While in-store restaurants and dining areas aren’t new, a growing number of grocers are embracing next-level food-hall concepts in their newest stores.
In May, Lucky California, part of The Save Mart Cos., opened a flagship store in Pleasanton, Calif., that is heavily focused on retail foodservice through the brand’s The Eatery concept, which offers an array of fresh prepared foods, including customizable noodle and rice bowls, comfort foods, and global cuisine such as fusion burritos with Indian, Chinese and Korean sauces.
Bristol Farms’ newest concept store, like its La Cumbre location in Santa Barbara, Calif., is “not just a grocery store,” says CEO Adam Caldecott. Part European farmers market and part California premium food experience, the new Bristol Farms aims to be a feast for the senses and a destination to both fill a shopping cart and purchase a single restaurant-quality meal.
“This is version 2.0,” Caldecott told WGB in a recent interview. “As we continue to move forward with Bristol Farms, we’re really trying to push the culinary experience—whether by bringing more global ingredients into produce or upgrading our ready-to-eat food.”
The CEO added that the next iteration for Bristol Farms will be to bring QSR-style formats in-store. Caldecott envisions adding a number of concepts meant to “drive innovation and to continue to build Bristol Farms in a way that really owns the culinary space,” he said.
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