On his weekly cooking show, Scott Karns emphasizes fresh ingredients with wholesome meals that cost less than $ 15. Photo courtesy of Karns Quality Foods
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Scott Karns likes to cook, and that has been a boon to Karns Quality Foods.In recent years, co-owner Karns’ weekly cooking show on a local ABC–TV affiliate station has made the seven-unit, family-owned chain stand out even more than it did before.
For years, Karns Quality Foods has been easily differentiated from the competition moving into its market. The company’s tremendous selection of fresh meat, cut by teams of meat cutters in each of its stores, has been — and continues to be — the company’s draw, Karns told SN.
It must be, because the company’s fresh meat sales every week total hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“Our service meat has always set us apart. We cut everything ourselves and grind our own meat, all in-store. It’s all USDA Choice and Prime.
“Now, in addition, the cooking show makes us look like the local food experts,” Karns said. “I was in Dick’s Sporting Goods the other day, and someone came up to me and asked me a cooking question.”
For the past three years, Karns has been orchestrating episodes of his half-hour cooking show with his ad agency’s photographers in his own kitchen at home.
“It takes a whole day … but it’s worth it. We’ve given up some TV and radio ads to do this, and we’ll continue doing it,” Karns said.
“We start at 7 in the morning and shoot six episodes. That means cooking 12 meals.”
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Just as on any of the big-time television cooking shows, one meal has to be cooked ahead and plated to show viewers what the finished product looks like, even as Karns goes through every step of preparation on camera.
On the half-hour show, Karns demonstrates how to cook a great-tasting, wholesome meal from fresh ingredients — one that’s simple to make and a good value.
“It’s always a meal that’ll serve four for under $ 15,” he said.
