A Whole Foods market is finally coming to North Orange County, and it opens up February 17, 2016. I was fortunate to attend the media preview of Whole Foods, Brea (instagram #WFMBrea) the Monday before, and I must say, kudos to the Whole Foods crew for making this media preview/ family and friends preview night into such an amazing event. They went all out to bring out the best of what Whole Foods has to offer.
I was already a fan of the market, so most of the presentation was common knowledge. Upon entering the store, they corralled the media people and bloggers into the bar area for us to sample their food items like the cauliflower nachos, vegan sushi, and beet dip with pita bread. Everything was excellent, and to par with what you would expect from Whole Foods. The bar area will be a tasting area for wine and beer, with Happy Hour, and even plugs under the counter to charge up.
The staff divided us into groups, and toured the entire store. My group started off in the meat department, where we were shown prepacked marinated meats for making dinner at home easier, followed by samples of the mild and spicy pork sausages. The next stop was their seafood with a made to order Hawaiian poke demonstration.
We made our way to the baked goods where 6 feet worth of baked goodies were displayed on the table. By this time, I was wondering if I would be able to walk out of the store if each stop had a food sample! I took one of the oh so soft croissants and carried it to the next demonstration: the housemade guacamole, followed by the produce sample.
We had a break in food and we were shown how Whole Foods cares about the ingredients which are inside the products they sell. They pointed out that their own brand 365 goes that extra step to make sure the ingredients are not harmful to our environment or to ourselves. We also got to make our own Mint Mist Spray, using natural ingredients, before we were back into more food sampling with the pizzas, sandwiches.
The Brea location will be serving ramen and sushi, which I am looking forward to trying. In addition, they gave us samples from their famous deli (meats, olives, cheese), promoted their beer and wine section, as well as their Whole Food “value” signature line called 365.
Finally, our tour was wrapping up. This Brea location has something most Whole Foods does not have… a SECOND story nicked-named the Mezz. Its a lounge and tasting area that overlooks the bakery and check out area. It was really nice to relax upstairs, and it would have been perfect to have a glass of wine. In the upstairs area, they also have a kitchen, where we sampled non GMO sausages by Fork in the Road (#ForkintheRd). Overall a great demonstration of this new store.
For more detailed photos of the store, go to instagram and use @WFMBrea.
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