ottawa foodies

Okay, I spent the better part of the day at their summit today. I learned an awful lot about this company and their ideals and what is required to get my products into their stores. I still have a lot of work to do, but it's all good stuff that I probably should be doing anyway, like nutritional information labels, gluten-free and non-GMO testing, proper bar codes, all that kind of stuff. I'm just glad that after all the demonstration of their restrictions and guidelines that they were really impressed with my products and a lot of the others that I spoke with. I hope that they manage to find this thread and post their own experience here.

It was a very informative meeting and I'm really looking forward to the new store when it opens on October 22nd (tentative) in Landsdowne. I feel it will be a real addition to the Ottawa food scene, not just another mega mart food store. Keep your eyes peeled for job openings. They cut their own meat, cheese and seafood, and bake a lot of their breads from scratch. FROM SCRATCH! Not like a lot of other stores that get 'their' bread trucked in mostly cooked already and then put it into an oven for 20 minutes from frozen.

I appreciate all the time that they gave us and all the help that they proposed for local vendors. Small business loans are a great idea for a grocery store's business model to prove how dedicated they are to local suppliers. I was blown away by that. It looks like we're off to a great start.

Doesn't all food sold in Canada require labelling that meet national standards and legislation ?

www.inspection.gc.ca

And I'm not sure what legislation covers 'tamper proof' packaging ? ... but I think it's required as well.

Just think Rizak ... when you get all your ducks in line you can go national.

A lot of products sold at craft fairs and markets don't meet the most stringent requirements. I believe these people when they say that as soon as another supplier hears that your product is sold at Whole Foods, they accept that it follows all of their own needs.

As I said, a lot of those are things that I should probably be doing or have looked into. I'd seen vanilla extract sold without nutritional information, so didn't bother. I'd read on the Canadian Celiac website that anything distilled was considered gluten-free, so I never bothered to have mine tested. I've known that I really should get more information about bar codes and but a block of them for my own products.

Still, there's plenty of time to get this right if I decide to go ahead with them for opening, and even if I decide to do it later.

Their preferred rollout strategy is local, regional (which I believe would include the 4 stores in Toronto, Canadian (then all the stores in BC), and finally US. Even though their central-midwest region includes 8 US states, I don't believe it is included in the regional expansion at this time. I don't have all the information at this time. It was simply a three hour tour (a threeeeee hour tour) and a twenty minute (nee, 10 minute) meeting. I was lead into my meeting quite late and cut off early, but I managed to get my foot in the door at least. I only had enough time to talk about the vanilla extracts and only about a minute to try to gloss over the flavoured maple syrups and grilling/chilling plates I have in the works. We'll see how things go with those.

Rizak,

Have spent far too much $$ at these places in the US. In some ways they are excellent in terms of selection, but I really find them overpriced beyond belief.

To the point of being absolutely crazy if you even do a modest effort of shopping around. It would be easier to be someones BF in prison than get a deal at this place. That being said I am still a fan.

Some of the ones I have been to carry 150+ microbrews by the bottle and an equally impressive selection of wine. That was by far the best part but I could be biased ;)

Krusty

I am certainly looking forward to Whole Foods but don't expect to use it a lot. I used to visit Toronto a fair amount and I would go there and Pusiteri's for hard to find stuff and occassionally just to get an item of quality but I do agree it can be pricey.

Whole Foods is a great place to hit for items on sale/clearance. Plus, they usually have amazing butcher counters and seafood.

Just visited the Whole Foods in Albuquerque a tad on the pricy side but so many different products I was like a kid in a candy store. Now to get all that stuff in the cooler.

I have launched a new Commercial Real Estate venture as an alternative to these national chains...marrying the convenience of Big-Box, but with a focus solely on Artisan, Local-focused small businesses as the tenants.
I am about to start more research on the Whole Foods model. We have to admit - they were very critical in shaking up the Mega-Food Retailers and helping to bring awareness to a whole new array of products.

If anyone would like to get involved with the Development of BoxMarket, feel free to msg me directly or join one of our meetups;

www.meetup.com

Whole Foods is neat, but kind of huge and expensive.

And I can already get most of what I want to buy in local shops and online and do not see my online shopping changing- I buy a lot of bulk natural foods online from a US store, prices are decent and 2 day delivery right on my doorstep.

No need to take a taxi with a huge 40lb of items I can not carry in winter by myself...

I will prob check out Whole Foods, but even when I am in the US I do not go there much.

Have not even checked out the new Target yet, as I do not need anything from there.

The Independent Hartman's just started carrying my favorite brand of vegan frozen items, whole foods has never sold that brand...

-one of the local grocery stores I go to makes their own middle eastern food from scratch,I will keep on shopping there as it is delicious.
-they even have a book at the counter that lists all the ingredients, haven't seen that at other grocers.

Just what the Glebe needs, yet another purveyor of overpriced delicacies that cater to a bourgeois sense of exclusivity disguised under the veneer of save the world political correctness.

I prefer the smaller health food stores in Ottawa. Rainbow, Mother Hubbard's, etc. I get everything I need from these stores, plus Produce Depot and the Butchery. I rarely go to Loblaws anymore.

I go to the Whole Foods in Markham when I visit. I find it more expensive than Rainbow (my main shopping spot) and their store is mostly aisle space. They could cut the store in half and fit everything in it perfectly fine. That doesn't seem to be very eco-friendly, ya know?

I do like their to-go section if I'm running around Markham and need a quick bite. But that's about it.

I'm surprised there hasn't been much (any?) discussion on here since Whole Foods opened.

I'd never been to one before but with all the general hype, and one of my work colleagues raving about it, I was excited to check it out (once the crowds had died down).

So, I'm just back from my first visit and I must say I'm completely ... underwhelmed.

To start with it was smaller than I'd imagined, and therefore the selection wasn't as big as I'd expected. Sure they had lots of different spices and loose items (beans, nuts etc), but then so does Cedars down the road.

In the end I struggled to find $25 worth of stuff I wanted to buy (that being the threshold to validate your parking I believe).

What about the rest of you foodies? Am I missing something?

For now I'll be sticking with my favorites (Farm Boy & Cedars).

Cheers,
Ratty

Ditto Ratty

Ratty, WF is validating parking? Details, please. I haven't been because if I am spending money on groceries I don't want to have to pay for parking. However, if they will pay my parking I would likely go to at least check it out. I confess to having been excited when I first heard it was coming but when I learned that I would have to pay for parking, my interest faded considerably. It will be interesting to see how the other chains fare when you can go to their stores in other locations and not have to pay for parking. I mean, why would you go to Lansdowne to go, say, the LCBO and pay to park?

Felinefan - enter Lansdowne from Queen Elizabeth drive and immediately head into the underground parking. Collect a ticket at the first barrier as if you were a regular paying customer.

*Important* there is a separate section for Whole Foods, and you must go in there in order to get the free parking. Head straight forward from the entrance and go about 3/4 of the way along the car park then head left. You go through another barrier into the Whole Foods section which is right underneath the store.

My understanding (gleaned from comments on Facebook) is that you can get up to 90 mins of free parking as long as you spend over $25 at Whole Foods. So you could park up, pop out to explore Sporting Life and the other shops first, then come back and do your shopping at WF.

At the checkout, hand over your parking ticket (so remember not to leave it in the car!) and they validate it. Voila.

It would be very helpful, and to their benefit, if they actually mentioned this on their website...

Cheers,
Ratty.

Thanks, Ratty. I appreciate you responding. You are right, it would be helpful if they mentioned this on their web site. When I go I'll mention it.

I was intitially looking forward to Whole Foods opening up. I mean, what could be wrong with a place that has lots of organic stuff, reportedly supports the community, etc.? My recent visit revealed that Whole Foods has more processed stuff (e.g. NOT whole foods IMHO) than actual whole foods. There are a few token local suppliers. Also, it is really expensive, on average 10-30% more than the same stuff at the local Metro, Herb and Spice or Ottawa Farmer's market. The selection of processed stuff really isn't all that different either from what else is available in the city for the most part (except the lacking local stuff), albeit spread accross more than one store. I won't be back to Whole Foods any time soon, or at all. I'd rather support my local businesses and farmers and keep profits in Canada.

We were in Florida visiting friends last week and she said that WF is known as "Whole Paycheck". We shopped at Trader Joe's for groceries before US Thanksgivivg and found it to be a good experience overall, with lots of organic produce and turkeys, 3 buck chuck, beer. I didn't find it overly expensive, indeed the turkey was downright cheap and was a delicious addition to our Thanksgiving feast for the 6 Canucks who were there.

A cautionary tale from www.huffingtonpost.com that's good for a laugh.

Wanted to try Whole Foods until I checked out their online specials. This one (and comments here) changed my mind on going.

www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Woonia
BATTERED HALIBUT
Thick-cut battered whitefish that is mild in flavour and very versatile. Found in our Seafood Department
Valid
1/14 - 1/20
$14.99 / gram
Regular $17.99 / gram

Woo-knee-ah !! A whopping 17% discount !

Are they trying to fool anyone with the price per gram thingy ?

So a four ounce portion (112g) will cost $1698.88 ?? (Is this typical Whole Food pricing?)

Surely they mean $14.99 / 100g ... making the portion only $17 or only $68 for a family of 4.

This Halibut better be East Coast, caught this morning , battered in the finest Japanese panko and fried in argan nut oil, while I watch.

Captain Caper - don't you think they mean $14.99 / kg? I think that's about the price of fish (or $17.99 PER Kg). Haven't bothered with Wholefoods yet myself as I am not in the area for that sort of thing. In fact, I grew up a block or two away from landsdowne and was there for a 67's game recently and it seems there's a big difference between the 2 sides of Bank Street now so even if I still lived very near by but on the West side of Bank Street, unless I was taking a bus, I wouldn't necessarily walk by or through the landsdowne complex. Maybe on a leisurely day on the weekend or evening when I am not in a hurry to get home. Very handy for the condo dwellers. Wonder how they like living in the building directly in front of the football stadium.

Just thought I'd off my 2 cents (or $200 with inflation) on the missing "K" in front of the "g". Likely due to using an American ad agency.

I bet a 30 second phone call to their seafood department would get you a cheery correction, Captain Caper. So why bother with the negative post here?

"So why bother with the negative post here?"

Some people see the humour ... others ? ... negativity.
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Maybe I should have echoed schtickyrice's post in this forum dated 2014 Feb 2.

"Just what the Glebe needs, yet another purveyor of overpriced delicacies that cater to a bourgeois sense of exclusivity disguised under the veneer of save the world political correctness."

... it garnered a whopping 10 'Hearts'. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Whoop ! Whoop !

$14.99/Kg, or even 17.99, for halibut would be an exceptionally GOOD price, unless the batter is really heavy.

I called them. It's $14.99 per package. A package is 340 grams.

Someone else can do the math and/or commentary.

So that makes it $20.02 per pound.

I have been going to Wholefoods regularly since it opened, which I definitely didn't expect. I always find parking on the side streets, but have parked in their underground lot as well. They've validated my parking when my purchase was under $25 limit too.

My kid loves it there because free samples. So many free samples. The other day he had numerous types of snacks, cookies, cereal & smoothie sample. He skipped the freshly cooked fish sample, but there were also sandwiches and pizza samples too.

I don't go down the middle aisles much, but pick up a few veggies (prices for sweet peppers were lower than Loblaws recently), fruit, fresh bread and vegetarian stuff.

I've had great options from the deli counter for cooked food, but find that pricey. Same with the salad bar, so I skip that. I have always found the things I can't find at Loblaws - most recently fresh corn tortillas, enchilada sauce & callebaut chocolate.

On Wednesdays, you can get a freshly made pizza for $13.

I know it is the place everyone loves to hate, so I must be the odd person out. I like having it there, I like wandering around, I like that it is bright and clean and everyone is friendly. I like I can run into LCBO next door to grab a bottle of wine to go with dinner.

Good post. I have very few issues with the store too. It can be expensive but I've only used it to augment my normal grocery shopping, not replace it. The bakery and pizza is great. The pre-made stuff is expensive but tasty and does the job if you're in a hurry. The increased variety of items is a good thing. Staff has been friendly and knowledgable in all my interactions with them.

I think of Whole Foods like I think of any health food store, as an augment. I'm closer to Kanata, so I choose Rainbow but if I were in that end of town I'd probably go there. The stores are always super clean and bright and the staff seems perpetually wired on happiness.

When I visit Toronto, I often stop there for their ready made food. Expensive and sometimes fairly mediocre, but it beats eating at a restaurant for every meal.

Just to close the loop - so the pricing on the halibut was roughly $44/kg. That is not for halibut, but battered halibut - the price you are paying for the protein is higher.

I have not had the chance to drop in there yet, one of these days I will stop in and check it out.

$14.99 is/was the sale price for a 340g package of prepared food where the main ingredient is halibut. :)

I been there a few times, 1st time on opening day. With my mom along and doing a lot of the samples and taking longer to find parking, I was 32 mins over and the 90 minutes validated period and it was another $5. In London, UK they do a 2 hr validation.

The Ottawa store is smaller I think than the ones I have been to in US, UK and Toronto. Some of my US favourites like andouille sausage, stony farm yogurt, etc. are not available here and a few departments still need a little beefing up.

The salad bar is 19.99 per kilo, which is the price Farm boy have gone up to a few months ago. Last time bought a box of take out filled mostly with fish. But hot selection was a tad disappointing compared with selection I had in US / UK but I think it would improve with time.

they had andouille sausage 2 weeks ago

I went a few weeks ago and left with nothing. No biggie but nothing really appealed to me. The hassle of Lansdowne will probably preclude this store from my shopping list.

Food travel: I bought andouille sausages there last Sunday. I really enjoy their sausages.

I find whole foods to be no different from any other grocery store - buy what you like/think is worth it and for the rest go elsewhere. In many cases I've found the price at whole foods has been better than at Loblaws.