Meat managers at a Shop Rite store in New Jersey and a Stauffers of Kissel Hill store in Pennsylvania were the top prizewinners in a retail contest promoting the 14th annual “September is National Chicken Month,” sponsored by the National Chicken Council (NCC) and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY). Each won $2,500 for successfully applying the National Chicken Month (NCM) marketing tools and his own creativity to promote chicken to consumers this past September.
Chris Vuono of the Shop Rite–Wakefern Food Corporation store in Keasbey, N.J., won in the chain store category, while John Gerlach of the Stauffers of Kissel Hill in Litiz, Pa., won in the independent stores category.
Craig Dobson and Bernadette Higgins, both sales representatives for Perdue Farms, Inc. shared a prize of $500 for encouraging the most entries in the chain store category. Kevin Cole of Ritter Food Service won the top prize of $500 in the category of sales representatives for independent stores.
Via the NCM Web site – www.eatchicken.com – and a free CD-ROM, NCC and USPOULTRY provided stores and sales reps across the country with logos and other artwork suitable for use in advertising and promotion, as well as the option to order free “shelf talkers” — printed promotional placards. Winners submitted portfolios of advertising fliers, photos of point-of-sale materials, chicken sales data and other information to document the impact of their campaign.
“Our contest winners have proven once again that by working together, we can make a real difference in driving chicken demand,” said Jerry Lane, president of Claxton Poultry and chairman of the NCC Marketing Committee. “We appreciate the outstanding efforts of all the stores and sales reps who participated in this year’s contest.”
The National Chicken Council is the Washington-based trade association for the nation’s integrated chicken producer-processors. The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is a national organization that represents its members in all aspects of poultry and eggs on both a national and an international level. Its mission revolves around research, education, communication, and product promotion.
John Gerlach of Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill in Lititz, Pa. (left), a winner of the National Chicken Month retail contest, is congratulated by Bill Helmstetter of Allen Family Foods. Gerlach won $2,500 for the best retail promotion program among independent stores during September is National Chicken Month. Helmstetter is his sales representative at Allen Family Foods.
