Bland Farms Builds Beyond the Sweet Onion; Sloan Lott Shares

GLENNVILLE, GA - Knowing what you do well is one thing. Knowing where that strength can take you next is another.

For Bland Farms, sweet onions remain firmly at the center of the business, but the grower-shipper is increasingly looking at what else its expertise, relationships, and supply chain can bring to the table for retail partners.

“Vidalia Sweet Onions are at the heart of what we do, and that isn’t changing. But our expertise in the category gives us an opportunity to do more for the customers we already serve,” said Sloan Lott, Director of Sales, Bland Farms.

Building Around the Sweet Spot

That approach starts close to home. Many retailers already sourcing sweet onions from Bland Farms are also buying white, red, and yellow onions, creating a natural place for the company to broaden its role.

Rather than asking those customers to look elsewhere for the rest of the onion set, Bland Farms sees room to bring more of those needs under one roof.

“Many of our retail partners who buy sweet onions from Bland Farms are also sourcing whites, reds and yellows. By expanding the onions we market to include those varieties, we can simplify that process and become a more complete onion partner.”

The distinction is an important one: broadening the business does not mean leaving behind the category that built it. “It’s not about moving away from sweets. It’s about building around the strength we already have. We grow, pack and ship sweet onions, and we’re bringing that experience and category knowledge to a broader onion program," Sloan shares.

And there are already signs that the broader strategy is gaining ground. “One of the clearest areas of growth has been our bagged onion business. We’ve doubled bagged production over the past five years, and that’s significant because it reflects how the way we go to market is evolving alongside our customers.”

Bland Farms is also seeing momentum across its year-round sweet onion business and broader onion assortment. The next piece of the puzzle is connecting those parts in a way that gives retailers greater consistency throughout the calendar.

“We’re also seeing momentum in our year-round sweet onion program and in the broader onion category. The opportunity for us now is to connect those pieces—Vidalias, Premium Sweet Onions and our expanded onion offering—into programs that give retailers greater consistency throughout the year," Sloan details.

Heading West

That same thinking is taking Bland Farms farther from its Georgia roots. The West Coast has become a significant growth market for the company, where Bland Farms saw a need for greater consistency in the sweet onion category.

“The West Coast has become a significant growth market for us because we saw an opportunity to bring greater consistency to the category.”

For retailers, having product available week after week can determine just how much they are willing to put behind a category. Bland Farms saw that inconsistent supply in parts of the West was making that equation harder.

“Retailers can only build a strong sweet onion program if they know the product is going to be there week after week. Historically, consistent supply has been more challenging in parts of the West, and that limited how aggressively some retailers could merchandise the category.” So, Bland Farms started building the pieces needed to close that gap.

Today, the grower is moving product west daily, with its Peruvian Premium Sweet Onions entering through Long Beach. The company is also servicing Nevada and Northern California with white, red, and yellow onions, extending both its geographic reach and its presence beyond sweets.

“We’ve built the infrastructure to help change that. Today, we're moving product west daily. Our Peruvian Premium Sweet Onions come through Long Beach, giving us an important entry point into the market, and we've expanded our ability to serve customers across the region. We're also servicing Nevada and Northern California with whites, reds and yellows.”

For a company built around the sweet onion, category growth is proving to be less about chasing something entirely different and more about seeing how far an established strength can travel.

“It’s a good example of what our broader strategy looks like: identify where our customers need greater consistency, build the supply chain to support it, and then give them a program they can count on.”

Sweet onions may be the foundation, but Bland Farms is clearly interested in seeing just how far that foundation can take it.