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Retailer News BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2019 www.gourmetnews.com RETAILER NEWS 7 Specialty Food Retailers Make Nourishing Memories be exposed to waiting on customers and how to use the point of sale system, and they get their ServSafe food handler train- ing in addition to time in the bakery prac- ticing the skills they learned in their first 10 weeks of the program. By the end of their first 18 weeks of their train- ing, they can walk into the bakery for their shift, check the production board to see what they're making that day, and they know where the recipes are and where to find the ingredients and the pans. They review quantities with the su- pervising chef and get to work. They're still being supervised, but they're ac- tually working independently. Their final eight weeks of training is a paid internship in which they become part of the bakery's production team. They start earning a paycheck, and they start under- standing how to bake on a commercial scale. They receive help with resume-writ- ing and the job search, and they participate in mock interviews. "During the on-the-job training and internship phases, students re- ceive employee development training: how to call out, how to manage time, how to ask questions, how to solve problems with peers," Milner said. "They might get a job, but they won't keep the job unless they can explain how they can learn. They have to learn to advocate for themselves." Bi-Rite Rolls With the Times For the following month's feature, Gourmet News' Associate Editor went to the other side of the country to visit Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, California's Mission Dis- trict. There, he found a market that has sur- vived and thrived since the 1940s by hanging in there as the Mission neighbor- hood evolved through the turbulent 1960s, the art and jazz scene of the 1970s and 1980s, gentrification in the 1990s and now as a hub of San Francisco's foodie culture. BY LORRIE BAUMANN Now, as we come to the end of 2019, it seems like a good time to take a look back to remember some of the fine retailers you met in our pages over the course of the year. Back in February, we talked with social worker Sara Port- man Milner about her work with Sunflower Bakery, a Washington D.C.-area shop that serves as a training facil- ity for people with intel- lectual disabilities that make it harder for them to find work with other employers. Milner and her friend Laurie Wexler started their bakery in 2010 in a 1,200 square foot space in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that was recommended chiefly by its affordability. Five years later, they opened a tiny cafe in a Rockville, Maryland, office building, where they have space for three tables in the cafe plus another two outside in the building's lobby area. The cafe's students are trained to interact with customers, and they learn how to do barista duties and to operate the point of sale sys- tem. "We hadn't counted on how much customers love coming to the cafe for a great start to their day," Milner said. "They get good service, and they're learning what people can do. The students with disabili- ties are providing a valuable service.... It's a very loyal clientele in and around that of- fice building." In Sunflower Bakery's baking kitchen, students are trained to make the products that they sell in their cafe as well as to other customers. In their first 10 weeks of in- struction, they focus on the basics, with the pair of new students working with a pro- fessional chef for five weeks and then mov- ing on to instruction with another chef for another five weeks to work on fluency with mise en place and working efficiently. After that 10 weeks of basic training, they get eight weeks of on-the-job training, in which they spend 15 hours in the cafe to Infinity Fresh Kitchen Opens in Rhode Island Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA, has announced that its new fresh foods processing facility, operated through a subsidiary Infinity Fresh Kitchen, is now open in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Production of fresh products at the facility is now underway, and includes items for area grocery stores like leaf, grain and pasta salads, sandwiches, wraps and other items commonly found in deli or grab-and-go sections of supermarkets. The facility will also begin to produce cut fruit and cut vegetables in 2020. Peapod Launches Exclusive Partnership with Nurture Life Online grocer Peapod has entered into an exclusive partnership with Chicago company Nurture Life, the only food brand providing busy families with a creative variety of freshly prepared, wholesome, ready-to-enjoy meals and snacks for children. Peapod will be the first retailer to sell individual SKUs of the subscription-based service. This is the first initiative in Peapod's strategy to focus on providing a variety of nutritious options for Midwest families' dinner tables. Meijer Announces First-Ever Fred Meijer Award Cathy Cooper, Senior Director of Community Partnerships and Giving for Meijer, has been awarded the inaugural Fred Meijer Award, the highest-level team member recognition available from the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based retailer. Cooper started her career at Meijer in 1982 as a manager at one of the company's Sagebrush stores and advanced through several roles in the marketing organization prior to her current role directing Meijer's community partnerships and giving efforts. In her current role, she acts as the company's primary contact for the numerous philanthropic organizations Meijer supports. She also directs Meijer sponsorships of collegiate and professional sports and serves as the Executive Director of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Kroger to Standardize Our Brands Date Labels to Reduce Household Food Waste The Kroger Co. is planning to standardize date labels for Our Brands food products, providing simpler, easier-to-understand product quality and safety information as part of its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact commitment. Earlier this year, Kroger began to transition Our Brands food products to feature one of the following date labels: "Use By" is used to represent food safety. If a customer reads "use by" followed by a date, it indicates the deadline for when it is no longer safe to eat, while "Best if Used By" is used to represent food quality. If a customer reads "best if used by" followed by a date, it indicates the deadline for guaranteed freshness but does not affect the product's safety. The simplified labels will apply to multiple product categories, including dairy, deli, bakery, and fresh and frozen grocery. Mother's Market & Kitchen Grows in Southern California Down the coast from Bi-Rite, Mother's Market & Kitchen, a natural and organic foods retailer, opened a new store in Manhattan Beach, California, on March 16. The 16,000 square foot grocery store and café features the expansive and fresh produce selection for which the brand has been known for more than 40 yearsand offers a juice and coffee bar, full-service café, local beer and wine of- ferings, and will include many organic, biodynamic and sustainable options as well as vitamin, herb, mineral and sports nutrition selections. "Mother's Market & Kitchen selected Manhattan Beach as its next Los Angeles area location because the community is fo- cused on health, quality of life and rela- tionships," said Deborah Rubino at the new store's opening. She's the Chief Inte- gration Officer at Mother's Market & Kitchen and daughter of one of the origi- nal 1978 founders. "We look forward to providing our new South Bay neighbors the highest quality organic produce, deli- cious and healthy prepared meals and a wide selection of supplements and spe- cialty items to meet the needs of a variety of healthy diets." Continued on PAGE 8 SUNFLOWER BAKERY SUNFLOWER BAKERY MOTHER'S MARKET & KITCHEN BI-RITE MARKET MOTHER'S MARKET & KITCHEN MOTHER'S MARKET & KITCHEN

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