instore - November 2017 - 20

retail report

Cheese: a commitment to artisan
Earth Fare's Mandarin store offers about 300 SKUs of imported and
local and other domestically sourced cheeses, says Jeff DiMeo, the
chain's senior director of merchandising execution. All cheeses are
individually selected by Earth Fare for quality, and many are chosen
by DiMeo himself, who worked as a general manager at two cheese
companies before joining Earth Fare in 2016.
A prime example of Earth Fare's commitment to artisanal cheesemakers is its Parmigiano Reggiano, which is aged for 24 to 30 months
in the Modena province of Italy before being sold. The cheesemaker
turns out just six wheels a day. DiMeo heard about it, went to Italy, tried
it, loved it, and signed a deal to buy every last wheel exported. The
cheese is an Earth Fare exclusive and has its own standalone display in
Mandarin.
"It's one of the smallest artisanal cheesemakers out there," DiMeo says.
"Our sourcing starts with the relationships we have with the people
who actually make the cheese. We go to the source first."
Scanning the cheese case, DiMeo says he or another Earth Fare buyer
has visited "just about every" producer featured. "We take cheese very
seriously at Earth Fare," he says.
Brands in the cheese case on opening day at the Mandarin store
included Rumiano, Tillamook, Finlandia, Babybel, Naturally Good
Kosher, Deer Creek, Alpha Tolman, Vivaldi, Germain, Beehive, Van
Kaas, Old Croc, Montchevre, Sun-Ni, Sierra Nevada, Heini's, Beecher's

Curated
quality

Flagship, Snow Camp, Drunken Goat, Naked Goat, Sheep Trick, Maple
Leaf, Cypress Grove, La Bonne Vie, Frommages d'Affinois, Saint Agur,
Saint Anadre, Kerrygold and Vermont Creamery.
Crackers on display near the cheese case included products by Kii
Organic and Firehook.
Earth Fare's brand has always been defined by its commitment to
offering its customers the cleanest foods. The company's "Boot List,"
accessible through its website, provides a more exhaustive list of all of
the unacceptable ingredients you'll never find in an Earth Fare product.
If you do find one, the company will remove the product from the shelf
and give the shopper a $50 gift card. Aker said a grand total of one
customer has cashed in. "And it was dog food," she says.
All private label brand foods sold at Earth Fare are GMO-free, thousands are gluten-free and 70 percent of the fresh produce is organic.
Over a decade ago, long before most retailers did, Earth Fare made the
decision to source only cage-free eggs.
In January, Earth Fare launched its "Live Longer with Earth Fare"
campaign, which seeks to help consumers make better food choices as
part of a broader commitment to good health. In 2015, for the first time
ever, Scorpiniti says, the lifespan of Americans actually went down.
Earth Fare wants to do what it can to reverse that trend. Another slogan
on display at the new Mandarin store is, "Everything we don't add to
our foods can add years to your life."
What Earth Fare offers, Aker says, is a store where everything sold is
guaranteed to meet certain healthy standards, so customers didn't
have to spend time interrogating every product they considered
buying. "Dinner for the Earth" was the store's original name.
Earth Fare has no plans to abandon its high standards, despite its rapid
growth, Scorpiniti says. And grow it will. A decade ago, the company
had just 12 stores. By 2020, its goal is to have 100. "We foresee 25%
annual unit growth for the foreseeable future," Scorpiniti says.
With a store in Roanoke, Virginia, also opening this year, Earth Fare will
be operating in ten states, he says. The company will also beef up its
presence in existing markets including Tampa and Orlando in Florida
and Charlotte in North Carolina, and expand its reach into Ohio and
other newer markets, Scorpiniti says. To make it all happen, Earth Fare
will need to hire about 1,000 new employees a year.
"We're excited that everything's coming together," Scorpiniti says.
"Americans are looking for healthier choices. And eating clean is
preventive maintenance - a lower-cost way of approaching good
health. Our goal is to create a healthier country with our food
philosophy."

20 * NOVEMBER 2017 * instore

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