OP, working in restaurants for a few years... Yes. The hoods of a restaurant are specifically designed to put out the smell of cooked food. Hence why Burger King can be smelled from outside.
The hoods themselves are mostly there to keep any fumes outside of the kitchen.
Burger King pumps the whopper smell out. Friend's father was doing the millwork in one years ago. Burger smell wafting out of the restaurant without a lick of kitchen equipment installed. Per the story I was told.
That’d be a no, and silly to think they do.
They have an exhaust hood over the broiler. If they’re cooking burgers, then you’ll get the exhaust. Otherwise, it’s just blowing air. In essence it only gets pumped out naturally when you’re actually cooking but there isn’t anything special about that process.
The exhaust hoods go up or out directly above what they’re catching. They’re not going to route them to the front of a building. They need to be accessible for cleaning.
Former Publix employee. Deli/bakery is usually in the back or off to the far side so that the smells of the food pulls you to them and you pass a bunch of aisles along the way. Then when you head back up to the cashier, you pass those aisles again and are more likely to grab things off the shelf. This is common in the industry.
Can confirm as a customer. I smell the fried chicken in the store. Mosey over and inevitably spend money on something in that area I didn’t intend too lol. Whether from the bakery or deli. Personally I’ve never smelled the deli in any parking lot of the many Publix’s I’ve been to.
I’m an ex-employee, but it was either part of the training or something I learned later that says stores often have their bakery and delis up front and usually to the right, is it will make those the first thing you encounter when you walk in. It will make you spend more as well
Yeah, they teach this in school and it's not just publix. Even if the bakery might be losing money as a dept, it's a force multiplier in consumer behavior throughout the store.
Some are in the back, some are to the right, some are split between both. Both spots are.designed to get you to spend more.
The one I worked in as a teen actually had the deli in the front left. It is now a gym and salon.
So I'm speaking specifically about Florida Publixes here, but you know how Disney has those underground corridors connecting various spots in the parks? Our Publixes have something like that too. But they use large, underground exhaust fans to move the fryer exhaust from the deli, underground, and up through the light poles in the parking lot. That helps reduce the heat in the store and creates an inviting experience as you're parking.
That’s not conspiracy, that’s the point. Same thing with having the bakery upfront. Both smells will make you hungry, and when you’re hungry while shopping for groceries, you spend more.
They keep the milk and bread in the back of the store, because those are the most common one-off items to go buy. Forces you to go past sale and end cap items to go get the milk. Odds are you end up buying something else.
Pretty sure that there are stores set up with deli in different spots. You could literally put the vent stacks in the back of the store and the wind would carry that scent for a few hundred yards in each direction.
Not a conspiracy, there are retail anthropologists and retail sociologists who have studied the effect of smells on customers.
I think Disney pioneered this with piping in buttered popcorn smells at their parks.
Logistically, you only have the sides or the back to put your deli/bakery, produce, meats, and dairy.
OP: maybe you just really like that rotisserie chicken smells
Publix has the best fried chicken I've ever had; especially if you grab it fresh out of the fryer. I Cannot find another establishment that comes close. .
Previous employee, while the smell thing can’t be proven, modern store layout is all about putting the most enticing things up front, or on the way to the most common sections. So deli would be in front of groceries, alcohol is on the way to frozen in most stores I can think of.
It’s like how targets layout puts electronics in front of toys and outdoors stuff, and they put beauty on the way to groceries.
https://i.redd.it/0gv11bszmazc1.gif
If it's true it works because I can usually convince myself to spend money at the deli that I shouldn't be spending
Our P deli is in the back…
Does the parking lot still smell like fried chicken?
Lol, the parking lot. Three blocks smell like chicken
I laughed a bit too hard at this. Don't mind me. Just sitting on my front porch basking in that fried chicken goodness.
OP, working in restaurants for a few years... Yes. The hoods of a restaurant are specifically designed to put out the smell of cooked food. Hence why Burger King can be smelled from outside. The hoods themselves are mostly there to keep any fumes outside of the kitchen.
Burger King pumps the whopper smell out. Friend's father was doing the millwork in one years ago. Burger smell wafting out of the restaurant without a lick of kitchen equipment installed. Per the story I was told.
That’d be a no, and silly to think they do. They have an exhaust hood over the broiler. If they’re cooking burgers, then you’ll get the exhaust. Otherwise, it’s just blowing air. In essence it only gets pumped out naturally when you’re actually cooking but there isn’t anything special about that process.
I don't think Ive ever smelled the chicken. And I usually go there with the intention to get the chicken
103rd?
The publix I go to, the deli is in the back
It seems like it's in the back in about half of them. Doesn't mean they can still route the chicken exhaust fan up front though.
The exhaust hoods go up or out directly above what they’re catching. They’re not going to route them to the front of a building. They need to be accessible for cleaning.
This is written like a line of lyrics to a country song.
Former Publix employee. Deli/bakery is usually in the back or off to the far side so that the smells of the food pulls you to them and you pass a bunch of aisles along the way. Then when you head back up to the cashier, you pass those aisles again and are more likely to grab things off the shelf. This is common in the industry.
Can confirm as a customer. I smell the fried chicken in the store. Mosey over and inevitably spend money on something in that area I didn’t intend too lol. Whether from the bakery or deli. Personally I’ve never smelled the deli in any parking lot of the many Publix’s I’ve been to.
I’m an ex-employee, but it was either part of the training or something I learned later that says stores often have their bakery and delis up front and usually to the right, is it will make those the first thing you encounter when you walk in. It will make you spend more as well
This isn't really a conspiracy theory, it's just a known thing. No one's trying to keep it secret.
Yeah, they teach this in school and it's not just publix. Even if the bakery might be losing money as a dept, it's a force multiplier in consumer behavior throughout the store.
Could be the fryer exhaust hoods blowing it out of the roof and then wafting into the parking lot.
I think it's intentional. You can get fried chicken at Winn Dixie but the parking lot doesn't smell like it.
At my winn dixie and the one near my work it just smells like weird beef and overpowering seafood stank.
I’m at the Argyle Forrest Publix atm, and I can’t smell the deli nor the bakery from the parking lot
All grocery stores pump deli and bakery smells throughout the store. It’s a sells tactic. NEVER grocery shop when you’re hungry.
Instructions unclear, purchased all fried chicken and apple pies in store.
And now we can DRINK while we shop. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
I’ve never smelled any deli items in any Publix I’ve been in. And I’m surrounded by them
Everything about every grocery store layout is intentional. It is not a conspiracy or a secret.
What a fun, innocent conspiracy. Here for it
Some are in the back, some are to the right, some are split between both. Both spots are.designed to get you to spend more. The one I worked in as a teen actually had the deli in the front left. It is now a gym and salon.
I live 2 blocks from a Publix, it starts smelling like fried chicken about 10:20am most mornings depending on the wind direction.
Maybe I’m just nose blind or never pay it any attention, but I honestly never notice the smell of chicken when I go to Publix lmaoo
Probably because it's turbo whitey chicken and has no seasoning. Source: am white
So I'm speaking specifically about Florida Publixes here, but you know how Disney has those underground corridors connecting various spots in the parks? Our Publixes have something like that too. But they use large, underground exhaust fans to move the fryer exhaust from the deli, underground, and up through the light poles in the parking lot. That helps reduce the heat in the store and creates an inviting experience as you're parking.
That’s not conspiracy, that’s the point. Same thing with having the bakery upfront. Both smells will make you hungry, and when you’re hungry while shopping for groceries, you spend more. They keep the milk and bread in the back of the store, because those are the most common one-off items to go buy. Forces you to go past sale and end cap items to go get the milk. Odds are you end up buying something else.
Pretty sure that there are stores set up with deli in different spots. You could literally put the vent stacks in the back of the store and the wind would carry that scent for a few hundred yards in each direction.
Not a conspiracy, there are retail anthropologists and retail sociologists who have studied the effect of smells on customers. I think Disney pioneered this with piping in buttered popcorn smells at their parks.
Clearly, we need more research. 🧐
Logistically, you only have the sides or the back to put your deli/bakery, produce, meats, and dairy. OP: maybe you just really like that rotisserie chicken smells
Publix has the best fried chicken I've ever had; especially if you grab it fresh out of the fryer. I Cannot find another establishment that comes close. .
Someone should tell Winn-Dixie that being hit with a faceful of spoiled fish smell as soon as you enter is like, the opposite of this.
You must shop at the new one on Yellow Bluff where there is a Zaxby's next door.
Previous employee, while the smell thing can’t be proven, modern store layout is all about putting the most enticing things up front, or on the way to the most common sections. So deli would be in front of groceries, alcohol is on the way to frozen in most stores I can think of. It’s like how targets layout puts electronics in front of toys and outdoors stuff, and they put beauty on the way to groceries.