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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 6 BRIEFS Swiss-Trained Chocolatier Seeks Partners in Passion BY LORRIE BAUMANN André's Confiserie Suisse operates two re- tail stores in the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Missouri, where customers come to buy exquisite chocolates and pas- tries made in the Swiss tradition by the third-generation of Swiss-trained choco- latiers at the head of the business. René Bollier, the grandson of Master Konditor- Confiseur André Bollier, the André behind the name on the two shops, says that it's his passion for fine chocolate and a family tra- dition of excellence that make André's what it is today. The company is currently seeking part- nerships with other retailers who can lever- age the quality of André's products along with the insights it has earned through its Kansas City retail stores to create new profit centers for themselves as well as an expanded market for André's itself. "We don't want to be a brand on the shelf. We know what it takes to get people excited about our brand," Bollier said. "We have an excep- tional product, and con- veying that to customers takes that personal touch." André's' flagship loca- tion is its 25,000 square-foot facility in Kansas City, which in- cludes a 5,000 square- foot restaurant and retail space. The rest of the facility is devoted to production of the Swiss-style chocolates and pastries that made René's grandfather famous among Swiss chocolatiers. A second store is lo- cated in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. It's a 2,000 square-foot retail and restaurant space managed by André's daughter and René's aunt, Brigitte Gravino, and her husband Kevin. René's wife, Nancy, manages the business' wholesale operation as well as its marketing, and overall, the business employs a total of 57 people, of whom 52 are full-time, and additional sea- sonal employees during peak production season prior to the winter hol- idays. The business was started when André Bollier and his wife Elsbeth, who's still ac- tive in the busi- ness as an unofficial but highly re- spected quality Kroger Distribution Center Investment to Provide New Jobs Kroger is making a $17 million investment in its distribution center in Florence, Kentucky, which will ramp up production at the facility and create 250 new jobs, majority full-time positions. The project is supported by a Kentucky Business Investment (KBI) incentive of up to $1 million over 10 years. The company's annual eligibility for the performance-based tax credit is linked to investment, job creation and retention and average hourly wage targets. Grand Re-Opening of Ralphs Market in California Ralphs Grocery Company re-opened its remodeled supermarket in Pacific Palisades, California, on July 13 with a celebration that included free breakfast, free reusable shopping bags and a chance to win Disneyland tickets. The 33,415-square-foot Pacific Palisades Ralphs features a completely upgraded look with new and expanded departments, services and a convenient layout that improves the customer shopping experience while helping to conserve energy and reduce waste. Customers visiting the remodeled store will see a wide range of new services and products, including an expanded variety of natural and organic foods added in response to customer requests. Improvements have also been made to the meat, seafood, dairy, service deli and bakery departments. Peapod Website Now Compliant with ADA Regulations Peapod, the country's leading online grocer, has announced that its website and mobile app are now in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations in effort to better serve its consumers with disabilities. In agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Peapod has worked diligently to make its consumer interfaces accessible, usable and functional to shoppers of all abilities, and on May 11, 2018, the Department of Justice confirmed that Peapod has fulfilled its commitment to this effort. New LastMile Hub IoT Solution Reduces Last Mile Delivery Challenges Panasonic Corporation of North American and Hussmann have introduced their the LastMile Hub IoT solution which helps food retailers solve centralized, refrigerated grocery delivery last mile challenges. Pilot programs of the LastMile Hub currently in North America and around the world are successfully fulfilling customer delivery needs while lowering food retailer operations costs. The Panasonic and Hussmann "LastMile Hub" solution offers on-demand convenience and flexibility for retrieving food and other purchases from secure refrigerated, freezer and room temperature lockers. control authority, emigrated to the U.S. from Switzerland along with their five-year- old son, Marcel, at the urging of Andre's brother, who was working as a Swiss watch- maker in Kansas City and who'd passed the mes- sage to Andre that if he came to Kansas City he'd face no competi- tion, since no one else there was al- ready making Swiss chocolates. René opened his first pastry shop six months later. It didn't take him long to realize that the reason there was no competition for fine Swiss chocolates was that the Kansas City market had no interest in fine Swiss choco- lates, René says. "My grandpar- ents spent their first 10 years ed- ucating the Kansas City pub- lic about Euro- pean candies and pastries," he says. "Luckily for me, it went well." As part of that process, the cou- ple opened a cafe in their store that became a popular luncheon spot where people could stop in for lunch and then buy pastries and chocolates to take home with them. It's an approach that still works for Andre's today, and the main store has a wine and coffee bar in addition to an assort- ment of pastries and tortes. "They saw a tremendous amount of growth over the years," René says. A n d r e ' s fame in Switzerland as well as the success of his American business proved a draw for other Swiss pastry chefs who make Kansas City and jobs at Andre's Confiserie Suisse their landing zone in the U.S. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Andre was offering the most ex- ceptional of these emigrant pas- try chefs the chance to open their own Andre's Confiserie Suisse shops as franchise operations in various cities around the U.S. Eventually, two were opened in Houston, Texas; one in Menlo Park, Califor- nia; another in St. Louis, Mis- souri; and an- other in Denver, Colorado. None of those shops are still open today – as the founding pastry chefs retired, it proved impossible to replace them with others who had both the skills and the pas- sion for the business to make worthy suc- cessors, René says. "Andre's is a labor of love, and if you don't have a true passion, it's not easily passed on." In 1974, Andre's son, Marcel, and his wife, Connie, joined the business. The Overland Park satellite store, Andre's Rivaz, opened by Brigitte and Kevin Gravino in 2002, and René and Nancy joined the family business that same year. René apprenticed with his grandfather and father and trained in Switzerland, and he is now intent on taking André's ability to produce for multiple locations to retailer partners who can get excited about the André's brand. "We are a luxury product. The majority of the work is still hand- done," he says. "We pride ourselves in making everything ourselves, to only sourcing ingredients from highest quality sources." He's planning for incremental and thoughtful growth that will maintain the same quality André's has always repre- sented. "We personally would love to visit and train their staff and teach their cus- tomers," he says. For further information, visit www.andres chocolates.com or call 816.561.3440. GN

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