Cosentino's Launches ChopMore!, Selling Groceries at Cost Plus 10%

Cosentino's Food Stores opened a new Kansas City grocery store this week that sells every item at its own cost plus a 10% charge to cover overhead. The banner is called ChopMore!, and the operator says the math still produces "lower everyday prices" than conventional supermarkets.

The company held a ribbon cutting Tuesday at the store, located at 8700 E. 63rd St. in Kansas City. The site formerly operated as a Price Chopper. It now carries meat, produce, deli items, hot foods and baked goods.

Cosentino's framed the model as a transparency play, not just a discount play. In a press release, the company said the cost-plus structure "provides customers with complete price transparency and deep savings across every aisle."

Why a family grocer is copying the cost-plus model

The move follows more than a year of research. Cosentino's studied cost-plus grocers in other markets before committing to the format, and the company sees it as a survival strategy against much larger competitors.

John Cosentino, executive vice president of Cosentino's Food Stores, said in the announcement that the approach "will empower our local, family-owned stores to go head-to-head with giant national big-box retailers."

The logic is simple. National chains use scale to push prices down. A regional operator can't match that purchasing power. But it can change the pricing formula itself, showing shoppers exactly how the final number is built. The 10% markup covers overhead, and everything else passes through at cost.

What does this change for shoppers and for the banner?

For shoppers near 63rd Street, the immediate change is the price tag structure — cost plus 10%, every day, across the store. For the company, the stakes are bigger.

ChopMore! is a test case. Chad Weinzerl, Cosentino's director of marketing, said in an interview that the company will decide whether to expand the banner after evaluating how the new store performs.

Cosentino's has room to grow if the format works. The operator runs about 30 supermarkets under banners including Price Chopper, Sun Fresh, Apple Market and Cosentino's.

One name, two companies

There's a wrinkle worth noting for anyone tracking the industry. Cosentino's is one of four grocery operators — alongside the Ball, McKeever and Queen families — running the roughly 50 Price Chopper stores in the greater Kansas City area. The Midwest Price Chopper banner is entirely separate from the Price Chopper banner in the Northeast, which the Golub Corporation operates.

So ChopMore! is a Cosentino's project, not a systemwide Price Chopper initiative. Any expansion decision rests with the Kansas City operator alone.

If the single store proves the cost-plus model can pull shoppers from big-box competitors, expect Cosentino's to convert more locations. If it doesn't, ChopMore! stays a one-store experiment in value pricing.