

Meijer, which Forbes reported generates more than $16 billion in annual revenues, has good reason to diversify its offerings into the lucrative U.S.

The company’s stores are also a fraction of the size of a 200,000-square-foot Meijer superstore, with most clocking in around 30,000 square feet. SE in Grand Rapids, offers a range of fresh meats and seafood, bulk foods, and minerals and vitamins, as well as organic, gluten-free and dairy-free options. For one, Meijer has long been known for having a bureaucratic corporate culture that struggles to implement innovation, according to multiple executives who have consulted with Meijer in the past and who spoke on the condition of anonymity.įresh Thyme, which operates a store at 2470 Burton St. The reasons for creating the perception of a passive investor relationship are many, sources said. Local attorneys say Meijer could be capitalizing on some esoteric tax advantages with its relationship to Fresh Thyme, but the overarching reason for the business structure - and the Meijer-Fresh Thyme brand separation - was primarily as a marketing strategy. If they said ‘Fresh Thyme by Meijer,’ you’d get a different image, so it stands to reason that they’d want to separate those brands.” “But when you look at today’s trends, that image doesn’t fit with a certain niche. “When you say ‘Meijer,’ you get a certain image,” said Bonnie Knutson, interim director in the School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University.
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Moreover, the specialty chain appears to serve as a skunkworks division apart from the larger Meijer organization, according to multiple sources familiar with corporate law, liquor license regulations and Meijer’s own operations.īy giving autonomy to the well-capitalized Fresh Thyme brand, which plans to have 60 stores and employ 5,000 people by 2019, Meijer likely hopes to learn how to attract customers in the growing specialty segment without going through the struggle of implementing it within its own legacy retail operation, according to one local expert. However, the notoriously buttoned-up Meijer corporate office has long denied that the relationship was deeper than a financial investment.īut through a review of public documents from multiple states where Fresh Thyme operates stores, MiBiz has learned that Meijer - along with a veteran specialty grocery executive - created the 48-store chain, which it owns through a subsidiary. The West Michigan retailer speaks publicly about being a passive investor with a financial interest in Downers Grove, Ill.-based Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, a growing regional specialty grocery chain positioned to tap into the niche of consumers focused on healthy, fresh foods. has started to look outside the big box retail format it’s known for, even if the retailer doesn’t like to admit it. W ith increasing demand for fresh, specialty groceries, Walker-based Meijer Inc. James continued: "I feel under pressure now! But we’ve got in here our courgettes which you put in the milk and then the flour but in the flour I’ve got just a bit of fresh thyme as well." ITV James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs each and every Saturday morning on both ITV 1 and also on ITV X, the channel's on demand platform and catch up streaming hub and service, from 9:25am.Public filings show common ownership Experts say brand separation likely a marketing tactic I need this one but I'm going to send you a fryer." He quipped: "These are classic courgettes, I’m doing it slowly because I know your mum’s watching this so she can check this out as well." Louise then snipped "shut up" and cheekily told the cooking aficionado: "Oh shut up! Next time I'm on, I'll be like this".

I'll tell you what I'll do, while your mother is tucking into some wine, I will get you a fryer as a present from me to you." James responded: "A frying machine?" James then teased: "Do I have to go back to raw basics with this?" He said: "If you haven't got a frying machine. READ MORE ITV 'refusing to pay' for Phillip Schofield's young lover's private therapy She asked: "Can you do that if you don't have a frying machine?" The Eternal star - who split from her husband Jamie, with whom she shares two children, five years ago - was on with James to discuss her music comeback.ĭuring her interview, she confessed to the culinary whizz that she calls an air fryer an "fryer machine". Louise, the former BBC Strictly Come Dancing contestant, was in the studio on Saturday June 17. The chef was urged to stop talking as he needled the Eternal star. James Martin has been told to "shut up" after he teased Louise Redknapp during his ITV Saturday Morning show.
