by frazgo
More than a little BRIT different in how we eat and shop
June 1, 2007 at 8:14 am in Uncategorized
UK Giant Tesco is opening its first “Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market” this fall in my ‘hood, actually in nearby Arcadia at the corner of First and Foothill. I got to experience the “Tesco Express” which is vaugely similar to the “Fresh and Easy” stores in London last Month and was impressed with both the quality and the value for food on the run.
Why is this news or should anyone notice? Plenty of reasons. First off put aside your concerns that this huge retailer has beaten Walmart at its own game in the UK. The “Fresh and Easy” stores are going to redefine how we look at convenience food. The stores will be around 10,000 square feet, bigger than 7-11 and much smaller than the usual grocery store. It will be stocked with the good stuff for quick meals when you are too rushed to cook yourself.
Hmm….Convenience Store News and Forbes have reported that our domestic chains better be ready for this huge change in how we look at convenience food. (I think they need to come up with a better name than convenience as it rings of roach coach grub).
The initial plans are that this is going to be big, in the hundreds of stores very quickly in So Cal, NV and AZ and is even hinted at in Financial Times it could rival the 1,900 stores in the UK.
My neighbor has been working with them for just about a year down in the US Headquarters located in El Segundo. The concept behind “Fresh and Easy” is simple…great food for the family on the go. Getting past the usual PR stuff what I have seen so far impresses me. ITs going to be set up with a lot of fresh made food and the bits and pieces to finish off a nice dinner you can toss on the table when you get home.
The food will be made with good fresh ingredients and only stuff you find on the grocery store shelf that you would use yourself. So unless you are adding good old BHTA, preservatives and RED Dye40 on a regular basis this stuff will be a lot healthier than a lot of the “service deli” type stuff we usually see. The food will be made fresh at a huge, environmentally friendly facility out in Riverside and trucked into the local stores within 8 hours of being cooked.
So far we haven’t seen much in the mainstream news on them. They are environmentally friendly. Their local CEO
Tim Mason stated in an interview with PRINside “Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is in a unique position to deliver fresh, affordable, high quality food into the neighborhoods in which we operate and to do so safely and in the best interest of the environment,…”
According to Eric next to nothing makes it into the trash at the El Segundo Headquarters. Virtually everything is sorted and recycled. The same goes for their Riverside distribution hub. The Riverside facility is built out on the old Air Force base and has enough solar electricity generating capacity to just about cover its basic needs. Even their delivery trucks are going to be set up so that they not only aren’t clogging our streets with daily delivery’s, but are even quieter and less polluting as they are the lastest in clean technology.
So here we go a company starting up new with a green edge in what they sell us and how they get it to us. Not a bad way to do business, certainly never hurts to be a good neighbor when you are the new kid in town.
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