Meadow Pointe Mom Scores Big At Earth Fare’s Opening!

(L.-r.) Kate, Addison, Jackson, Jessica, Brooke and Clay Herbert got to take home a $1,000 Earth Fare gift card at the Wesley Chapel/Lutz store’s Grand Opening event on Feb. 19. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Waiting in a long line in the wee hours of the morning with her five children wasn’t on Jessica Herbert’s to-do list on Feb. 19.

Checking out the grand opening of the new Earth Fare grocery store, however, was.

Instead of lining up in the dark, which more than 100 eager shoppers did, she and her children rolled out of bed at their usual time — around 6 a.m. — and left their Meadow Pointe home at 6:45 a.m.

They missed the band, the cheerleaders and the ribbon cutting. They weren’t the first, 10th or 100th people through the doors.

However, for Jessica and her kids, their timing turned out to be impeccable. Of all of the gift cards handed out to the new store’s first 500 visitors by Earth Fare, Jessica got the most valuable one: $1,000.

Jessica’s mouth dropped wide open, then formed into a wide smile as she looked back incredulously at friends who were in what was, by then, a quickly moving line.

“Yes, really,” she said, holding out the card for them to see. “Wow!”

Her smile was contagious and was shared by her excited kids: Addison, 12, Kate, 10, Clay, 8, Jackson, 5 and 3-year-old Brooke.

“My kids were mad that I dragged them out so early,” Jessica said. “They thought we were only going to get a $5 gift card.”

Grabbing a $5 gift card actually was Jessica’s goal. She confesses to briefly thinking about the possibility of landing the big prize, but of course, she didn’t think it would happen.

“My goal was to get at least $5 to buy my kids some muffins for breakfast,” she said.

Feeding five kids an organic diet can be pricey, so the gift card will come in handy for Jessica.

“With five kids, that’s definitely a lot of food that we need, so we could definitely use this,” she says. “It’s nice to know that now, we can buy healthier ingredients for our family.”

Asked whether the kids would be getting a special treat for bringing a little luck to mom, Jessica chuckled and said, “I think we’re going to get something,” as Addison and Kate grabbed onto her to drag her into the store.

She’s Number One!

Velaina Clayart wasn’t quite as lucky — her gift card was for only $25 — but as the first shopper in line, she received lots of attention and a goody bag from the store, which she promptly shared with those in line behind her.

A Dade City resident, Clayart says that she arrived at around 1 a.m., set up her white plastic chair and quilt and killed time by gazing at the full moon and walking around looking at all of the adjacent new construction.

“It was a little lonely at first,” she said. “But, as people showed up, I would seek out conversation. I made some friends today.”

Why 1 a.m., which turned out to be a few hours before the next people in line? Clayart says that’s what her research told her.

“I watched every single grand opening that Earth Fare had posted on the internet, and one of them over on east coast said two women had gotten there at midnight and they were all by themselves up until about 3 a.m.,” Clayart said. “I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited. I got in my car at midnight and made my way here nice and slow.”

Clayart also said that she is fascinated by all of the growth in Wesley Chapel, and wanted to be part of a grand opening. She also says she lives an organic lifestyle, and is pleased to see a store offering such a large variety of healthy products within a short drive from her home.

And, she enthusiastically clapped and sang along with the cheerleaders from Cypress Creek High School, excitedly talked to passers by, cheered when Earth Fare CEO Frank Scorpiniti presented the New Tampa Family YMCA with an oversized check for $3,000 and shouted out the ribbon-cutting countdown with Pasco County District 2 Commissioner (and Wesley Chapel resident) Mike Moore.

“3…2…1…”

Wesley Chapel’s Earth Fare opens Wednesday!

For those in Wesley Chapel who are not wowed by new restaurants, fast food chains, big retail outlets or fancy new intersections, this one might just be for you:

Say hello to the area’s first green grocer – Earth Fare.

The popular and quickly-growing organic food franchise will open its doors to Wesley Chapel on Wednesday, February 20, just before 7 a.m., and if the grocer’s previous grand openings are any indication, folks will be lining up long before the sun rises at the new store’s location at 25535 Sierra Center Blvd., across S.R. 56 from Tampa Premium Outlets and behind the Ford’s Garage..

There is a VIP sneak peak on Tuesday. Check out our video coverage HERE or HERE.

Virtually everything new that opens in Wesley Chapel gets Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, excited. But this, she says, is a different kind of buzz. An all-natural organic buzz, perhaps?

“It’s our first one, the first organic grocery store to land in Wesley Chapel,” Allen says. “There’s been a big demand for it. It’s going to be pretty exciting.”

The Wesley Chapel store will have an Heirloom Café & Juice Bar, where shoppers can buy smoothies and coffee, and lunch and dinner are offered from selections that include a salad bar, hot food bar, pizza station and sandwich counter.

Wesley Chapel does have Publix and Winn Dixie supermarkets offering organic selections, as well as the Nutrition Smart on Bruce B. Downs, which currently offers the area’s widest range of organic foods, vitamins and supplements.

But, Earth Fare is bringing 24,000 sq. ft. worth of the stuff — and roughly 100 jobs — to its new location in the Cypress Creek Town Center on S.R. 56 (at 25535 Sierra Center Blvd., across from the Tampa Premium Outlets).

The Wesley Chapel location will be Earth Fare’s third in the Tampa Bay area, joining stores in Oldsmar and Seminole.

Overall, ours will be the 12th Earth Fare in Florida.

The most recent Florida opening took place in Viera, FL on Jan. 9, and there are more to come, the company says, as it pursues aggressive expansion into Florida.

“We’ve made a concerted effort in recent years to help Tampa-area shoppers have more convenient access to cleaner, healthier foods— the kind of food that will help them live a longer, happier, healthier life,” said Frank Scorpiniti, president/CEO of Earth Fare, in a statement.

Earth Fare holds grand openings in the same way popular new businesses like Chick-Fil-A do, with long lines of early arrivers hoping to grab some free swag. 

Last month, nearly 800 people showed up for the 6:45 a.m. opening of the 11th store in Viera, and the first 500 received a mystery gift card worth as much as $1,000, followed by other giveaways, food samples and contests.

Those who show up at the Wesley Chapel opening can expect more of the same thing.

Each person who signs up with the Wesley Chapel/Lutz store’s Healthy Rewards program will receive a free re-usable bag, while supplies last.

“I think we’ll see a lot of people (at the opening), because eating healthier foods has wide appeal,” Allen says. “I think that will add an extra layer of excitement to this opening.”

Earth Fare touts a selection of items that specifically do not contain things like high-fructose corn syrup, artificial fats, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives, or meats that were bred with antibiotics or growth hormones.  

The chain has a “boot list” — a long list of banned ingredients it does not allow in anything sold in any Earth Fare store.

Frank Scorpiniti

Founded in 1975 and based in Asheville, NC, Earth Fare’s tagline is “healthy food for everyone,” as the green grocer claims to offer “clean” food at prices every shoppers can afford.

The company’s 50th store opened last month in Steel Creek, NC, and Scorpiniti has said there could be as many as 100 locations in a few years.

Like most green grocers, Earth Fare offers some distinct goodies to shoppers. The Wesley Chapel store will have an Heirloom Café & Juice Bar, where shoppers can buy smoothies and coffee, and lunch and dinner are offered from selections that include a salad bar, hot food bar, pizza station and sandwich counter.

Earth Fare also offers a small seating area with free Wi-Fi for those who want to sit and enjoy their purchase. Painted on the wall is: “Have A Seat, Stay Awhile.”

Staying awhile is something you may just end up doing at Earth Fare. The store will carry a substantial selection of craft beers, one of its more popular characteristics, and also offers more than 1,000 private brand food products. There also will be a large offering of Wellness & Beauty products, like self-serve, scoop-your-own body scrubs.

“We are passionate about helping our community make the connection between clean food and living longer, healthier, happier lives,” Scorpiniti said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to become the newest member of the growing Wesley Chapel community and to continue to bring the leanest, healthiest options for years to come.”

Earth Fare will open in Wesley Chapel first, but construction of a Sprouts Farmer’s Market in New Tampa is under way across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from Hunter’s Green and will be the second large green grocer to hit the area.

Business Notes: Blaze and Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar

Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar is coming to S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, part of an aggressive expansion by the sports bar franchise owned in part by New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees.

Permitting has been filed with Pasco County planning for a 15,664-sq.-ft. shell building that is expected to be a commercial strip center right off S.R. 56, in front of the soon-to-open Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center.

The strip center is expected to be home to a number of coming projects that have been previously reported, like Golf Galaxy, Total Wine & More and others.

But two highly-anticipated eateries, Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar and Blaze Pizza, have already begun the permitting process, and won’t be headed to the new center as once-rumored.

Instead, both are beginning construction soon a little bit to the west, near the corner of S.R. 56 and Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54). They will be located in the same center with Chipotle Mexican Grill, and a 3,000-sq.ft. Sleep Number store will also be on that parcel.

Pizza is the cover story in our upcoming Wesley Chapel issue hitting mailboxes on Friday, so you can read more about the emergence of the popular fast-casual chain.

Walk-On’s, a franchise with more than a dozen locations across Louisiana and Texas with an aggressive plan to expand into 11 other states this year, will be one of the few “pure” sports bars in the area.

Its founders, Brandon Landry and Jack Warner, met in 1997 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where both were walk-ons (hence the name) for the Tiger basketball team.

While they didn’t play much, they did get to travel the country with the Tigers and, along the way, visited enough sports bars that they formulated an idea for starting their own back in Baton Rouge.

According to the Walk-On’s website, in 2000, Landry and Warner sketched out their vision for a floor plan on a napkin from 35,000 feet above the earth, as they flew home from a road game at the University of Tennessee.

They opened their first location in 2003 and, in 2012, Walk On’s was named the No. 1 Sports Bar in America. Two years later, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees joined the business as a co-owner.

Walk-On’s menu is a little different than many sports bars, highlighted by some unique Cajun dishes, like po’boy sandwiches, gumbo, crawfish, fried Lousiana Alligator and Cajundillas (a tortilla stuffed with chicken, andouille, boudin sausage, caramelized onions and cheese).

All of it served by waitresses dressed as cheerleaders and televisions blaring the calls from your favorite sporting events.

While there are other sports-related options in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, Walk-On is likely to be a welcome addition for area sports fans.