By Louis Llovio | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: June 23, 2010
Short Pump, Va. –
Whole Foods Market has taken over an acre in the West Broad Village development for a community garden that will help supply its local store.
This is the Austin, Texas-based grocer’s first on-site field-to-store garden.
The garden is part of an increasing effort by retailers and others to bring locally grown products to grocery stores and restaurants.
Items grown in the garden initially will be used as ingredients for prepared foods and in the store’s salad bar. But Whole Foods is waiting for final Henrico County approval allowing the chain to sell items directly to shoppers.
As Whole Foods showed off its new garden plot yesterday, Maryland-based Silver Diner unveiled a new menu at its western Henrico restaurant that includes ingredients from local farmers and vendors.
“This is not a trend. It’s a way of life,” Robert Giaimo, Silver Diner’s co-founder and CEO, said about customers’ growing appetites for locally grown products.
The restaurant chain, which has 10 stores in Virginia, has invested nearly $1 million to include locally grown products in its offerings, Giaimo said.
The effort, which began about a month ago, has reaped instant benefits. Sales have jumped more than 10 percent in the first month, Giaimo said.
Whole Foods won’t see an immediate spike in sales largely because that is not its intention.
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