Archive for Business
Holiday Food Sampling
Holiday Food Sampling Gluten Free Grocery 2009
Last Saturday, Becky and I loaded the “big ride” filled with delicious gluten free and dairy free Holiday pies for a wonderful Holiday sampling at the Gluten Free Grocery(http://gfgrocery.com/) in Westchester, IL. We had a blast! Meet Cindy Erwin, proprietor, of the Gluten Free Grocery. She has a really cool shop and wonderful customers. Apple’s Bakery is so proud to be a Holiday partner with Cindy and her customers. Several have pre-ordered Holiday desserts. Thank you to all for the supportive comments for our work in the gluten free community. We wish you the safest and most enjoyable Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Mary and Becky
Apple’s Thrives Amid Peoria Competition
An article published in the Peoria Journal Star yesterday focused on grocery stores in the Peoria area and the tough competition many of them face to keep customers coming back. The article mentioned that a particular Cub Foods store, owned by the SuperValu chain of stores and just miles from Apple’s Bakery, is closing. The current state of the economy is forcing supermarkets of every size and design to diversify and get creative.
I was quoted in the article, as one the large Kroger stores referenced is blocks away from my bakery:
“When Kroger put in a salad bar, I noticed the impact on my lunch business,” said Mary Ardapple, owner of Apple’s Bakery, 8412 N. Knoxville Ave., a few blocks from one recently expanded Kroger store.
“The food giants today want you to buy as much as you can at the grocery store. That’s considerably better for the consumer, but businesses like mine have to react accordingly. If I’d been slow to react, I’d be out of business,” she said.
Ardapple said she developed several new niches, including a gluten-free division and the promotion of corporate gifts.
A Partnership to Treasure
Apple’s has officially partnered with Treasure Island Foods in the Chicago area! The store will stock Apple’s delicious gluten-free baked goods.
Treasure Island has been a Chicagoland staple grocery store since 1963, when the first store opened. The market was created with the mission to “provide a supermarket that would combine the conventional with the best of specialty, imported and domestic products at competitive prices.” The late chef Julia Child referred to Treasure Island as “the most European supermarket in America.”
I am excited at the opportunity to provide my gluten-free products to the Chicago area. Stay tuned for future Apple’s sampling events at Treasure Island stores.
Gluten-Free AND Tasty
Sampling the foods we come to love is a big part of the epicurean journey in one’s life. Having recently partnered with Naturally Yours Grocery to carry our gluten-free baked goods line, Apple’s Bakery had the opportunity to begin a sampling program at the store’s Peoria and Bloomington locations.
Our resident gluten-free baker, Erin Alderson, set up her table and introduced area consumers to the fantastic taste of our gluten-free bakery products. The Peoria Naturally Yours store was treated to our great gluten-free olive oil bread with dipping oil; customers at the Bloomington store sampled our decadent gluten-free chocolate cake.
Upon her return to Apple’s, Erin marveled at the many comments she received from customers who were pleasantly surprised that our gluten-free products are tasty. When told there was not any wheat flour in the products, customers gave dubious looks. Yet, after a bite, they said, “You know, that tastes really good!”
It’s amazing how quickly our opinion of food gravitates to the negative when told it’s not comprised of mainstream ingredients. I want to shout, “You don’t know what you’re missing!” when referencing the abundance of flavor formed with the correct blend of flours.
For now, we’re taking it one mouthful at a time! Watch for gluten-free samplings at our newest partner store, the Chicagoland grocer Treasure Island Foods, in the future.