Gourmet News

Whole Foods Market to Open 1st Store in Montana

Published January 10, 2023

Whole Foods Market will open a new 31,718-square-foot store in Bozeman, Mon., located at 2905 W. Main St., on Feb. 1, at 9 a.m. The Bozeman location will be the first store in Montana for the global natural and organic foods retailer.

Designed with outdoor adventure in mind, the store features a modern and earthy look including exposed wood beams, high ceilings and large paneled windows overlooking the nearby mountains. An outdoor patio with outdoor heaters provides a cozy atmosphere for dining or tsipping a coffee from the local, women-owned coffee bar, Treeline Coffee Roasters.

The new location’s product assortment features more than 75 local items from Montana and Wyoming, hand-picked by Darcy Landis, local forager for Whole Foods Market’s Mountain Pacific Region.

Additional features of the Bozeman store include:

An array of organic, conventional and Sourced for Good produce and a floral section with seasonal offerings from local farms. Customers can find cut flowers from Rodi Farm, a fifth-generation farm in Laurel, Montana and High Country Growers, a family-owned garden center farm located in Helena, Montana.
Specialty department dedicated to celebrating cheesemakers and artisan producers, which features more than 100 cheeses from around the world including United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy and Greece, as well as organic goat cheese from Montana’s Amaltheia Organic Dairy. The cheese counter is overseen by knowledgeable cheesemongers who can offer recommendations and pairings for any occasion.
Curated grocery section filled with favorites from the grocer’s private label, 365 by Whole Foods Market, local products including plant-based dips from canned vegetables and jams from Roots Kitchen and Cannery, safflower oil from The Oil Barn and caramels from Bèquet Confections.
Full-service seafood counter featuring made-in-house seafood cakes, smoked seafood, ready-to cook meals and Lobster Mac and Cheese. All offerings are either sustainable, wild-caught or Responsibly Farmed.
Full-service meat counter, with butchers available to cut steaks to order or debone poultry. Featured offerings include ready-to cook stuffed chicken breast, meatloaf, and meatballs, and made-in-house sausage and double smoked bacon.
Local craft beers from Bozeman Brewing Company, Bridger Brewing, MAP Brewing Company, Mountains Walking Brewery and The Outlaw Brewing Company. Extensive, curated selection of wines featuring international and vintage offerings sourced by Whole Foods Market’s expert wine team. Local wine options include selections from Ten Spoons Winery.
Prepared Foods section that includes a hot food bar, salad bar, soup station, made-in-house rotisserie chicken, sushi by Genji, and fresh hot pizza. Customers can easily pickup prepacked salads and sandwiches to go.
A full-service coffee bar from locally and women-owned Treeline Coffee Roasters, offering its complete menu of coffee, teas, and retail items in-store and through online preorder/pickup. Seasonal winter drinks include Matcha-ado About Nothing, The Perfect Pair, and Orange is the New Vanilla.
Bakery department with everyday favorites such as Whole Foods Market’s Berry Chantilly Cake, brown butter cookies, croissants, and scones. The department also carries a wide variety of special diet items including chocolate cupcakes from Better Bites, muffins from Abe’s Vegan Mini Muffins and vegan brownies and cookies from Whole Foods Market’s private label.
An array of supplements, beauty, and lifestyle products found in the Whole Body department, including cards from Birds & Beasleys located in Helena and soy-based candles from Ignite Candle Company located in Billings.

Whole Foods Market’s Bozeman store will be open from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. MST on opening day. Opening day festivities begin at 7 a.m. and include scratch-and-win Whole Foods Market gift cards for the first 250 customers, coffee and hot chocolate samples from Treeline Coffee Roasters, and Whole Foods Market pastries for shoppers waiting in line prior to opening.

The store’s regular hours will be 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. MST daily following the opening.

To give back to the community, Whole Foods Market is donating to local organizations Big Sky Youth Empowerment and Gallatin Valley Land Trust. Additionally, nonprofit organization HRDC is a recipient of Whole Foods Market’s Nourishing Our Neighborhoods program, receiving a refrigerated van to transport both perishable and nonperishable rescued food to communities in need.

In advance of the opening, Whole Foods Market will host open hiring events for both full-time and part-time positions. Information on the events can be found at www.joinwholefoods.com/events. Events are limited in capacity and will be removed from the website once full. More information on benefits, company culture, and open roles at the Bozeman store is available on the Whole Foods Market careers website, www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers.

All food at Whole Foods Market must meet the company’s rigorous Quality Standards, which prohibit hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and more than 150 flavors, colors, sweeteners and other ingredients commonly found in food. In addition, all beauty and body care products must meet the company’s body care standards, which ban more than 100 commonly used ingredients, including phthalates, parabens and microbeads.

Amazon Prime members who shop at Whole Foods Market have access to a number of benefits year-round, including deep discounts on select popular products each week and an additional 10% off hundreds of in-store sale items. Grocery pickup will be available at Whole Foods Market Bozeman. For more information and hours of operation, please visit wholefoods.com/stores/bozeman.

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B Lab Certifies Saffron Road Foods as B Corp Company

Published January 9, 2023

B Lab has certified Saffron Road Foods as a B Corp company. Founder and CEO Adnan Durrani announced the news on his LinkedIn page.

“We have an exciting news blast to break in the new year: WE’RE OFFICIALLY B CORP™ CERTIFIED by B Lab!” he wrote. “Having devoted my career for 30 years to socially conscious, mission-based enterprises, Saffron Road Foods being awarded this publicly recognized seal and certification was quite uplifting for me personally and our entire team professionally.

“Indeed, after over a year of grueling third-party audits of our employment & company practices, our Better For You and clean label foods, our mission of ethical consumerism & sustainable agricultural practices, and our good works & community service, our AWESOME team delivered on our promise of a Journey To Better,” Durrani wrote.

“At Saffron Road, our genetic code has always been mission-driven, on a compassionate and inclusive Journey to Better: better for livestock, better for farmers, better for your health, better for our communities, and better for humanity. B Corps are for-profit companies codified as ‘Public Benefit Corporations,’ so this becomes embedded in our corporate DNA as businesses globally that are committed to the triple bottom line. Saffron Road’s purpose is beyond just one-dimensional profits, meeting the highest levels of standards for social & environmental performance, accountability in terms of profit & purpose, as well as transparency regarding all things such as sourcing, ingredients, and labor.

“It means so much to us at Saffron Road because it recognizes our long-time commitment as a Socially Responsible brand. We now join the ranks of peer B Corp mission-driven brands like Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Patagonia, EILEEN FISHER, INC., TOMS, Clif Bar & Company, Stonyfield, Danone North America, Ben & Jerry’s, Once Upon a Farm, Seventh Generation, Thrive Market, as well as media giant Bloomberg. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, lower environmental impact, sustainable agriculture, stronger communities, and the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose.”

Saffron Road is a leading brand in the natural and organic food industry, offering a wide range of products from frozen entrées and shelf-stable meals to simmer sauces and plant-based protein snacks. All Saffron Road Products are Halal-certified by IFANCA and are available in more than 25,000 retail locations in the United States.

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Impossible Foods Hires Jagla as Chief Demand Officer

Published January 9, 2023

California-based Impossible Foods has hired top consumer goods industry leader Sherene Jagla as its first chief demand officer. Jagla will join the food and climate company to bring its sales, marketing, insights and product development teams into one integrated function under her leadership as it prepares for its next phase of growth.

Jagla’s appointment follows a year of record sales for Impossible Foods. The company continues to be the fastest growing plant-based meat brand in U.S. retail stores, where it experienced more than 50 percent dollar sales growth in 2022. In the food service sector, its flagship Impossible Beef product has been the best-selling product by volume of any plant-based meat brand in the United States.

Named one of the Top Women in Grocery by Progressive Grocer, Jagla joins Impossible with more than 25 years of sales, marketing, and general management experience at Fortune 500 companies across the CPG and food and beverage industries. Most recently, Jagla served as the senior vice president and general manager at Newell Brands, where she was responsible for a $2 billion business across 50 brands in 18 categories. There, she set the strategic direction for the brand’s top customer partnership and created a framework for collaborative growth that combined seven independent operating companies into one scaled organization.

“Our next phase of growth requires tight integration across teams and disciplines, and Sherene knows how to do that and build organizations that scale,” said Peter McGuinness, president and CEO of Impossible Foods. “She’s transformed complex organizations into high-performing businesses, and she has a deep understanding of the food and CPG space. I’ve no doubt her leadership will help transform Impossible into a household name.”

Jagla led sales at Kellogg’s with the world’s largest retailer, where she drove brand innovation in the United States and internationally. Jagla first joined the food company in 2019 to oversee sales of its Kashi cereal brand, expanding the brand’s capabilities to deliver both category and market share growth.

Jagla previously held senior leadership positions at personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark, where she led the commercial sales strategy across brands; retail strategy and execution firm Crossmark, where she built creative solutions for major CPG companies; and beverage company MillerCoors, where she developed breakthrough sales and marketing solutions for their largest brands and customers.

“One of the reasons I was drawn to Impossible is the company’s focus on leading the category and commitment to creating delicious, nutritious, and sustainable food,” Jagla said. “Impossible has created a compelling brand with a strong product portfolio that’s primed for growth. I look forward to working closely with Peter and the Impossible team to build on this foundation.”

Jagla serves on the board of directors for the American Heart Association in Northwest Arkansas and as a guest lecturer at the University of Arkansas Business School.

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