instore - November 2017 - 14

retail report

I

t took Earth Fare 42 years to
open its 42nd store. Based on
current growth projections,
the North Carolina-based natural
foods grocer will add its next 42 in
less than three years.
But even with business booming
and so many new stores in the
pipeline, Earth Fare, whose
decades-long commitment to
healthy eating is legendary,
acted like the Aug. 23 opening of
that 42nd store, in the Mandarin
section of Jacksonville, Florida,
was its first.
"We are trying to put all our
energy into this building, put
in everything that Earth Fare
is," Paul Cassara, Earth Fare's
director of prepared foods, said
on Opening Day Eve Aug. 22, as he
and the chain's other executives
and managers rushed to put the
finishing touches on Mandarin.
(Many company officials spend
up to a week at a new store before
and after its opening.)
The Mandarin store is 28,000
square feet, bigger than the
typical Earth Fare, which averages 23,000 or 24,000 square
feet, says Laurie Aker, the chain's

14 * NOVEMBER 2017 * instore
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spokeswoman. About 130
people work there, and perks for
customers include free WiFi and
an 81-seat café (16 are outdoors).
Company-wide, Earth Fare is
committed to sourcing from local
suppliers whenever possible,
Aker says. At the Mandarin store,
products from 30 local vendors
can be found - including instore
baked goods from Boutique Du
Pain, Shakti Life Kitchen and
Vegan Heavenly Delights and
prepared meals from Eat Fresco.
And the store's 15-member
Community Advisory Board,
made up of local residents,
helps make sure the Mandarin
community is being served. The
board met four times before
the store's opening, and will
continue to meet quarterly,
Aker says. The input is invariably helpful, Aker says. Without
the Mandarin board's input,
for instance, Earth Fare may
not have realized how many
Jewish customers it would have
in its new store. As a result, the
company made the decision to
offer freshly baked challah daily
and to beef up its kosher offerings in general.

Earth Fare is a natural and organic
foods store, but it wants to dispel
the myth that food that is good for
you and made according to strict
standards has to be expensive. "Our
goal is to meet everyone's dietary
and budgetary goals," Aker says.

One-of-a-kind deli
prepared leads
the way
Earth Fare's deli prepared department, with its simultaneous focus
on premium, healthy ingredients
and affordability, is nothing short
of unprecedented in the industry,
says Frank Scorpiniti, the company's president and CEO. "No one
else is doing this. We have absolutely the most amazing prepared
foods in North America."
The opening of the Mandarin
store turned out to be the stage
for Earth Fare's launch of a major
initiative in prepared foods. The
goal of the Clean Food Security
program, as it's called, is to
provide complete meals, made in
house, for a family of four, seven
days a week, for just $2.50 per
person per meal.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of instore - November 2017
