Cover Story Dash’s Market Tailored Today Dash’s Market’s product line is carefully curated to meet customer needs. By Katie Martin pening up shop in western needs and be a one-stop shop, but New York, right in the not enough to take up large amounts home court of Wegmans of space. Instead, most of the stores’ OFood Markets — a chain footprints are dedicated to food. many consider to be the industry’s “We don’t have space to have all standard bearer — is no easy task, that stuf,” Dash explains. “You have but Joe Dash and his team are up to to pick your poison, and our poison the challenge. Dash’s Market, with is, we want to sell food. I’m a foodie.” four locations in the Bufalo area, Te Dash family has been in goes directly after the Wegmans- the food business since 1923, when type shopper while touting the Dash’s grandparents opened a small diferences: smaller stores, store in Bufalo, followed a carefully curated product “There is no by his father’s market. In line, fresh prepared foods magic. If you get 1962, Joe’s father, Frank, and top-notch service. someone in the became a Tops Markets With stores that are franchisee, eventually about 30,000 square door, take care opening three stores in feet, Dash’s Market isn’t of them; that’s the Bufalo area. Around looking to compete with how you get them 2001, Frank sold one large-format chains and store to a competing Tops superstores. “We’re a lot back.” franchisee and two loca- of supermarkets Dash envisioned, of things to a lot of people, —Joe Dash, owner/CEO tions to Joe, who in turn with an emphasis on perishables. A but we’re not everything purchased a third store for traditional supermarket may feature to everybody,” says Joe a new concept he had in 60 percent nonperishables and 40 per- Dash, owner and CEO. “Trying to mind: Dash’s Market. cent perishables, Dash notes, but he do everything is too much. We do a wanted to fip the product mix ratios. great job with what we do.” New Concept Given the competitive landscape of Te stores carry limited selections Tat third location, in East Amherst, the Bufalo area, Dash knew that center of housewares and health and beauty N.Y., was stripped down to the walls, store would be a tough sell, but he felt products — just enough to have foor and ceiling to create what would that he could compete with the higher- them available to meet customers’ become the prototype for the kind grossing perishables departments. 8 | Progressive Grocer Independent | June 2016 DASH’S AT THE TOP “I had an idea of creating that resulting concept uses some tech- John Mills, East Amherst store manager; neighborhood environment under one niques and methods that the family Mark Mahoney, VP/GM; Joe Dash Sr., roof, with a butcher shop, seafood, had used in its previous stores, as owner and CEO; and Joe Dash Jr., director a bakery,” Dash says. “I wanted all well as other best practices that the of e-commerce. these little mini markets under one team saw in cities around the United roof. And I wanted to be a quality States that Dash embellished or a technique that the Dash team purveyor and have a unique variety.” adapted to work in its own stores. frst saw in a Chicago Whole Foods To create the ultimate market, “When we saw something we Market. Others in the industry said Dash and his team, including Mark liked, we asked, ‘How do we improve the stacking method, while attrac- Mahoney, VP/GM, traveled around it?’” Mahoney says. For example, tive, would never last, as it was too the country for inspiration. Te the artistically stacked produce was labor-intensive. Fourteen years later, June 2016 | Defining the Independent Market | 9 Cover Story Dash’s Market however, the produce continues to be stacked every day the way the team frst envisioned. “It’s kind of like a puzzle,” Dash says of the store concept. “All the pieces, when you put them together, [form] a concept that I know will work in a lot of places, but not everywhere. Tese stores don’t work everywhere.” Te stores are located in healthy neighborhoods with a lot of rooftops and pull in a more sophisticated consumer with a higher-than-av- erage income. “We’re a neighbor- hood market,” Dash notes. “I don’t consider ourselves a grocery store; we’re defnitely not a supercenter or a convenience store. We’re a neighborhood market that has a lot of unique things, that really thrives on taking care of the neighborhood.” Focus on Protein In establishing Dash’s A SLICE ABOVE Market, Dash frst focused Dash’s Market’s unique slicer creates a on center plate — pro- distinctive deli meat display that causes teins — with the idea that customers to stop in their tracks. if the team was success- ful with that, they could “We’re a lot of of store sales, and is the “But that’s the way I want to take get customers to buy what things to a lot of second-fastest growing the company,” Dash asserts. “I want they needed to fll up the department in the stores. the best quality, so we went to this rest of the plate. “When people, but we’re For seafood, Dash’s shrimp. We’ve had to educate our we started, it was, let’s get not everything to uses a Boston-to-Bufalo customers on the attributes and value them hooked on the meat everybody. Trying run in which the fsh is of what we’re doing. We’ve really department, and maybe we caught one day and in the been able to grow it faster than I can sell them the potatoes. to do everything stores’ showcases the next, thought we would.” Ten, maybe we can sell is too much. We while other variet- them the dessert, the bread. do a great job ies, like ahi tuna, And maybe then, we can are fown in fresh sell them the spices. But with what we do.” from Hawaii. Te let’s work on center plate —Joe Dash, owner/CEO stores also have [frst],” Dash explains. colossal crab legs Te frst step was build- on display and ing a reputation for the meat depart- 16-ounce lobster tails — ment. Te stores feature butchers product that many supermar- cutting meat to order every day until kets are moving away from, 6:00 in the evening, including unique Dash says. Te company cuts like the tomahawk. Te wide additionally made the deci- selection includes USDA Choice sion to source only sustain- and Prime beef, veal, lamb, dry-aged ably caught shrimp, which NO SHIRKING ON SHRIMP prime beef, and house-made sau- costs signifcantly more than Dash’s Market sources only sustainably caught sages. Meat accounts for 20 percent traditional shrimp. shrimp, even though the cost is significantly higher. 10 | Progressive Grocer Independent | June 2016 Cover Story Dash’s Market Importance of Perishables Once the departments that provided the protein for customers’ center of the plate were up and running, Dash and his team turned to establishing the other perishables departments. Te cheese department, for instance, has an extensive display. “We’re not afraid to pile it out there, because we have confdence that we’re carrying the right items at a great value, and we’re going to sell it,” Mahoney says. Te deli department features prosciutto from Italy and nearly every local brand of cold cuts. Te department draws a lot of attention for its unique product display. Dash’s uses a high-tech slicer that calculates weight, slice increment and number of slices. Te machine is set to shingle the slices as they come out of the slicer onto a conveyor belt. Te shingled slices are then stacked perpen- CARVING STATION dicularly in the deli case. Deli meats The carving station in the prepared food department has become popular by offering account for 70 percent of the depart- freshly sliced prime rib, turkey and other cooked-on-site meats. ment’s sales. “If you look, [the deli] is where all introduced a farm-to-fork program possible. One such partnership is with the customers congregate,” Mahoney in which Dash’s has partnered with an Amish farmer, and the produce points out. several local farms to bring in as much manager drives about an hour to the In produce, the company has conventional and organic produce as farm twice a week to buy organic produce. He buys it one day, and it’s on sale to customers the next. Organic produce is cross-merchandised with conventional items in the department, but also displayed in a dedicated or- ganic section for those customers who want only organic products. “Organics has become a big part of our business, and we see it growing,” Mahoney says. “We have a plan that when needed, we’ll expand the whole footprint of our produce department in our stores.” In the rest of the departments, organics are popular as well, so in his plans to remodel the location on Her- tel Avenue, in Bufalo, Dash is going to add a specifc organic/ natural sec- NEOPOLITAN-STYLE ARTISAN PIZZAS tion next to produce, to make it even Customers flock to the thin-crust pizza with varieties like The Antique, which more convenient for organics-minded features garlic oil, marinated artichokes, ricotta, crisp pancetta and tomato. shoppers to fnd what they need.