Free food samples at groceries

[Robin Garr]

We had a great thread on the old forum a while back about how much fun it can be to taste free food samples at specialty food shops <i>provided</i> they keep the stations freshly stocked and neat and, ideally, that customers don't double-dip and otherwise gross out other visitors.

The other day at Lotsa Pasta I spotted a classic example of the latter practice that I just had to share: A very well-dressed, tasteful-looking East End matron bellied up to the Kajun Krab Spread and crackers, carefully spread a sample, <i>and then leaned forward over the dish as she ate, taking care that any fragments that fell from her mouth would drop back into the community bowl</i>.

I suppose she thought she was being nice by not dripping on the floor, but <i>eeeeuuuwwww</i>.

It also seems to me that Whole Foods has gotten worse and worse about their free oftenings ... very, very careless about keeping the stations cleaned up or stocked. It's not all that appetizing to see dried crusts of picked-over food that obviously haven't had any attention from staff for hours.

Anyone else got good food-freebie stories to tell, either inspiring or gross?

Not necessarily food, but free samples...My wife and I live in Middletown and realized months ago, Friday night is sample night for the liquor stores. Evergreen Liquors at the corner of Evergreen and Shelbyville Road generally has at least one liquor sample (wine, vodka, gin, or beer) and at least one food sample (cheese or a cheese spread). Not to mention, Evergreen is a great place to pick up a bottle of wine, nice selection, and a very helpful staff. Also, our Kroger has opened its first Kroger Wine & Spirits which generally samples wine and cheese every Friday and Saturday evening. Let me know if there are others out there that we are missing.

The other day at Lotsa Pasta I spotted a classic example of the latter practice that I just had to share: A very well-dressed, tasteful-looking East End matron bellied up to the Kajun Krab Spread and crackers, carefully spread a sample, <i>and then leaned forward over the dish as she ate, taking care that any fragments that fell from her mouth would drop back into the community bowl</i>.

I suppose she thought she was being nice by not dripping on the floor, but <i>eeeeuuuwwww</i>.

Damn...Kinda gives a new meaning to the name "LOTSA" Pasta...

Speaking of free food samples...I rather enjoy the Bourbon Chicken tasting wars that I come across at the mall food courts between competing Asian eateries...Hmm...I always thought that Bourbon Chicken was a Cajun dish...Not an Asian dish...Somebody set me straight...

I love free samples liquor, food, the kissing booth at county fairs, ahem,

Jim are you related to a woman named Anne?
Did you go to school in St. Matthews?

just wondering.

I was THS '74

We had a great thread on the old forum a while back about how much fun it can be to taste free food samples at specialty food shops <i>provided</i> they keep the stations freshly stocked and neat and, ideally, that customers don't double-dip and otherwise gross out other visitors.

The other day at Lotsa Pasta I spotted a classic example of the latter practice that I just had to share: A very well-dressed, tasteful-looking East End matron bellied up to the Kajun Krab Spread and crackers, carefully spread a sample, <i>and then leaned forward over the dish as she ate, taking care that any fragments that fell from her mouth would drop back into the community bowl</i>.

I suppose she thought she was being nice by not dripping on the floor, but <i>eeeeuuuwwww</i>.

It also seems to me that Whole Foods has gotten worse and worse about their free oftenings ... very, very careless about keeping the stations cleaned up or stocked. It's not all that appetizing to see dried crusts of picked-over food that obviously haven't had any attention from staff for hours.

Anyone else got good food-freebie stories to tell, either inspiring or gross?

Yucch. Another example of why I just don't find sampling in stores appealing at all ...

Yucch. Another example of why I just don't find sampling in stores appealing at all ...

At least not through the self-serve varieties.

Not necessarily food, but free samples...My wife and I live in Middletown and realized months ago, Friday night is sample night for the liquor stores. Evergreen Liquors at the corner of Evergreen and Shelbyville Road generally has at least one liquor sample (wine, vodka, gin, or beer) and at least one food sample (cheese or a cheese spread). Not to mention, Evergreen is a great place to pick up a bottle of wine, nice selection, and a very helpful staff. Also, our Kroger has opened its first Kroger Wine & Spirits which generally samples wine and cheese every Friday and Saturday evening. Let me know if there are others out there that we are missing.

Jim, Liquor Barn in Springhurst does tastings every Friday evening from 5-7 and Saturdays 3-6 (I think). I've also conducted tastings at Liquor World locations, Wild Oats (RIP), and Prospect Party Center.

as a former Whole foods employee

trust me don't eat the samples
it is disgusting to witness the poor manners exhibited at "free sample" areas
i've seen it all
douple dipping, food spraying from open mouths while asking what it is that their eating
putting crackers that have been bitten back into the samples

i've watched customers place their discarded olive pits back into the olive bar

oh, and most samples are "out of date" products

if you have to taste something, make them open a fresh container for you- at whole foods the employees have to do this for you

We sampled every day at Gourmet for Everyone and our customers really enjoyed it. I believe our staff was very diligent in keeping samples clean and refreshed, and other than kids, I've never observed the dreaded double-dipping. Of course we also tried to keep the portions bit-sized on things like tortilla chips as this drastically reduces the urge to double-dip.

I'd be tempted to hypothesis that our clientele just had better manners except for some of the appalling behavior I've exhibited from a very few. Not the gross/disgusting kind mentioned before, but that of using a sampling table as a meal. Samples are there to be sampled, not to become your personal lunch. One example: I observed one woman take more than 1/2 of a 8 oz chunk of Stilton, going back several times to "try" it again, and again. And then leave, commenting how much she liked the combination, but not buying it (or anything else). Oh, and asking me about applying for a job working for us as she was getting ready to leave...

Where do people get their manners?

[Robin Garr]

I observed one woman take more than 1/2 of a 8 oz chunk of Stilton, going back several times to "try" it again, and again.

I saw a father and grown-daughter team do something like that at Lotsa Pasta once, bellying up to the table so no one else could get at it, and staying there for 10 or 15 minutes, yakking and sampling until they pretty much finished the bowl.

at the whole foods market there are several known customers that make meals of the samples
we even had nicknames for a few

the dreaded IRON or ORANGE SAMPLER

this guy would always wear orange shorts (i believe he works in the music department at UofL) and seriously he would stand at a sample tray until it was empty and then ask you to refill it for him

i saw him slurp a sample directly from a soup ladel at the market

there is a family of immigrants (eastern european possibly) that would stay at the market for hours making meals of the samples, a young girl maybe 10 or 11 and a man about 40 or so, would stand at the olive bar for 15 to twenty minutes eating, and never buy a thing


ask the employees at whole foods how often they rotate the olives ???

Gross stories...

I guess it is why Costco has sample "handlers." Makes total sense now...

Yes, ask the team members at Whole Foods how often they rotate and clean out their olive bar. During my year and a half working in that department we cleaned the olive bar 3 times.

he excuse to not clean more was that we only had 5 employees and there simply wasn't enough overtime available to take care of 'extra' cleanings.

I personally cleaned it once when I was first hired and you cannot even imagine what lurks at the bottom of those olive containers. It's pretty similar to the Death Star trash compactor scene in Star Wars.

oh, YUCK! That's appalling! Are you saying that the new olives were just poured on top of the remaing old ones, ad infinitum????? That's serous health-code violation.

When refreshing deli-foods , we always emptied the bowl , started a refresh clean bowl and put the older product on top (if there is any left- mostly it was all one batch in the bowl). That way, it's sold first and you always know that what's in the bowl is only 2 batches. You never ever continue to add new product to old. Much less in a place where there is public access to a product.

DEb

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