Loblaw rolls out juice bars

Loblaw Cos. will add fresh juice bars to around 100 stores in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces this spring, saying the offering will provide higher margins and reduce shrink while supporting healthy customer lifestyles.

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The new juice bars — along with a revamped home-meal replacement program currently being rolled out at more than 250 conventional stores — represent initiatives culled from successful tests at 11 Loblaw “inspire” stores which feature accelerated fresh and foodservice programs, according to Vicente Trius, Loblaw’s president, speaking at an earnings conference call Thursday.

“I'm quite encouraged with what the organization is doing on fresh penetration and how we're driving the sales,” Trius said.

Trius said the juice bars would include a menu of 35 recipes. “This offer generates higher than category average margins and helps to reduce shrink in some of our highest risk fresh fruit items.” The HMR program has already been rolled out to 63 stores, with plans for an addition 200 more stores by mid-year, Trius said.