In downtown Denver, Choice Market, an independent convenience store and prepared foods market, is known for serving up a menu developed around seasonal, locally grown ingredients.
This year, Choice is launching a new menu that celebrates locally grown ingredients and brighter, seasonal vegetables with dishes such as a quinoa bowl, harvest salad and the Impossible Burger. Spring ingredients include locally grown asparagus, quinoa and new, nutritionally valuable ingredients such as blue-green algae and moringa.
“From day one, our mission was to make good food accessible and convenient by sourcing high-quality ingredients and groceries from great local purveyors,” says Mike Fogarty, founder and CEO of Choice Market. “This new menu is a stronger reflection of that mission and allows us to celebrate our great Colorado producers.”
The brand’s newest adviser, Erik Oberholtzer, chef and founder of Tender Greens, with 31 restaurants in California, New York and Boston, led the menu redesign based on his experience in scaling relationships with farmers and artisans. Oberholtzer interviewed artisans and farmers in the region to replace the products on the store’s shelves with products that have been grown or made locally.
Choice is dedicated to building a new type of convenience store, Fogarty says, one that prioritizes giving people choices that are better for them, with more vegan, gluten-free, seasonal and hyperlocal ingredients than most c-stores.
Choice opened its first store in 2017, and the retailer has two new stores planned in Denver. Through a combination of technology and a mission to support the community and shorten the supply chain, it offers customers convenience, efficiency and access to locally sourced food, it says.