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WENATCHEE, WA - Spring’s official start is near, and with produce departments welcoming the warming weather, Stemilt is ready to help with its newly launched “Swing into Spring” apples promotion.
Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s Communications Manager, says that this “Swing into Spring” promotion was designed to help retailers promote the great quality of available Stemilt apples, and bring a seasonal, springtime look to apple displays.
“March, April and May are important months for the apple category in produce departments across the U.S., contributing 6% of total department sales on average,” she says. “Our 'Swing into Spring' promotion features apples in a whimsical scene and will help retailers keep the momentum going on their apple sales in the final stretch before summer.”
Stemilt says its “Swing into Spring” promotion is perfect for bulk ads on such seasonal varieties as Pink Lady®, and the company’s signature apple, Piñata®. Retailers can use the spring-themed campaign for either in-and-out promotions or in-store specials around any of the following:
- Piñata® 3lb. Lil Snappers®
- Pink Lady® 3lb. Lil Snappers®
- 5lb. Fresh Blenders™
“Piñata® and Pink Lady® are great high-flavor varieties that consumers love anytime they are available, but the spring is an especially great time to promote these two apples with our best quality fruit being packed and shipped fresh out of storage,” Shales adds. “Lil Snappers® and Fresh Blenders™ are ideal for boosting tonnage in the apple category by increasing the average purchase size while simultaneously promoting the intended use of the product to consumers.”
Stemilt recommends its “Swing into Spring” promotion between March 15-April 30, and the company is offering retailers with support in the form of merchandising assets, including POS signage and social media content.
For more information on “Swing into Spring,” contact your Stemilt representative.
SALINAS, CA - Mann Packing has once again announced it will continue its support for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, and furthermore participate in the annual Central Coast Go Red For Women luncheon.
“We remain committed to supporting Go Red and helping raise awareness about heart disease,” Gina Nucci, Mann’s Director of Foodservice, shared in a statement. “Here at Mann’s, we have the vision of building healthier lives within our company and our community, and these are the kinds of programs that do just that.”
Coming up on February 26th, Central Coast Go Red For Women luncheon will be held at the Inn at Spanish Bay, where Mann Packing plans to serve heart-healthy soups from the company’s recently published Girlfriends Guide for Moms – Soup Edition.
And already taken place on February 5th, Mann’s staff celebrated National Wear Red Day® on the front steps of the company headquarters in Salinas, CA, to raise awareness about women’s heart health issues, as you can see in the picture above. According to a press release, the company also hosted a cooking class in December for the AHA’s Circle of Red society featuring all-natural chef, Kari Bernardi, and plans to participate in the AHA’s Central Coast Heart & Stroke Walk in October.
For even more information on Mann Packing and its full line of heart-healthy products, visit veggiesmadeeasy.com, and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The USDA has filed an administrative action under PACA, against M & M Produce Inc., a produce company operating out of Connecticut.
According to a press release from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, the company allegedly failed to make full payment to 46 produce sellers in the amount of $2,873,896 from May 2014 through March 2015.
M & M Produce Inc. will have opportunity to request a hearing. If the USDA does find that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. Even further, its principals could not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee for one year and then only with the posting of a USDA-approved surety bond.
Under PACA, all interstate traders in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables must be licensed by USDA. USDA is authorized to suspend or revoke a trader’s license for violating the Act.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,700 PACA claims involving more than $66 million. Its experts also assisted more than 7,100 callers with issues valued at approximately $100 million. These are just two examples of how USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
ORLANDO, FL - The National Mango Board (NMB) is bringing back its display bins to U.S. mango shippers.
Only a limited supply of 600 bins are available through NMB's website, which can be found here. Orders are on a first come, first served basis, according to the Board.
With colorful, kid-friendly graphics to attract shoppers and pump mango sales at retail, these bins feature key messages for cutting, selection, and ripening to help ease any consumer shyness about these exotic fruits.
The National Mango Board’s display bins, already made of a durable corrugated material with the following features:
- An aqueous coating for added strength.
- Resting on a black plastic bottom tray to protect from mops and spills.
- Five sliding casters make the bins easy to move, even when fully loaded.
While there is no cost for the bins, shippers are encouraged to act fast and order their mango bins today due to limited supply. The deadline to order the mango display bins is March 11, 2016.
For an online ordering form and program guidelines, go to mango.org/bins.
PASADENA, CA – Sun Pacific’s new Vintage Sweets Heirloom Navel Oranges are now hitting retail shelves. Since its launch, the program has grown to over 3,000 stores, and as Sun Pacific President Bob DiPiazza explains, that number is still continuing to grow.
“We could not be more pleased with the response we are seeing with the launch of our heirloom navel orange program,” DiPiazza said in a press release. “The growing conditions in our Vintage Sweets groves have been ideal. Cold nights and mild sunny days produce these super sweet, flavorful, and juicy heirloom oranges. They provide an exceptional eating experience that consumers today are looking for, especially in fresh fruit.”
Grown and harvested in Sun Pacific’s most mature orange groves, the company says that these sweet, high brix navel oranges offer consumers an eating experience they won’t soon forget. Each orange is individually tested for high sugar content to ensure outstanding quality, and a superior flavor. And it shows – rave reviews are pouring in, and retailers are continuing to re-order the premium produce.
Vintage Sweets Heirloom Navel Oranges are currently available in 3-pound bags, standard cartons, and 6-count trays.
NEW YORK, NY - Less than two years after commandeering Olive Garden’s parent, Darden Restaurants, in 2014, activist investor Starboard Value is now cutting back its stake in the company for the second time this year by another 2.7 million shares.
This latest sale of $153 million worth of stock comes just one month after Starboard sold a substantial 11 percent of its shares in January.
"Starboard has undertaken the Sales Trading Plan Agreement in large part to effectuate a rebalancing of Starboard's portfolio in light of the significant appreciation in the Issuer's stock price since the investment was made over two years ago," a filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission explained.
The “significant appreciation” referred to in the filing is part of the restaurant operator’s complete turnaround of its poor financial performance in the years prior. The turnaround came after Starboard had overturned Darden’s entire Board of Directors in October of 2014 and placed Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith as the company’s Chairman. This was proven effective in its most recent quarterly report released in December, where Darden beat Wall Street's expectations and increased sales for the seventh consecutive quarter.
As of the sale of stake in January, Starboard CEO Jeff Smith said the sales did not change his plans of remaining a major shareholder in Darden Restaurants and remaining active in the company’s operations.
Since both sales, Starboard Value has been surpassed as Darden’s largest shareholder, with investment firm Vanguard Group taking the lead at an 8.5 percent stake.
RIO RICO, AZ - As SunFed continues to build on the company's 2016 strategic growth initiatives, Brett Burdsal, Craig Slate, and Mark Cassius, have been promoted to new leadership roles within the company.
Burdsal, who is transitioning from the company’s Director of Marketing to Vice President of Marketing, said that he will not only be working on how the company markets its message, but how and where the company grows. He said, “This is a great transition for me as we continue to build the Perfect Produce® Brand, increase market share, expand our nation presence, and improve retail penetration."
In this role, Burdsal will work on marketing and elevating the Perfect Produce® brand, its messaging, and the company’s innovations, driving the connection between the retailer, foodservice partner, and consumer, according to a press release.
Slate, who has been with the SunFed team since early 2015, will be moving up from Director/General Manager of the company’s Texas Division to Vice President of Sales. In this role he will be helping SunFed further its expansion into year-round availability, spearheading efforts such as opening operations in South Texas, refining strategies at the Nogales, Arizona, headquarters, and managing all North American sales responsibilities.
“Our company will see many changes this year and in my new position I will be working to bring premium product to our retail partners with increased efficiency and less travel time through our expansion in South Texas,” Slate says. “Texas will complement our Nogales operations to improve access to major cities in the Eastern half of the U.S., as well as Canada and beyond for our Mexican grown produce.”
Slate will also focus on key relationships with retail, foodservice, and wholesale partners, according to the release.
Last, but not least, Cassius will move up to Executive Vice President and General Manager, broadening his focus from sales, marketing, and new product development to encompass a greater emphasis on operational, core business, and administrative responsibilities.
“This is an exciting time and as we grow our leadership team, there will be more to come from SunFed and our Grower partners,” Cassius said, adding that he will work closely with Danny Mandel to maintain and elevate the tradition of superior quality and flavor innovation that he has envisioned for SunFed as the company continues to evolve.
Congratulations to Brett, Craig, and Mark on this latest step in their careers with SunFed!
DENVER, CO – Chipotle is putting up $10 million as part of its “Local Grower Support Initiative” to help small and medium-sized local growers uphold its new food safety standards.
The money will go towards helping smaller suppliers adhere to the company’s pricier, yet newly enhanced protocols for testing ingredients. These protocols include produce blanching for lemons, limes, jalapenos, onions, and avocados; heightened restaurant sanitation; and multiple inspections on a regular, frequent basis by government health officials, restaurant health experts, and Chipotle’s corporate food safety team, to name a few. A more comprehensive list can be found by clicking here.
The announcement was made during a national employee meeting, which called for a temporary nationwide closure of more than 2,000 Chipotle restaurants on Monday. More than 50,000 associates listened to company executives discuss matters relating to the recent food safety outbreaks that have hit the restaurant chain in previous months.
“We have supported local farms around the country for a number of years because we believe it is the right thing to do,” said Steve Ells, Founder, co-CEO, and Chairman. “We recognize that it may make it difficult for some local farms to comply with our heightened standards, but we are looking to help local farmers comply with our standards and to continue our support for local farms and rural communities around the country.”
Chipotle’s Local Grower Support Initiative will focus on three key objectives:
- Education and training
- Financial assistance
- Develop new partnerships
In a press release, the company emphasized that it would provide the support necessary to help smaller farmers meet its high standards. Financial assistance will be provided in the form of grants or premiums to help cover the costs of enhanced food safety practices. And lastly, Chipotle will develop new partnerships and seek out farmers using greenhouses and other technologies around the country that meet the company’s food safety standards.
Last year, Chipotle restaurants served more than 30 million pounds of produce sourced from local farmers nationwide, including tomatoes, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, red onions, avocados, and more.
“In the end, it may not be possible for anyone to completely eliminate all risk with regard to food (or from any environment where people congregate), but we are confident that we can achieve near zero risk,” Ells continued. “Chipotle is an incredibly focused company. Our menu has remained virtually unchanged for the last 22 years and we only have 64 ingredients in our food. Rest assured that we have looked at each of these ingredients, where they come from and how they can be made even safer. I believe our restaurants are safer today than they have ever been.”
To read more on Chipotle’s commitment to local farmers, the company has created a webpage where you can find more information. You can find this page by clicking the blue button below.
IRVINE, CA – The California Avocado Commission (CAC) joined in on the marketing hype of the Big Game without having to take on those Goliath-sized campaign costs by executing the use of social media.
“With California avocado season beginning now and peak availability expected from March to September, a big media spend around the football championship did not make sense for us,” said Jan DeLyser, Vice President of Marketing for CAC, said, according to a press release. “Social media gave us the opportunity to be part of the Big Game buzz and build excitement for California avocado season.”
With its #BigGameAdd program, CAC took to Twitter after having identified food and beverage brands advertising during one of the biggest marketing opportunities of the year to create complimenting recipes including California avocados.
“It required nimbleness and creativity to capture this opportunity, and the resulting consumer engagement was worth it,” Jan added. “We don’t usually feature ingredients such as soda, beer and candy in California avocado recipes but for this we stepped out of our comfort zone and into the end zone.”
By creating fun videos on how to create the recipes and tweeting them after featured commercials aired, CAC garnered the attention of more than 241,000 impressions in less than 24 hours.
According to the release, one fan even tweeted “IMO @CA_Avocados is owning #SB50 with its tweets. Forget the commercials!!”
.@NFL the biggest #BigGameAdd? California. Glad you came. #SB50 pic.twitter.com/0KtVIOYaYG
— California Avocados (@CA_Avocados) February 8, 2016
One notable recipe the commission showcased – Cali-Mex Bowls – uses both California avocados and avocados from Mexico, which were advertised during the first half of the Big Game.
Notable retweets included:
- Butterfinger
- Squarespace
- Melissa’s Produce
The news of the #BigGameAdd program was distributed to upwards of 250,000 California avocado fans subscribed to CAC’s recipe newsletter.
With targeted retailer activities on and offline in California, CAC finished off Game Day promotions on high note.