AUBURN - If Wegmans' customers want pizza, pizza is what they'll get.
And chicken wings, too.
The Auburn store of the Rochester-based chain expects to begin selling pizza and wings by the third week in March from a newly constructed eatery. The new department is going in what was part of the store's dining area that served the sub and coffee counters.
"Our customers asked for it," said perishables manager Tom Hentges. "We kept hearing 'When are you going to get pizza?'"
And to serve it, Wegmans will expand its cafe staff, although Hentges didn't know how many people would be hired. He said company officials will be in the Auburn store on Genesee Street next week to iron out those details.
The coffee and sub shops will stay open during the construction.
In addition to expanding the cafe menu, there are plans to buy new fixtures for the area, including a big beverage case, which Hentges described as a large open cooler. Now, beverages are sold from smaller wall units.
Wegmans offers Market Cafe pizza in 54 of its stores in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The variety of pizzas available will be the same in Auburn as in the rest of the chain.
There will be slices, entire pies and family combination deals on pizza and wings.
The pies range from the typically topped - pepperoni, mushroom and the like - to the "premium steak quesadilla" and "ultimate chicken spiedie." There are four levels available at the pizza counter: regular, favorite, specialty and premium.
The wings come in barbecue, Buffalo-style (medium or hot) and sweet and spicy.
It's the right time to bring pizza and wings to Auburn, Hentges said.
"Our store keeps growing," he said. "Our customer count continues to grow."
If the pizza goes over well, as Hentges expects, the store may look to add a station where chicken Caesar salads are prepared to order. The Wegmans in Camillus, which has a full-scale Market Cafe, features the salads.
But another popular feature of the full-scale eateries, a Chinese buffet, probably won't be coming to the Auburn store, Hentges said.
"That takes a lot of equipment," he said. "There's the grill, and steam tables. We just don't have that kind of room here. And all our departments do well; we don't want to take any space away from them."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
The Auburn store of the Rochester-based chain expects to begin selling pizza and wings by the third week in March from a newly constructed eatery. The new department is going in what was part of the store's dining area that served the sub and coffee counters.
"Our customers asked for it," said perishables manager Tom Hentges. "We kept hearing 'When are you going to get pizza?'"
And to serve it, Wegmans will expand its cafe staff, although Hentges didn't know how many people would be hired. He said company officials will be in the Auburn store on Genesee Street next week to iron out those details.
The coffee and sub shops will stay open during the construction.
In addition to expanding the cafe menu, there are plans to buy new fixtures for the area, including a big beverage case, which Hentges described as a large open cooler. Now, beverages are sold from smaller wall units.
Wegmans offers Market Cafe pizza in 54 of its stores in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The variety of pizzas available will be the same in Auburn as in the rest of the chain.
There will be slices, entire pies and family combination deals on pizza and wings.
The pies range from the typically topped - pepperoni, mushroom and the like - to the "premium steak quesadilla" and "ultimate chicken spiedie." There are four levels available at the pizza counter: regular, favorite, specialty and premium.
The wings come in barbecue, Buffalo-style (medium or hot) and sweet and spicy.
It's the right time to bring pizza and wings to Auburn, Hentges said.
"Our store keeps growing," he said. "Our customer count continues to grow."
If the pizza goes over well, as Hentges expects, the store may look to add a station where chicken Caesar salads are prepared to order. The Wegmans in Camillus, which has a full-scale Market Cafe, features the salads.
But another popular feature of the full-scale eateries, a Chinese buffet, probably won't be coming to the Auburn store, Hentges said.
"That takes a lot of equipment," he said. "There's the grill, and steam tables. We just don't have that kind of room here. And all our departments do well; we don't want to take any space away from them."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
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