SALINAS, CA - With this year’s Organic Produce Summit (OPS) now mere hours away, the produce industry has been buzzing with all things related to the already thriving three-year-old show. Alicia Blanco, Marketing Manager, and Dan Canales, Sr. VP of Sales and Marketing, for Ippolito International were some of those buzzing industry members, and also more than happy to give me a sneak preview of what the company is bringing to the forefront at the Monterey, California, show this week.
“This is the organic show of the year for our industry. The amount of exposure to the nation’s top retailers for the two-day event in our backyard is a rare opportunity," Alicia tells me when I ask her why Ippolito continues to come back to OPS. “This year, we will be highlighting the latest emerging vegetable Organic Asparagus under the Queen Victoria brand. We will also be displaying Organic Brussels Sprouts, Organic Chopped Kale, and Organic Salads in our booth.”
Queen Victoria Organic Asparagus is an important product for Ippolito International, as it is not only in the OPS showcase this year, but, as we reported earlier this year, was recently expanded as part of new operations in Salinas Valley at Coastal View Packing.
“With our newly acquired asparagus program—which incorporates organic—we are able to offer our customers high profile organic items that continue to gain popularity with consumers,” Dan Canales explains. “Our key messaging at this show is that we will continue to expand our organic offerings for both value-added and commodity items.”
Having introduced its new Queen Victoria Brand Organic greens and lettuces at last year’s OPS show, Ippolito International has no plans of slowing down momentum for its growing organic program. Dan tells me a key aspect of the company’s future plan is to recreate its success by expanding into the organic asparagus category, as well as other strategic products and packs in the value-added sector.
“We are going to continue to lengthen our growing periods with a goal of expanding our year-round availability on certain categories,” Dan notes. “We are the largest supplier of Brussels Sprouts in North America; however, we have over 45 different commodities and 100s of pack sizes, including organic SKUs. We are continuing to grow our availability and are a full scale operation; both allow our customers more efficient stops for their trucks.”
Ippolito will have its organic line ready for retail eyes at OPS booth #107, so stop on by and learn more about all these organic experts have to offer.
