‘Wall of Fresh’ is candy store of fresh-cut produce

A “Wall of Fresh” is proving to be a big draw for customers at the recently opened flagship Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

The 85,000-square-foot mega store located in the former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team includes an approximately 8-foot, floor to ceiling wall of fresh-cut produce. It was the brainchild of Senior Director, National Concept — Produce Doug Rodriguez.

“I came up with the idea for this from our prepared salad bars where we would have a small assortment
of these items,” Rodriguez said. “I envisioned a larger selection of cut fruit and vegetables with vertical merchandising to present more items in less space.

“This is an opportunity for us to get a nice presentation, straight up and down, with lots of variety.”

The bar features around 40 fresh-cut varieties that customers can buy in quantities of their choosing. Veggies range from lettuces and salad greens to kale, Swiss chard, red and yellow onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes and cauliflower. On the fruit side, there’s melon, papaya, mango, kiwi, strawberries and grapes, stemmed and washed.

“The customers love the convenience of having those items ready, prepared and able to make the assortment they want,” Rodriguez said. “We also have many people tell us they like the convenience of having the cooking vegetables cut and ready to cook in the portions that they need.

“Many would not use a whole turnip or squash, so they are able to buy enough for one or two for one meal.”
Most everything is cut fresh on site, with the supply in the bins refreshed throughout the day.

“Our colleagues stay on top of it to make sure the presentation looks good right up to evening rush hour business,” Rodriguez said.

Some items are purchased from fresh-cut processors, mainly to keep supply steady for higher- volume weekends.

“But most of the stuff, we have enough that it comes off the floor, because you want ripe product, too,” Rodriguez said. “You don’t want to be using green product.”

The display is arranged so that containers on the bottom shelf are bigger and contain volume items like cut cauliflower, broccoli, lettuces, watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew.

A night crew member disassembles it all each evening.“The stuff that doesn’t sell today gets used in tomorrow’s salads, plus we have the kitchen, which takes some of the product as well,” Rodriguez said. “The squashes and the parsnips and that kind of stuff — that just goes to the kitchen to use in tomorrow’s lunch type of thing, in the hot table.”

There’s a “Wall of Fresh” in an older Toronto store location, and Rodriguez said the concept will be incorporated in future new renovations.

“Even to this day, nine months after the store has been opened, I still hear customers saying, ‘Wow, look at the fresh fruits and vegetables’ when they walk into the department,” Rodriguez said. “It really gives that fresh impression to that whole section and the whole store.”