Compare foods store hours full#

“We feel that it’s important for our customers to feel like they have a relationship or that they have trust with our employees. “One of the things that we pride ourselves on is our employees having a relationship with our customers,” he said. While technology is needed to facilitate online shoppers, Jorge said Compare Foods still focuses on personal contact and has stayed away from self-checkouts and frictionless point of sale. “That’s where we’re making that investment in technology and the website to see if that’s where the issue is, and that way we can get some acceleration with our web ordering,” Jorge said. He said the company is investing more into online shopping to try and grow that channel and is looking at what it can do to provide a better online service. “It’s a small but very dedicated and loyal following for online.” “The ones that use it, use it very consistently,” he said. Jorge said while the number of online shoppers is small, those shoppers are dedicated. We’re trying to see if we can do something with meal kits that will work for our customers, and we’re having trouble finding what that solution is going to be.”Ĭompare Foods offers online shopping with either in-store pickup or delivery. Culturally, that’s what the tradition is. “Our customer base already cooks at home every day. “I don’t think that the scale or the volume is there yet to make that investment,” he said. Meal kits are not available at this time, but they are something the company is exploring, Jorge said. They also have packaged meals that customers can grab to take home.

Compare foods store hours full#

The stores have full buffet-style restaurants where customers can get breakfast, lunch or dinner. “I think that the desire to experience more international flavors or cuisines or dishes is also fueling a lot of our growth,” he said.Ĭompare Foods offers both full meals and grab-and-go items. Jorge said as people watch cooking shows featuring different spices and different recipes from various cultures, Compare Foods is where Charlotte customers can go to find those ingredients. That’s where a lot of our growth has been.”Ĭompare Foods’ prepared foods also is an area of growth. I think a lot of our growth is expanding to more traditional customers, to the American customers, who realize that there’s value and freshness and quality in our produce and our meat departments.

“We’re getting a lot more than the Hispanic customer in those areas. “We’ve worked really hard to establish a good reputation throughout the entire city with our fresh produce and our fresh meat departments,” Jorge said. “We specialize in Latino products and import a lot of products from Central and South America and the Caribbean,” he said.Ĭompare Foods’ strengths include its large produce and meat departments. Compare Foods opened its first store in 1989 and arrived in North Carolina in 2004, Jorge said. Operating about 45 stores across the country, Compare Foods has 24 stores in North Carolina, with six in Charlotte. Each supermarket in the group is individually owned by an Aurora member. Born and raised in the grocery business, Omar Jorge has followed in his family’s footsteps and now is a partner in Compare Foods and chairman of Aurora Grocery Group.Ĭompare Foods is a subsidiary of Aurora, which is an umbrella holding company.