Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is expanding its popular “Farm to Store in 24” program, which will bring more produce from California farms to its stores in less than 24 hours. The El Segundo, Calif.-based chain, a division of U.K. grocer Tesco, is working with local growers to bring other fruit, such as peaches and nectarines, and vegetables into the program as summer turns to fall.

The program started with a simple concept: getting the freshest produce possible to its customers in the shortest amount of time. In choosing partners for the program, Fresh & Easy said its produce team identified local growers who share the grocer’s passion and commitment to bring customers high-quality food at affordable prices. All Farm to Store in 2 products come from California farms, and, depending on the season, as much as 65 percent of all of the chain’s produce comes from California.

“Getting produce from the farm to the store in 24 hours or less is an incredibly tricky task, which makes it important to partner with strong local growers who share our commitment to quality produce,” said Justin Hill, Fresh & Easy’s produce manager. “We are working closely with these growers here to put in the extra care required to expand our Farm to Store in 24 offerings whenever we can.”

This summer, Fresh & Easy has been offering strawberries and table grapes through the program. The chain places a special logo on Farm to Store in 24 products.

The company recently created a video about the program, available to view on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/talkingfresh#p/a/u/0/v9J1_oyoKqY.

Fresh & Easy operates over 150 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada.

SOURCE: Convenience Store News