Boom! New Aldi format offers fresh in-store bakery and produce first in the door

January 2, 2018 

The battle for fresh just been taken up a notch by Aldi. The recently relocated Aldi store at 451 N. Randall Rd, Batavia, IL takes fresh to “the next level." In this newest layout, produce is placed “first in the door,” and the addition of an in-store bakery proved to be a popular destination when we visited at 1 pm on Saturday, December 30. With this new bakery, Aldi can continue to make its grab for greater share of wallet. The expansion of this format should be carefully watched.

Based on our visit, it looks like the store is generating higher sales by overlaying a strong, fresh offering that includes an in-store bakery on top of Aldi's already ultra-low prices.

The relocated store is about 3,000 square feet bigger than the old one, but the increase in size is overshadowed by the commitment to fresh food.

• Customers are greeted with a display of organic produce as they enter the store, and the entire first aisle is devoted to produce and deli.
• New, attention-getting graphics highlight the fresh offering.
• Meat, fresh “never frozen” seafood, and commercial bread are displayed across the back of the store.

The in-store bakery, however, is what really sets the store apart from recent Aldi remodels. It offers an assortment of bread, rolls, donuts, croissants, pretzels, and other products baked daily in the store.

• The self-service case is stocked from the rear production area, and
• Customers individually select the products they want into a bakery bag or box.

On a busy Saturday, in the early afternoon, customers were waiting in line for their turn to pick out bakery products – it was the clearly the star of the show.

BMC POV

It was only a matter of time before Aldi would match Lidl’s in-store bakery concept on the East Coast. Based on the popularity of this bakery, it seems quite likely that more will be added in remodeled Aldi stores as space permits.

Aldi’s emphasis on fresh represents a direct attack on the fresh perimeter departments where sales are growing and grocers have traditionally differentiated themselves from competition.

Most of the fresh product quality is excellent, but even where it doesn’t meet the highest standards, the strong “value for money” proposition puts these products within reach of customers who otherwise might not be able to justify the spend.