Bloggers-At-Large: The 'Tao of Ben': Blogger Ben Tao Voices Dismay With Tesco's Fresh & Easy; Posts 'Dear John' Letter His Girlfriend Sent the Grocer

Ben Tao writes and publishes his own Blog -- "Random Thoughts: ben tao's thoughts -- at benjitao.com.

In a post today, Ben's random thought is about Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Specifically, as is apparent by the title of his post today about Tesco's Fresh & Easy -- Unhappy Fresh and Easy Customer: An Open Letter -- Ben's random thought, and conclusion, about the small-format, convenience-oriented combination grocery and fresh foods chain's stores isn't a positive one.

It seems Ben and his girlfriend starting shopping at their local Fresh & Easy market because of the famous $5 off purchases of $20 or more store coupons the grocer has been liberally distributing since its first stores opened in Southern California in November, 2007 -- and then shortly thereafter started opening in Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region. There are now about 110 Fresh & Easy markets in the three states.

Ben Tao says the deep-discount store coupons, which were given out in multiples with each purchase he and his girlfriend made at the store, "hooked him." The discount was so good he and his girlfriend continued shopping at the Fresh & Easy store regularly, as long as the store coupons kept coming. One might even call the deep-discount store coupons "coupon crack" in the hands of Ben Tao.

However, Blogger Ben says once Tesco's Fresh & Easy stopped distributing the $5 off store coupons so liberally (as we've reported the grocer has stopped handing out the coupons in-store in most cases, distributing the store coupons primarily in its advertising flyers and sometimes on its Web site), he stopped shopping Fresh & Easy regularly -- but not his girlfriend -- she continued as a regular Fresh & Easy store shopper despite the less frequent availability of the deep-discount store coupons.

But the Blogger's girlfriend, like significant other Ben, has also now ceased being a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market shopper -- completely.

And her reason for no longer shopping at Fresh & Easy isn't because of the more limited availability of the discount store coupons.

In fact, her reasons are much more global -- and serious. So serious in fact that Blogger Ben's significant other wrote a letter to Tesco's Fresh & Easy detailing why she no longer shops in the grocery chain's stores.

In his post today, Ben Tao posts his girlfriend's letter to Fresh & Easy company management, along with offering some words of his own about why both he and his significant other no longer shop at the markets. Blogger Ben and his girlfriend do leave the door open a crack though about shopping at a Fresh & Easy grocery and fresh foods market once again in the future, assuming some changes are made.

But we've said enough. Click here to read, in their own words, why Ben Tao and his girlfriend are no longer shopping at a Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market grocery store, including the reasons detailed by Blogger Ben's better half in her letter to the grocer.

Can and will Tesco's Fresh & Easy lure back Blogger Ben's girlfriend to what he says are her former Fresh & Easy "junkie ways?" Or is it too late? Will she find a competitor to Fresh & Easy that gives her an even better grocery shopping high? Or is it all just a ploy by Ben Tao to get a whole bunch of Fresh & Easy deep-discount store coupons, as might be suggested by the second-to-last paragraph in his post (right above the "Fresh should always be this easy" picture? Stay tuned.

[Editor's Note: Fresh & Easy Buzz occasionally publishes stories/posts by Bloggers about Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, as part of our 'Bloggers-At-Large' feature. The content and opinions offered in the 'Bloggers-At-Large' feature posts are those of the individual Bloggers and not those of Fresh & Easy Buzz. If you are a Blogger and have written something about Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, or are a reader that sees a post you think we might like to publish, feel free to e-mail a link to us at freshneasybuzz@yahoo.com. Of course, we reserve the right to choose which submissions we run.]

Two Motor Home Nomads, Laurie & Odel, Visit and Review A Southern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store In Yucaipa

On April Fool's Day, 2003, a couple named Laurie and Odel, along with their cat Luna, hooked their Jeep (which they've named Jules) to the back of their motor home (named Scoopy) and took off to explore North America.

According to the Blog, "Semi-True Tales Of Our Life On The Road," that the couple publishes to chronicle their travels, "Odel is the primary driver and vehicle master. Laurie is navigator and correspondent (the Blogger). And Luna is their feline companion and queen of all she surveys." "Come enjoy the ride with us", is their invitation to readers of the Blog.

Laurie and Odel, traveling North America by motor home now for five years, are currently staying at the Mission RV Park in Redlands, (Southern) California, visiting the southern portion of the Golden State until January 20, according to their latest Blog entry.

The Mission RV Park is near the Southern California city of Loma Linda, where Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market soon will open a new combination grocery and fresh foods Fresh & Easy market just a few blocks from the RV Park.

Laurie, who as she says is the couple's correspondent, says their curiosity was peaked about what a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is when they saw the "Coming Soon" sign for the future store in Loma Linda near the RV Park where the freeway travelers are currently staying.

As a result, she says on December 6 they visited a Fresh & Easy market in nearby Yucaipa, which they had first spotted while going on a wet Thanksgiving Day hike nearby.

North American traveler and Blogger Laurie offers a review of the Yucaipa Fresh & Easy market in a recent post in the couple's Blog...she also offers some comments from husband Odel, the vehicle master who went shopping at the store with her.

In addition to being a freeway diva and Blogger, Laurie appears to be an accomplished "foodie," offering some tasty recipes on her Blog.

In her post about the Fresh & Easy store shopping trip her food knowledge also comes out as she describes how she approaches shopping. She's a good photographer as well, as the Fresh & Easy Yucaipa store collage picture she took (above), along with other photographs in the Blog, demonstrate.

Read what the co-road warrior and correspondent-in-chief half, Laurie, of the North American motor home traveling couple has to say about their first time visit to the Fresh & Easy market in Yucaipa, California here.

Out of His Compound and Hitting the Street; the 'Militant Angeleno' Shops and Reviews the Hollywood, California Fresh & Easy Grocery Store

Tesco's Hollywood, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Los Angeles native and blogger "Militant Angeleno" (MA) recently decided to come out from his fortified compound in an unspecified central Los Angeles neighborhood to visit and shop at a Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market grocery store for the very first time.

MA decided to make his virgin Fresh & Easy shopping trip to the Hollywood, California Fresh & Easy store, which is located on famous Hollywood Blvd., home of the walk of stars. The blogger says it's a quick trip from his central LA compound to the store via the city's Metro public transportation system.

"Militant Angeleno," who travels the city and chronicles his adventures in his blog, gave the Hollywood Fresh & Easy a complete going over--shopping it from stem-to-stern; from warehouse-style gondola shelf to the next one; from the fresh, prepared foods refrigerated case, to the pre-packaged produce department, and beyond.

The blogger has chronicled his virgin Fresh & Easy outing and shopping trip in his blog in a piece called: "Supermarket shopping sans soul."

Read what the "Militant Angeleno," urban adventurer and blogger, has to say in his comprehensive review of the Hollywood, California Tesco Fresh & Easy grocery store here.

Chowhound.com Fresh & Easy Open Thread

The food blog Chowhound.com has an open thread running about Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

The Chowhound.com question: "Fresh & Easy Markets in California--like 'em?"

You can read the reader comments on the Chowhound Fresh & Easy open thread here.

Also, Fresh & Easy Buzz invites you to answer that same question here on the blog. You can broaden it out though. Our question: "Fresh & Easy Markets in California, Arizona and Nevada--like 'em?"

Just click the comment box below and opine away.

Oakmonster and 'The Temple of Fresh & Easy' Blog

We know the blogger as Oakmonster from her comments to posts here on Fresh & Easy Buzz.

After reading our piece published yesterday, "America's 'New Cult Retailer': Three Questions For Executive Research Limited About It's Interview Study of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Store Customers," Oakmonster--who describes herself as an aspiring cook, growing foodie and living room rock star--told us about her blog, "The Temple of Fresh & Easy," which she recently started.

The Southern California-based blogger says she loves Fresh & Easy and is converting others to her cause when she can.

Oakmonster says she is one of a small number of consumers she knows and talks with--like the lady on the bus here--who like Fresh & Easy because unlike the lady on the bus who likes product variety and non-self-service checkout in her grocery stores, Oakmonster prefers the opposite.

"I don't want that much variety because I don't want to spend an hour in there wading through stuff I don't need. I'm not stuck on brand to begin with. The less variety the better," Oakmonster says.

She also likes the self-service checkout as part of the "less frills" Fresh & Easy grocery store shopping experience and the "getting in and out fast" convenience.

"If you value your time and money, if you're an adventurous consumer, and if you hate everything the normal grocery store stands for," Oakmonster says she recommends to others shopping at Fresh & Easy like she does.

The Temple of Fresh & Easy Blog.

Vox Populi!: The People Speak Out on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Grocery Stores on the 'Fast Foods Maven's' Blog: We Analyze the Data and Offer Results

Nancy Luna, a business reporter for the Orange County Register in Orange County, California, who also writes a food-oriented blog in the paper called the Fast Food Maven, wrote a blog post yesterday about Fresh & Easy's announcement that the grocer will now accept American Express Cards (they didn't before for some reason) in addition to the other credit cards it takes in its 59 stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. [Note to Raphael: The other credit cards the retailer takes are Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card, according to the manager at the Anaheim, California Fresh & Easy store.]

At the end of her blog post yesterday, Luna asked the newspaper's readers a question: 'What would you like Tesco (Fresh & Easy) to do next to win your shopping dollars' She also opened the comments box to their opinions of the stores by virtue of the question.

As of this evening, there are ten total responses (and comments) to Ms Luna's reader question. Bu, as you will see below, we're only using seven of them because one is a response from blogger Luna, another respondent posted twice, and a third comment is just informational.

Below are the (screen) names of the reader's who have responded thus far. Next to the names we score their comments and opinions as either positive, negative or neutral, regarding Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores where they have shopped. Remember, only 7 opinions are valid, which is why we are using that number. Here we go:

The People's Opinions::

1. A V Rabinowitz: Positive, Very pleased about F&E now taking Am-Ex. No other store comments though.
2. Go Ducks: Neutral, leaning towards negative. Says F& E needs to do a better job on nutrition items on the prepared foods items. Wants more low-fat and healthy items. Says F&E can "do a better job."
3. Troy: Negative; No love for F&E from Troy
4. Nancy Luna: Not Scored; She's the blog writer commenting on a comment.
5. Mike: Positive; especially on the prices.
6. Kimberly: Positive; likes the samples, wide aisles, store employees, the free $5 coupons for purchases of $20.00 or more (there goes the gross margin).
7. Dennis Roberts: Positive; Also likes the $5 coupons (guess so, that's 25% off a $20 order), likes the store brand products, wonders why the store doesn't have more business.
8. Raphael: Not Scored; just wants to know if Fresh & Easy takes credit cards other than Am-Ex. Since nobody answered him on the blog: Yes they do Raphael. See our first paragraph above.
9. Troy (second post): Negative Says he works at Disneyland. Was not pleased with the sample hostess last time he was in F&E. (We are only counting Troy once, by the way.)
10. Dawn: Negative: Doesn't sound like she will be going back to Fresh & Easy.

The Raw Numbers (as of March 19):

Total Comments: 10 in total but 7 usable comments:

We are only counting Troy once. His opinion is the same in both posts. We aren't counting Nancy Luna as she is the blog writer. We are not counting Raphael as he was just asking about credit cards and has no opinion. Thus there are 7 actual comments.

Consumer Opinion Ratings of Fresh & Easy:

1. Positive Comments: 3
2. Negative Comments: 3
3. Neutral comments: 1
4. Not Scored: 2
5. Duplicate Comment: 1 (Troy)

Based on our scoring system, it's a dead heat thus far between the Positive and Negative opinions of the Fast Food Maven blog's readers. There is one neutral comment. We scored it neutral leaning towards negative. However, it goes in the neutral column as it fits that category more than it does negative in our analysis.

Based on the universe of seven opinions (a small but real universe none the less) Tesco's Fresh & Easy gets about a 45% approval rating and a 45% disapproval rating. Further, since Go Ducks is leaning towards negative (we made a fair judgement call) that brings down the 45% F&E approval rating a bit (also in all fairness). But we will call that qualitative. The 45-45 still stands.

Since blog posts have a long life, these stats could change either way. Like professional polls, online opinions are merely a snapshot of a particular point in time. Remember, however, these seven people are consumers. They also have family, friends co-workers and the like, who they will tell what they think of Fresh & Easy based on their opinions stated here. Also remember: word of mouth marketing is perhaps the most powerful--in both positive and negative ways. [Read the blog post and the comments of "the people" here.]

In terms of the positives, we can't help but commenting that two of the three sited the free $5 off coupons on grocery orders of $20 or more as a key reason for "liking" Fresh & Easy. Our understanding is that these coupons (Tesco calls them vouchers in the UK) are given to shoppers in the stores and sometimes placed in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market mass-mailed advertising circular.

We think the latter is probably a good idea. The former has some merit in terms of serving as a reinforcement or loyalty-type marketing strategy--but its utility is minimal in our experience and opinion. The ad circular-placed $5 off coupons can at least serve to generate new customer trail, which Fresh & Easy needs to do.

Five dollars off a $20 grocery purchase is a good deal for shoppers. If their order is only $20, that's over 25% off the grocery order. Of course, Tesco hopes the order will be $50, so that its only a 10% discount. Even if the average order is say $30 though, that's still a 15% discount.

A $5 coupon on a minimum $20 order isn't something the grocer--any grocer--can sustain for too long though, unless it's a non-profit. Even if Tesco is obtaining a 40% overall gross-margin (which we doubt) in its Fresh & Easy stores, the use of lots of the $5-off on minimum $20 order coupons are a major gross margin suppressor. However, right now the coupons can be chalked up to a marketing expense (and maybe budget line item); a way to drive shoppers to the stores and to keep those who have shopped the stores coming back...for a while.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding--which is the case for all price promotions with all retailers--when Tesco stops distributing the coupons. In other words, what percentage of customers are just shopping the stores for the significant coupon discount? That's the 64 thousand dollar question. And, it's too early to know that yet.

Vox Populi: The People Speak: A Rose (By Any Other Name) Gives Props to A Fresh & Easy Store

Rose, a single, professional woman who lives in Phoenix, Arizona and works as a project administrator in the construction industry, looks to us like the kind of customer--and potential Fresh & Easy booster--Tesco should nurture.

Not only is Rose, who also writes a blog called A Rose By Any Other Name, a professional woman in an industry that's dominated by men, she also returned to college as an adult to complete her BA degree, which she finished in 2005. Now she is completing her Masters Degree, in addition to working full-time. [Read more about Rose here.]

We don't know Rose personally. But we can tell by her bio on the blog she is a busy, time-pressed woman. Rose also is a great demographic for a food retailer--well-educated, professional, literate (writes her own blog), a homeowner (she says she bought a new home in 2007) and well-traveled; she's lived all over the U.S. in her lifetime.

Rose also likes the Fresh & Easy store she recently visited for the first time last night in the Phoenix, Arizona area where she lives.

Rose says overall she was impressed with what she saw and that is reminded her of "the old neighborhood markets that I went to as a kid."

We've wrote enough though...read what Rose writes about her shopping trip to the Fresh & Easy store in the Phoenix area last night here.

Vox Populi: The People Speak and Opine About Fresh & Easy Stores

Brandon C. isn't a big Fresh & Easy fan. "I did not find Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to be fresh or easy, he says, writing at the online review site yelp.com. It seems Brandon bought a package of Ciabatta bread rolls one day. The next day, when he was ready to dig into the rolls, he says they were already bad--"gone south," to quote him. He says when he checked the "sell by" date, the package had already reached it's experation date before he bought it.

This isn't the first we've heard of code dating--and freshness--problems at Fresh & Easy, by the way. It's frequent. Frequent enough in fact that the grocer has now started a markdown program in some of its stores in which it offer various percentage discounts depending on how close to the experation date a fresh product is. Fifty-percent reductions aren't uncommon since this markdown experiment started recently in some stores. Not a good sign.

Unlike Brandon though, Debbie T. of Los Angeles loves the Fresh & Easy store she shops at, she says. Some of her reasons why: "Yum, (prepared) Chicken Marsala for only $3.99," she says. "Guava nectare. I made guava margaritas (with it) last weekend. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Good raw, even better baked," she says.

Debbie T. says: "I'm really impressed with the Fresh & Easy, and so is my neighbor. The place is clean, convenient, and the food is really good, and you cannot beat the prices. A wonderful addition to the neighborhood,"she says.

Ben C., also from Los Angeles, thinks Fresh & Easy "is awesome." He also says he thinks the fresh produce and prepared foods are better than those at Trader Joe's.

However, Maximillian M. from Los Angeles is more in the Brandon C. Camp vis-a-vis Fresh & Easy. A few words from Max: "I couldn't help giggle at the name Fresh & Easy. It reminds me of how one would describe a really bad couple who weren't meant for each other." He says Trader Joe's doesn't have much to worry about."

In addition to the points of view of the four consumers discussed above, you can read what nine more Fresh & Easy grocery store customers have to say--their likes, dislikes, suggestions for improvement--here

KathyVegas Loves her Las Vegas Fresh & Easy Baby!

Writing in a post on the seriouseats.com website, an online forum where food lovers go to share food ideas, restaurants and grocery store thoughts and opinions, Las Vegas, Nevada resident KathyVegas gives an ace-high full house to her local Fresh & Easy grocery market in that city. (There are currently five Fresh & Easy stores in the Las Vegas metropolitan region.)

Breaking the Las Vegas code of 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,' KathyVegas says after three shopping trips to the store she "thinks she's in love," and spills the beans on what she likes about the store.

Read what KathyVegas particularly "loves" about her local Las Vegas Fresh & Easy store here.