by Rick Griffin
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has opened its newest local store at Mission Gorge Road and Cuyamaca Street in Santee. It is the 16th San Diego County Fresh & Easy store opened by the British retailer Tesco PLC since 2007. As part of its opening ceremony, El Segundo-based Fresh & Easy made a $1,000 donation to Santee Santas Foundation to support its efforts in the neighborhood. A company statement said the store employs 20 to 30 people, hired from the local neighborhood.
Fresh & Easy offers a wide range of its own brand of products including freshly prepared meals with no artificial colors, flavors, high-fructose corn syrup and no added transfats. The company’s stores offering a small footprint with self-checkout scanners are designed with energy efficiency in mind in order to pass along cost benefits to customers. Products include prepared meals and a variety of “meal kits” with fresh meat and vegetables already cut and seasoned, including chicken, beef and pork fajita kit with sliced onions and peppers. The produce is all pre-packaged, no scales are required. The stores carry house-brand items as well as national brand products. Fresh & Easy operates more than 180 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada.