Healthy Planet has opened its 36th store in Ontario on Yonge Street, near Yonge and Dundas Square. The store is the second in the chain to feature the Healthy Planet Kitchen. The first store with the Kitchen concept debuted at a new Ajax, Ont. store this past summer
The 7,500 sq ft two-storey location is the second downtown store designed to meet the needs of urban customers. The store carries more than 20,000 SKUs, including expanded pet food and sports nutrition areas.
Ashish Khera, head of marketing for Healthy Planet, says the chain has evolved from its health food origins to become a grocery store with a focus on health and wellness. Each store has a nutritionist to answer shoppers’ questions and some stores have three or four nutritionists, depending on the store size.
“Our customer base is everyone; it’s the consumer who is interested in living a healthier lifestyle and buying quality foods at the right price.”
He adds the Healthy Planet Kitchen is part of the chain’s transformation to offer customers more options in their pursuit of healthier living.
“Healthy Planet Kitchen is a separate entity from the rest of the store. Our executive chef Maria Mancuso has curated meals to suit different diets, such as allergen-free, and all the food used to make the dishes are made from items in our store; GMO-free ingredients, high welfare halal meats and organic produce.”
Healthy Planet plans to open two more stores over the next few months in Etobicoke and Mississauga.
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The grand opening of Healthy Planet’s new location at Leslie St & Elgin Mills Rd E. in Richmond Hill, Ont. was held on September 21st.
This location is Healthy Planet’s second in the area and 34th in Ontario. The Healthy Planet team welcomed patrons to its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the general manager of Healthy Planet, Muhammed Mohamedy, free gift bags, samples throughout the store and discounts.
Local content creators, store nutritionists and senior leadership team members were in attendance. This new location features a modern layout designed to enhance the shopping experience, offering over 8,000 square feet including an extensive range of products, fresh organic produce, natural grocery items, dietary supplements, vitamins, sports nutrition, natural beauty products, eco-friendly household products and more.
Extract from grocerybusiness.ca
By Mario Toneguzzi
Date:
May 30, 2023
Healthy Planet, one of Canada’s fastest growing health and wellness retail chains, has opened four new locations in southern Ontario – Toronto, Scarborough, Ajax and London.
Healthy Planet started in 1995 and quickly became one of Canada’s fastest growing, Canadian owned, health and wellness grocery chains with 33 retail stores currently operating.
Muhammad Mohamedy, General Manager of Healthy Planet Canada, said the company’s mission is to help Canadians live healthier every day.
“We are ever expanding our store format with an added range of health and wellness products, including supplements, vitamins, sports nutrition, health foods, organic groceries, bath, beauty, pet supplements, eco-friendly home products and fresh prepared food,” he said.
“We are especially proud to announce the launch of our Healthy Planet Kitchen at the Ajax location, which will offer a chef-inspired menu comprising of soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps, bowls, pizzas, freshly squeezed organic juices, smoothies, breakfast items, baked goods, and snacks. All of our offerings are artfully prepared and assembled from scratch daily.
“Our aim is to make it simple for our customers to prioritize their health and wellness with a menu that is predominantly organic, delicious and exclusive to our kitchen.”
PHOTO: HEALTHY PLANET
The concept began as a small kiosk in a strip mall on Danforth Avenue in Toronto. It then opened its first store at the Parkway Mall in early 1998.
Mohamedy said the company is working on another four locations this year – two new stores and two renovations. A new store should be opening in Richmond Hill in July or August and another store in downtown Toronto at Yonge and Dundas in September and October. The current Oakville location is being renovated to a bigger footprint that should be completed by September.
“We have another six locations signed for next year,” he said.
“Our strategy has always been to go into the markets where there’s not a lot of health food stores available or where there’s not a lot of natural supplements, groceries. We’re going into a lot more of the groceries aspect to it – organic groceries and natural food. That is one area we’ve been really pushing through.
“Now we’re also adding a kitchen. We started that with one location but this year we’re adding three more locations where it’s kind of grab and go food but a healthier version of it. So instead of going to fast food we have natural fast food available.”
Mohamedy said a kitchen will be going into the Oakville location as well as an existing store in Mississauga. A kitchen will also be part of the new Yonge and Dundas store and also one in its Etobicoke location.
He said there are plans for more kitchens.
“It won’t be everywhere but where the space allows us to do it we’re going to be adding one in and this is one of our strategies to add that in as there’s a consumer demand for healthier food,” said Mohamedy.
“We’ve done some research on it and people are looking for options other than going to McDonald’s or other major fast food places.”
He said there’s no limit to the company’s expansion plans.
“As long as we’re growing, our sales are good. One of the key things for us is having well-trained staff at our stores – the customer service element. As long as we’re able to keep that mark, we’ll continue to grow,” he said.
Currently the company is concentrated in southern Ontario with a couple of stores in Ottawa. Does the company have plans of going beyond that geography?
“For this year and next year, we don’t have any plans to go outside of Ontario,” said Mohamedy. “But beyond that we’re looking at all the options available. Ontario is the biggest market in Canada so we want to make sure that all areas are covered before we go there. For new areas you need to have a strong team and we’re building towards that right now.”
Mohamedy said the company has realized that today’s consumers are having a hard time making ends meet with inflation on the rise. So the company is aligning its brand with food banks and organizations where it can be part of the community.
“Even though we’re expanding we still want to be involved in every community that we go. So the prices that we put in our stores is also reasonable and at the same time we want to be aligned to the charities,” he said.
Extract from retail-insider.com
Healthy Planet Ajax Ribbon Cutting with Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier
Healthy Planet celebrated opening of its 33rd store and the first with its new Healthy Planet Kitchen meals-to-go concept. The new store in Ajax, Ont. also is the 11th store to feature a large organic produce department. The store is approximately 12,000 sq ft.
Ashish Khera, head of marketing for Healthy Planet, says the chain plans to expand its kitchen concept and its produce offerings to more stores over the course of the next few years.
To accommodate the growing kitchen concept, Healthy Planet has hired chef Maria Mancuso to develop an expanding line of grab-and-go food items.
Muhammad Mohamedy, General manager of Healthy Planet
Healthy Planet’s general manager Muhammad Mohamedy reflects on the whole health company’s growth and shares some of its plans for the future.
When and how did the company start?
It all started with a man filled with passion, and a dream to support our communities in ways that weren’t being done at the time. In 1995, Ayoob Dadabhoy saw an opportunity to build a business alongside his family by starting a small kiosk in a strip mall on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue. A few years later, he established a bulk food store in Scarborough’s Parkway Mall, laying the foundation for his son, Asif, to start The Healthy Planet in 1998. Asif remains president of Healthy Planet; Ayoob passed away in 2021.
What is your background?
I started at Healthy Planet 17+ years ago serving customers and working the floors at a store level. It was during this time that I was given the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the business and grow into the role of general manager.
How many stores are there now, and where are they located?
We currently have 32 stores in various regions across Ontario, and many more on the horizon. In the last five years, we expanded beyond the Greater Toronto Area, with stores in London, Ont., and Ottawa.
What size are the stores?
Our largest store is 13,000 sq. ft., and our average store size is 6,000-7,000 sq. ft.
What are your plans for continued growth?
We are working on several new projects in the GTA, as well as expanding some of our existing locations.This is our third-generation reformatting over the years to create a better experience for our customers and communities. We’ve done a total rebranding of our stores with new logo, corporate colours, fixtures, etc.
As a one-stop shop for whole health, approximately how many SKUs do you carry, and what are your priorities in selecting product?
We carry approximately 15,000 SKUs. Depending on location size, our SKU count increases. We focus on having a good selection and we are always adding new products. This year, we want to focus on getting more local products. As a Canadian company with Canadian ownership — we have a lot of employees here — I think that helps us bring uniqueness, because a lot of these products grow with us and eventually end up on the shelves of major grocery chains. So we want to have some programs available for local initiatives, and give the local incubators an opportunity to come in first in our stores.
The biggest challenge that we face with smaller, local products is that they don’t have business expertise. The issue that we run into is distribution, so I think if we could help them achieve that part of it, they would be fine.
Do you carry fresh produce in your stores?
Not all of our stores carry fresh produce, but it is definitely a staple section in all of our newer locations.
What innovations do you have planned?
We see prepared foods as one of the emerging markets and are incorporating that into our stores by introducing Healthy Planet Kitchen! At our newly expanded Ajax store, we are introducing a hot food counter along with a juice and coffee bar and some quick grab-and-go foods. Our focus will be on providing high-quality food that tastes great. That will be our starting point, and we will continue to expand from there.
When and where will prepared food be available?
Apart from Ajax, we will be launching Healthy Planet Kitchen at our newly renovated Mississauga and Oakville locations, along with our new downtown location near Dundas Square.
What else do you have planned?
We are building an innovative, state-of-the-art warehouse that will be focused on using technology and will be AI-driven to manage our inventory.
What sets Healthy Planet apart from other whole health chains in Canada?
I believe it is the expert advice that our team can offer, and our focus on helping our customers while becoming a pillar in the communities.
How do you train your staff to be knowledgeable about the wide range of products the stores carry?
We provide product training to our team via various platforms and through different learning styles. Having a variety of training methods is important, since everyone has a different style of learning. Our main methods of training are through our online learning portal as well as hands-on training at the store level, through the store manager or directly through the brands.
What does Healthy Planet offer in terms of e-commerce?
All our stores offer online shopping and delivery through Instacart. There are always further plans for development in e-commerce. We are in a very dynamic marketplace, and we’re constantly looking for ways to improve and evolve our services and offerings to customers. Being dynamic and adaptable in the digital world is critical for us, and we look to support our customers as best we can.
Do you have a loyalty program?
We introduced our Healthy Points loyalty program a ...
