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Fortinos Supermarkets partners with restaurant General Assembly Pizza

Loblaw grocery chain to pilot sale of par-baked frozen pizza at selected stores

Russell Redman

July 23, 2021

3 Min Read
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The frozen GA Pizzas initially will be sold at five Fortinos stores in the greater Toronto area, with the potential to roll out chainwide.Fortinos Supermarket

Loblaw Cos. chain Fortinos Supermarket plans to test the sale of par-baked frozen pizza from Toronto-area restaurant operator General Assembly Pizza.

Plans call for five Fortinos stores in Burlington, Vaughan, Brampton, Hamilton and Oakville, Ontario, to carry a selection of GA Pizza’s naturally leavened frozen pizzas, GA Pizza said yesterday. When the pilot is completed, Fortinos and GA Pizza will review the results to determine go-forward plans, which may include further expansion across the greater Toronto-area grocer’s 23 locations.

GA Pizza’s chef-prepared frozen pizzas are made with premium ingredients and all-natural dough and provide meal solutions for all diets, including meat-free and plant-based options, the company said. The pizzas take less than 10 minutes to cook.

“Our team was drawn to GA Pizza’s product offering: a premium frozen pizza that’s both easy to cook and delicious,” Beverly Wright, director of marketing at Fortinos, said in a statement. “Fortinos is excited to partner with GA Pizza. As a large grocery retailer, this premium, locally made frozen pizza is a great fit for our customers.”

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GA Pizza’s chef-prepared frozen pizzas are made with premium ingredients and all-natural dough and take less than 10 minutes to cook.

GA Pizza noted that the distribution at Fortinos marks its largest wholesale partnership to date in the retail channel, including its first collaboration with a supermarket chain.  Including the Fortinos locations, GA Pizza said its retailer presence expands to more than 80 stores across Ontario, and the company sees more growth potential in the consumer packaged goods market.

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“This an exciting development that will allow us to further expand our retail footprint and ultimately introduce GA Pizza to new households across Ontario,” GA Pizza CEO and founder Ali Khan Lalani stated. “Partnering with Fortinos Supermarket, a beloved part of Loblaw’s robust retailers, is a fantastic opportunity to extend our reach more than ever before.”

Founded in 2017, GA Pizza started as a fast-casual pizza restaurant in Toronto and three years later began offering a “freezer to table” par-baked line and online pizza subscription (gapizzaclub.com) and gifting (give.gapizza.com) services. Last month, the company — General Assembly Holdings Ltd. — completed a public offering and opened a satellite restaurant on Toronto’s waterfront. The fast-growing business also was featured in Forbes magazine.

Key to GA Pizza’s growth will be a new master production facility in Vaughan, Ontario, that will take over much of the pizza production to meet rising consumer demand. In announcing the lease of the 42,060-square-foot facility last week, GA Pizza said daily production capacity will initially increase by 150% to 5,000 units by the end of the third quarter and then ramp to 10,000 units by the year’s end. When fully operational in 2022, the facility is expected to have a production capacity of 50,000 units daily, up 2,400% from the company’s current level, and generate about 1 million pizzas monthly.

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“Our new facility is a significant stepping stone for the team,” Lalani added. “We will finally be able to keep up with demand and forge larger-scale wholesale relationships like this to better serve our pizza lovers.”

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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