Pete Luckett (born 1953) is a British-Canadian entrepreneur and media personality known as a

culinary fruit This list contains the names of fruits that are considered edible either raw or in some cuisines. The word "fruit" is used in several different ways. The definition of fruit for this list is a culinary fruit, that is, "Any sweet, edible part of a ...

and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

expert. A native of

Nottingham, England Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...

, Luckett emigrated to Canada in 1979, settling in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

. In the early 1990s, he moved from Saint John to

Bedford, Nova Scotia Bedford is a community of the Halifax Regional Municipality, in Nova Scotia, Canada. History The area of Bedford has evidence of Indigenous peoples dating back thousands of years. Petroglyphs are found at Bedford Petroglyphs National Historic ...

and currently makes his home in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia.

Enterprises

Pete's Fine Foods (ex-Pete's Frootique)

Luckett became widely known in the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

for his Pete's Fine Foods (formerly Pete's Frootique) specialty grocery stores. The first Pete's Frootique store opened in 1981 at the

Saint John City Market The Saint John City Market in Saint John, New Brunswick, is the oldest continuously-operated farmer's market in Canada, with a charter dating from 1785. The market is located at 47 Charlotte Street. History Prior to the establishment of the market ...

. This is now run by Pete's nephew and his partner. This was followed by a second store that opened on Mountain Road in Moncton. In 1992, the third Pete's Frootique store opened at the Sunnyside Mall in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. In 2004, the fourth Pete's Frootique store opened on Dresden Row in downtown Halifax, and the fifth Pete's Frootique opened in Wolfville in 2012. On March 27, 2015 Pete's announced that the Wolfville location would close at the end of May 2015. A press release indicated that the Wolfville store was unable to attract enough local customers to become profitable. A similar business has since reopened at the same location. The Pete's Fine Foods stores are all different in scale. The Bedford store is the most expansive and up-scale as it houses the following operating divisions: a power juice bar, a gourmet fruit and gift basket shop, a European

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

, a gourmet

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

and fish shop, a British specialty food emporium named Best of Britain, and a wine shop.

Sale to Sobeys

In October 2015, Luckett announced that the national grocery chain

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales o ...

would be entering into an agreement to purchase the ''Pete’s Fine Foods'' grocery retail and wholesale business.

Luckett Vineyards

In 2010, Luckett opened Luckett Vineyards in Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia. He also operates a farm that supplies vegetables and fruit to his stores, as well as commercial customers such as restaurants and caterers.

Media personality

Luckett's TV career started while in Saint John as a frequent guest on the

CBC television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

show ''

Midday Noon (or midday) is 12 12-hour clock, o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for 12-hour clock, meridiem, literally 12:00 noon), 12 p.m. (for 12-hour clock, post meridiem, literally "after noon"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24 ...

''. Upon moving to Nova Scotia in the early 1990s, Luckett became a contributing guest to the Halifax CTV affiliate, ATV, where he hosted a bi-weekly segment on

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

and

s on the supperhour news show '' Live at Five''. Luckett's

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

in his broadcast media appearances is "Toodlee-doo." Luckett hosted the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

series ''The Food Hunter'' where he travels around the world. Luckett has also written a column for the ''

Halifax Chronicle-Herald ''The Chronicle Herald'' is a broadsheet newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada owned by SaltWire Network of Halifax. The paper's newsroom staff were locked out of work from January 2016 until August 2017. ''Herald'' management cont ...

'' and serves as a consultant for

Chartwells Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

, which delivers all food services at

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

, near his home. Luckett has also appeared on such programs as CBC's

Steven and Chris ''Steven and Chris'' is a Canadian television talk show that aired on CBC Television from 2008 to 2015. The show was hosted by Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman, formerly of the home renovation shows ''Designer Guys'' and '' Design Rivals'', who ...

. In December 2011, Luckett starred as a cab driver at the end of a TV ad for the

NSLC The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) is the Crown corporation which controls sales of alcoholic beverages and recreational cannabis in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the sole distributor for these products and runs all retail outlets (108 acros ...

encouraging Nova Scotians not to drink and drive by saying "If you've had a few, your car has too". The ad shows cars parked outside a party as drunk saying such phrases as "I love you man" and other drunken ramblings.

Impact on retailing in Nova Scotia

In 1999, Luckett made headlines when he won a court battle against the Government of Nova Scotia when he sought to keep his Bedford store open on Sunday. To circumvent Nova Scotia's

Sunday shopping Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the worl ...

laws, Luckett registered sections of his Bedford store as separate businesses. He copied this approach at his Halifax store when it opened in 2004. In October 2006 the province's Sunday shopping restrictions were overturned after both

and

Atlantic Superstore Atlantic Superstore is a Canadian supermarket chain. The chain operates 54 stores in the Maritimes of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. It is owned by George Weston Limited through Loblaw Companies Limited, and operates und ...

copied Luckett's approach to several of their supermarkets, forcing the government to enact restrictions that were successfully contested in court. In 2014, Pete's Frootique became Pete's Fine Foods.

References

External links

Pete's Frootique

PeteLuckett.com

Luckett Vineyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luckett, Pete Living people Canadian television personalities English emigrants to Canada Greengrocers People educated at Henry Mellish Grammar School People from Nottingham People from Kings County, Nova Scotia Canadian grocers 1953 births