task_116Retail trade

Prepared Foods Reset Handoff

Blue Mesa Market - Q3 2026 refrigerated grab-and-go case

From: L. Moreno, Senior Merchant - Prepared Foods

To: Category Planning / Space Planning

Date: June 10, 2026

Context: The July reset has to protect lunch traffic while taking shrink dollars out of the case. The buyer proposal was assembled after vendor line reviews, but it has not been reconciled to current tray capacity, delivery cadence, or the signed trade terms. Stores are already flagging that the case is hard to recover after the noon rush, so the final call needs to be operationally boring even if the vendor story is exciting.

Decision rules for this reset

Fit the first four weeks of the July reset into the live refrigerated case. Do not assume the September lease-line change, extra trays, or extra driver stops will materialize.

Treat internal sales, waste, and inventory records as the demand signal. Supplier projections in the proposal are not an accepted demand source for this call.

Signed offer letters control credits, route eligibility, and launch support. If a proposal note conflicts with a signed offer letter, use the signed letter.

Do not use a partial facing to solve a capacity problem. A carried item needs a full facing, and oversized trays consume the amount listed in the item master.

Each cluster must keep one credible vegetarian lunch option. Egg Salad Croissant should not be the only vegetarian answer in any cluster because it has low repeat and generated allergy handling complaints in the spring review.

Two-day-code items are a poor fit for clusters with fewer than four delivery days unless the performance and shrink protection are unusually strong. One-day-code items require the route and credit support in the signed terms.

Do not keep winter seasonal sandwiches for Q3 just to fill empty space. The July set should not inherit an item simply because it looked better in Q1.

Rural North and Highway / Travel should carry fewer, cleaner choices when the alternatives create waste or replenishment work. Empty capacity is better than a low-repeat item that trains stores to over-order.

Known pressure points

Pressure point

What makes it risky

How to handle it

Sushi pitch

Vendor materials use chainwide traffic estimates, but only the Metro route is signed for daily service and credit.

Do not extend beyond the signed route; do not give it more room than the data justifies.

Vegetarian swap

Caprese is more premium than Hummus, but it has a two-day code and uneven pilot performance.

Use it selectively. Keep Hummus where Caprese is not a clean operating fit.

Protein Snack Box

The SKU is new but has longer code date, low waste, and lunch/snack mission relevance.

Give it enough room where pilot economics support the space, but do not ignore tray capacity.

Legacy and seasonal SKUs

Egg Salad and Turkey Cranberry both have store advocates, but the recent data is weak and shrink-heavy.

Remove them from the July case unless the data shows a current, profitable role.

Audience need

The senior merchant wants a recommendation she can use in the Monday line review: what to accept, what to change, what to reject, and which store clusters are affected. Space Planning needs the supporting math and capacity reconciliation, not a vendor-style sell story.