Introducing Creation Gardens Version 3.0!
With the help of our Chef Advisory Board and customer feedback from all of our regions, we have identified three product lines where we can beat the competition, reduce your food costs, and shrink your inventory to help you and your restaurant succeed. By spreading our costs over more items, we will price to win. We call this new program Creation Gardens Version 3.0!
1. High quality – High Yield Produce. We made our name by providing the best quality, high-yield produce available. We now have all of the best selection of specialty and local produce available… and we break all cases! Our Produce Alliance membership gives us great buying power and experts in the fields of the best farms in the country.
2. Gourmet Products – Customized Program for You. We have over 3,000 gourmet items in stock. Allow us to develop an A-Z program for you and be your one-stop-shop for all of your gourmet food needs.
3. Ecosteward Biodegradable and Traditional Paper Products. With our new warehouse we are now the manufacturer’s East Coast distributor for many paper products. We can win on price and deliver a case at a time, when you need it!
Creation Gardens Completes Annual Food Safety Audit
We are pleased to announced that we have completely our annual third party food safety audit with NSF-Cook and Thurber and have received a scored of 94.6%! Thanks to our team members for doing an excellent job of running a safe, clean operation.
Creation Gardens Merging with Nashville Produce Wholesaler
LOUISVILLE/NASHVILLE (July 18 2011) Creation Gardens, a Louisville-based wholesale distributor of produce, fruit, specialty meats and gourmet items to restaurants and food service customers, has merged with a Nashville wholesale distributor of produce. The companies announced the merger, which was effective Saturday.
Ernest Williams Produce, Inc., is a 60-year-old, family-owned business serving about 100 restaurants and farmers markets in the Nashville and the Middle Tennessee area and has 10 employees. Creation Gardens is a 14-yearold company that services more than 750 customers in Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, Evansville, and Owensboro and has 74 employees. Creation Gardens President Ron Turnier says the merged companies will operate under the Creation Gardens name.
Turnier says the merger gives the company greater purchasing power overall. And access to Ernest Williams’ produce contracts in the southeast United States will expand the duration and selection of seasonal offerings for all its customers.
Under the terms of the merger, Creation Gardens will purchase the assets of Ernest Williams which consist primarily of a fleet of temperature controlled trucks and vans. The company will enter into a long-term lease of Ernest Williams’ 20,000 square-foot warehouse facility in Nashville which includes more than 14,000 square feet of refrigerated and racked cold storage. Owners Ernest, David and Mark Williams will manage regional produce purchasing for the combined companies as part of a five-year management contract.
Creation Gardens recently moved into a new 58,000 sq ft warehouse and distribution center on Campisano Drive in south Louisville after the state purchased the company’s warehouse on Main Street for the re-building of Spaghetti Junction.
Creation Gardens Offers Online Ordering for Consumers Coincides with Move to Larger Distribution Facility
LOUISVILLE : On Monday, May 9th, Creation Gardens launches an on-line ordering service that gives consumers access to the same 3,000-plus items now available to its restaurant customers.
Company President Ron Turnier says, “This is a unique shopping opportunity for home chefs to select and purchase the same produce, fruit, specialty meats and gourmet items ordered by professional chefs. Customers can conveniently browse through our entire inventory and turn their home and entertainment dining into something truly special.”
Turnier says that orders can be picked up on the same day at one of three locations: the company’s new storage and distribution center at 4301 Campisano Drive off of Produce Lane in South Louisville; Ghyslain On Market, 721 East Market Street, behind Creation Garden’s corporate offices; or Nanz & Kraft Florist on Breckenridge Lane in St. Matthews.
Orders placed by 12:00 Noon, Monday through Saturday, can be picked up at between 2:00 – 5:00 pm.
Food shoppers can set up an account by registering online at www.whatchefswant.com or contacting Ralph Brewer at ralphb@creationgardens.com. They also will be able to set up a customized list of frequently ordered items to make ordering easier.
Creation Gardens previously offered walk-in shoppers access to its warehouse at East Main and Hancock Streets but that facility was closed last month because the state bought the property as part of the planned realignment of Spaghetti Junction.
Turnier says Creation Gardens had planned to locate a combination warehouse and retail outlet adjacent to its new administration offices on East Market Street. But he said it became clear there was not enough room to accommodate the storage and distribution needs of his expanding business. The company completed its move April 9th to the former Martin-Bower warehouse, which Turnier says is nearly twice the size of the existing facility.
Creation Gardens distributes to more than 700 restaurants and food service customers in Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, Evansville, and Owensboro.
Creation Gardens Has Just Moved!
Our settlement with the state now allows us to operate out of an incredibly modern and efficientspace that will let us deliver to you our unique services – for decades to come…
Better, Faster and Cheaper!
We have always been about assessing your needs and building a service program focused on your restaurant’s success. Here’s how we will continue to serve you with the help of our new storage and distribution center.
Quality: Precise holding temperatures, cold staging area with sealed dock to keep the cold chain, perfect rotation logic, true lighting, ripening room, ethylene scrubbers and 8 semi receiving docks toreceive billion-dollar buying group trucks from all the best farms – direct!
Service: No change in our unique ability to deliver 7 days a week – mornings and afternoons. No sales force and tight areas allow us to serve small urban routes very well.
Price: Fewer steps and Fewer product touches lead to lower operating costs. We have been successful in reducing our operating markup every year and this building will afford cost reduction opportunities for many years to come.
Availability: In addition to our 4,000 items, we will be adding product lines that allow you to spread costs over more items. Our goal is to help you keep from having to overstock product from yourbroad liner. Our great service and availability are what help restaurants like yours the most. Smaller and fresher inventory gets your cash off the shelves and puts smiles on customers’ faces.
Responsiveness: With moody Mother Nature, freight, perishability, and unknown demands that flow through your restaurants, it is impossible to be perfect. However, we can always be perfect in our response to fix problems!
Trust: Having loyal and long-term customers is the only way we can make money. We try to do the right thing always.
Chocolate shop, cafe coming to East Market
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/print-edition/2010/12/24/creation-gardens-to-move-into.html
(From the Feb 8 issue of the Louisville Courier Journal)
A cafe and shop that will feature gourmet chocolates and other desserts and delicacies will open around April 1 in a renovated carriage house at the former Neurath & Underwood Funeral Home in the 700 block of East Market Street.
Ghyslain Maurais, who is from Quebec, will operate Ghyslain on Market, bringing another upscale eating spot to the rapidly developing East Main-Market district.
Maurais has served as the head chef for the Canadian delegations in New York and London and now operates a chocolate- and dessert-making plant in Union City, Ind. He also has restaurants in Richmond and Zionsville, both in Indiana.
Meanwhile, Ron and Mollie Turnier, owners of Creation Gardens and Maurais’ landlord, will open the Chefs’ Club in the old Neurath & Underwood Funeral Home, which also will serve as the corporate headquarters for Creation Gardens. The Turniers are wholesale distributors of produce, fruit, specialty meats and gourmet items to restaurants.
The Turniers announced last year plans to build a new Creation Gardens complex adjacent to the old funeral home, but they subsequently decided there wasn’t enough space and instead bought an abandoned suburban warehouse on Campisano Drive in southeast Louisville for their distribution business.
The Turniers sold their long-established Creation Gardens site at Hancock and Main streets alongside Interstate 65 to the state Transportation Cabinet a year ago for $3.6 million as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project.
Ron Turnier said Creation Gardens has distributed Maurais candy and other gourmet products in the Louisville area for some time. He said Maurais wanted to “have a bigger presence” in the Louisville market.
The chocolate shop will sell gelato, gourmet foods, breads and coffees.
In a phone interview, Maurais said he is spending about $300,000 on renovating the carriage house, which has about 2,500 square feet of space. The cafe will employ about a dozen people, including a manager who will run the business for Maurais.
Maurais said the Louisville restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner, specializing in sandwiches, soups and salads. Most main menu items will be $9 to $13, he said. Maurais has applied for beer and wine licenses.
He said he likes the ambiance of the East Main-Market neighborhood and also the atmosphere of the carriage house.
The Turniers used the money they were paid by the state for the old Creation Gardens property to buy the former Service Welding property on Market, just east of the funeral home.
Ron Turnier said that property no longer figures in the Creation Gardens plans because it didn’t have enough room to meet the distribution and storage needs of his business and that the land is for sale.
The Turniers recently purchased a 58,000 square foot warehouse off Produce Lane, a building that is nearly twice the size of their longtime Main Street facility. Their new suburban site was once the Martin-Bower warehouse. The Turniers hope to open the new Creation Gardens warehouse in April, Ron Turnier said.
He said the downtown Chefs Club, which also is due to open in April, will offer chefs a full demonstration kitchen for classes and seminars, a cuisine lab to help with menu planning, and access to the kitchen to test food preparation equipment and to research menus. The club also will have space for meetings and for catered events.
New Business First article about our office move and new warehouse:
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/print-edition/2010/12/24/creation-gardens-to-move-into.html
Creation Gardens announces three major initiatives to benefit its commercial and retail customers.
LOUISVILLE – Creation Gardens (www.whatchefswant.com) announces three major initiatives to benefit its commercial and retail customers.
The wholesale distributor of produce, fruit, specialty meats and gourmet items to restaurants:
Has purchased a 58,000 square foot warehouse just off Produce Lane in south Louisville, nearly twice the size of its existing facility.
Will open a Chefs’ Club at its newly renovated headquarters on 725 East Market.
Will launch an on-line ordering service for retail customers.
Creation Gardens President, Ron Turnier, says the former Martin-Bower warehouse at 4301 Campisano Drive will be ready for occupancy in April 2011. It replaces the company’s current storage facility at 609 East Main on the corner of Hancock Street that was condemned by the state as part of the planned realignment of Spaghetti Junction. Turnier says it will allow the company to operate much more efficiently as it serves an expanding list of customers.
Turnier says the Chefs’ Club will be a unique downtown venue to “support all things food in Louisville.” When the facility opens in February, it will offer chefs a full demonstration kitchen for classes and seminars, a cuisine lab to help with menu planning, and access to the kitchen to test food preparation equipment and to research menus. He says he is looking for a partner to help equip the kitchen with the latest appliances. The Chefs’ Club also offers space for meetings and catered events that is currently available for bookings.
The on-line ordering service for the public will offer the same products available to local restaurants. Turnier says home chefs will be able to place an order via the Internet and have it delivered anywhere in the country or they can pick it up locally at locations to be determined.
Turnier says Creation Gardens had planned to locate a combination warehouse and retail outlet adjacent to its administration offices on Market Street, but he said it became clear there is not enough room to accommodate the storage and distribution needs of his expanding business. The nearly one acre parcel will be put up for sale. Turnier says the settlement money from the state condemnation is financing the warehouse purchase and the Chefs’ Club renovation.
Turnier says Creation Gardens remains committed to downtown Louisville and development in the Market Street corridor despite the change in plans as evidenced by the location of the company’s offices and the opening of the Chefs’ Club.
Creation Gardens is the area’s leading purveyor of produce and gourmet food items to the restaurant and foodservice industry. Creation Gardens distributes to markets and restaurants in Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, Bowling Green, Evansville, and Owensboro.
Creation Gardens is the official produce Provider for the new KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY
Creation Gardens is a proud sponsor of the Cookin’ In the Bluegrass Celebrity Chefs Dinner
Kentucky’s favorite chefs will be working side by side with the James Beard Foundation and celebrity chefs from around the United States during the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which will feature eight world championships in equestrian sport at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park from September 25 through October 10, 2010.
Cookin’ in the Bluegrass: A Celebrity Chef Dinner Series, will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Farmhouse restaurant during the 16 nights of the 2010 Games. Each night, 80 guests will enjoy dining experiences that replicate the sumptuous dinners held at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City. Click here to learn more