That’s right, the Fourth Annual Take Your Tomato Contest is underway - grab your camera and your tomato and start shooting! Check out last year’s winners here. Do you think your tomato will make the grade?
To enter, email your tomato photo, name and preferred Earth Fare location to contests@earthfare.com before 11:59pm EST on 7/20/2012.
We’ll narrow it down to the top 10 photos. YOU will vote for the winners! 1st place wins a $500 Earth Fare gift card! Check out the rest of the prizes and contest details here. Good luck!
Need some inspiration? Here are some of last year’s top entries:
What is going on at Earthfare? I was in Ashville yesterday, visiting my sister. I went to Earthfare, one of my favorite things to do while in town. Or it USED to be. I got a pizza slice, and the employee said “Yum yum” to me when handing it to me. I was like, WHAT?? But I didn’t say anything. While hanging around eating it, I heard them saying that to everyone! So I asked, and was told it’s a new policy! What are we, children??? Earthfare has been a place I love because of its vibe of authenticity and uniqueness. A policy that scripts employee remarks is DISGUSTING, and if it continues, I won’t be able to even go into the store.
Hi Bill – thanks for leaving your comments. Sorry you had a bad experience – most of our team members have fun with our little “yum yum, good good” phrases. It’s not meant to be childish or demeaning, just something that our team members can be silly with.
I think it is silly if they have to say that every time…maybe ever so often.
by the by….I voted for the tomatoes and got to the coupon…and it expires before our Louisville store opens on August 8.
I found your store in Montgomery during one of my business trips on July 11th. I just had lunch at a 5 Guys burger joint and was leaving the area and drove by your store. I stopped and went in. I sampled your chicken salad from the deli and bought a half pund, and ate it in my car in the parking lot. As I continued to Birmingham, AL I called the store I just left to see if there was a store in Birmingham. There was and I ate dinner there that night and had lunch there on Friday prior to heading home to Dothan, AL. I also purchased other items from both stores. PLEASE OPEN A STORE IN DOTHAN, AL. There is a vacant Bruno’s facility that would be ideal. I love your stores!
Hi James – thanks for your comments! I’m glad you enjoyed our stores. I’ll pass along your request to our real estate development team and we’ll see what we can do.
Last week my staff of five and I were all surprised to see that you had discontinued the $5 lunch special at the Earth Fare in Asheville 28803. It appears that the salad bar offerings have been substantially reduced along with the elimination of take out prepared pizzas.
Not sure what the rationale was that led to this decision but if the Earth Fare lunch sandwich, which is now $9.00, and the salad bar at $3.00/lb more than any other competitor, my group and I will most likely not return to eat here with all the free “wifi” crowd in the sit down dining area.
Someone from corporate might want to check on what the latest marketing plan has done at store level to your salad bar, lunch sandwich, and pick up item sales.
Hi David – thanks for leaving your comments. We have just recently made some adjustments to our new sandwich program and we do have a lunch special again. You can get a half a sandwich and side for around $5. I hope you’ll give us a second chance – we’re still reviewing the program and more changes may be on the way. Thank you again for your feedback – it’s very important for us to hear from our customers!
Everyone in my family loves Earthfare!
The organic products always fresh and yummy!!!!
Thank you guys,
Abby Strater
I really am frustrated at the new ways at Earthfare. First, I was so disappointed that you no longer carry the Ratatouile burgers or the Parsnip/Carrot things any longer. I was also so disappointed that everything is no longer marked Vegan Vegetarian or animal based. I asked the young girl behind the counter and she said that they have done away with a lot of things and that they have had tons of complaints. When I went to check out my daughter said somthing to me about how disappointing this trip was and the girl behind the register said the same thing that they have had so many complaints. She told me to fill out a comment card which I did. I checked the box stating that I would like to be contacted. That was 3 weeks ago and have not heard one word from anyone yet. I left email addy and phone #. I drove a long way to get there that day and was so frustrated at not being able to ge the items I drove out there for. I will not be driving out there again unless I hear that you have brought these items back. If you aren’t going to bring them back how about sharing the recipe so I can make them at home. If that happens maybe I will still consider shopping there for the vegetables that I would need to make them. A very disappointed customer.
Hi Eileen – I am sorry if we do not have some of your favorite items available right now…We have been revamping our menu and are working to bring more variety and seasonality to our set in the deli case. Please bear with us…we are developing items such as a Sweet Potato Cake ,Wild Mushroom Risotto Cake, and Spicy Black Bean and many more that we hope will be as well received as other items you have purchased from us. Again I am sorry if these changes have made your visit with us less than great…and know that we will be better very soon.
I will try to get the recipe from our food service team – is it ok to email it to you?
What factors do you take into consideration when choosing the finalists? I see you have several entries posted on your Pintrest account that are better quality and more creative than some that made it to the finals. I am sure that there are specific guidelines to follow for the “Healthy Tomato” award, but are quality and creativity not factors overall? Thanks!
We look at quality and creativity and whatever photos catch our attention. The members of our home office vote and help us narrow them down to 10 – we received over 600 entries so it was quite the task – and very difficult – to select the finalists!
Wonder what the status is of the Take your tomato contest is for both who the 10 finalist are and when voting will begin? I submitted my photo last week and got a thank you for your submission message back, but haven’t seen/heard any updates since.
Here are the finalists and voting page: http://www.earthfare.com/youwin/
Where on the website do we vote for our favorite tomato picture?
You can vote for your favorite tomato picture right here: http://www.earthfare.com/youwin/
Hi. Wondering when and where the finalist will be posted?
You can vote here: http://www.earthfare.com/youwin/
My friend Sheri S. was a finalists your in your tomato contest, I went on your site today and her picture was missing, I can’t vote if her picture is no longer there, not fair, what happened?
We had to remove one of the photos from the contest because it contained a can that resembles a Diet Pepsi, which is a banned item in our stores. If we would have noticed it before we would not have submitted it into the final voting stages.
I was a finalist in your tomato contest (your staff picked my picture as one of the finalists). You can only imagine how excited I was….WOW in the running for one of 3 prizes…..$500, $250, or even $100 gift card. All my friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and others were excited for me and voting for my cute tomato picture. Then I receive the bomb e-mail from your staff. Low and behold, I was informed that your staff had disqualified me from the contest and removed my picture. Apparently they did NOT do THEIR job well when they were reviewing the pictures for posting. I used a beverage can in my picture as a prop, and someone thought it resembled a Diet Pepsi can (which it was not). WOW… I, AS WELL AS ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE SO DISAPPOINTED IN EATH FARE! I was just thrown out of the contest…just like trash! Even though it was Earth Fare’s overlooking in the first place! But how nice….I lost the chance to win any of the prizes, but they so nicely offered me a “consolation prize” so-to-speak a $50 gift card. REALLY? Just so all of you know….I’m still upset! I put a lot of thought and creativity into my entry…then to make it to the finals….then to be thrown out because of a stupid prop! The rules were pretty clear….There were none, except submitting a picture in the correct format by the deadline. Because Earth Fare’s staff did a poor job in reviewing, I have to suffer! Earth Fare sure left a bad taste in my mouth!
I was wondering what your policy is with respect to genetically modified ingredients. I almost bought a bag of tortilla chips today, that are on sale, but noticed that even though it’s “made with organic corn”, it doesn’t say anything about the canola oil. I downloaded your “boot” list, and didn’t see GMOs listed.there, even though the lady at the register assured me those ingredients “are not allowed”. She was nice enough to send me to this website, and offered to look it up if I don’t get an answer here..
At Earth Fare we don’t sell items that we know contain GMOs. The problem is that the government does not make it mandatory to label GMOs. Here is a little snippet about GMOs and Earth Fare that was written a while back but still pertains to our view. You can find the entire note posted on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/EarthFare/notes#!/notes/earth-fare/gmo-and-earth-fare/413674732703
“In our Earth Fare private label, we have made a concerted effort to go Organic or GMO free in all of the products. Organic by definition is not supposed to contain GMO material in it. … See MoreOnly mandatory labeling of foods as SOURCE VERIFIED GMO-FREE (not just tested to be free of) can really help us and you solve the issue of GMOs in our foods.Unfortunately, the current USDA is being filled with former GMO supporters who think things like GMO alfalfa being released into use for animal fodder is a good thing. Voluntary labeling is a good first step, but it is not enough. We need people to write our Congress people and the White House to demand that we as US citizens deserve the right to know where our food comes from with clear labeling of the source material on the ingredient panel of the foods we eat. GMOs are not ok for us or for the animals whose meat and dairy products we consume.In the meantime, to avoid GMOs in our foods, buy organic whenever possible, check manufacturer’s policies on GMO testing on their websites and support those that pledge to keep GMO materials out of their foods. Make more things from scratch so you keep control of what goes in your food. Buy from people you know. There is a lot of work to do to make our foods GMO free.”
The finalist pictures are gone. Just because the voting is over doesn’t mean there aren’t those of us who would still like to see them. Please put them up somewhere that we can. Did you email those whose pictures were chosen to let them know/
Hi Dawn – yes the votes have been counted and the winners have been announced. You can see them here: http://tomatotalk.earthfare.com/2012/07/31/2012-take-your-tomato-contest-winners/
just wanted to say how much i love your bulk grain/nuts section where i can find all the basic grains we use on a regular basis. only mung beans were not available. perhaps these could be added? we also buy your kale in bulk for our daily green drinks which we enjoy after working out. we are so excited that your store recently opened up in ohio! looking forward to a long relationship with you. one last compliment~ the soups are delicious and especially the asparagus as well as the carrot ginger which we often enjoy. the bakery always has my whole grain/wheat bread which is quite a bargain at $2.99~ again, a lovely shopping experience is always a pleasure as well as enjoying samples that are sometimes available to try new items! sincerely, pam maly
Hi Pam – thank you so much for your wonderful comments! We’re glad you like our store. We’ll look into carrying mung beans in bulk. Thanks again!