Driving Swiss Farms Forward

An award-winning prototype and new franchise program steer the drive-thru convenience retailer towards another good year

Targeting consumers in their cars to provide what the company dubs "a faster and more convenient alternative to the supermarket's express lane," Swiss Farms was spotlighted as the store of the month in the Sept. 28, 2009 issue of Convenience Store News. At that time, the Broomall, Pa.-based retailer's new prototype store was scheduled to open last fall, and it also announced plans to franchise its drive-thru retail concept. It has since won two design awards for that prototype (which opened late last November) and scheduled its first franchise store to open this September. To get the latest details on both, CSNews recently checked back with the company CEO Paul Friel.

"We have enjoyed a lot of success with that first [prototype] store, and now our second store of that type is scheduled to open at the end of September in Summerdale, N.J. — our first franchise location," Friel told CSNews. This upcoming Swiss Farms store will be the 41-year-old chain's 14th location and is set to encompass both key drivers of its planned growth — a more efficient, desirable drive-thru design and a fast-growing franchise strategy.

While many new and improved design elements went into the prototype, Friel highlighted those he considered were getting the most customer attention and working well so far, including a double drive-thru with four order points vs. the previous two; a bypass lane, for customers who might only want to get a cup of coffee and get right back on the road; and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, allowing the chain's customers to see more of what's inside from their vehicles.

"We still put the high velocity items closest to the front, but this gives customers an even better idea of what we carry," said Friel. And as a bonus, employees like it, too. "We're always looking at things from the customer point of view, but after we opened the prototype store, employees expressed how much they liked having the 180-degree view of the outside," Friel explained. "They told us it was a really nice environment to be working in, and they felt safe. It was an added benefit we didn't design for."

These are just some of the features that contributed to Swiss Farms winning two industry design awards this year, including that of "Best Exterior Design" in CSNews annual Store Design Contest.

From a fresh-food standpoint, the Swiss Farms prototype model, which is an expanded 1,800 square feet vs. the original 1,000 square feet, made room for home replacement meals, including its most successful items such as rotisserie chickens, fresh-baked muffins and Italian entrées like chicken parmigiano.

"We initially had chickens hot all day, but we found that from 4 to 8 p.m. is when the meals are really selling," he said. "So now we cook off chickens and refrigerate them during the day, selling them cold until 4 p.m. Then from 4 to 8 p.m., we sell them hot for the dinner rush."

Friel identified chicken parmigiano as its highest volume home-replacement meal made fresh for the chain by a manufacturer in Philadelphia. The company utilized best-selling fast casual restaurant items (including other Italian entrées such as ravioli) to drive its menu. Now it is ready to expand out to other items such as a meat loaf/mashed potato dinner, Friel said.

Additionally, Swiss Farms has taken its newest concept to the street, targeting "multiunit franchisees" as a way to get the expansion rolling. The first franchisee, with the next store scheduled to open in September, actually has three stores slated to open — and he's not the only one.

"We have three multi-unit franchisees signed up today and quite a few more in the pipeline," said Friel. "All these guys have brand operating experience — it's really great for us."

From those signed up today, Friel expects to open at least three more franchised stores in 2011.

It also plans to expand its regional coverage, which previously included Delaware, New Jersey and the Philadelphia area. "We can hit New York, and Maryland, too," Friel said. "With our distribution network, we can go as far down as D.C. and as far north as New England. We're definitely expanding our geography now. Because we have these multi-unit franchisee contracts, it allows us to expand easier and get more units in the market quicker. With the different kinds of infrastructure and teams in place, some with great real estate knowledge, it makes it easier to grow geographically."

In these economically challenged times, Swiss Farms is appealing to its customers.

"When you look at the trends of how people are shopping now across all channels, they're making more frequent shopping trips and buying fewer items," Friel said. "It's more about convenience items and not about stocking up. So customers are catching up with our model, which has been around a long time. The drive-thru is our real product, and it has become more relevant with today's consumers."

For comments, please contact Renée M. Covino, Contributing Editor, at [email protected].