My last trip to HEB seemed more like cocktail hour than grocery shopping.
Before I even had any items in my basket, I had tried four different kinds of cheese, two pieces of sushi, some artisan three seed bread and a couple sips of Lost Maples Cabernet Sauvignon.
Then I reached the Cooking Connection counter, where they hand out recipe cards and samples made on the spot with on-sale products.
Would you like to try a sample? We have some of the Moppin chicken salad, seared mahi mahi and some barbecue chicken tenders. Can t go wrong with that, the trained chef said over his head set.
More samples? Don t mind if I do.
I felt a little guilty for filling up on so much free stuff. After all, I only came into the store to pick up a few select items and had already devoured a small meal. A free meal. So where does one draw the line? How many samples can I eat until I get turned away -- if I get turned away?
At Whole Foods, the Organic Coconut Spread was flying off the sampling cart and the shelves. The bubbly store employee was happily smearing the spread on toasted spears of French batard for any shopper who crossed her path. It was good, really good. I asked if it would be OK to have another sample.
Dude, I have so much bread. Please try some, she said, commenting how much she hates wasting food.
On any other day, the store might not sell any tubs of Organic Coconut Spread. But today, the worker said they are selling two to three tubs for every five customers who stop for a sample, which is way higher than the normal one sale for every five samples.
I had three samples before I decided to splurge on the $4.99 tub of coconut spread. The worker assured me that I didn t break any etiquette rules, especially since I asked if it s OK to have another.
A lot of people ask if it s OK to take more than one. I think that s sampling etiquette, she said. People just assume you take only one.
Whole Foods got me. It was an impulse buy, and it was because they got me to violate the cardinal rule of grocery shopping: Never shop when you re hungry. They lured me in witha small taste and buried the hook with even more samples. Who can try the icing without wanting a whole slice of cake? Especially after sticking your finger in it.
The next leg of my journey took me to the wholesale superpower Costco, where sampling carts dot the store like water stations at a triathlon, refreshing shoppers after every short sprint down the aisles. At Costco, a shopper needs samples just as a racer needs water, and they can t ever have too much.
After trying the marinated Salmon, I asked a CDS worker (Club Demo Services) if there was a limit to how many samples a shopper can have. She looked at me as if I was reporting a crime and asked if one of the workers had turned me away.
No, she said, they could get terminated for doing that.
I assured her that I wasn t turned away, just interested in the store s policy. CDS has been dolling out samples at Costco for more than 20 years, and only turns away shoppers if the food is too hot to serve. So eat up.
We want you to be happy. We want you to be happy, she assured me. We want you to come in to Costco and sample our samples and have a pleasant shopping experience.
And for good reason. The CDS worker told me sampled products sell three to four times more than on a day when they aren t being sampled. On the Saturday afternoon I stopped in the store, there were about nine sampling stations, which I was told is pretty thin. Some days, especially around holidays or the Super Bowl, they can have up to 20 manned stations throughout the store.
But that fourth helping of marinated salmon may come with a touch of guilt. I should really buy a pack or at least act like I m interested, you may say to yourself. But really, you re subjecting yourself to their sales pitch. Besides, you wouldn t buy a pair of jeans without making sure your butt looks good in them, would you? Nor would you buy a car without a test drive. It s OK to take samples as long as you have an intention to buy something.
It wasn t even 2 p.m. on a Friday and the chef at the HEB Cooking Connection said he has already seen three people come into the store for just the samples. He said he sees them often, and they leave the store without buying anything. They just graze and sometimes try to graze some more.
The Cooking Connection has a policy of one sample per person. Which is understandable. They dish out good-sized portions of usually three different recipes, plus small samples of wine. But one sample isn t always enough for some shoppers. The chef said there are some people who leave the store, change shirts and come back inside for more samples.
And I m like, Didn t I just see you 20 minutes ago? he said.
In most cases he ll give them another food sample anyway. Some samples hit and some samples miss, but in the end, they still serve their purpose. Customers are enjoying the food, the shopping experience and are enticed to buy the products -- about $500 to $700 on an average day, according to the chef.
So don t feel badly about taking a sample, or two. And if you really like it, ask for a third. To the grocery store, the more samples you eat, the more likely you are to make a purchase -- whether you re genuinely sold or pressured by the guilt of eating half the sample tray.
Think of samples as hors d'oeuvres at a party. And if you have great hors d'oeuvres, there s a good chance I ll come to your next party. Eat up, shop on.
Where do you draw the line on sampling etiquette?Visit the KENS 5 facebook page to vote in our poll!
