Fresh & Easy Introduces New Frozen Italian Gourmet Pizzas

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has expanded its Gourmet range with a line of specially handcrafted frozen artisan pizzas from Italy, selling for $3.99. The new pizzas join other Gourmet products introduced just last month, which have quickly become a hit for customers looking for unique and original products. Fresh & Easy's team of chefs created the Gourmet range to cater to customers seeking more affordable, restaurant-quality products they can serve at home.

Using only the finest Italian ingredients and recipes, the new fresh&easy Gourmet pizzas are handcrafted in Visso, an Italian village just outside Rome known for its extremely pure water from Monti Sibillini National Park. The dough and sauce are made on-site by the pizza maker who gives the pizzas a traditional, rustic Italian crust by double-proofing the dough and baking the pizzas in a stone oven.

Like all fresh&easy products, Gourmet is made with fresh, premium ingredients with no artificial colors or flavors, no high-fructose corn syrup, no added trans fats, and only use preservatives when absolutely necessary.

New fresh&easy Gourmet pizzas now available in store include:

Margherita Pizza

• The Margherita Pizza was originally created in 1889 to honor the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. Like the original, fresh&easy Gourmet Margherita Pizza is made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil – to represent the colors of the Italian flag.

Four Cheese Pizza

• The Four Cheese Pizza follows a traditional Italian recipe with mozzarella, edamer, emmanthal and gran moravia cheese and Italian balsamic vinegar from Modena.

Pesto & Arugula Pizza

• The Pesto & Arugula Pizza is an Italian recipe typical of the Liguria Region, which is famous for its pesto. Our pesto uses a combination of basil, crushed garlic, grated hard cheese, and pine nuts with a little olive oil – all from Italy.

"We're always working to find interesting, unique and delicious products to bring to our customers," said John Burry, Fresh & Easy Chief Commercial Officer. "We're excited to introduce even more Gourmet products, after all, who wouldn't love a great authentic Italian pizza for less than $4."

In addition to the new Gourmet pizzas, Fresh & Easy's chefs have worked on innovative ways to develop Gourmet products. For example, Fresh & Easy uses the special sous-vide cooking method for its frozen Gourmet Braised Beef in Red Wine Sauce, Gourmet Mediterranean-style Fisherman Stew and Gourmet Pork with Portobello Mushroom Sauce, which all sell for $6.99. Sous-vide is a unique method of slowly cooking food at a slightly lower temperature in specially designed pouches to vastly improve flavor and texture.

For more details on the new Gourmet products, please visit Fresh & Easy's blog: blog.freshandeasy.com/2011/03/molto-buono-new-fresh-gourmet-pizzas.html. Photos of the fresh&easy Gourmet range are also available on the company's Flickr photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/freshandeasy.

About Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Fresh & Easy operates more than 165 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. In addition to fresh prepared meals, meats and produce, Fresh & Easy offers everyone's favorite national brand products and household items, all at unbelievably low prices. The grocer's popular fresh&easy brand products have no artificial colors or flavors, no added trans fats, no high-fructose corn syrup, and only use preservatives when absolutely necessary.

On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30% less energy than a typical supermarket, which helps customers save money – and also helps the environment. Fresh & Easy uses LED lighting in external signs and freezer cases, offers customer recycling in every store and uses advanced refrigeration and freezer units to cut back on energy usage. The company also recycles or reuses all of its display packaging, sending the majority back through its distribution center.

For more information about Fresh & Easy, visit www.freshandeasy.com. Also follow the company on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/fresh_and_easy and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freshandeasy.

SOURCE Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market