• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:32 AM

Supermarkets are training their butchers to chew the fat with customers as well as trim it from steaks and chops. They are offering recipe suggestions and answering questions such as "What is braising?" in an attempt to attract budget-conscious shoppers tempted by supercenters, drug stores and specialty stores like Trader Joe's. Meat accounts for about 4.1% of supermarket sales (not including supercenters), according to Nielsen.

"Before, I'd tell customers just to squeeze out the blood and add some salt and pepper," Aram Dakarian, meat manager at a Jewel supermarket in Chicago tells Timothy W. Martin. But now he's expected to dole out cooking tips, and is doing so "eagerly."

This is, of course, what butchers -- who are now evidently called "meat cutters" -- did at neighborhood grocers and dedicated shops until sprawling supermarkets became the norm in the 1990s. Carey Otwell, director of meat for Southern Family Markets, says better meat service can enhance the whole shopping experience. "You rarely hear a customer say, 'Hey, let's have some corn for dinner. What type of meat should we have with that?'"

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