Bay Area Gets High End Frozen Meal Solutions as Andronico's Brings on Grace's Kitchen.

Savvy Shoppers Warm up to Niche Line of Frozen a la carte Entrees, Sides, and Desserts for Versatile Meal Planning

SEATTLE -- When Grace's Kitchen edged its way into the frozen food aisles of supermarkets across the country last year, it discovered shoppers wanted more of a good thing. After recently extending its line to help customers with innovative meal planning, flexibility and convenience, Andronico's supermarket has become the first Bay Area retailer to carry the extended Grace's Kitchen line throughout its eight-store chain.

"We're thrilled to have Andronico's on board to serve the Bay Area since the family-owned chain is revered for embracing food with superior ingredients and quality, which is what Grace's Kitchen is all about," Amy Kirtland said, Grace's Kitchen Vice President of Sales and Marketing, "Our extended line is a direct reflection of what the Andronico's customer seeks; by adding flavorful dimension to vegetables, and offering easy, bake-to-serve desserts in addition to inventive complete meals and entrees, we've given the consumer as much or as little help with meal time as they want."

Frozen food has come along way from the glorified TV dinner, the zap-n-eat burrito, and flat of lasagna. The all natural offering from Grace's Kitchen, hand prepared by line chefs, illustrates the freshness and quality carried in today's frozen food section.

Simplicity and price factor in to Grace's allure as well. Each item is designed to be finished in the customer's home kitchen in less than 20 minutes using simple preparation methods. With unit prices ranging from $3.49 to $9.99 for the a la carte items, consumers are impressed by the time and money saved using Grace's (rather than shopping on their own for ingredients and preparing the components from scratch).

To illustrate a few of the line offerings, a la carte entrees range from Free Range Herbed Chicken with Sherry Sauce; Niman Ranch Spice-Rubbed Pork with Balsamic Peaches; to creative side dishes such as Blue Cheese Arugula Smashed Potatoes; Garlic Seared Artichokes; Toasted Hazelnut Green Beans with two individually packed servings. Dessert examples include Triple Berry Crisp and Rhubarb Citrus Upside Down Cakes, among others.

Andronico's is a family-owned supermarket chain, founded in 1929 by Frank Andronico and now serving upscale communities in San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Anselmo and the greater Bay Area. Its mission is to provide excellent customer service and superior quality food.

Grace's Kitchen is sold from coast to coast at retailers including Shaw's, Andronico's, The Fresh Market, Zupan's, Earth Fare, QFC, Metropolitan Market and Independent Natural Food Stores. For more information, visit www.graceskitchen.com or call 206-297-3663.