Lunch at the new downtown McEwan on Bloor Street East in downtown Toronto with my good friend Neil Weitzman on Friday.
Enjoyed the presentation innovation with the buffet-style counter food served in coated cast iron pots, and the integration of the Fabbrica restaurant brand and quality food into this 17,000 square foot space.
Some work for sure to be done on the service processes (great pizza slices, uneven delivery) at the counter, but early days I guess at scale at this location.
They will have to be on top of their game soon as the folks who basically invented this category of "Grocerant", Eataly (https://www.eataly.com/) open up their 50,000 square foot location at the base of the Manulife Centre just west of McEwan in the early fall. Nice write-up on this spot from Craig Patterson (https://lnkd.in/etqG5eY) featured in my Voice of Retail podcast (https://lnkd.in/eYEbcwG)
