NEWS

Livingston’s Fresh Market Hosts Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce Monthly Resource Breakfast
September 18, 2015

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The new Fresh Market in Livingston hosted this month’s Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce (LACC) resource breakfast Thursday, where local businesses owners gathered for fresh-brewed coffee and an early meal courtesy of the specialty grocery store at 277 Eisenhower Pkwy.

The networking event gave LACC members the opportunity to share business with each other in an informal, social setting as well as the opportunity to get to know one of the Livingston business community’s newest members, the Fresh Market.

Fresh Market assistant atore manager Ann Marie Bilza welcomed the Chamber to the Livingston Fresh Market, which is the third location to open in New Jersey. The Fresh Market, a chain grocery store opened originally as a North Carolina ‘Mom and Pop’ specialty shop in 1986, is now open in 179 locations in the United States, including its newest location in Livingston.

“We’re not your typical ‘have it all’ grocery store—we are a small, specialty grocery store,” said Bilza. “So you won’t find everything that you will find in say a Shop Rite or a Pathmark, but you will find a lot of the specialty items that a lot of people like.”

Bilza invited Chamber members to shop around and get to know the Fresh Market before the end of the September Resource Breakfast. Many members were interested in the Fresh Market’s current Cupcakes for a Cause event, benefitting the No Kid Hungry campaign. Bilza said the company as a whole is extremely active in many charity and community service events and especially enjoys participating in the No Kid Hungry campaign, which ensures that children in the U.S. get the nutritious foods that they need.

Bilza also said the Fresh Market is looking forward to this season’s Fresh Market drawing contest, which invites kids in the area to draw what they think about the store. The many drawings will decorate the front walls at Livingston’s Fresh Market until the employees choose one winner from each of the two age categories. The winning design will ultimately get printed on the Fresh Market’s reusable shopping bags, all proceeds of which also benefit No Kid Hungry.

“The [Livingston] community has been so great and the people are really friendly and very supportive,” said Bilazz. “We have our regulars that come in every single day (the coffee lady and the people that love the meat department), but we’ve also seen a lot of people from community events coming through the store and becoming regulars so the community itself has been really supportive.”

LACC President Monte Ehrenkranz thanked the Fresh Market for hosting this month’s breakfast and reminded members to keep a look out for upcoming fall events. According to Ehrenkranz, the LACC is about networking and working together to expand the Livingston business community and he encouraged members to continue doing so.

“When you go to different events every month, to different places to show off your businesses, I think that’s what people want to see,” said Ehrenkranz. “Let’s keep throwing the name of Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce out there amongst other businesses and invite your friends to come if you feel like they may get some benefit out of it.”