwindled down a little with the competition of websites like Amazon and those television home shopping networks (Have you seen how many people call up just to talk to the television hosts? It amazes me what makes some people happy). But home parties are still around. You are seated in the living room, fed food and conversation and sometimes play "games." It’s similar to a baby or wedding shower except instead of watching one person open presents, you watch a demonstration and listen to a sales pitch while visiting with people who you may know. Many of these people, like some Facebook friends, are not really friends or even acquaintances but you all somehow share a connection to the hostess (I can’t be absolutely positive but I think this is how those quirky television infomercials must have begun too).

You are told ahead of time not to feel obligated to purchase anything because just your attendance adds to the points for the hostess. The more points, the more free gifts she gets. Usually, unless you have an unlimited budget, you end up buying the cheapest item there. You don’t want to look out of place and since you are getting free food, you feel like you have to buy something. That “something” usually ends up in your basement and stays there until the community yard sale where it is offered up several years later for a ridiculously discounted price. "Regifting” is always a possibility but the pros and cons of that is a whole other matter.

In contrast, at Wegmans, you don’t feel obligated to purchase the item being sampled. There are usually coupons right next to the food station, but no one is “force feeding” you... except you. It’s a “like or dislike on first bite” type of thing.

It’s pretty obvious they carefully select which products to showcase for the food stations. Most of the products are their own brand. The products are good and you will like them. You really really will like them! (Wonder if Sally Field shops here too?). If by some small chance you don’t like a particular product there’s no pressure to purchase it. No guilt is involved because since you’ve come to the grocery store to shop anyway, you’re going to buy something before you leave the store even if it’s not what you are sampling.

The employees at the food stations are quick to answer questions and give you helpful information. You don’t have to feel weird about approaching and asking for a sample. They encourage you to come over and take a taste. I compare it with going to a party and mingling with unknown people and food (ok I don’t get out much but I did hear more than one person talk about how much fun it was at the store that day).

Wegmans has food stations with samples daily but most seem to be are on weekends especially Saturdays. I just happened be there at the right date. The “Everything Organic Festival” showcased samples from the more than two hundred types of Wegmans brand organic foods. Of course this was an unusually big event and not typical of most Saturdays, but I counted over twenty five different types of samples... most of them organic. Here's a “sampling” of what I sampled or saw last Saturday:

Apples, organic Sloppy Joes, three different kinds of cheese spreads, cheese (there’s always a free sample of some kind of wonderful exotic cheese here), strawberry-lemonade, organic orange juice, milk, cream of crab soup, something called “furrow with mushrooms” (really tasty), three different kinds of bruschetta toppings (great taste and low fat too), corn, trail mixes by Jeppi Nut Co (the smokehouse variety tastes too good to be healthy… maybe it is organic, maybe not. I utilized the, “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” approach here), organic tea, Margherita pizza (not sure about this either but isn’t pizza is supposed to be good for you? After all, it does contain all the food groups).

There was also a station with fresh vegetables that included cauliflower and some kind of spicy Indian sauce. I didn’t get a chance to sample that one but the lady there was really nice and talked to me with great enthusiasm about vegetables.(I myself get really excited over chocolate and Cheetos). She was very knowledgeable and pointed out how most people take better care of their cars with regular maintenance than their bodies. She’s been a vegetarian for years and showed me a table with information on organic foods.

No sample information would be complete without the mention of the main attraction which I call Wegmans Fishcapades or Fish on Ice... the seafood display. It is unique to say the least. I approached a “young man with a skillet” who was stir frying or pan searing (I don’t know the difference) some tasty organic shrimp, but I couldn’t help but notice the huge Mahi Mahi fish. I was told these fish probably weigh between twenty and thirty pounds each.

There were two or three of these gigantic fish laid across the ice, their bodies still intact, eyes wide open as if to contradict the sign next to them that said “strong.” I know that sign referred to their taste and not their strength but I couldn't help thinking how ironic it was. Laying there, so frozen that they looked  "Botoxed," they sure didn’t look that “strong” to me.

They were $15.99 a pound (What’s with that $15.99 price? Why not just make it $16 a pound? Never could understand that psychology. Wegmans though does have significantly cheaper prices on most items so I can’t really complain about that). Anyway, the man with the skillet was  cooking shrimp that got top billing as “fresh, wild, Florida shrimp… chemical free” …What a relief that the shrimp had also been taught to “Just Say No” to drugs… of course, it didn’t do them any good. They got “hooked” anyway… Or are they caught in a net?  Anyway, they were very good.

There were also lobsters. Located on ice next to the shrimp display, they startled me. I thought that like the Mahi Mahi fish and most items in a grocery store, they were “not with us” if you know what I mean (after all, you don’t hear or see live animals behind the meat section). I got closer to read the sign over them, “Lobsters have poor eyesight but a great sense of smell.” And then it happened. I saw one of their claws move. Yuck! I think it’s great that Wegmans provides us with nutritional and health information but after looking at those critters, there is a bit too much information given here.

When I start getting information about a lobster’s senses, I figure the next thing I’m going to be told about is the location of its parents and siblings, place of birth and weight (come to think of it, you are told where it was caught and I think you pay for it by the pound). This makes it personal... way too personal for me to cook much less to eat. And to think that lobster was sniffing me as I approached… it’s just too weird.

There was an additional section of lobsters located in a tank. I’m not sure why some are "tanked" and others are "iced." Guess it doesn’t matter because both words mean the same thing in the end… That it really is the end... at least it is for them.

There were some other interesting food products that weren’t being offered as samples for reasons that were soon to become obvious. These were the Black Truffles with “earthy aroma and intense flavor.” They cost $999.99 a pound (There’s that ninety nine cents a pound again). This isn’t a typo and these aren’t the candy chocolate truffles. These are the mysterious and exotic foods from the mushroom family that grow underground I think in France. There were a few of them in a locked acrylic box.

As I went in for a closer look, I couldn’t help but laugh at the remark made by a lady standing nearby who joked that they looked like something that would have been left on the ground by a small dog after being taken for a walk to “do his business” (now that’s what I call truly “organic”). Wikipedia calls truffles “fungus” and states that pigs with a heightened sense of smell called “truffle hogs” are used to sniff out and locate the truffles. There are also some specially trained dogs that can locate the truffles too but they aren’t as successful as the pigs since the dogs have a tendency to eat the truffles once they locate them.

This makes me wonder... If dogs are used to locate the truffles and dogs also like to eat them and the truffles look like a dog's "deposits"… are we really eating truffles or "something else left" by those dogs. Wikipedia also states that black truffles have a "taste similar to earth." One hundred dollars a pound to eat food that tastes like dirt? (And imagine… this stuff didn’t even originate from my cooking!) Luckily, with my limited budget and culinary skills, I’ll never have to worry about any of this.

Completing the list of the samples offered were milk, yogurt, chocolate cookies and burritos. I understand organic milk but yogurt is a whole different matter. I hesitate to eat foods that have “live and active” cultures (don’t you think these cultures should at least be “not alive” when you eat them?) with names that sound more like a disease than a cure.  “Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.” I think I got enough of that kind of stuff when I got my flu shot this past year.

An item I should have tried but didn’t was “Omega Water.” Omega watches are supposed to be among the best in the world so I’m guessing the water is probably top of the line too. I’m not too sold on the idea of bottled water. I hate to pay for something that automatically comes out of my home’s water faucets. Of course, there is that quarterly water bill so even that water isn’t free.

Before checking out, Wegman’s dietitian, Krystal, came over with more information on their organic products, healthy eating, and an excellent booklet on lowering your blood pressure. She informed me that along with getting the word out to their customers, Wegmans also holds information classes for their employees on ways to keep healthy.

I don’t know how effective this is but if there was even one unhappy employee around I sure didn’t see him. I half expected them to all burst into song singing “It’s a Healthy World After All” to the tune of “It’s a Small World After All” so they must be doing something right. Here’s the Disney version as posted on YouTube if you want to refresh your memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIxXXSufOAo. (Be forewarned before you click because whether you love or hate this song, it’ll stay in your head for days).

As for the public, they receive helpful and healthful information in such interesting and innovative ways. There are the traditional pamphlets, informative employees and terrific website information but, someone in the corporate office obviously knows that there’s truth in that old cliché, “The way to a customer’s pocketbook is through his or her stomach”… Or is it, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” I Just love the way they “feed” me information.

You never know what Wegman’s is going to “serve up” next, but you can check their website www.wegmans.com for special events that sometimes will advertise the type of samples and other events and classes at all the Wegmans stores. Apparently there’s also live music Friday evenings, but I doubt it has a Disney theme.

As we were exiting the store, there was an "Organic Wheel of Fun." This involved turning a wheel and answering questions about organic foods. We got entered in a sweepstakes to win a Wegmans organic gift basket. It wasn’t the prize that made people stop and play the game but the enthusiasm of the employee, Matthew, in getting people to participate... Of course the additional free samples located right next to the wheel probably helped too.

We arrived home with full stomachs, several new products, nineteen dollars in savings from Wegmans coupons, and a lot of informational pamphlets. Later on today I’m going to try some of that fabulous bruschetta and sometime soon, I’m going to read those pamphlets on organic foods. They’re somewhere on the dining room table… maybe underneath that bag of bulk candy we bought. Is it organic candy? Probably not but it is supposed to be the “no sugar added” kind whatever that means. You may wonder if I have anything negative to say about Wegmans. No way. I’m not that kind of gal. Besides... How can I bite the hand (or in this case, the store) that feeds me?