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GOURMET NEWS OCTOBER 2015 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 1 4 BRIEFS Selling Cheese in Music City, USA an extra stop for specialty meats and cheese. But people are more and more will- ing to make that extra stop as the desire grows to know where their food comes from and how it was produced." "There's also a population who comes in and says they grew up going to the butcher shop," she adds. "They come back to that experience, which is cool.... We're having a lot of people moving here from big cities, where they're a little more used to specialty shops and come in looking for a personal- ized cheese experience." Her corner of the 1,500 square foot store houses a cheese case and a cutting table, and she shares a market area where she has some logs of chevre and a few other cheese accompa- niments in a grab-and- go case. She carries 40 to 50 different cheeses in the case, all cut to order. At the moment, she has one particular favorite cheese in her case: a wheel of extra-aged St. Malachi from the Farm at Doe Run that she acquired when the farm sold extra wheels of a cheese they were entering in the American Cheese Society awards competition. "It's sort of an aged cheddar meets aged Gouda, firm and crystally and brown-buttery," Cotter says. "I find cheese is very much a mood thing. I don't know if other people feel the same way. Sometimes you want a cheese that's mild, fresh and creamy. Other times you want something with a more challenging profile and stronger flavors." In addition to her retail business, she op- erates a thriving wholesale business in which she works with about 20 restaurants in the city on a regular basis. "That helps me to move product through the case so in- ventory never sits fr too long and I can ro- tate the selection more frequently," she says. "The combination of retail and whole- sale also makes it possible to earn a living, which can be tough as an independent cheese retailer." The wholesale business has become more integral to the shop than Cot- ter expected, which has been a pleasant surprise, she said. "It's another avenue to market the cheese counter. If people order a Bloomy Rind cheese plate at a restaurant and enjoy it, then they come into the shop and want to try other things as well." As she's grown her business at the shop, Cotter has also founded the Southern Artisan Cheese Festi- val, which started five years ago and which she has organized each year since then. "It's been fun to watch that grow and to be a part of growing the awareness of Southern cheese," she says. "I think Southern cheeses were under appreciated, but along with greater appreciation of Southern food in general, people are becoming more aware of it. We have people from different cities asking for Southern cheeses to be sent to them. It's on the upswing. People are really excited about it." Nashville's growing food culture makes this an exciting time to be selling specialty cheese there, Cotter says. "I happened to get into this at a good time when American cheeses are getting better and better and bet- ter. There are many great cheeses to intro- duce people to and chefs are more into interesting domestic cheeses," she says. "Nashville has become the 'It Girl' of food and is attracting more chefs, although we al- ready had good ones, as well as visitors who are interested in good food. It's a fun time to be in Nashville and to be in cheese." GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN This is a good time, and Nashville is a good place for a tiny cheese shop that operates as a cut-to-order counter inside a specialty butcher shop, says Kathleen Cotter, Owner of The Bloomy Rind. The Bloomy Rind is tucked inside Porter Road Butcher, a whole-animal butcher shop that specializes in locally sourced pas- ture-raised meats. The pairing of a cheese shop and specialty butchers came about after a local farmer introduced Cotter, who was selling cheeses at local farmers mar- kets, to business partners James Peisker and Chris Carter, who had been working together as caterers when they realized that what Nashville lacked was a good source of high-quality local meat. They were getting ready to open a butcher shop in East Nashville to meet that need, and when they met Cotter, it just seemed right that they might also team up with Cotter and her specialty cheeses. "I pitched the idea to sell cheese in their shop. At that point we didn't know what the setup would look like," Cotter says. "As their plans for the space crystalized, they worked a small cheese counter for The Bloomy Rind into their lay- out. So I was able to open up inside Porter Road instead of having to find the funds to build out my own shop." Cotter can't focus on local cheeses the way Peisker and Carter focus on local meats because there just aren't enough cheeses made locally to Nashville to meet her cus- tomers' needs, but all three partners share a similar passion for sustainably produced foods. "Our philosophy and our passion were very much in alignment," she says. Part of their job is educating Nashville residents who are more accustomed to shopping for all their food needs at conven- tional grocery stores rather than stopping in at a variety of specialty shops, Cotter says. "It's a change of habit to have to make Meijer Digital Savings Program Embraced by Shoppers Meijer announced that its free digital sav- ings program, mPerks, is now five years old and has set a company record with $100 million in savings to customers this year. The Grand Rapids-based retailer now has nearly 4 million mPerks members who have clipped more than 1 billion digital coupons, with total savings eclipsing $400 million over the last five years. "The popularity of digital coupons and shopping apps is at an all-time high as price-conscious shoppers are realizing how much their iPads, tablets and mobile phones can be used as a tool to help stretch family budgets," said Michael Ross, Vice President of Digital Shopping and Cus- tomer Marketing. "We're especially proud that so many of our customers are taking advantage of the time- and money-saving resources we offer and continue to en- hance." mPerks, which has evolved into a multi- faceted rewards program, was launched as a way to help customers save money at the register by offering a faster – and more con- venient – way to clip coupons. The free program started as a way for savvy, deal- seeking shoppers to earn discounts without having to cut, print or even present a coupon upon checkout and has grown to include personalized rewards and digital tools that help customers plan their entire shopping trip from home. It has a redemp- tion rate that is four times higher than the national average, and frequent users are saving an average of 15 percent per year. Meijer was also one of the first retailers to provide a mobile app that allows cus- tomers to access shopping tools and receive digital receipts to better track their spend- ing and savings information. mPerks is available as a free download for iPhone and Android smartphones through Apple Inc.'s App Store and the Android market. Once customers sign up at mperks.com, they can preview and select coupons for their favorite national or Meijer Own brand products that are then stored in their per- sonal mPerks account until redeemed or expired. The applicable coupons are then instantly redeemed when shoppers enter in their mobile phone number and PIN at checkout. The retailer also offers free Wi-Fi capa- bility in all its stores, making it easier for customers to access their mPerks accounts and the Meijer mobile app. GN Kroger Ratifies Agreement with UFCW Local 1059 The Kroger Co. announced that associates working at stores in Kroger's Columbus division have ratified a new labor agreement with UFCW Local 1059. The contract covers more than 12,000 associates working in 85 stores, 64 fuel centers and 83 pharmacies in the Columbus metro area and suburbs and region. Natural Grocers Openings Natural Grocers opened its seventh store in Oklahoma on Tuesday, September 22. The store is located at 2120 SW 89th Street in Oklahoma City. The chain opened its second location in Tucson, Arizona on September 8. The Tucson store is the 101st for Natural Grocers nationwide. The chain expects to open 16 new stores during its 2015 fiscal year. WinCo Foods Opens New Store in Garland, Texas WinCo Foods LLC opened the employee owned chain's newest store in Garland, Texas on Thursday, August 27. The Garland store is the sixth WinCo Foods store to open in Texas. The store is 85,000 square feet in size and will initially employ approximately 150 individuals, about 140 of whom were hired locally. Founded as a single warehouse format store in 1967, in Boise, Idaho, the chain has grown steadily and in recent years more dramatically toward this, its 102nd store. Kroger Announces Creation of Two Supermarket Divisions in Texas The Kroger Co. has announced the establishment of two new supermarket divisions, a Dallas division and a Houston division. Previously, both markets were served as part of Kroger's Southwest division. Kroger also announced that Dana Zurcher has been promoted to serve as President of the company's new Dallas division. Bill Breetz, who has been serving as President of the Southwest division since 2002, will continue to oversee operations in Texas and Louisiana for the remainder of the year, and serve as President of the new Houston division. Fresh Thyme Opens Second Columbus-area Store Fresh Thyme opened its second Columbus-area store in Worthington, Ohio, on September 16. "August marked the one year anniversary for our Dublin store, and we couldn't be more excited to extend our operations in the Columbus area," said Fresh Thyme CEO Chris Sherrell. "We are honored to be able to join the Worthington community and look forward to meeting our new neighbors."

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