Did you know that there was a Kroger grocery store right in downtown Romeo? A location was established in June 1942 on the west side of South Main Street. In 1950, the workers at that store planned a big anniversary party for one weekend to celebrate eight years of serving the Romeo public.
How did they do that? They made a giant birthday cake to cut up into pieces and give them to customers on the Friday and Saturday of the July 21st weekend. According to the July 27, 1950 issue of The Romeo Observer Press, the cake seen above "weighed nearly 400 pounds and was made up of 200 baked slabs one inch thick and measuring 12 inches by 18 inches."
Three bakers in the Kroger bakery in Detroit assembled and decorated the dessert from 9am to 5:30pm the Wednesday prior.
It was claimed that the cake was the largest in Romeo's history at that time. Now, I don't know if there have been cakes made in the last 75 years that were bigger, but judging by the picture, it would have been a tough act to follow.
Romeo Kroger manager Don Rasmussen and his wife Frances are seen in the photo cutting up the cake. They were able to divide it into 3,200 slices by 2pm on that Saturday. I would have loved to have seen the cake in person. It looks beautifully decorated.
Now getting a piece of cake while you shop for groceries sounds awesome, but that Kroger store did more to celebrate. In the cake itself, there were 79 capsules. Everyone who received a said capsule in their slice "exchanged it for a meat, produce or vegetable grocery prize."
In addition to the cake pieces and the capsules, that Kroger store gave away 2,300 balloons, 1,000 12-inch rulers, 1,000 measuring spoons, and 500 drinking glasses. Now, that's what I call customer service!
If the current Kroger store by 30 Mile and Van Dyke Roads did something like that today, it would be a piece of cake.
To learn more about that Kroger store, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer Press, July 20, 1950, p.1 and July 27, 1950, p.8