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Sickles Market: From Farm to Table

At this New Jersey specialty food store and nursery, customers get the best of both worlds: premium prepared and packaged foods offered with the sensibility of a family who has farmed the land for generations.

By Denise Shoukas

More than a century ago, the Sickles family started selling produce grown on its 200-acre farm to the local community in Little Silver, N.J. Today, residents in this affluent hamlet 45 minutes south of New York City still turn to Sickles Market to find the highest-quality produce and specialty food matched with old-world hospitality and excellent customer service.

Drawing on the Past

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Sickles Market has a rich family history. The land that the store is located on has been farmed and in the family since 1663, when it was acquired as a King’s Land Grant by the Parker family. Current owner Bob Sickles’ grandfather, Harold, married into the Parker family and started selling produce wholesale in 1908 and later directly to the community, creating the first incarnation of the market that exists today. In the 1960s the family began selling plants and flowers, after requests mounted from customers who wanted to grow their own varieties of the same quality as Sickles.

Bob, who has worked at Sickles Market and on the family farm since he was 12 years old, became a partner after graduating college in 1978, and later purchased the market and property outright in 2002.

“My parents are like my north star,” he says. “They’re old-fashioned with solid values. At first, they were afraid of getting too big, but I came back from college, and we decided together to move forward. The question was, how do we get bigger and better?”

In 1997 Bob met a consultant at a nursery trade show who helped devise a plan for the market’s future growth. The result is today’s 20,000-square-foot specialty food store and garden center. Sickles Market sits on more than six acres of land, encompassing 15,000 square feet. An attached 5,000-square-foot greenhouse overflows with fresh flower and vegetable plants and makes for an ideal spot for large demos and events. Since the early 1990s, Sickles has grown from a $3.5 million business to a more than $17 million operation. “Now the question is how do we grow in the same space,” says Bob.

Fresh and Local to Global

Sickles Market hosts an extensive range of items within the store’s small space, offering something for every level of shopper. The prime customer base, says Bob, is women ages 35 to 65, who have diverse needs.

“Some people come in to buy our prepared foods while some never go near that section and have a more European mindset. There’s always a mix of both types of shoppers,” he adds. “Part of the store’s success is that a person can shop here and only spend $50 to feed their family, or $500.”

Fresh and local Currently two-thirds of sales are from food, while one-third comes from the garden center. Produce is the largest department saleswise. In the summer, Bob sources from local farmers like John Samaha, a retired music teacher. Keeping true to the store’s roots, Bob’s father, Robert, 83, continues to raise vegetables and berries for the market on 15 acres of preserved farmland. Last year alone, Sickles sold 12,000 pints of Robert’s berries during the summer.

In winter, the selection is smaller but still varied and includes Honeybell tangelos, U.S. blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, Meyer lemons, Thomcat grapes (a cross between Muscat and green grapes), Lemon plums and Green Gage plums. The store also carries what Bob believes are the best off-season tomatoes—Maya Farms Sweet Grape Tomatoes.

In addition to produce, Sickles Market has a well-stocked Gourmet Grocery section, organized into categories including cheese, a butcher counter, prepared foods, produce, refrigerated and frozen items, dairy and shelf-stable ingredients. Shopper convenience is key: For one-stop shopping, Sickles carries a mix of specialty and mainstream in most categories, such as upscale Sir Kensington’s Ketchup as well as Heinz. Throughout the Gourmet Grocery, products that are big sellers are placed in numerous locations as a reminder to customers that these shouldn’t be overlooked. Little touches like fresh baguettes are placed in complementary areas such as the butcher and cheese sections and the prepared foods counter. And at the entrance, there’s an island display called the Hot Spot, where best-selling products from within the store, like Martinelli’s apple juice, are easy to access. “We take advantage of every bit of space,” Bob says.

Sickles prides itself on finding local New Jersey products to carry, such as Mazi’s Peri Peri Sauce from Asbury Park, Delizioso’s Pasta Sauce from nearby Toms River, Fourth Creek Sweet Pepper Relish from Fairhaven, and Eileen’s Local Granola from Ocean Township. The retailer also stocks the Amish Wedding product line and Gundersheim Pickles, both from nearby Pennsylvania.

To help educate customers on categories that can mystify, Sickles conducts “voting tastings,” in which, for instance, three olive oils are tasted and customers vote on their favorite while learning about the differences in quality. The winning product is put on sale and usually flies off the shelves.

Nearby at the prepared foods counter, more than 60 items are made in-house and include dishes such as beef stew, brown rice with peas and shallots, sesame chicken fingers and Sickles own bruschetta. The area is flanked by grab-and-go cases offering housemade quiches, soups and guacamole. The market also cross-merchandises prepared foods with packaged products such as Sickles’ Plum Sauce made with Clearbrook Farms Plum Jam. “It’s a good way to introduce customers to some of the high-level products they may have passed by,” Bob says.

Although each section boasts high-end items, shoppers can find values throughout the store. For instance, day-old bread from Balthazar is sold two-for-one daily. “It also shows customers that [our selection is] as fresh as possible,” Bob notes. Likewise in produce, for the past 20 years Sickles has offered the popular Inflation Buster Bags produce promotion. “We put older produce that’s still good to eat in a bag and sell it for $1.50. It’s a top seller,” he says.

Prioritizing Demos: Taste and Sell

Bob believes that demos are the best way to move product from the shelf into customers’ baskets. To that end, a full-time demo coordinator, Fran Schults, schedules different types of demos at least four days a week. Blitz Demos run for four consecutive days, ensuring that no matter what day a customer chooses to shop, there’s a good chance she’ll encounter a particular product. Sickles has also started the Big Demo, an event that costs $15-$20 at the door and gives customers an opportunity to taste more than 20 products. “We want people to experience how good the expensive items are and understand why they’re worth the price tag. The entry fee ensures they cover their costs,” Bob explains.

Another successful recent demo highlighted ice cream. Rather than giving small spoons of product, Sickles made small cones filled with ice cream and sold them for $1 each. “It was enormously successful, especially for products like Jeni’s Ice Cream, which is much more expensive that other brands,” Bob says. “You have to figure out a clever way to show that it’s not just expensive, it’s special.”

Rooted to the Land

Sickles Market A link to the surrounding community remains as solid today as it was in the early 1900s. Earth Day is one event in which Sickles has a strong participation. On the day of Specialty Food Magazine’s visit, Bob and his father were going to a local farmer about 50 miles away to pick up 500 mesclun and 500 bistro salad plants, many of which will go to a local school to promote Earth Day awareness. Last year, Sickles grew 500 plants in decompostable pots and distributed tomato, eggplant or pepper plants to students to grow at home. The school then invited Sickles to a lunch one month later, where they ate the food the children grew.

“The most important thing is making kids aware of where food comes from,” notes Bob. Another part of Sickles’ Earth Day program includes donating 450 shopping bags to the schools, where students decorate them in an Earth theme and return them to the store. They’re hung in the cashier area, and then used for customers’ purchases. “Customers love it, and it’s great PR,” he says.

Eye on the Future

The house Bob’s grandfather used to live in can still be seen from inside Sickles Market, but today it’s a food storage area. Soon the house’s second floor will become expanded office space, and the bottom level will be a commissary kitchen. The new off-site space will include a training facility, with four registers in an office so cashiers get comfortable with the machines and role-play before arriving on the floor.

Sickles employs 130 staffers during the busy summer months and more than 90 year-round. Employees range in age from high schoolers to older adults. “Informally, we’re constantly training staff,” Bob notes, but he also takes advantage of more formal training for all employees, like ZingTrain, an intensive course offered through Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Mich.

A new addition to his staff is Bob’s daughter Tori, which bodes well for the market’s future. “Tori is my canary,” says Bob. She lives in nearby New York City and regularly visits stores and restaurants to see what the chefs are doing and brings it back to the market.

As for future plans, next on deck is a brand overhaul and website redesign. “It’s time to change because we want to do more online sales. And it’s a great way to link with our Facebook page and Twitter account.”

When wandering around Sickles Market, it’s easy to feel as if you’re in an old-fashioned world, where customers smile when they see Bob Sickles and he returns the enthusiasm. The genuine atmosphere creates a pleasant setting where customer service and interaction are paramount. “You have to win an Oscar every day,” Bob says. |SFM|

Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine.

This article was featured in the May 2011 issue of Specialty Food Magazine. See other articles in this issue at: May 2011 Specialty Food Magazine.