News on retail chains (was: New Mall Retail)

[Northern Light]

Ok, a couple of additions to the product launch I was unaware of..............

I love the sound of this one, but I'm very, very suspicious about quality...........the price is very low relative to my expectation.......

This one, below, however, looks interesting:

I can season my own meat just fine thanks; but, shaving pork belly and rolling the pork loin w/pork belly on the outside does save me some time.........and that's basically a pretty good sized portion for 4.

 

[Northern Light]

Reviews incoming!

In what decade may we ask? LOL

 

[Northern Light]

@Towered why the sad face..........

I've just been wondering where those reviews were..... (psst, tried messaging you about them w/o luck, do you get PMs?)

 

[Towered]

@Towered why the sad face..........

I've just been wondering where those reviews were..... (psst, tried messaging you about them w/o luck, do you get PMs?)

I always forget to check PM's because I hardly ever get any

Chai Tea Almonds: Ugh. I think chai tea is quite nice (maybe my favourite type of tea actually), but I don't like that distinctive, strong flavour mixed with chocolate and nuts. It's weird and kind of gross. What do I do with the bag now??

Mango and Cardamom Chocolate: Another miss. You know those joke candies that purposely taste like soap? Same effect here, unfortunately. Mango on its own would have been ok, but mixed with cardamom it just doesn't work. Some genius at PC felt it was a good idea to mix Indian food and desert into a single chocolate bar? Fail.

Caramelized Cocoa Nibs and Coffee: This one was delicious, but it's not really an "out there" flavour. Coffee and chocolate naturally go well together.

Pineapple, Banana and Passion Fruit: Decent overall, but not amazing. The flavours aren't balanced in equal measure the way I was expecting. Strongest was banana, with notable pineapple (which makes for a confusing taste, though not bad), while I could hardly detect the presence of passion fruit, which was a tad disappointing.

 

[Northern Light]

I always forget to check PM's because I hardly ever get any

Chai Tea Almonds: Ugh. I think chai tea is quite nice (maybe my favourite type of tea actually), but I don't like that distinctive, strong flavour mixed with chocolate and nuts. It's weird and kind of gross. What do I do with the bag now??

First, TY for saving me the purchase!

***

Second,

Would you like it as a milder accent flavour?

If so, put'em in the blender/food processor to get finer texture like a bread crumb, which you can throw over ice cream or some other dessert.

You could do that straight, or you could slant the flavor a bit more one way or the other by adding cocoa or cinnamon etc.

You could also dilute it with more nuts be they almost or walnuts or peanuts etc.

Mango and Cardamom Chocolate: Another miss. You know those joke candies that purposely taste like soap? Same effect here, unfortunately. Mango on its own would have been ok, but mixed with cardamom it just doesn't work. Some genius at PC felt it was a good idea to mix Indian food and desert into a single chocolate bar? Fail.

I know a lot of people who don't care for cardamom. I myself am not a huge mango person.

Caramelized Cocoa Nibs and Coffee: This one was delicious, but it's not really an "out there" flavour. Coffee and chocolate naturally go well together.

This one I felt safe buying for myself. I basically agree with you; though I thought the bitter to sweet balance was out maybe just a bit with both dark chocolate and roasted coffee there.

Pineapple, Banana and Passion Fruit: Decent overall, but not amazing. The flavours aren't balanced in equal measure the way I was expecting. Strongest was banana, with notable pineapple (which makes for a confusing taste, though not bad), while I could hardly detect the presence of passion fruit, which was a tad disappointing.

Peculiar! I would have expected Passion Fruit to be the most forward flavour, which I think would pair well with chocolate.

 

[Bayer]

I see Loblaws still has work to do to improve its translations. It should be "Arôme de mangue et de cardamome". A beginner's mistake.

But it used to be worse... I laughed out loud years ago when I saw a President's Choice "Sticky Pudding" in a store. In French, they were calling it a "Pouding poisseux" - Slimy Pudding.

Or course, there are so many other examples, such as a Purell lotion made with "plant-based alcohol", which became "alcohol-based plants" in French. I'm still trying to find those plants!

 

[afransen]

Might be a case of the translator not understanding what the product is. I imagine the artwork gets cranked out without even necessarily seeing the product itself. I hope it wasn't a google translate mistake.

 

[Dan416]

I find it hard to believe a company like Loblaws would use Google Translate. At the company I work at we have a dedicated translator who does all our translation, and we're smaller than Loblaws.

 

[afransen]

Maybe it has actual mango, and jus the flavour of cardamom?

 

[Bayer]

Maybe it has actual mango, and jus the flavour of cardamom?

That's what I would ask as a professional translator, but I don't know how you could get cardamom flavour without actual cardamom. Although I once bought a gluten-free "pumpkin pie" only to discover that there was no actual pumpkin in it...

 

[afransen]

That's what I would ask as a professional translator, but I don't know how you could get cardamom flavour without actual cardamom. Although I once bought a gluten-free "pumpkin pie" only to discover that there was no actual pumpkin in it...

Yes, like SBUX pumpkin spice latte having zero actual pumpkin.

 

[Towered]

Maybe it has actual mango, and jus the flavour of cardamom?

Either way it sucks.

 

[afransen]

Either way it sucks.

arome de merde?

 

[Northern Light]

So, this may be too inside baseball for some........but I just want to share an observation..........the buyers for No Frills have clearly lost their minds, LOL

I shop all the grocers from time to time from the Five Thieves or Fiesta to Freshco and everything in between. They generally all have their strengths, weaknesses and quirks.....

But I've been noticing something very strange with NF the last few months......... not just that it's not the market leader or close on many prices........it's being regularly beaten by its sister chain, Loblaws.

Case in point:

Bertolli Organic Olive Oil:

Loblaws:

No Frills:

Ummmm

Ok, but this is an isolated example, right?


No Frills:

At Metro: $8.99

At Loblaws:

LOL..........even more expensive that Longos ($11.99)


*****

I've noticed some other very quirky anomalies..........

Ultimately, it just offends me that those setting prices don't look to see what the competition is doing first.

 

[PinkLucy]

Very odd. The whole point of NF is that you can get the same product for less in a less fancy store. When we owned a grocery store, we always price checked.