Local Foods Retailing Memo" We Suggest the Next Steps in the Evolution of Local Foods Retailing Will Be 'Grocer Grown' and 'Store Grown'

By day Simon Richard is the produce department manager at the Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, California's Mission District. Often by day he also is a farmer, growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as the heirloom tomatoes he's just harvested and is holding in his hand in the photograph above taken at his Sonoma County farm where he grows a variety of fruits and vegetables offered for sale in the store's produce department. We call it 'Grocer-Grown.'

Earlier this year Natural~Specialty Foods Memo coined the term "Local foods retailing 2.0" to explain a practice being conducted by a handful of retailers such as the upscale United Kingdom (UK) supermarket chain Waitrose, Wal-Mart's UK chain Asda and a few others that have taken the merchandising and sales of "locally-produced" food and grocery products to the next level by growing fresh fruits and vegetables on their own land, along with raising hogs, steers and other animals to be butchered and sold as fresh meat cuts and used in prepared foods items in their stores, as well as creating some specialty foods products from the produce they grow. We also call this phenomenon "Grocer-Grown." In the case of meats, we call it "Grocer-Raised. And in the case of value-added food and grocery products, "Grocer-Produced."

Waitrose is the pioneer and most aggressive retailer we've yet to find that is practicing "Local foods retailing 2.0," going from its own farm right to the supermarket shelf, offering numerous "Grocer Grown" fresh produce, fresh meat and value-added food products from it own large estate farm in England.

Wegmans experimenting with 'Grocer-Grown'

The innovative upstate New York USA-based Wegmans supermarket chain also is growing some of its own fruits and vegetables on a farm owned by CEO Danny Wegman and his family. The idea to do so came from one of Wegmans' daughters. So far, fresh fruits and vegetables grown on the Wegman family farm have been offered for sale at one of the Wegmans' supermarkets, a unit located nearby the farm.

Danny Wegman told Natural~Specialty Foods Memo earlier this year the family plans to produce more varieties (and increase production a bit) of fruits and vegetables on the family farm for that one nearby store, along with selling the produce at a few other stores in that same region. The retailer is experimenting with "Grocer-Grown" and doesn't want to over-produce because the idea is to offer a selection of seasonal, high-quality, artisan produce items grown on the family farm and sold at the company's supermarkets located in the region where the farm is in upstate New York.

Bi-Rite Becoming leader in 'Grocer-Grown'

Another innovative American grocer in the city of San Francisco, independent food retailer Bi-Rite Market, also is becoming a major player in "Local Foods Retailing 2.0" or "Grocer-Grown."

Bi-Rite Market, which is located in San Francisco's Mission District neighborhood, has a garden on the roof of the urban food store where it grows fresh herbs which are sold in the store's produce department.

Bi-Rite also locally raises and butchers its own hogs, which are then offered in the store in a variety of ways: fresh pork roasts and chops, sausage, bacon and other cuts of meat. The pork also is used by the food retailer in a variety of the numerous in-store fresh, prepared foods items it makes and sells in the upscale supermarket.

The independent grocer, which sells all sorts of natural, organic, specialty and prepared foods items (a great many which are produced locally) in its popular San Francisco market, along with a selection of basic food and grocery items, is now kicking up its local foods merchandising program into the 2.0 world. "Grocer-Grown" Bi-Rite Market has started growing a selection of its own fruits and vegetables and is selling the fresh produce in the store.

In Bi-Rite's case, the store farmer also is the store produce manager, Simon Richard. This spring Richard grew a variety of fruits and vegetables on land in Sonoma County, which is located about 45 miles from San Francisco.

His crop recently came in. Among the fresh produce grown by the farmer/produce manager being offered for sale in Bi-Rite's produce department include heirloom tomatoes, Romano beans, arugula and more.

What's unique and very interesting about what Bi-Rite is doing is that in this case the "locally-grown" fresh produce items being produced by the store to be sold in the store are being grown by the same person who then is in charge of how they are sold in the store. That would be produce manager turned farmer Simon Richard. Talk about not only a local but a personal touch as well. The produce at Bi-Rite Market isn't only "Grocer-Grown," its "produce manager-grown."

The San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote about Bi-Rite's newest entry into what we call "Local Foods Retailing 2.0," the offering of the first crop of "Grocer-Grown" fresh produce for sale in the store. You can read the story, "Food Conscious: S.F. grocery branches out into farming," by Chronicle staff writer Jane Tucks here.

"Grocer-Grown' more than a fad

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo expects to see more retailers, particularly innovative independent supermarkets and natural foods retailers, join the "Local foods retailing 2.0" movement by growing some of their own fresh produce, either on land they own or in special arrangements with small, family farmers in which the grocer takes a hands on role.

Numerous U.S. food retailers like Whole Foods Market, Inc., Raley's in Northern California, Wegmans, Publix in Florida and a others regularly contract with farmers to purchase 100% of a certain crop, such as melons, apples, onions and other fresh produce items; usually specialty crops. In some cases these retailers also have input into how the crops are grown.

This practice, although close, isn't quite "Local foods retailing 2.0" because there still remains a separation between the retailer and the grower rather than the retailer being the grower.

Whole Foods is getting much closer to becoming a "local foods 2.0 retailer" however. It's increasingly working in partnership with small farmers to grow crops just for the retailer as well as loaning money to a number of these farmers so they can expand there production.

The only thing keeping Whole Foods from being a "local Foods 2.0 retailer" like Waitrose, Wegmans and Bi-Rite is that it has yet to directly grow its own crops and then sell the fresh produce in a Whole Foods market store. At least that we are aware of based on our research.

Whole Foods Market and 'Store-Grown'

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo however has a way for Whole Foods Market not only to become a charter member of the "Local foods retailing 2.0" "Grocer-Grown" club but also to leap-frog over all the others and become the pioneer in what we call "Store-Grown" local foods retailing. Yes, we are coining another new term.

We would like to see Whole Foods Market include a good-sized organic hydroponic garden in one of its stores, along with an outdoor organic rooftop garden. Make the indoor hydroponic garden about 3,000 square feet to start (prototype store) and have it glassed in so store customers can watch workers tending the garden while they shop. This fits into Whole Foods educational mission as a food retailer very well we believe. Think of the glass-walled in-store garden as the store's version of a restaurant's open demonstration kitchen.

Why not skip the farm altogether and use the store as the farm? Single-store Bi-Rite in San Francisco is doing this in part with its small rooftop garden after all.

Additionally, we suggest devoting a substantial portion of the store's roof to the rooftop garden. The store needs to be in a geographical location -- California, Florida, ect. -- where there's lots of sunshine throughout the year.

There are a myriad of crops Whole Foods 2.0 could grow in this store rooftop garden and sell in the store below, including fresh herbs, tomatoes, greens, seasonal fruits and more. As is the case in any garden, Whole Foods' limitations would primarily be based on the climate, weather and the like. With modern, intensive farming techniques one can grow an abundance of different fruits and vegetables and achieve considerable yields in such a rooftop garden.

Between the in-store hydroponic garden, which has no climate or soil limitations, and the outdoor rooftop garden, that Whole Foods 2.0 store could produce a wide-variety and abundance of fresh produce to be sold in the store throughout the year -- putting an emphasis on seasonal fruits and vegetables. It would be a supplement to rather than a substitute for all the other fresh produce sold in the store.

We even have a name for this produce -- that which would be grown inside the Whole Foods store in the hydroponic garden and on the rooftop outside. That name -- and remember you read it here first -- is: "Store-Grown." We think that term would look rather impressive in the Whole Foods store's produce department alongside the other signs reading "Organic," "Locally-Grown," "Hand-Picked" and the like.

"Store-Grown" also would be a major point of differentiation for Whole Foods and that Whole Foods store. We think its an natural and logical progression for Whole Foods in terms of a "what's next" aspect to the natural products retailers innovation cycle. That's why we chose Whole Foods as the retailer we think would be best to do it right now.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. also needs to try something innovative to break out of its current malaise caused by its recent net profit decline and the significant drop in the value of its stock.

Creating the Whole Foods 2.0 store (it can be a remodel of an existing store as well) with the in-store hydroponic garden and outdoor rooftop garden (maybe toss in a garden on the side of the store as well if there is available land) also is a natural progression for the retailer in terms of its already extensive local foods procurement and retailing program. The "Store-Grown" aspect would merely be an addition to that and of course would be limited to the one test store for some time anyway.

Plus, you can't much fresher, higher-quality locally-grown produce than that which in the course of say one hour has been harvested from the store's rooftop garden and in-store hydroponic garden and stocked in the store's produce department bins and cases. That's why we call it "Store-Grown."

Retail Memo: Innovative Virginia Natural Grocer Ellwood Thompson's Local Market to Open New Store in Washington, DC USA in Fall 2009

Pictured above is an artist's rendering of the new Ellwood Thompson's Local Market natural grocery store to open next fall in Washington DC's Columbia Heights neighborhood. [Source: Elwood Thompson's Local market.]

Ellwood Thompson's Local Market, the largest independent natural grocery in Virginia, is expanding into the nearby Washington, DC market.

The currently single-store independent natural foods' retailer, which is now 20 years old, has signed a lease for a 15,000-square-foot store in the new DC USA development at 14th and Irving streets (the Columbia Heights neighborhood) in the U.S. capital city. The new store, the first in Washington, DC for the natural grocer, is scheduled to open next fall.

"We've been interested in the communities along (Washington D.C.'s) the 14th Street corridor as the home for our second store for quite some time," says Ryan Youngman of Ellwood Thompson's. "We walked the community and talked to the people. The overwhelming support we received from residents confirmed this is the perfect place to expand. Our commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation along with organics and clean local food is a perfect fit for these neighborhoods."

Putting an emphasis on locally-grown food and grocery products produced within a 100 miles of its current store in Richmond, Virginia has been a key point of competitive positioning and differentiation for the independent natural foods retailer. In fact Locavors, those consumers who try to purchase and eat only locally-produced foods, consider "local foods" those grown no more than 200 miles from where they live. Ellwood Thompson's does that official definition 100 miles better at its Richmond, Virginia store.

Natural and organic product offerings in the new Washington DC natural grocery store will include: naturopathic vitamins, supplements and personal care, products; local produce; bulk foods; fresh meats and seafood; wine; cheeses; and fresh baked goods, according to Ryan Youngman.

Prepared foods from "Ellwood's Kitchen" will be led by award-winning chef and vegan cookbook author, Jannequin Bennett, according to the retailer.

"The prepared foods offerings will cater to intentional eaters as well as provide a variety of natural, organic, and ethnically diverse dishes. Those who elect to eat vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and/or raw foods will find plenty of options in all departments," Ryan Youngman says. Additionally, the store will offer in-store and outdoor community seating with wireless Internet available so customers can use their laptop computers and other wireless devices while they sit at the indoor or outdoor tables having coffee or eating.

Ellwood Thompson's also plans to extend the "green" retailing practices it currently has at its Richmond, Virginia store to its second store in Washington, DC when it opens next fall.

Those pro-environmental practices include offering store employees and shoppers incentives for conservation and recycling in the form of monetary "envirocredits" for walking, biking and mass transit and for reusing shopping bags, water and food containers. The independent natural products' retailer isn't anti-automobile though. It will offer free parking in an underground parking deck located below the new store.

Ellwood Thompson's is an innovative, independent natural foods retailer. You can read about some of its innovations, as well as its prepared foods offerings and other merchandising and operational aspects, at its store Blog here.

Who says Whole Foods Market is a barrier to new retail entry?

Even though Whole Foods Market, Inc. plans to increase its store count in Washington, DC (although no new stores are set to open in the district next year) from its current three units, as well as Maryland-based 5-store My Organic Market (MOM) getting set to open a store in Washington DC (its sixth store and first in the district), Ellwood Thompson's decision to put its second store in DC shows there's still room in such competitive markets for natural products' retailers who create points of differentiation like the independent natural grocer does with its local foods program and numerous other unique merchandising and operations practices.

It also shows, as we argue regularly in Natural~Specialty Foods Memo, that despite the continued folly of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)in claiming Whole Foods Market, Inc. is a monopolistic natural foods retailer (the FTC plans to hold a new hearing on the issue in February, 2009) post its acquisition of Wild Oats Markets, Inc. even though Whole Foods' stock took another beating last week and is now at least 55 -to- 60-% lower than it was when is acquired Wild Oats last year, reported a 40% drop in net income last quarter and laid off 42 headquarters employees last month, the marketplace says otherwise.

For example, Locally-based My Organic Market continues to expand in the market. Safeway Stores, Inc. plans to remodel its Georgetown neighborhood store, expanding it to about 60,000 square feet and adding thousands of new natural and organic products and numerous in-store prepared foods departments, using its expanded Lifestyle format which puts an emphasis on the natural, organic and specialty foods categories across all store departments. [One of Whole Foods' three DC stores is located in Georgetown.]

And of course innovative Ellwood Thompson's Local Market, which also offers specialty and gourmet food products along with natural and organic, now plans to build and open a brand new store in Washington DC. Rather than Whole Foods having a monopoly position in the Washington DC market, as well as is the case throughout the U.S., it's going to have to face even stiffer competition than it already has.

Washington DC is just one of the many examples of markets where independent multi-store natural products retailers such as Sprouts Farmers Market and Sunflower Farmers Market in the Western U.S., and other multi and single-store natural products retailers there and elsewhere, are challenging Whole Foods throughout the U.S. There's no Whole Foods Market, Inc. monopoly in the real world of main street.

Upscale supermarket chains are doing the same thing. Publix in Florida, Wegmans in New York, HEB and United Supermarkets' Market Street chain in Texas, Raley's in Northern California, Fresh Market in the South -- all of these supermarket chains and many more pose a competitive challenge to Whole Foods since their stores not only sell conventional groceries but put a major emphasis (and are designed similar to Whole Foods' stores) on natural, organic, specialty, gourmet and international food and grocery products, along with having a major focus on premium fresh, prepared foods.

Elwood Thompson's and DC's Columbia Heights

Ellwood Thompson's should find a warm reception when it opens its store in Washington DC's Columbia Heights neighborhood next fall. The neighborhood has lots of residents and the demographics are strong for natural and organic products retailing. [Whole Foods doesn't have a store in the neighborhood, nor is the DC My Organic Market store slated for the neighborhood.]

At 15,000 square feet the size and scale of the store also fits well into the neighborhood. It's big enough to be able to merchandise a strong multi-category offering but not so big so that it will look out of scale in the urban neighborhood.

The grocer's fresh, prepared foods offerings, along with the new store's indoor and outdoor seating with Wi-Fi, also should go over big in the neighborhood as it's residents like to spend time in neighborhood cafes and participate in urban street life.

Who knows, maybe even a U.S. Senator or two will stop by for some locally-produced fresh produce or one of Ellwood's ready-to-eat prepared foods dishes, along with offering a photo opportunity?

In fact, since it's true Michelle Obama likes buying natural and organic foods for her family, and has been known to shop at the Whole Foods Market store near where she and her husband, Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama, live in Chicago, Illinois, maybe if Senator Obama gets elected President in three weeks, he and the new first lady will do a little shopping at the new Washington DC Elwood Thompson's natural grocery store when it opens its doors next year in the capital city's Columbia Heights neighborhood?

The neighborhood isn't all that far from the White House -- especially if you have a car and driver at your disposal 24 hours a day and a secret service motorcade to speed up your trip to the store.

NSFM in the Media Memo: The '99-Cent Gourmets;' Specialty & Natural Foods and 99-Cent and Dollar Store Format Retailing

Prescott, Arizona Blogger, photographer and 99-cent store shopper Granny J. bought all three of the popular specialty food marinades above for 99-cents at the 'Amazing 99-Cent Store' in Prescot, Arizona. The store specializes in selling specialty, gourmet and natural food and grocery products for 99-cents. In this case, all three for 99-cents. By the way, all three of these specialty marinades are top sellers in the category. All three items sell in supermarkets at an everyday price of about $4.99 -to- $5.99 a bottle, depending on the store.

Korky Vann, the popular food writer for the Hartford Courant newspaper in Harford, Conn., USA, has an article in the food section of yesterday's edition about how shoppers are turning to alternative format food and grocery stores such as 99-cent and dollar stores as one way to save money during the current bad economic times in the United States.

In the article titled, "Shoppers Save On Food In Nontraditional Locations," Vann quotes Natural~Specialty Food Memo's (NSFM) March 27, 2008 story, " Food & Grocery Trends Memo: The 99-Cent Store Gourmets," in which we coined the term the '99-Cent Gourmets" for shoppers who are searching the 99-cent and dollar stores and finding bargains on natural, specialty, gourmet and premium food and grocery products, along with buying more of there basic grocery purchases in these format stores.

From Korky Vann's article in yesterday's Hartford Courant:

"According to the Natural Specialty Food Memo, an online food industry blog, 99¢ Only Stores, Dollar Tree and Dollar General, along with independent 99-cent stores, are reporting increased shopping traffic in their food aisles."

We enjoyed reading Korky Vann's well-written article about non-traditional format shopping. You can read the complete from yesterday's Hartford Courant here.

You can read our March 27, 2008 piece from which Korky Vann quoted by clicking on the title link here: Food & Grocery Trends Memo: The 99-Cent Store Gourmets.

Retail Memo: After All is Said and Done in Food Retailing it's the People Who Make the Difference

Novato Safeway nut counter clerk Imani Murphy adds flavoring to a batch of raw nuts (Photo credit: IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)

Retail Memo Profile

There's an old saying in the retail grocery business that goes something like this: "If it doesn't happen at retail, it doesn't happen at all." We might add that saying has the added benefit of being true.

San Francisco Bay Area-based (Pleasanton, California to be exact) Safeway Stores, Inc. opened a new 50,000 square foot Lifestyle format supermarket in its Bay Area corporate backyard in August, in the Marin County city of Novato.

Marin County residents, among the most affluent of all Americans, take food and grocery shopping rather seriously. Sure they love a bargain as much as the next shopper. But price isn't the top item on their grocery store choice lists.

Rather, at the top of the average Marin County food shoppers are concepts like quality, variety, freshness, organic, gourmet, green and the like.

And Marin shoppers have lots of food store choices in the region to choose from, ranging from Safeway and Lucky supermarkets to upscale local grocery chains like Mollie Stone, United Markets and many others, including Whole Foods and a number of independent natural and specialty foods stores.

Safeway is well aware of this fact. That's why it's new Novato store is among the most upscale of its Lifestyle format stores.

The 50,000 square foot Novato Safeway also is service-oriented. The grocery chain hired 200 hundred employees to work in the store, many of which work at the various in-store full service departments such as service deli and prepared foods, the service butcher shop, fresh bakery and...the in-store service nut bar. No nut and berry Marin County jokes please.

And working that Safeway Novato in-store full service nut bar, which offers over 40 varieties of nuts, including many warmed to a customers desired temperature, is 31-year old Imani Murphy, who the Marin Independent Journal newspaper says is a big hit with the store's customers. He takes "service with a smile" to new heights, including not only greeting every nut bar customer with a smile -- but also with a handshake.

The Marin County newspaper profiled Imani Murphy, who also works as a store checker in addition to his nut bar duties, in Saturday's edition.

It's a short and interesting profile...and will make you smile just like Mr. Murphy does when he greats each nut bar customer.

Click here to read the profile, "Marin Snapshot: Novato Safeway nut bar clerk loves dishing out smiles, snacks." There's also a nice slide show of Imani Murphy and the Novato Safeway nut bar at the link.

Many decades ago Safeway Stores had a saying it would tell its employees. That saying: "There's the 'right way,' the 'wrong way' and the 'Safeway' of doing things."

Imani Murphy obviously knows the "right way" of customer service, regardless if its the "Safeway" or not.

Safeway Stores, Inc. should be nuts about Imani Murphy. After all it appears the Novato store's customers are. He's what you call "value added." And that's both the "right way" and the "Safeway" of doing things in our opinion.

Food Retailing & Society Memo: In Philadelphia Designers Create Supermarkets of the Future; Meanwhile A Local Food Retailing Icon is Lost

The proposed concept for the Brewerytown market above avoids the traditional big-box style for a design that fits into the urban street grid and camouflages the large expanse of parking.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Editor's Note: Two stories, published just six days apart in the Philadelphia Inquirer USA newspaper, paint an interesting picture of the dynamic nature of the food and grocery retailing business.

As the piece below by Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron describes, visionary designers are busy dreaming up the supermarket of the future for urban Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the second story by Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Vernon Clark reports on the closing of 100-year old Caruso's Market, a beloved, small-format neighborhood grocery store.

We offer no analysis or commentary this time around. The two articles speak for themselves.

Changing Skyline: Food for thought on supermarkets

By Inga Saffron
Philadelphia Inquirer Architecture Critic

If we are what we eat, then it follows that our cities are shaped by the buildings that sell what we eat. In that case, we're heading for trouble.

After a long absence, the neighborhood supermarket is making a comeback in urban places like Philadelphia. Only the new arrivals don't look anything like the friendly local grocers we once knew. In quick succession, a gang of boxy, suburban-scaled cornucopias has moved into the thick of Philly's rowhouse neighborhoods. They've laid claim to whole blocks at 56th and Market, 52d and Parkside, Columbus Boulevard in Pennsport. And more are coming.

You might assume that the more stores that sell fresh food, the better - especially given that Philadelphians struggle with their collective weight, at least according to certain out-of-town list-makers.

The problem is that these new supermarkets tend toward obesity themselves. It's hard to overlook all that bulk when the chains dock their flagship boxes in a marina's worth of parking. And once you breach the store's solid walls, you could as easily be in Fairbanks as Fairmount.

So a competition to encourgage architects to think outside the supermarket box comes in the nick of time. The Community Design Collaborative asked three Philadelphia architects to come up with more urban-friendly structures for our modern hunting and gathering.

To keep the exercise from devolving into the abstract, the collaborative identified three sites that have already been targeted for food stores, two in Philadelphia and one in Chester. It also partnered the architects with real clients. Even if none of the three gets built, the design exercise provides the food retailers with alternatives they can chew on.

The most exciting concept was developed by Interface Studio Architects, which pulled the most ambitious of the three projects. The firm was asked to design a new full-service supermarket for developer John Westrum at 31st and Girard, in the Brewerytown neighborhood.

Westrum had been trying to bring a supermarket to the three-acre triangular lot ever since he completed Brewerytown Square, a townhouse project. But it's been difficult because the site has only the tiniest bit of frontage on Girard Avenue, the area's commercial street. The property also sits on a steeply sloped bluff overlooking the east side of Fairmount Park and the Schuylkill. You can practically see the Philadelphia Zoo on the opposite bank.

Panoramic views are nice, but what supermarkets really need is to be able to broadcast their presence to passersby. The usual box, set behind a welcome mat of parking, would be nearly invisible to motorists and pedestrians traveling on Girard Avenue. In any case, that highway model is unworthy of a grand urban street that is still a mix of townhouses and independent stores.

Interface, led by partner Brian Phillips, solved the problem in a way that goes beyond just reimagining the utilitarian supermarket; its design has real architectural heft. The proposal clicks because it acknowledges the supermarket's dual nature as a car-oriented business that happens to be located in a multifaceted pedestrian neighborhood.

Since there is so little frontage on Girard Avenue, the designers bent the main commercial structure into two angled sections that wrap their wings around the corner of 31st and Girard. The section closest to Girard would provide small retail spaces for things like a bank, and the northern portion would house a midsize supermarket.

Though their angular form breaks from Philadelphia's street-wall tradition, it compensates for the deviation by offering the neighborhood a substanial plaza that works as a pocket park. At the hinge, where the two wings come together, the plaza slides down under the buildings, providing sight lines and walking ramps to the parking lot at the low end of the slope.

Because of that sharp incline, the supermarket floor would be below the level of 31st Street. Interface turns the problem into a virtue. An all-glass facade would enable arriving pedestrians to see into the store, while a sequence of switchback ramps would move them gently down to the store entrance. Since the parking lot is at the entrance level, customers who drive would have easy access.

This jaunty arrangement solves the site's problems in one stroke. The designers use the level change to screen the parking lot from the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the swooping roof becomes the building's can't-miss sign.

And by splitting the commercial structure into two sections, Interface avoids the bulkiness of the box. With their glass facades, the structures resemble park pavilions, which is what they are, since they overlook Kelly Drive.

Like Interface, the other firms that participated in the design exercise, Agoos Lovera and KSS, recognized that supermarkets are about more than just food. They're neighborhood anchors. Interface included housing at the north end of its site. The supermarket's sinuous roof winds around, jumping onto a third structure that would contain loft apartments.

Because the other projects involved retrofits of existing buildings, there was less opportunity for the designers to reinvent the supermarket form. Nevertheless, in its three-stage scheme for turning an Ogontz Avenue rowhouse in West Oak Lane into a satellite for the Weavers Way food co-op, Agoos Lovera sketched a plan that includes a meeting room, a demonstration kitchen, and a community garden. KSS came up with a nearly identical program for an old furniture store on Chester's Avenue of the States, purchased by a Chester food co-op. In the future, they believe, food stores will be community hubs.

At the moment, most people see supermarket shopping as a necessary chore. But who knows? If these designers can open the eyes of store operators, we just might start to look forward to the weekly shopping trip.

Caruso's Market closes in Chestnut Hill
By Vernon Clark
Inquirer Staff Writer, October 1, 2008

It was a boutique grocery that specialized in quality meats and produce, and that anchored the Chestnut Hill shopping strip for nearly a century.

Last month, Caruso's Market, 8418-24 Germantown Ave. (pictured above), closed abruptly, leaving many residents recalling bygone days of personal service and a family-friendly atmosphere, and wondering what will become of the property.

Fran O'Donnell, head of the Chestnut Hill Business Association, lamented the loss.

"I think the closing brought great concern to the community as far as being a fixture there, but also as a necessity," O'Donnell said. "It's not like another retailer. This is servicing what you put on your table."

Ellen Maher, 78, who has lived most of her life in Chestnut Hill, was a regular shopper there for decades.

"It was always a very nice market," Maher said. "They did delivery service. It was an alternative to the supermarket. My husband and I always walked to Caruso's."

Residents said the store's windows were covered with brown paper on the night of Sept. 15 and a sign posted that read, "Closed for repairs." A day later the sign was replaced with one saying, "Sorry for the inconvenience. Reopening soon."

The next day the sign was changed to "Sorry for the inconvenience. Closed until further notice."

CMS Cos., an investment company in Wynnewood, issued a statement saying that John Capoferri, the market's operator, "had terminated the Caruso's Market lease," making way for a CMS affiliate to take control of the property.

Capoferri did not respond to several phone messages left for him.

Capoferri bought the 10,000-square-foot building in the spring.

The market was operated for decades by the Marano family, owners of a South Philadelphia pasta business, said Joe Marano, who operates Marano's Fort Washington Garden Mart.

Marano said Caruso was the name of relatives who opened the market in the early 1900s.

"Despite attempts over the prior several weeks to work with Mr. Capoferri to help restructure his financial obligations at the property, we concluded it was in our investors' best interest to take control of the building," said Richard T. Aljian, a CMS official.

He also said the company was preparing the building for "re-leasing, with a grocery-store concept remaining a potential strategy."

O'Donnell said residents want another grocery at the site.

"I think in a community like this, there has to be an outreach to make sure that it stays just the same use," O'Donnell said. "Whether it's Caruso's or not, we want it to still be a food market."

Paul Dodge, owner of the French Bakery on Germantown Avenue, said the closure was a major blow to the community.

"So many older people really rely on the local businesses," Dodge said. "A loss like this is devastating. Who can open a grocery store?"

Dodge said that at the holidays, customers would flock to the store.

"On Thanksgiving they had hundreds of turkey orders," he said. "Caruso's Market was like a dinosaur in many ways."

Philip LeCalsey, an official of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, said that many in the neighborhood want the market to be replaced by one similar to Caruso's.

"Having a neighborhood grocery for such a long time . . . has been a big asset to Chestnut Hill residents," LeCalsey said.

He said he had been a regular customer at Caruso's.

"I was in there usually twice a day, getting coffee in the morning and getting lunch," he said.

Marie Chiodo, who has lived in Chestnut Hill for more than 50 years, worried about the future of the store.

"It was very convenient," Chiodo said. "Now, who knows what's going to happen? I hope they come back and reopen."

Standing outside the store with her infant daughter, Tessa, in a stroller, Katie Maier, a Chestnut Hill resident for about 31/2 years, also regretted the closing.

"I think it's a shame that it closed. There is nowhere else here where I can go to get a few things," Maier said. "I was here last week and ordered a roast. They said the butcher was going to call me, and the next day they were shut."

Artisan Foods Memo: Meet the Breadmakers' Guru; Michel Suas and the Quality Artisan Bread Movement in America

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Editor's Note: After decades of which the definition of "good bread" in the United States meant puffy white sandwich slices and doughy french-style loaves (with a few geographical exceptions), today one can buy top-quality artisan-produced breads in America that rival those produced anywhere in the world. Yes, even France.

Many of the country's supermarkets (even the big chains), natural foods stores and specialty shops sell top-quality breads in their stores, as well as baking top-flight breads of numerous varieties right in the stores using wood burning hearth ovens.

In fact, breads such as San Francisco-made ACME brand, along with numerous others, are today considered among the finest examples of artisan-produced breads in the world.

And it's not just on the left and right coasts in the U.S. where top-quality artisan breads are available. You can find them at supermarkets, natural foods stores, specialty markets and bakery's throughout the country -- from the Midwest and South to the Canadian border states.

Michel Suas (pictured at the top), who's called the breadmakers' guru, is arguably the man most responsible for helping to create a quality artisan bread culture -- and industry -- in the U.S.

In the article below, San Francisco Chronicle food writer Amanda Gold profiles the breadmakers' guru, who makes his home in the San Francisco Bay Area (as well as operates his bread baking school there) but travels throughout the U.S. and the world spreading his quality bread gospel.

Guest Memo:
The breadmakers' guru
Amanda Gold, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

When Tartine owner Chad Robertson opened his first bakery in Point Reyes Station more than a decade ago, he couldn't figure out how to get any sleep.

Baking bread 18 hours a day was proving untenable, and he needed help - stat.

He could have thrown in the towel; he might have looked for an extra hand or two.

Instead, he called Michel Suas.

Known within the industry as the guru of artisan bread, Suas has made a career out of responding to similar quandaries. The native Frenchman has worked with all the big names in the bread world. From local outfits like Acme, Grace Baking and Semifreddi's to La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles and Balthazar in New York, Suas has done everything from developing formulas for the perfect loaf to streamlining baking processes to designing bakeries worldwide.

In a little more than a decade, he's founded the San Francisco Baking Institute and equipment importing company TMB Baking, opened Thorough Bread (a retail bakery) and authored an impressive textbook on baking and pastry.

Suas is living proof that when it comes to dough, he's the go-to guy.

"He's the best in the business," says Robertson matter-of-factly. "You can ask him anything and he knows exactly what to do."

For Robertson's sleeping dilemma, that meant helping him figure out a way to slow down the bread rising so it could happen overnight. That way, he could catch some Z's while the dough worked its magic.

"I knew what needed to happen," says Robertson, "but I was 22 and I'd never done it before. Michel worked with me to figure it out."

Suas' expertise draws from a 40-plus year career that began in Brittany, France, when he was just 14.

At that time, kids would either stay on the same track in school, he explains, or, "If you were goofing off, they'd say, 'OK, we've had enough of you,' and they'd make you get a job."

Given his gentle, reserved nature today, it seems almost unfathomable that Suas would have fallen into the latter category, but he did, so he began an apprentice program in the kitchen.

The apprentice

"I started on my 14th birthday," he recalls with a grin, "and they made me peel potatoes and clean mussels all day, with my tender little hands."

It was a rough start, but he lasted in the program for the three required years, before moving his focus to pastry. Suas spent one year in training, received his diploma and moved around to build up his resume. With each new experience, his passion became clearer. It wasn't simply that he was drawn to the bread and sweets - that much was true. But a great deal of his influence also had to do with lifestyle choices and personalities.

Suas began working with a pastry chef named Hingouët - they only knew last names at the time, he says - who was educated both in and outside of the kitchen. "When the other chefs were all about chasing girls and fast cars, he talked about love, music and the arts. He had family values."

After that, he says, "I never stopped pastry."

Sitting across the table from the wiry, now 54-year-old man at the South San Francisco offices of the baking institute, it's hard to imagine that he would have chosen any other path. He gently brushes a lock of floppy gray hair from his forehead, and talks about his wife, Evelyne, who has been with him every step as his business has grown and is a co-owner of the San Francisco Baking Institute and TMB Baking. Their 12-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, conceived the name Thorough Bread for his retail bakery and designed the logo. Keeping his family close and involved is clearly a priority.

But focusing on life outside the bakery wasn't the only positive influence that Hingouët had on Suas. Under his tutelage, the 21-year-old Suas landed a job as head pastry chef at Barrier restaurant in Tours, France. The fact that it had earned three Michelin stars was just the cherry on top - the real draw was that at the time, it was the only three-star restaurant baking its own bread on site. But after three years of adding to his bread-baking repertoire, he was ready to move on.

"I was curious and I had nothing to lose," he says, "so I took my backpack and came to the United States. I didn't speak a word of English." Landing first in New York on his way to Chicago, it didn't take Suas long to find a job - word spread that there was a guy from France in town, and he was a good baker and pastry chef.

After a stint in the Windy City and a trip back to France to take care of his ailing mother, Suas and his then-girlfriend, Evelyne, returned to the United States for good.

Cross-country odyssey

The two piled into a VW van and drove all over North America, from Key West and Texas up to Canada, sightseeing and eating on a budget.

"We got lucky," he says. "We ran out of money in San Francisco."

Suas landed here in 1987, when the Bay Area was smack in the middle of an artisan bread revolution.

One afternoon, he popped into the office of Earl Lind, who, at the time, was the go-to equipment guy for bakers. Sitting across the desk from Lind was Steve Sullivan, who had opened a little bakery in Berkeley called Acme, and was looking to expand.

That began a 20-year acquaintance that would ultimately benefit them both.

"I had gone to a couple of these trade shows in Europe," says Sullivan, "and had seen a certain kind of mixer - all of the old bakeries there had it." Sullivan says that even though he didn't know much about it, he had already decided that his bakery should have this mixer. But he didn't know how to get it.

"I couldn't believe it when Michel walked in. He knew exactly what I was talking about."

Sullivan became Suas' first client, and the word spread from there.

Suas primarily helped Sullivan with equipment and planning, but Sullivan's word-of-mouth recommendations were priceless.

Nancy Silverton at Los Angeles' La Brea Bakery was Suas' second client, and others followed.

In the late '80s and early '90s, says Suas, "everything was being shaken up, and I was in the middle of that chaos. I was here at a time when people were looking for support and direction, and all I did was give my honest advice."

That advice went to bakers at Metropolis, Grace Baking, Boudin, Ecce Panis in New York, and Essential Baking Co. and Grand Central Bakery in Seattle, plus chefs like Thomas Keller - before opening Bouchon Bakery - to name a few.

"Almost anybody who has set up a bakery in the last 15 years in the United States has probably dealt with Michel," says Sullivan.

But for Suas, it was an education as well.

Intro to sourdough

"I was so amazed with what was going on here," he says of the artisan movement. "It was a thrill to be surrounded by so many people with that much talent." In fact, Suas explains, he never wanted to be that guy who came from France and said, "Here's how to make a baguette."

"When I came, sourdough was a discovery," he says. "At first I thought, 'Wow, that's a strange flavor,' but when you learn how it's done, you start to appreciate it."

In addition, the way bread was processed and handled was different. Liquid starters were not something that had been used in Europe. And bread with cheese or olives? That was completely new.

"I don't take credit for what was being developed," says Suas. "I just helped stabilize those formulas." The truth is, he says, as long as you have the basics, you can adapt and work with anything.

His helpful, honest advice and passion for the bread movement led enough people to his door, but what he really wanted was to start a baking school. In 1996, that's exactly what he did, opening the San Francisco Baking Institute.

"I was traveling a lot at the time, and one thing I realized was that a lot of young people were being left out. Small bakeries couldn't afford a consultant, and I couldn't be everywhere at once."

At the school, students come either for five-day seminars, or the 18-week professional training program (see sidebar, this page), and include everyone from serious bakers who have never had proper training to those who want to open their own bakery. Some even come as a gift to themselves on a vacation from another line of work - baking enthusiasts who consider it a hobby.

Suas is quick to assure that artisan bread can and should be baked in the home oven, and to that end, he has instructors give tips on how to do so.

To those heading into the professional arena, both Suas and the baking institute remain a resource long after students leave the school.

Though he doesn't have a hands-on role with the students, Suas keeps plenty busy. These days, he starts every morning with a trip to Thorough Bread, his retail spot on Church Street in San Francisco. He personally brings in the baked goods from the school, admitting that it forces him to keep an eye on things.

Bakers' resource

In addition, he has spent the last four years assembling a new textbook ("Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach," Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008) that gives functional and technical advice on all aspects of baking and pastry. The book weighs more than a 5-pound bag of flour, but is surprisingly approachable. He hopes that it will become the standard instructional book.

It's fitting. At the end of the day, Suas is, first and foremost, a teacher. If he can help someone streamline the process to go from 50 to 5,000 baguettes a day, if he can equip a bakery to run efficiently or - perhaps most importantly - help a fledgling baker figure out how to get some sleep, he knows he's succeeded.

Note: Click here for some artisan bread recipes and other resources from the breadmakers' guru Michel Suas. [Photo credit: Craig Lee: San Francisco Chronicle.]

Food Show Memo: Record Attendance at World Food Moscow 2008 Show Demonstrates Russia's Growing Consumerism and International Opportunities

The emergence of Russia as a major food and grocery consuming nation was on display at the recently-ended World Food Moscow 2008 trade show, which featured over 1,300 exhibitors from throughout the world and was attended by thousands more food and grocery industry professionals, all focusing on how to do business in the country of about 143 million that's becoming flush with cash from its sales of oil and other natural resources, along with creating a growing higher-income consuming class, as well as the beginnings of a middle class.

The product exhibitions at the huge World Food Moscow 2008 show, which ran from September 23-27, ranged from basic food and grocery products, fresh produce, meats and other perishables, to non-foods and natural, organic, specialty and gourmet products from throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, the U.S., Canada and Latin-Central America.

Fresh produce, including organics, was a big feature of this year's Moscow food show. Produce suppliers and trade associations from Europe, Latin and Central America, Asia and the U.S. all had a major presence at the show. Many of these suppliers already do some business in Russia but want to expand their respective business in the increasingly affluent nation. Others are hoping to get into the Russian market as it improves its logistics systems and more larger and even upscale supermarkets open throughout the country.

The show also included a series of forums in which various speakers talked about how to enter the Russian food and grocery market, along with ways to increase business in the nation, discussions of Russian consumer behavior and other related topics. The annual Russian Agricultural Outlook forum also is a part of each year's Moscow food show.

Russia's food and grocery retailing industry is going through a rapid modernization process, adopting the western supermarket, superstore and hypermarket models in increasing numbers. Western chains like France's Carrefour (the worlds second largest global retailer) and Wal-Mart (the world's number one retailer) are currently in the process of entering Russia with their first stores.

As an example of the growing consumer affluence in Russia, this year's World Food Moscow 2008 show featured far more specialty, gourmet, natural and organic food and grocery products across all categories, according to the food show's organizers. This included specialty and organic fresh produce items and meats, gourmet, specialty and organic shelf-stable food products from throughout Europe and even the U.S. and Australia, and lots of higher-end premium products including beverages as well as food items.

As is the practice in Russia, foreign companies in any sector who are let in early tend to get preferential treatment by the Russian government. This is the case with overseas food and grocery companies as well. Much of doing business in the food industry in Russia still relies on setting up various joint-ventures with Russian companies, along with going through various layers of government and quasi-government middle men, each who takes a cut of the action.

A new U.S-Russia cold war? "Nyet." Some analysts and pundits are suggesting the U.S. and Russia are on the verge of a new cold war over Russia's recent invasion (after Georgia's invasion) of two breakaway states of the Republic of Georgia, which the U.S. is allied with. No impending new cold war was evident on September 27 however when John Beyrle, the United States Ambassador to Russia , attended the last day of the World Food Moscow 2008 food show. Ambassador Beyrle, pictured above enjoying a slice of apple, greeted Russian officials at the show as well as visted U.S. exhibitor companies and trade groups such as the California Grape Association and USA Pears, among others.

This system isn't in the main preventing European, American and Asia food and grocery companies --big, medium-sized and even small -- from wanting to enter the Russian market though, as was evidenced by the record attendance and number of exhibitors at the just-ended Moscow food show.

The natural and organic products categories, along with imported specialty, gourmet and ethnic food and grocery products, are in the infant stage in terms of category development in Russia. Therefore, Russia is a growing new market for western and Asian suppliers. The potential is very big and lucrative.

Additionally, with western chains Carrefour (based in France) and Wal-Mart (based in the U.S.) planning to soon open their first stores in Russia, the opportunity for western natural, organic, specialty and gourmet foods suppliers and marketers who already do business with these two mega-retailers should be enhanced.

More Russians than ever before also are traveling abroad, particularly those from the country's new upper-income class. As these and other Russians travel to western European cities and to the U.S. more frequently they will acquire an increased taste for and desire of the food products from these countries, just as Americans and Europeans who travel throughout the world do for foods from other lands. This fact will increase demand for imported foods in Russia, creating additional opportunity for western suppliers and marketers.

The organizers of the Food Moscow 2008 food show have a comprehensive photo and video gallery of this year's and last year's shows, ranging from pictures of various exhibitor booths and forum events to the trade show's product tasting events and award presentations. Click here to view that photo gallery.

Additionally, the Netherlands-based Web site Freshplaza.com took photos of the fresh produce exhibitors at this year's World Food Moscow 2008 food show. Click here to view the photo report.

The Food Show Moscow 2008 event is held annually in the fall, usually in late September or early October. According to the show's organizers, this year's show had the highest number of exhibitors and attendees in its history.

Despite a bit of a freeze in Russian western relations, especially with the U.S., American and European companies and food industry representatives attended this year's Moscow show in great numbers.

This fact reflects that despite a chilling of political relations between these western nations and Russia, trade between the west and Russia is still moving forward.

It also reflects the fact Russia is spending billions of dollars to improve its agricultural industries and is looking to U.S. and European companies for much of the expertise and technology to achieve that goal, as it is looking towards the west to help modernize its entire food distribution chain, from the farm and food processing plant to the supermarket.