Category: News

You might have noticed the proliferation of ethnic themed restaurants growing in number throughout Ontario. Indian style restaurants, where only 10 years ago were an older traditional style of white table cloth, buffet style has now caught up with the times.

Indian style cuisine now comes in many formats from a Biryani style kitchen (Biryani is a traditional rice dish mixed with spices with or without chicken, vegetarian Indian concepts , Indian street food such as Pani Puri, a mixture of potatoes, chickpeas, curry and spices which can vary depending on the province in India of origin, tandoori style, baked in a tandori oven  which is popular in Canada and there are many more.

Here are a few to check out..

Kailash Parbat – www.kailashparbat.com

Rajdhani Sweets – www.rajdhanisweets.ca

Bawarchi Biryanis –www.bawarchimississauga.com

This past weekend the Top Cats team and former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, were at the grand opening of FRESHLAND supermarket at Malvern Town Center in Scarborough. Left to right we see Top Cats Retail Realty Kelly Laughton and Gerry Lazar along with Jennifer Huntley Measing Manager, Davpart – Landlord. and former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion front and centre.

Article by Louie Rosella
Originally posted on Mississauga.com
May 30, 2018

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A new grocery store is opening on the former site of a legendary community grocer in Mississauga.

The News has learned that Iqbal Halal Foods, with its one location in east Toronto billed as “the largest halal South Asian grocery store in Ontario,” will be opening in July at 4099 Erin Mills Pky., in the plaza that housed the “legendary” Michael-Angelo’s grocery store until last fall.

Michael-Angelo’s, a longtime grocer and staple in Mississauga for 30 years, closed and Four Seasons Marketplace, which was being operated by the Starsky Fine Foods family, who assumed the lease from Michael-Angelo’s, opened in its place.

However, Four Seasons management confirmed in an email to The News Tuesday (May 29) it’s closing its doors by the end of June and everything in-store is now being offered at a 50 per cent discount.

Signs advertising a liquidation sale and closure were up on the store’s website and the building itself, for weeks.

Four Seasons has sold the store to Iqbal Malek, president and CEO of Iqbal Halal Foods.

The new store has been subleased to Malek, he said, and will be known as “Iqbal Foods Halal Superstore” when it opens in about six weeks after renovations.

“I’m excited and the community should be as well,” Malek said in an interview. “We’re extremely unique and different and we will offer customers some different products and quite a new experience.”

In addition to carrying a plethora of mainstream grocery items and produce, the Iqbal store will also offer unique products and cuisine focused on South Asian culture.

“We have done a study of the (western GTA) and found that there is a huge South Asian community in Mississauga and other municipalities,” he said.

Malek said the new store will include about 35,000 square feet of retail space, a hot foods section and a meat department and will be committed to “quality, freshness and reasonable prices.”

The new store will employ about 125 people, all of whom will be from Mississauga, Malek said. He also didn’t rule out hiring a few employees from the Four Seasons store.

Many of those employees will be out of a job, they say, while a few others are being relocated to other Starsky locations in the GTA.

As for concerns from residents that the new store will not meet the needs of the surrounding neighbourhoods, Malek said people should keep an open mind, come into the store and have a look at the products and prices.

Originally posted on canadiangrocer.com, November 17, 2017.
Author: Kristin Laird

Though its brand philosophy is “east meets west,” the marriage of food and entertainment takes centre stage at Nations Fresh Foods’ first Toronto store, which celebrated its grand opening on Thursday.

Located in the Stockyards Village shopping centre in the city’s west end, the 155,000-sq.-ft.- space (once occupied by Target) is the grocer’s fourth store in the province and by far its largest — the other three locations are in the 55,000 sq.-ft.- range.

The additional space at the Toronto flagship location accommodates a state-of-the-art arcade, party rooms and an indoor playground, and helps bring the grocer’s ‘foodertainment’ vision to life.

The in-store experience is becoming increasingly important as the popularity of online grocery continues to grow, which is one of the reasons Nations is taking this family-friendly, interactive approach with its new Toronto location, said Frank Ho, Nations’ senior vice-president.

“The offline experience is the most important for people [to get a feel for the Nations brand] ,” he told Canadian Grocer. “That experience entails two parts: food and entertainment and we integrated two in one. We started with the family and kids with the amusement park.”

Nations is known for offering ethnically diverse foods. Its stores include an eastern kitchen, western kitchen, pasta bar, large salad bar, sandwich counter, coffee counter, pizza and panini station and a fresh (never frozen) burger offering.

The first Nations Fresh Foods opened just north of Toronto in 2012, followed by a second store in downtown Hamilton, Ont., in 2013 and a third location in Mississauga earlier this year. Ho said Nations continues to look for opportunities to expand in the Great Toronto Area and for spaces that could exceed 155,000 sq. ft.

Nations is owned by the Oceans Fresh Group, a privately-owned company that also operates Oceans Fresh Food Markets.

article originally posted on www.devandchains.com.

In early December, Ocean’s Fresh Food Group will open a 55,000 square foot Nations Fresh Food supermarket at Eglinton Ave. and Winston Churchill Blvd., across from Erin Mills Town Centre, in Mississauga.  It will be the third Nations location and the seventh location by Ocean’s Fresh Food Group.  Nation’s Fresh Food is multi-ethnic store that features Eastern and Western kitchens, a pizza bar, burger station, and up to 40 percent prepared foods for takeout. The company has also confirmed another Nations Fresh Food location that will open in The Stockyards on St. Clair Ave. West in Toronto in October 2017. The grocery store will be about 80,000 square feet and will include an additional 20,000 square foot Nations Playland, a large entertainment facility with state-of-the-art video and projection machines to entertain every age group.  In addition to fresh grocery, packaged foods, produce, etc., The Stockyards location will also include the prepared and semi-prepared foods, ready to heat and eat along with a burger bar, large salad bar, buffet table, pasta station that cooks the pasta in front of the customer who can then choose the toppings, a coffee and breakfast bar, pizza station, eastern kitchen, Japanese kitchen, dim sum, etc.  The company is now seeking sites for its smaller format Nations Express store that emphasizing prepared foods.  The Express-concept will be up to about 20,000 square feet. High traffic locations with a mix of office and residential are required and currently the company is exploring opportunities in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. Gerry Lazar at Top Cats Realty Inc. is responsible for the site selection.

Category: Grocery, Multi-Ethnic
Chain Banner:  Nations Fresh Food
Company Name: Ocean’s Fresh Food Group
Head Office Address:  3644 Wolfedale Rd., Mississauga, Ontario L5C 3T6
Tel:  905/277-9988    
Website:  www.nationsfreshfoods.ca
Principal Use: Multi-ethnic full service supermarket dealing in fresh groceries, produce, meats, seafoods, packaged goods along with Eastern and Western kitchens, a pizza bar, burger station, and up to 40 percent prepared foods for takeout.
No. of Locations: 2 – Nations Fresh Food, 3^rd opens in Mississauga, December 2016, 4^th in Toronto in October 2017.
Areas of Operation:  Greater Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver
Types of Locations Preferred: Centres, Freestanding, etc.
Size Required: Nations Fresh Food- 50.000 to 80,000 sq.ft., Natures Express – approx. 20,000 sq.ft.
Business Type:  Private company, Corporate
Real Estate Representatives:  Top Cats Realty Inc., Parkway Place, 251 Consumers Rd., Suite 1200, Toronto, Ontario M2J 4R3 (Gerry Lazar – 416/464-2271, gerry@topcats.ca)
Parent Company: Ocean’s Fresh Food Group, Mississauga, Ontario
Related Retail Chains: Oceans, Grant’s Foodmart
Last DC Report: Developers & Chains #1602