Start off saying sorry for how late this post is.  I had lots to say and wanted to give it the time it deserves.  But since the focus group I have been very busy studying for my five science classes.  But now for the good stuff…

Thanks to Sallie on twitter for Fresh & Easy (@Fresh_and_Easy) I got invited to a focus group the company was having on March 11th for vegetarian and vegan food product brainstorming for their stores.

This kind of PR and contact through Twitter rocks!  I have really put myself out into the food world in the past few months and it is really working.  I have been able to get connected with tons of other foodies, restaurants, food science geeks like me, grocery stores, and companies!  It is amazing. 

I was so honored to be invited and incredibly happy to be so involved.  

So on Thursday Simrit and I drove up to El Segundo to the Fresh & Easy headquarters (thanks for driving Sim).  The office was very simple and open, there conference room had an all glass wall giving it am open, relaxed and comfortable feeling.  We met Sallie and serval other Fresh & Easy employees (sorry I’ve forgotten you names) who work in the Public Relations and Product Development side of things. 

We started off with dinner.  A meal catered by The Veggie Grill a vegetarian and vegan returant down the street from the headquarters.  There was a large selection of alternative meat sandwiches, a large kale salad, red cabbage slaw, and vegan chocolate chip and walnut cookies! 

http://www.veggiegrill.com/   Check out their site and their menu!  An absolutely delicious meal! 

I ate a half of the:

• Grillin’ Chickin’  
  • Grilled Chillin’ Chickin’, avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onion, cilantro pesto, chipotle ranch on a wheat roll. 
  • tasted amazing, the “meat” tasted like chicken, no weird flavor or texture!
  • if you were to buy it from the menu the full sandwich would be $8.95

(picture from Bobbi’s blog)

Chillin’ Chickin’ is:

• Seasoned and marinated veggie protein blends from soy, wheat, and peas.
• A complete, high-protein food with no cholesterol, animal fat or trans fat. A good source of fiber and iron.
• Really good, and I’m not a huge alternative meat person!

close ups on some of the other sandwiches…

All Hail Kale (Salad)

• Marinated kale and red cabbage, roasted corn salasa, agave-roasted walnuts with ginger-papaya vinaigrette.
• If you were to buy it at one of their location it would cost $7.95

I had 3 massive servings of this delicious salad, I couldn’t get enough!  I loved it so much I bought kale at the farmers market. 

I think this is their Carne Asada sandwich 

• Grilled veggie-steak, marinated in Mexican spices, with southwestern spiced mayo, red onion, lettuce, tomato on a wheat roll
• If bought at one of their locations $8.95

Fun Facts about some of the ingredients that The Veggie Grill uses:

• Kale
  • This leafy green vegetable provides more nutirional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. It is an excellent source of beta-carotene and vitamin C, and also a source of calcium.
• Quinoa (“keen-wa”)
  • Is a sesame-seed size grain originally from South America. It is a complete protein food, rich in iron and a good source of fiber. 
• Sweet potatoes
  • Gram for gram, sweet potatoes have fewer calories, and more calcium, vitamin C, A, and beta carotene than white potatoes. 
• Tempeh
  • A tender yes crunchy blend of organic soybeans and rice culture. A complete, high-protein food with no cholesterol, animal fat, or trans fat. A source of beneficial intestinal flora which promotes good digestion. A good source of iron.

While we finished eating we all introduced ourselves and got acquainted.  Then we started the four part information and feed back. 

Reasons - We placed post-it notes on our top two reasons we were vegetarian or vegan.  The options were:

• Health
• Animal Welfare
• Environment
• Weight Loss 

I put #1 on Health and #2 on Environment.  Health and Animal Welfare were the to two most popular reasons.  

Grocery Shopping - we each answered two questions:

• Where do we go?  
• What do we purchase?

Product Selection - we each selected two products from the selection of vegetarian and vegan products they had and we wrote on post-it notes again what we liked about it and why we choose it.  I choose the Cranberry Maple Nut Granola Bars and a can of Amy’s Vegetarian Refried Beans.  Also answering the questions:  

• Why do you buy certain products?
• How do you know they meet your needs?  
• Look at labels, how do you know it is ok?
• Why do you buy the product?  
• Why do you buy the brand? 

Ideas and Input - we each got to give two ideas for vegetarian or vegan products that we would like to see at Fresh & Easy.  We also got to put in our personal preferences and input.  I was able to use the information that I gathered from you readers and tell Fresh & Easy your opinions and preferences on products.  They loved all the input and so I thank you all for helping me out with gathering information and being a voice for you.  :)

Here are the products we got to choose from for part three:

The focus group was awesome there were other vegetarians and healthy eating enthusiasts many had blogs and everyone was friendly and informative.  

I love meeting other foodies!  

Here is a picture of all the participants (from Bobbi’s blog)

I got business cards and blogs to follow, plus meet great people. 

• Bobbi  http://www.bobbimccormick.com/
• Megan  http://www.newlywife.com/
• Marsha  http://sweatpantsmom.blogspot.com/
• Sallie  http://www.freshandeasy.com/blog/

I loved meeting and spending the evening with you four.  Now I am subscribed to these blogs and I read them regularly!  I recommend you check them out, as well as their posts about their experience at Fresh & Easy!

Fresh & Easy really cares about their customers and values the time and effort we put into our evening.  I was very impressed with how approachable, friendly, caring, and hospitable they all were.

Thank you to all the employees for making my first focus group an amazing experience!

Here are our goodie bags!  100% unbleached cotton bags, PACKED with vegetarian and vegan Fresh & Easy products, plus a $25 gift card - yay for a free shopping trip!

A glance inside my bag…

A glance inside Sim’s bag…

All the great stuff from my bag!   

• veggie sticks and chips
• cranberry maple nut granola bars
• blue corn and chili lime crackers
• pomegranate white tea
• 1 POUND Belgian milk chocolate
• water bottle
• Amy’s vegetarian refried beans
• creamy almond butter
• corn and black bean salsa
• brunschetta
• demi baguette
• two cookies from the veggie grill
• $25 gift card
• fresh and easy information and discounts

Here are a few close ups:

Snacks I can’t wait to try: 

• crackers and salsa
• french baguette and bruschetta

It was an amazing experience, and we got so much out of it! 

Again big THANK YOU to:

• Sallie for the invite
• Fresh and Easy for the great evening of dinner, food facts and fun, and goodie bags
• Veggie Grill for the great food
• Bobbi for her pictures
• Simrit for driving
• Readers and fellow bloggers that helped me give Fresh and Easy ideas

Now to all of you…

• are you vegetarian?
• are you vegan?
• have you considered being either?
• why or why not? 
• do you shop at Fresh & Easy?
• what are your favorite products?

I have been a vegetarian since October 2009 and limit my dairy consumption a lot - I only drink soy or almond milk, rarely eat cheese or yogurt, eggs I eat here and there.  I’m not a full vegan yet, but I do think about it a lot.  I don’t eat many animal products, I highly enjoy produce, and there are SO many alternatives out there that I don’t think the transition would be difficult for me.  

All in all it was an amazing experience and definitely gave me another perspective to look at food from and learned so much from the other participants, the Fresh & Easy employees, and from myself.