Careful What You Wish For – Continued….
I had a dream! I actually did have a dream and it did include the greeting: Welcome to the Whole Foods Family. I of course did not want to take it too seriously or put much weight on my vision but soon afterwards, soon being three phone interviews and a panel interview which included my 30/60/90 day plan for the department, the phone rang. The welcoming voice on the other end did not offer what had on that morning become my new mantra, but, it did include a job offer which I accepted!
Ladies and gentlemen, drum-roll playing in the background, I would like to introduce you to……..North Miami’s Whole Foods Market Specialty Buyer for Beer and Wine. Yes it’s true! This Wine Steward is now a Specialty Buyer for a great company. One I truly believe in. And let me just point out that I said this at my interview, noting whether I got the job or not, I was truly happy to have such a great company invest in my neighborhood. Did I mention it is only two miles from my house? Did I mention it is a six-minute drive during rush hour? Yes, all true. Heck I could walk or ride my bike which I may just actually do! The soon to be very GRAND opening of this beautiful [pictured above] self standing store is scheduled for May Day/May 1st and is all the buzz of the neighboring towns and villages. How lucky am I to be part of this new and exciting addition.
I am also happy to announce that my blog will continue as I record and report on my new adventures. Was that a collective sigh of relief or dread? 🙂 I am looking forward to new in-store wine experiences via tastings and classes that I will get to oversee along with the challenges of running a department stocking 750+ wines and 400+ beers. Come one come all! But don’t worry if you can’t make it in person I will gladly fill you in from here.
Thank you to all my supporters and followers who continue to inspire me to dream. I can dream can’t I? ¡SALUD!
Press release from BrowardNetOnline:
North Miami, Fla. – Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket and America’s first national certified organic grocer, will open its new North Miami store on Wednesday, May 1 at 9 a.m. Located at 12150 Biscayne Boulevard, the art deco-inspired Whole Foods Market North Miami is the company’s 19th store in Florida.
A free continental breakfast will be offered on opening day from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the parking lot, and the first 500 shoppers will receive free Whole Foods Market goodie bags.
To celebrate the opening, Whole Foods Market North Miami will host Sneak Preview Tours complete with tastings and giveaways for the public onMonday, April 29 from Noon – 8 p.m. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Those wishing to attend can sign up online atnorthmiami.wholefoodsrsvp.com beginning Wednesday, April 10. The guided tours will take place every 15 minutes with a suggested donation of $5 per guest to benefit The Embrace Girl Power Foundation, which provides positive social experiences, life skills, character building training, academic tutoring, and cultural exposure for young girls ages 4 – 12.
Giving Back
As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the community, Whole Foods Market North Miami will donate 5 percent of net sales from the opening day to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), a local nonprofit organization.
Four times a year, each Whole Foods Market store holds a 5% Day where they choose a local nonprofit or educational organization to receive 5 percent of a specific day’s net sales. “We work hard at being a part of the neighborhoods that we serve,” says Blake Ledbetter, store team leader for the North Miami store. “Our 5% Days are just one of many ways we plan on giving back to the North Miami area.”
Local Seafood and Sustainability
In September 2010, Whole Foods Market launched a color-coded sustainability rating system developed by the Blue Ocean Institute to show the sustainability status of all non-MSC-certified wild-caught seafood the stores sell. In 2012, all stores ceased the sale of all red-ranked species, deepening their commitment to having a fully sustainable seafood department. The North Miami store will also highlight the local fisheries and day-boat fishermen that will be supplying the store, all aimed at bringing customers the largest variety of locally caught seafood available.
Gary’s Seafood (Madeira Beach) and Cox Seafood (Tampa), Keys Fisheries (Marathon) and D & D Seafood (Marathon – local stone crabs and lobster), four of the stores primary suppliers, employ numerous day-boat fishermen who bring Whole Foods Market the freshest fish available from nearby waters. Whole Foods Market also works with other day-boat fishing operations and fisheries throughout the state with fresh catches arriving in store six days per week.
Community Supported Agriculture – CSA
The North Miami store will join the other Whole Foods Market locations in Florida by opening its doors to local farms with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The program allows local farmers to use the store as a drop-off and pick-up point for their subscribing customers, free of charge. The North Miami store will be a CSA site for Teena’s Pride.
Animal Welfare Rating System
With the old-fashioned butcher shop style comes Team Members who are eager to educate the community on the Global Animal Partnership’s (GAP) 5-Step Animal Welfare Ratings. The rating system provides clear information that helps shoppers make informed buying decisions and offers peace of mind to them that the products at Whole Foods Market comes from animals raised with care. All beef, poultry and pork sold in the store’s fresh cases meet the GAP criteria and are certified by independent third party auditors.
Healthy Eating Specialist
With its Health Starts Here program, the store will open with a full time, in-house Healthy Eating Specialist to help educate customers on making informed decisions about healthy foods, teach cooking classes, give guided store tours and be a resource for the community.
Additional store offerings will include:
- Prepared Foods department featuring:
- More than 100 items in the full service chef’s case, hot bar, soups and prepared salad bars
- Mobile food cart offering unique tastings
- In-house roasted deli meats
- Dry-aged beef
- Made to order sandwiches
- Panini bar
- Pasta bar featuring Severino Pasta, offering signature bowls and made to order pasta
- Open hearth pizza oven, serving a variety of full-size and personal-size pizzas and pizza slices
- Cheese Cutter’s Corner
- Allegro Coffee bar
- Smoothie and juice bar
- Grocery, dairy and frozen aisles featuring more than 50 locally produced items
- An expansive produce department with a wide variety of locally and organically grown fruits and vegetables
- European-style Bakery department featuring Artisan breads from the Plantation bake house as well as locally crafted specialties featuring gluten-free products
- More than 400 beers, including a “Build Your Own 6-Pack” feature
- More than 750 wines
- More than 250 artisanal cheeses from around the world, hand-cut and wrapped daily in the store
Whole Foods Market North Miami is located at 12150 Biscayne Boulevard; the store will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Telephone:(813) 264-3600. “Like” the store on Facebook and follow it on Twitter.
Of course my favorite day was on a recent Friday. Not because of the usual reasons one would think on this particularly favored day of the week but because that was the day the wine started to arrive. As we unloaded the palettes and cases I was like a kid in a candy shop in awe of all the names I recognized and even more so over the ones I did not and would soon be discovering.
Malbec World Day officially April 17th came early to our house this year. May have had something to do with the celebratory mood here after being hired by 
Whine And Cheers For Wine 