Whole Foods Delivery

Whole Foods requests don't suit tastes of New Orleans planning commission

The commission approved a couple of fairly minor changes, but it refused to increase the number of 18-wheelers that can deliver food to the store each day, to expand the hours during which all trucks can make deliveries or to authorize live entertainment at the store up to 20 days a year.

Final decisions on all the issues are up to the City Council . The site is in Councilwoman Susan Guidry's district.

The store opened in 2002 in a converted former Regional Transit Authority bus barn, but only after a lengthy neighborhood controversy was resolved by an agreement between developers and neighbors containing a long list of conditions and restrictions that then were written into the ordinance authorizing the store's operation.

Roger Javier, an attorney for the store, said its operators wanted to change five of the provisos.

Unloading of deliveries and trash pickup now are restricted to between 7 and 11 a.m. The store wanted to extend the period to 3 p.m. to space out truck traffic.

It also wanted the right to have at least two 18-wheelers deliver directly to the store. At present, one of the giant trucks must unload its contents onto three smaller trucks at another site each day.

The store now is required to close its doors at 8 p.m. on Sundays, an hour earlier than on other days. The operators hope to stay open until 9 on Sundays and to open an hour earlier on the day before Thanksgiving.

They also want the right to display flowers, plants and pumpkins outside the store.

Finally, they were seeking advance permission to have live entertainment both inside and outside the store 20 times a year, rather than having to seek city permits for each individual event. Performances outside the store could not be amplified, would have to end by 6 p.m. and could take place only on the Magazine Street side.

More than a dozen neighbors spoke in opposition to the requests, citing noise from deliveries and other store activities, alleged damage to streets and buildings from the large trucks, a shortage of neighborhood parking and other problems.

Partnership with Whole Foods and B-Line delivery freshens menu at ...

With its restaurant-style dining and $1.25 meals, Sisters of the Road Cafe has long been the homiest nonprofit grub spot for downtown Portland's hungry.

Now, thanks to a recent partnership with B-Line: Sustainable Urban Delivery and Whole Foods Market , the cafe's freshly transformed menu also makes it the healthiest.

Call it Portlandia at its best. About 80 percent of Sisters' food is donated by Whole Foods and pedaled over daily on a tricycle as part of B-Line's food gleaning program, B-Shares.

"It's really about community organizations that partner and prioritize food equity," said Kris Soebroto, a development associate for Sisters' kitchen team. "There is an incredible food movement happening in this city and around the world that is demanding a just food system."

It's a big step in fulfilling kitchen co-managers Bob Davis and Nina Diouf's mission to make the operation more sustainable, both financially and environmentally.

For diners, it means better food. For Sisters, it means increased resources.

The organization's monthly kitchen budget is $3,000, and the value of Whole Foods' donations pushes $2,600 in a good month. Other contributions come in seasonally from farmers markets and sporadically from ranchers.

With produce in place, they are now focused on finding reliable, high-quality meat and dairy donors.

"We'd like to have a solid source of grass-fed organic beef," Diouf said. "But it's hard to find something consistent."

Some of the dairy is bought with contributions from individual donors. That money, plus food donations from a combination of smaller farmers and farmers markets, also helps keep the pantries stocked.

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