ST. PAUL, Minn. - Grocers are going whole hog on their prepared food sections to keep up with restaurants, Supermarket News reports. Supermarkets also have borrowed restaurant playbooks, co-opting popular promos, highlighting specials and serving up recent food trends.

Last fall, Kowalksi??s Markets opened Lemongrass Bol de la Vie, a Vietnamese takeout restaurant. "The green lights [overhead] and the uniforms certainly are attention-getters??People wander over to see what??s going on," said Terri Bennis, vice president of fresh food operation.

The restaurant, which serves pho soup, has proved so popular that the nine-unit grocery store is considering adding a second location. Lemongrass draws customers to the prepared food section, which also boasts a panini station.

Rouses, a Louisiana chain, has a Vietnamese pho bar in one of its stores, but it also emphasizes local seafood boiled or grilled. "We have a big outdoor boiling rig that we use for festivals, like the upcoming French Quarter Festival, which attracts 400,000 visitors," said Jack Treuting, executive director of culinary operations. "We boil over 30,000 pounds of crawfish just for the French Quarter Festival, and sponsor our own Crawfish Eating Contest."

Super Foodtown posts signs advertising its $6 hot, fresh meals throughout the store. "I decided last year we weren??t going to re-invent the wheel. What we did was just pull back and focus on what we do really well, and tell customers about it," said chef James Conroy. "It??s as fresh as it can be. From oven to customer, an entrée and two sides like Boston Market does so well."

Consumer research also points to customers wanting more fresh, healthful food, which supermarkets are emphasizing in their prepared food sections. A recent Mintel foodservice study found that 89% of respondents picked "fresh" as the menu description that interested them the most.