Look out, Whole Foods, there’s a new player in town ready to serve up organic produce, fancy salads and even in-house sushi.
And you can still pick up a regular gallon of milk and a bag of dog food before you head home.
The Winn-Dixie store on U.S. Highway 17-92 in Fern Park — the third Central Florida store to be revamped as part of the Jacksonville-based grocery chain’s $200 million “transformational remodeling” effort — redebuted on Feb. 22 with a more open layout, exposed ceilings, upgraded flooring, wider aisles and 50 more employees, mostly due to the chain’s expanded culinary offerings.
The biggest change is in the store’s culinary department, which has a heavy focus on “meal solutions” — offering shoppers an opportunity to take home freshly prepared meals if they aren’t able to gather components of a meal to take home to cook. Staffers include chefs from the hospitality and restaurant industry and food is cooked in the in-house kitchen, carefully monitored and refreshed every 2-3 hours, said Kevin Smith, the chain’s corporate executive chef.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Orlando Business Journal
