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GOURMET NEWS MAY 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 8 BRIEFS Bluescreek Farm Meats Turns 25 May 1, 2018, marked the 25th anniversary for one of central Ohio's oldest family- owned and best-in-class butcheries, Blue- screek Farm Meats. What started as a small stand in Columbus' North Market is now a stand-alone facility in Plain City, Ohio, that boasts a butchery, cafe and community market. A weeklong celebration is planned to commemorate the occasion on May 1-5. Throughout the week guests will enjoy themed days with tastes of some of the most popular items from Bluescreek's bakery and cafe menu. Guests can look forward to days like "Hello Heat" Thursday and "Gluten Free" Friday. In addition, several of their Ohio Proud partners will be onsite serving up bites of locally sourced items that can be found daily in their market. About Bluescreek Farm Meats and Market The inspiration behind Bluescreek Farm Meats is deeply rooted in doing things the old-fashioned way. Breaking down whole animals and utilizing every piece possible while excluding un-necessary additives, hormones, or antibiotics. Bluescreek Farm Meats is an authentic farm to table family owned business, operated by the husband and wife team of Cheryl and David Smith. Since 1993, the Smith family has been rais- ing hormone and antibiotic-free beef, pork, lamb, veal and goat on their Marysville fam- ily farm. The family had a stall in the Historic North Market until opening their location in the spring of 2016. Upon opening their lo- cation in Plain City, the family decided to also offer an authentic full market experience by featuring locally sourced items from local businesses such as Snowville Creamery, North Market Spices, CaJohn's Flavor and Fire, Miller-Troyer Deli Meats and Cheeses and many more. The family also added a cafe and bakery to the location. A Bluescreek Farm Meats food truck is in the works and is scheduled to be in operation by late spring 2018. Bluescreek Farm Meats also supplies several restaurants and chefs with quality meats in the Columbus, Ohio, area. GN Urban Food Desert Continued from PAGE 1 simply because they don't have transporta- tion access to the nearest supermarket. The City of Baltimore defines a food desert as "an area where the distance to a supermar- ket or supermarket alternative is more than 1/4 mile, the median household income is at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, over 30 percent of house- holds have no vehicle available, and the av- erage Healthy Food Availability Index score for all food stores is low." The Healthy Food Availability Index is based on a mar- ket basket of whole foods – milk, fruits, vegetables, meat, frozen foods, low-sodium foods, bread, beans, rice and breakfast ce- real, and scores indicate the presence of these foods as well as food options judged healthy according to U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition standards. DMG Foods is located in one of Balti- more's urban food deserts. "Seventy-three percent of the people who live in the quar- ter-mile radius of the [DMG Foods] store have no transportation," Hogg said. "Their options are to get on a bus or catch a ride with a private transportation service and go three or four miles out of their community to get to a full-service grocery." DMG Foods helps fill that gap in its neighborhood. An LEED Gold facility built in a repurposed warehouse that the Salva- tion Army had already owned, it's a brightly lit, modern neighborhood market. The store's mobile-friendly website allows shop- pers to check in with their phones, see the daily specials and make a shopping list right on their phones. "The look is like any other grocery store with respect to lighting, signage and displays, aisle space and selec- tion," Hogg said. "People in this area did not have this available to them." The market offers a meat counter with butcher service, a Red Shield Club loyalty program, and a meal solutions program that offers daily menu plans demonstrated by a chef provided by the Maryland Food Bank. Shoppers get to taste samples offered by the chef, and then they can go over to an in-store kiosk where they can print out the day's menu as well as daily coupons. This taste-testing is about more than mak- ing the store a fun shopping experience – research by Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future documents that healthy food purchasing may go up when taste tests are offered for new or unfamiliar foods that customers might not purchase out of concerns about potential waste. Shoppers with limited resources tend not to spend their money on food that they're not sure their families will be willing to eat. Once a month, a local chef will be com- ing in to prepare a meal while servers pass around hors d'oeuvres and live music plays. "It's like a cooking date night that you would take your spouse out to," Hogg said. These social events have a higher purpose too: the Johns Hopkins research also demonstrated that social environments, in- cluding family and community relation- ships, greatly influence diabetes-related dietary change. Diabetes is just one of the diet-related diseases common in Baltimore's inner city. DMG Foods is open to anyone who cares to shop there, but the Red Shield Club loy- alty program offers special benefits to card holders who self-identify as recipients of government aid programs. When they scan their card in at the store's kiosk, the coupons they get might include a free 10- pound bag of chicken pieces or a package of light bulbs – there's something free every day for those shoppers. Other than a num- ber code on the back, their cards are iden- tical to those used by other shoppers, so there's no obvious way to tell whether a shopper picked up the 10-pound bag of chicken because they qualify for govern- ment assistance or because it was on a daily special, so taking the help doesn't require anyone to pay a price in lost dignity. Encouraging shoppers to come into the store every day, often on their way home from walking their children to or from the school that's across the street from the store, is part of the Salvation Army's social programming around the store. "We're helping train people to use their money wisely," Hogg said. "We're trying to educate individuals that if you shop daily for your daily meals, you're shopping fresher, and it's less expensive. You can't tell people what to eat. They're going to eat what they're conditioned to eat, what they've been eating. We think that having a con- stant presence, a constant tool for them to experience, we'll eventually have an im- pact. ... We're trying to build a community centered around food. If we can create that community that's connected, involved, par- ticipatory, we think we can make an im- pact. That remains to be seen, but we're going to make a good effort at it." In addition to offering personal shop- pers, provided by the City of Baltimore, cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes, DMG Foods also functions as a jobs training program. The store works with other Baltimore grocery stores to offer a workforce development program that trains entry-level grocers in the basics of store op- erations and customer service, which gives them the skills to be employable in other local stores. Hogg noted that the grocery business is exceptional for its ability to pro- vide a career ladder, and he says that other local grocers have been eager to work with him on the workforce development pro- gram. While the store isn't intended to make any kind of profit, if there is any money on the table at the end of the day, those extra funds will go towards Catherine's Cottage, a low-demand shelter for women who've been rescued from human trafficking that's run by Hogg's wife, Rebecca. "When you shop with us, you're shopping for a cause," Hogg said. "We care about the community. We love the people in our community, and we want to help in this fashion. We see a need, and we're trying to respond to the needs of our community," he added. "I'm not thinking that we're going to change the food industry at all. We're trying to use that same sense of ingenuity and entrepre- neurial spirit to meet the needs of our community." GN Kroger Announces 2nd Kitchen 1883 Restaurant The Kroger Co. will open its second Kitchen 1883 restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio. The new Kitchen 1883 will be a stand-alone restaurant with a patio located in Anderson Township, a neighborhood in greater Cincinnati. The menu will feature new, local dishes. The restaurant will operate daily, offering lunch and dinner along with brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. The restaurant is scheduled to open in the fall. New Online Farmers' Market Delivers Organic Groceries in Boston Area Boston-area families can do their grocery shopping online easily and securely through www.clicktoharvest.com. They're guaranteed great foods from local artisanal farmers and small-batch producers; it is truly a farm to table operation. Boston businesses can enjoy grocery delivery, too: Office packs for healthy lunches and snacks, or to cater meetings, are available with advanced ordering. Clicktoharvest.com delivers all over greater Boston. Island Pacific Supermarkets Closing Six Select Stores Store closing sales have begun at six Island Pacific Supermarkets stores in California as part of a turnaround plan for the chain. The remaining 17 Island Pacific stores will operate their businesses as usual. The six stores being closed are located in National City, San Jose, American Canyon, Rancho Cucamonga, Chula Vista, and Los Angeles. Coffee Beanery Grand Opening Coffee Beanery, the specialty coffee roaster based in Flushing, Michigan has opened its newest store in Killeen, Texas. Coffee Beanery opened its first stores in the United States in 1976. Today, Coffee Beanery has nearly 75 locations throughout the world with locations overseas and is recognized as an industry leader for its unique family business approach, corporate culture and commitment to quality. Raley's Launches New Multidimensional Advertising Campaign Raley's launched a new multidimensional advertising campaign to support the company's vision to infuse life with health and happiness. The campaign, entitled "However You Eat," invites customers to shop with Raley's for their nutrition and wellness needs regardless of the way they eat and where they are on their individual health journey. The campaign, which kicked off on April 4, was developed to inspire a real conversation about how we eat. The advertising assets tell a story about the different reasons customers buy groceries. The campaign places an emphasis on being inclusive whether you are shopping for a family, as a vegan, for a book club meeting or as a pescatarian. Raley's has made bold moves in the recent past to make healthy food more accessible to all of its customers, but also accepts when they want to splurge on their favorite sweet treat, salty snack, or bottle of wine.