619316 Tue May 12 13:06:43 -0700 2009 3 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4677433 If I have time, I always make a pit stop at Food4Less when passing through Vallejo. It is different from the other stores of the same name. The parent company is Nugget Market and not Kroeger. First, they always have a few amazing bargains each week. This week (ending today) they have cans of Bumble Bee Tuna for 64 cents. Radishes are 24 cents. They have the same deal as Safeway does this week … fresh blackberries 99 cents and asparagus 99 cents lb, but the quality was better. One week 8 oz of Philly cream cheese was 50 cents. That same week, bulk Peerless coffee beans were $5.99 lb. Second they have the nicest, most helpful staff of any supermarket, even surpassing Raley’s which is my gold star standard for supermarket service. Third the store is neat, clean and well-organized. Fourth, while carrying a full line of regular groceries, they have an impressive selection of Mexican, Filipino and, especially, Southern groceries. There are also items here and there that you don’t see in normal supermarkets like that limburger. There are real parmiggano-reggiano pre-cut pieces ($12.99lb).The in-house bakery makes Kaiser rolls sometimes. There are oddball products I haven’t seen in years such as Appian way boxed pizza or bottled Johnny’s au jus French dip. The meat and fish counter has good prices and there are cuts of meat and fish that are used in the cuisines mentioned … white bait, bulk prawns (usually $5.99 lb), specialty parts such as cow’s feet, tripe, tongue, beef kidney, smoked turkey parts, pig snouts, ears, maws and even real pig tails. All neatly packaged and wrapped with plastic. They have a bigger selection of Mexican bakery products which are the equal to or better of most Mexican markets such as Gold Coast Bakery has teleras and bollilos, bags of La Tortilla Factory masa preparado, Doris Baking of San Jose’s pan dulce and sweet bread (sema/butterhorn), etc There are lots of bagged chicharrons, including Guerroro, which don’t often show up at many Mexican markets. The veggie section has huge tin tubs of cinnamon sticks, durros, beans and lots of Mexican produce. Not only do they have the full line of Mexican cheeses including lesser seen ones like enselada queso anejo, queso jalapeno, they also have packaged Mexican cheese cut from wheels such as requeson, panela, etc The deli has huge sandwiches made from whole loaves of the house-baked French bread ($6.98 whole/$3.48 half). That half sandwich is bigger and less expensive that what is found at chain sub shops such as Subway. The baking and spice section has a good selection with lots of items for the specific ethnicities and less usual products. They have black food coloring. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve wanted it occasionally, but never found it. There was Molina Mexican vanilla blend. Salts include lots of brands of Kosher salt, ice cream salt, Morton’s sea salt from Spain (fine and course), etc. They have all your canning needs down to boxes of parowax. While not as extensive, there’s a respectable selection of Asian products with items such as Progresso panko. Vallejo also has a large population of African Americans and the Southern grocery selection is really impressive. Nellie & Joe’s famous Key Lime Juice, Uncle Steve’s sorghum, Ribbon cane syrup, Dixie fish fry, various types of Brer Rabbit molasses, Crazy Charlie Cajun sauce, various brands of canned gumbo and much, much more. They have one of the largest selection of Zatarans products I’ve seen in the Bay Area. The generic house brand is called Best Yet. The one thing they don’t do well is beer. It is more expensive than most markets and the selection isn’t that great. The other thing that is annoying to me is they don’t have ads that say what is on special that week. You are forced to walk around and check things out. The only handouts are the store directory and announcements for events like the current truckload sale that mention the other two other stores participating. One hint … if they run promotions like March Madness with specific hours, you don’t need to show up for those specific hours. My first visit was just before that day. The prices were already so impressive that I decided to check out what this might be about. It was madness. There were people lined up trying to get in. They ran of grocery carts. Big, big kudos to the staff that never lost their cool and was gracious during those six hours of customer pandemonium. However, the week before they had already marked down maybe 95 percent of the items already. This store is open 24/7. Tue May 12 13:06:43 -0700 2009 10264 rworange 1 4677676 I found some other info about this Food 4 Less. Unlike others, the parent company is not Kroeger, but Nugget Markets, which are upscale family-owned markets (since 1926) in the Sacramento area. That would explain the cheese, better produce and specialty products here. They are two other Food 4 Less stores owned by Nugget Markets in Cameron Park and Woodland.They make no mention of them that I can find on the website. http://www.nuggetmarket.com/about.php Fortune rated them as number 10 in the best paying companies. It is pretty impressive. From the article "Employees say they love working at this family-owned California grocery chain, because they're treated with respect, they have fun, and the policies are fair ... Last year, Nugget gave raises to 223 employees at its discount Food 4 Less stores, so they're now paid the same rate they'd earn at its full-scale supermarkets ... Employees get 100% coverage of health insurance premiums" http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0901/gallery.bestcos_toppay.fortune/25.html No wonder the staff is so great. Here's an article about the Nugget Markets / Food 4 Less stores when they purchased the old Sam's location in Cameron Park ... I remember that place now when driving up to Tahoe. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2001/11/26/story4.html Wiki on Nugget ... if it hadn't been for Wal-Mart, Vallejo would have had an upscale Nugget Market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nugget_Markets Some other impressive stuff about Nugget http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Operations/Nugget%20Store%20Operations-Work%20Culture%20Case%20Study.htm Tue May 12 14:15:45 -0700 2009 4677433 10264 rworange 2 4678003 Gosh, rw, you really did your homework. Great write-up with lots of juicy info. Thank you. What motivates you to be so thorough, and especially about anything in Vallejo? Tue May 12 16:09:47 -0700 2009 4677676 266027 ricebowl 3 4678051 I happen to pass through Vallejo fairly regularily. I like updating the Places database for my own information so I can get to a website quickly or find out hours, etc. Usually doing searches for that data turns up lots of info. Also, one of the things I've learned through Chowhound ... reading or posting ... is to step into places that are new and take a close look. What is different about the place? In this case, however, I like FoodCo in Richmond. The prices are good. The parent company is Kroeger which also owns the other Food 4 Less store. However FoodCo doesn't have a full deli with things like roast chicken. On my way back from Napa, I wanted to take advantage of some sale items FoodCo was selling that week and maybe check out the chickens. Totally different store. It was bugging me why it was so different, so I dug a little deeper. The one good thing about this is it seems that some of what the Nugget stores has on special each week is also on sale at that Food 4 Less. The large containers of strawberries for $1.50 were also at Food 4 Less this week. The asparagus was actually less expensive. So next time I'm up that way I can check out the Nugget ad to get an idea if there's anything I want to stop by and pick up. Tue May 12 16:22:16 -0700 2009 4678003 10264 rworange