INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Always an advocate to the fresh produce industry, not to mention a friendly face, Produce Mom® Lori Taylor is making an exciting new announcement ahead of this year’s PMA Fresh Summit. After five years of growing her blog, starting once as the consumer brand of the Indianapolis Fruit Company, Lori Taylor has announced she will be rebranding The Produce Mom to The Produce Moms™.
“I believe that if we are going to change the way America eats and establish a preference for fresh produce, we have to start at the source and build a community of moms, children, and school professionals that want to see positive change,” said Lori, CEO of The Produce Moms. “This community of Produce Moms will be comprised of the people that will ultimately lead and shape change in their local homes, schools, and communities.”
Now further solidifying its place as an important educational media brand for the produce industry, Lori and her team have grown the company’s aim to serve three specific audiences: moms, children, and school professionals, providing inspirational content and action-oriented materials for each audience that is geared towards increasing the consumption of fresh produce in America.
“We intend to provide our community of Produce Moms with access to educative content on a regular basis, as we have done for the past two years,” Lori added. “In addition, it is my goal to provide tools and turnkey solutions that The Produce Moms’ army can access and use to shape change in their own communities around the country.”
Over the past two years, The Produce Mom has been working as the sole-source provider of a grant awarded to the state of Indiana by the USDA Team Nutrition program. Over this time period, The Produce Mom has hosted special events at schools geared to introduce students to fresh produce varieties and encourage foodservice professionals to provide fresh fruits and vegetables. The grant project continues for the next year, according to a press release, and includes the publication of a national digital curriculum and continuing education program for school foodservice professionals in all fifty states.
“The work that Lori and her team have conducted in K12 schools over the past two years has been transformational. I’m grateful to be a part of this movement as we’ve witnessed first-hand how children react positively to healthier food choices by making it exciting, available, and delicious,” shared Chef Todd Fisher, a culinary veteran and spokesperson for Duda Farm Fresh Foods.“Through public-private partnership between the USDA and Duda Farm Fresh Foods, I had the great opportunity to collaborate with The Produce Moms and educate over 200 school foodservice professionals.”
Duda, The Produce Moms, and the USDA have had a strong working relationship, supporting a three-day live culinary skills training program earlier this year. The training included Smarter Lunchrooms strategies and recipe development to promote the under-consumed vegetable subcategories and impacted over 1 billion annual school meals.
The Produce Moms has worked with many fresh produce brands across the industry, which have been partners, supporters, and advocates of Lori’s work since the company’s inception. Through these collaborations, fresh produce brands have had the opportunity to reach consumers in a way that is purposeful and puts fresh fruit and vegetable products at the forefront.
“The Produce Moms provides Wada Farms with an engaged and evolving resource for on-trend marketing discussions, both with The Produce Moms consumer community, and the other well-respected brands of The Produce Moms’ Family of Partners,” said Kevin Stanger, President of Wada Farms. “Wada Farms believes in The Produce Moms and has benefitted greatly from our two-year association with the brand.”
If you’d like to learn more information about how to join the fresh produce fight with Lori and The Produce Moms, visit http://www.theproducemoms.com/. Lori will also be in attendance at this year’s Fresh Summit, and will be available to meet with brands and enthusiasts seeking to connect to the cause and the consumer.
