BUFFALO, NY - What better time than after American Independence Day to talk about stuffing your face with food competitively? But instead of the hot dog eating competitions you might be used to, how about trying a kale eating contest instead? Coming up on July 9th at the Taste of Buffalo food festival, kale loving competitors will be able to battle it out for $2,000 and the title of kale-consuming champion.
Competitive eaters sanctioned by Major League Eating will have eight minutes to consume as much of the leafy green vegetable as possible, according to Thrillist, in what is being referred to as “Kale Yeah!”
“'Kale Yeah, the World’s Healthiest Eating Championship,' is a fun way to encourage everyone to digest the importance of eating healthy and choosing healthy options,” said Michael Cropp, President & CEO of the Independent Health Foundation in a statement. “As birthplace of the chicken wing and other food favorites, Buffalo is also leading the way by promoting nutritional options available at the Taste of Buffalo and through this one-of-a-kind special event.”
The city of Buffalo has already began prepping 40 pounds of kale for the showdown, nicely fashioned into an easier-to-consume salad with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Competitive eating stars such as Eric “Badlands” Booker, Crazy Legs Conti, and “Buffalo” Jim Reeves will all be in attendance, the source reports.
Will inundating our guts with kale replace hot dog contests as the new Independence Day tradition? Maybe not, but you may just start finding a little bit of the green stuff wedged beside your ketchup and mustard if the trend continues.
LOS ALAMITOS, CA – Frieda’s Specialty Produce is looking to offer retailers an enticing addition to their produce departments with lychee and rambutan, now in peak season.
“Our bright, new branding and fun labels for ‘Luscious Lychee’ and ‘Rockin’ Rambutan’ will attract shoppers, as well as help them identify the often-confused fruits,” stated Karen Caplan, President and CEO.
The company said in a press release that both top-selling fruits are now available in bulk, and easy-to-merchandise clamshells.
Lychees, coming from Mexico, are packaged in 10-lb bulk and 12/12 oz clamshells. Rambutan, from Mexico and Guatemala, are available in 5-lb bulk and 14/12 oz clamshells.
“Based on customer requests, we developed these clamshells to extend the shelf-life and make both lychee and rambutan easier to merchandise. To maximize shelf-life, both of these fruits should be refrigerated and the clamshells make that easy,” finished Caplan.
Retailers, wholesalers, and foodservice distributors interested in taking advantage of peak-season lychee and rambutan can contact Frieda’s account managers for more information.
OTTAWA, ON - Loblaw and NatureFresh™ Farms are continuing to work together to educate consumers about how produce is grown and promoting the locally-grown initiative, with the next round of tours for the company’s mobile Greenhouse Education Center. Not only has this NatureFresh initiative kicked off this week, but it is also making local news.
NatureFresh Farms' Director of Marketing, Chris Veillon, and Loblaw Dietitian, Alexes Papadopoli, were featured by Ottawa’s CTV News, showcasing the influence NatureFresh’s mobile greenhouse has on consumers looking to understand greenhouse growing and, in turn, eating more healthily.
“The Greenhouse Education Center is a great tool to teach consumers about how produce is grown and, more importantly, how produce is grown in Ontario,” Veillon told CTV News, explaining that this is the second year of the Green in the City Tour, coming off of a successful debut this time last year.
You can watch the full interview spotlighting both Loblaw and NatureFresh in the video below.
As we have reported previously, the NatureFresh Greenhouse Education Center is a 38-foot custom built trailer that has six different cassettes that hold a variety of products, including three different colors of bell peppers, English cucumbers, cocktail tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes.
Available in Loblaw stores throughout Ontario, consumers have the added benefit of the retailers’ dietitians available to advise on what can be done with fresh produce in the home and the benefits of eating more of it.
“We encourage everybody to come out and just check out what the greenhouse is doing so you can really get a feel for where your food comes from,” Papadopoli told the news source. “Then I can help you prepare it, and give you recipe ideas.”
With a dietitian in every Loblaw in Ottawa offering complementary services, we hope to see many more consumers taking advantage of all this program has to offer to further boost the produce section.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Making moves to extends its wholesale arm even further throughout the nation, SuperValu Inc. has announced that it has entered into a long-term supply agreement with Marsh Supermarkets as its primary grocery supplier.
“Marsh Supermarkets is a terrific grocery chain that has served customers and communities across Indiana and Ohio for 85 years,” said Mark Gross, SuperValu President and CEO, in a recent press release. “Their shoppers have come to expect quality, value and a great fresh experience and we’re pleased Marsh has entrusted us for this business going forward. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to combine both our wholesale and logistics experience with our professional service offerings to deliver a comprehensive solution for them.”
In addition to providing the chains as a wholesale provider for fresh produce, SuperValu will now service Marsh Supermarkets and its subsidiary, O’Malia Food Markets, as the primary supplier for the following traditional categories:
- Grocery
- Deli
- Bakery
- Seafood
- Dairy
- Frozen foods
- Meat
“It’s great to see this growth in our wholesale business, and I’m also excited about what this means for the growth in our broad services offering,” Gross added.
SuperValu will also provide professional services and merchandising support to Marsh, including strategic pricing analysis, shelf management programs, and advanced merchandise planning.
SuperValu said that this new agreement will also bestow Marsh’s with benefits from the company’s new SV Insights business intelligence tool and mobile order entry system.
The transition of stores into the new agreement is expected to be completed around the end of September, 2016. Marsh Supermarkets is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, and operates around 70 Marsh stores and O’Malia Food Markets throughout Indiana and Ohio.
For more in breaking agreements and news in the industry, click back on AndNowUKnow for leading buy-side strategies.
PELION, SC – As the company continues to make moves towards helping consumers make their plate more green this year, and demonstrate the versatility of greens, WP Rawl has announced the release of its second downloadable e-cookbook, Back to Fresh: Cookbook Part II.
“While working with our Nature’s Greens® brand ambassador and registered dietitian Cynthia Sass on recipe development, we were really inspired,” said Ashley Rawl, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development.
This e-cookbook is the second to be released in the series of four for the year, and combines fresh ingredients with summer-specific recipes to cultivate meals that are healthy, tasty, and fun.
The company stated in a press release that the versatility of greens are shown in a variety of dishes such as smoothies, salads on the go, and stir fry dinners for the whole family.
“As the premier grower, processor and shipper in the category, we want to help consumers take the guesswork out of preparing fresh, healthy meals for themselves and their loved ones,” finished Rawl.
WP Rawl and Nature’s Greens plan to release two more seasonally-minded e-cookbooks for the series later in the year, to feature fun and fresh meal options for an assortment of occasions and tastes. All cookbooks are available for download here.
Click back on AndNowUKnow for the latest in consumer-based innovations and campaigns to further launch the consumption of fresh produce.
LOS ALAMITOS, CA – Adding to the expertise of its team, Frieda’s Specialty Produce has announced that the well-known name of produce veteran Kevin Leap will be joining the company as its Director of Business Development.
“I have long admired Frieda’s and the Caplan family, and am happy to be able to work with them as they continue to grow the company and extend the reach of their brand,” said Leap.
Leap has a long history with the produce industry, beginning with six years spent at retailers Vons. Leap also spent time as Sales Manager at Ready Pac Produce, before moving to Dulcinea Farms as Director of Sales. Most recently, according to a press release, Leap worked with West Pak Avocados, developing new business programs in both retail and foodservice.
“We are so delighted to have Kevin on board,” said Karen Caplan, President and CEO of Frieda’s. “Kevin has a fantastic reputation and a lot of experience building programs and introducing products to both retailers and foodservice operators across the country. Our sales and business development teams are thrilled to work with him in creating more excitement in the specialty category.”
Congratulations to Kevin and the team at Frieda’s, we can’t wait to see what you work up together!
SALINAS, CA - As we move into a period of increasing demand for lettuce and leaf items nationwide, shippers are reporting lighter volumes and a tightening market ahead. With summer just barely underway, I spoke with John Georgalos, Commodity Manager for Tanimura & Antle, and Jason Lathos, Manager of Commodities for Church Brothers Farms, about what is contributing to the recent market conditions and what we can expect during July.
“West Coast lettuce volume is reduced this time of year due to the impact of homegrown product,” John tells me as we discuss how the availability of homegrown lettuce started about two weeks ago, but has not had a significant impact on the lettuce market. “We would expect demand in those areas to taper off. It has not. These two factors combined means that demand for lettuce has remained stronger than available supplies.”
In addition, weather contributed to the shortages last week and will this week, as well. The anticipated hot weather during the past two weeks has not materialized as predicted.
Although it has been very hot in some areas, John notes, the Northern Salinas Valley weather was on the milder side and has recently cooled down to below average. T&A anticipated an increase in yields due to warm weather, but in fact, yields have gone down. Another factor for the company is that it is seeing fewer 24-sized lettuce than planned.
“Lastly, the 4th of July demand, which typically tapers off during the tail-end of the week before the holiday weekend, remained strong all week,” John adds. “A result of trying to fill orders for the holiday meant we harvested more than expected last week and early this week. Industry holdover inventory will be minimal this week. The strong demand for lettuce this week should continue and this will mean that lettuce prices should stay strong moving forward.”
Jason echoes the effects of local deals and tells me that Church Brothers’ lettuce acreage and budgets for this time of year are usually cut back. At this point, there is Canadian lettuce crossing into the North East and the Colorado deal starting up either the first or second week of July.
“We cut back our acres to be ready for these local deals and it keeps us from being oversupplied and having extra acres that increase supply and flood the market,” Jason tells me. “Another factor for cutting back acreage is the increase in broccoli, carrots, and onion acres due to the San Joaquin Valley trying to mitigate the water shortages.” Overall acreage for the second turn is hard to find for lettuce due to the increase in demand for other crops. Open ground is hard to find for the second turn.
During this time period, Church Brothers is also getting ready to start its turn around, or second turn, on planting that will keep the company in supply through November. During this turn, different varieties will come on in anticipation of the changing weather and growing conditions.
“This second turn sometimes creates a small gap in supplies. We are currently in that gap and with the increased demand for California lettuce, the markets have firmed up,” Jason adds. “Weather has also been an issue. We have had very big swings in overall conditions. One week it may be in the low nineties and the following week we don’t get over the low sixties. The current lettuce market is in the low teens. Next week it is forecasted to be in the high teens with a big possibility of hitting the twenty.”
As we move toward more uncertain weather in California and increasing demand, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for continued updates on the market.
NEW YORK CITY, NY - Fresh prep food chain Chipotle’s Chief Creative and Development Officer, Mark Crumpacker, was confirmed to have been charged with cocaine possession.
The arrest was made at 9 a.m. yesterday, July 5th, New York Police Department Sgt. Lee Jones reported to NBC New York. His attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, told the news source that Crumpacker was not in New York over the holiday weekend and turned himself in voluntarily.
As we reported last week, Crumpacker was reportedly indicted following a year-long investigation into a ring of cocaine traffickers responsible for upwards of $75,000 worth of cocaine throughout New York City.
One of Chipotle’s upper executives, the company placed Crumpacker on administrative leave when the news broke, according to the report, commenting in a statement that it “made this decision in order to remain focused on the operation of our business, and to allow Mark to focus on these personal matters.”
Crumpacker is one of its higher-paid executives, having been given a $4.3 million pay package last year, according to SEC filings.
The executive was released on a cash bail of $4,500, with a court date set for Sept. 8, 2016, according to his attorney. Until then, we’ll continue to keep you up to date on all the latest as more details come to light.
GULFPORT, MS - After months of speculation, Chiquita Fresh North America LLC has officially confirmed the rumors that it will be moving its Gulf operations from New Orleans, Louisiana, back to Gulfport, Mississippi this coming August.
“We are pleased to return our port operations to Gulfport where our Chiquita ripening and distribution facilities are located,” explained Chiquita President and CEO, Andrew Biles in a statement. “We believe that Gulfport is optimally situated to service our customers most efficiently with both North and Southbound vessel services.”
This move comes just two years after Chiquita returned to New Orleans after an original forty-year stint in Gulfport, Mississippi. Part of the deal to come back to New Orleans in 2014 included $15 million in incentives from the state and port, according to Bloomberg, as well as an offer of 10 years of subsidies estimated at over $1.1 million a year from the state, based on how much cargo the company handles.
Chiquita had also reportedly kept operations for storing fresh produce for ripening at John Fayard Warehousing in Gulfport rather than exit the city in its entirety in 2014.
While there are not yet any statistics from the city of Gulfport about how much money or jobs may return to the city as a result of the move, AndNowUKnow will keep our eyes out for continued details.
GRAND JUNCTION, MI - Michigan has kicked off its blueberry harvest with the inaugural “First Pick,” an event that had President/CEO of MBG Marketing, a grower-owned cooperative, Founding Partner of Naturipe Farms, Larry Ensfield, introducing South Haven Mayor Bob Burr to a few growers.
“It is always a pleasure to meet our local blueberry growers and have the opportunity to partake in the First Pick,” Mayor Burr commented, according to a press release.
He and Ensfield visited Harris Blueberries LLC growers Scott and Marcy Harris, as well as Scott’s uncle, Al Harris on their 250-acre property that started out on two acres in 1978.
“Harris Blueberries represents an impressive number of generational family growers throughout our community who make such a strong impact both locally and throughout the United States and beyond with their blueberries,” the Mayor said.
Harris, a first generation grower who credits his uncle in helping to get the farm where it is today, is currently converting all new plantings to trickle irrigation to save water, and wind machines for frost protection.
“I relish the chance to develop a farm into something that is sustainable and can endure for generations to come,” Harris said, whose daughters and extended family members are also becoming involved in growing blueberries. “I want to ensure they understand the value of our work and take pride in the product we produce for consumers.”
Growers of Naturipe are aligned with the Cultivate with Care™ program, the company said, which has a commitment to environmental stewardship. Naturipe’s early season varieties Bluetta and Duke which will peak the first half of July, with Blue Crop, Draper, Liberty looking to peak around the last two weeks of July and through mid-August, and Elliot and Aurora, among others, to give a strong late season, supplying the eastern U.S. through September.
As Michigan, one of the largest blueberry-producing states, looks to another bountiful season, AndNowUKnow will bring updates as we move through the summer months and beyond.