GARDNER'S UNIT SETS STAGE FOR RETAIL 'THEATER'

JACK ROBERTIELLO

MIAMI -- Gardner's Markets here is set to open a new store designed as a mix of retail and restaurant operations.

The new Gardner's is being developed as a store that is still a supermarket but with more of the "food-as-theater" atmosphere of Brinker International's Eatzi's, said a company official.

"When customers come into the store, they'll see and smell the aroma of bread being baked right there," said Linda Gassenheimer, executive director of food and public relations for Gardner's.

For the bread program, a French artisan oven is being installed in the store, and Gardner's is also including an extensive on-premise kitchen in the facility, a coffee and espresso bar and an in-store pastry shop.

"Part of our commissary kitchen will be at this store, so it will be a real working kitchen," said Gassenheimer. "But we'll still be selling meat, seafood, produce and wine, too."

The store, expected to debut next week in the Brickell Key area of Miami, will be headed by chef and market manager Cory Hart, formerly sous chef at Chef Allen's, one of south Florida's best-known fine dining establishments.

"We're taking a chef with a very good business sense and we're turning him into a retailer. He's just sopping it up," said Gassenheimer.

While Gardner's stores have emphasized home-meal replacement products for years, this store will place more emphasis than other stores on prepared foods, said Gassenheimer. The product mix at the 6,500-square-foot store, an average size for the upscale retailer, will be determined in part by its location in a downtown business neighborhood on Brickell Key.

Gardner's officials are counting on a heavy office lunch traffic, as well as a substantial amount of catering work for meetings and conferences at nearby office buildings.

Meal offerings will include a mix of chilled commissary-prepared lunches and dinners, salads, sandwiches and sides, some made in the on-premise kitchen and some coming from the company's commissary.

Traffic is also expected to come from surrounding residential condominium towers. While the store will provide some outdoor space for customers who want to sit and eat their meals, sit-down service will play no part at the store.