WESTLAKE, CA - With the single, natural ingredient of fresh fruit, Crunchies Natural Food Company looks to bring produce further into the consumers’ snacking habits with its line of all-natural, freeze-dried fruit snacks.
After harvesting, Crunchies fresh fruits are frozen almost immediately, undergoing a low-pressure drying process to remove frozen water as directly as steam, bypassing the liquid state and allowing the product to retain almost the same nutritional value as whole fruits.
“We are simplifying the lives of active, health-conscious shoppers by offering a snack that’s hands-down the best in terms of ingredients, nutrition, taste, and convenience,” Scott Jacobson, President and CEO of Crunchies, said in a press release. “Our hope is that, by giving people a new way to enjoy pure fruit, we can help them make better choices for themselves and their families.”
The flavorful snack line includes:
- Strawberries
- Mango, Pineapple
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Grapes
- Cinnamon Apple
- Strawberry Banana
- Mixed Fruit
With the motto “Let’s get real,” the company uses a freeze-drying method to ensure that the fresh fruits’ nutritional value remains, while still enhancing shelf-life.
Not only does this snack line provide consumers with a snack that is only around 40 calories, satisfying a health conscious market, but Crunchies also maintains close relationships with international farmers and suppliers so that buyers and customers can be confident about the origins of each snack.
While the company respects its American roots, it stated that it supports local economies around the world while still maintaining most of its freeze-drying operations within the U.S.
These freeze-dried fruit snacks are available in both single-serve packs and larger grab-n-go resealable pouches, with no added sugar, artificial flavors, or coloring. The product is non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, kosher and halal certified. Crunchies’ snacks are available in stores nationwide for an SRP of $4.99 – 5.99 for resealable pouches and $1.25 for single-serve bags.
DAVIS, CA – Engage3, the company behind the popular personalized shopping app ShoppingScout, has just unveiled its latest platform to give retailers insights into competitors’ pricing.
Dubbed “MissionControl,” this competitive intelligence platform enables the planning, scheduling, execution, reporting, and modification of online and in-store competitive data collection.
Engage3’s robust product and pricing database allows retailers and manufacturers to gain accurate observations about a competitor’s pricing strategies, all while eliminating any doubts or inconsistencies.
“We’re very excited about the opportunities that MissionControl has opened up,” said Steve Vallance, Vice President of Purchasing at Cardenas Markets. “Engage3’s platform has significantly enhanced our competitive visibility across all of our markets by reducing the time it takes to understand and respond to our competitors’ pricing, thereby enabling us to maintain our intended price image. It’s also helping us understand our competitors’ private label strategies, which can be invaluable.”
Members can schedule and assign price shops to store associates or 3rd party vendors, and monitor real-time progress across all active projects. MissionControl supports inferred mapping of comparable brands, explicit mapping of comparable brands, and mapping store-level assortments and planograms.
Using proprietary algorithms and advanced statistical modeling for accurate pricing data, MissionControl optimizes shop-list sampling, maximizes ROI, and minimizes sampling costs.
MissionControl currently supports pricing decisions and competitive insights for a member base with approximately $20 billion of revenue under management.
Inaccurate pricing data has a direct impact to a retailer’s bottom line, which in some cases, could be over 40 basis points of sales in profit for a retailer, Engage3 Founder Ken Ouimet said in a press release.
“We leverage mobile technology, big data, and our deep domain experience to remove dependencies that slow down the competitive shop process while managing increasingly complex price shop methodologies to improve accuracy, find rates, and item comparability,” said Ouimet.
Understanding competitive data is crucial for success in today’s marketplace, and Engage3 looks to leverage its unique platform to give retailers an edge in pricing.
MissionControl v1.0 is now available. For more details, contact [email protected].
BAKERSFIELD, CA - This month, while a great time to promote fruits and vegetables, is also one in which America thinks of those that do not have the same access to those healthy foods that others do.
“I’ve been in the produce business my whole career, and one day on a plane I got this vision to do something,” Bret Sill, Founder and Director of Morning Star Fresh Food Ministry, an organization that seeks to provide healthy foods and anything else struggling families might need. “These families can’t go in and buy fruits and vegetables because, when on a limited income, they are going to buy what’s cheap - chips and crackers that are going to go further along than apples or a bag of lettuce.”
Using the skills and connections he developed in the produce industry, Bret has built a network of support throughout Bakersfield, CA, to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to those who could not otherwise afford them.
A number of growers have joined Morning Star to help provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the cause, including Anthony Vineyards, Bolthouse Farms, Country Sweet Produce, Giumarra Vineyards, Grimmway Farms, Paramount Citrus, Sunview Marketing, TD Produce, and many others.
“We are blessed to have some really great growers help us in this endeavor and provide with fresh produce,” Bret said of those that have joined the push.
Now Morning Star has joined the local turkey drive, Pheasant Hunt, setting a new and ambitious goal: to donate 4,000 turkeys and give struggling families a happy Thanksgiving.
“We want the support of our local community to come out and support this fundraiser and, in particular, to help us reach more families,” Bret tells me of the drive to provide these turkeys to those who need them. “To minister and really make this love for Thanksgiving a really special year.”
While Morning Star has previously been involved in the drive, this is its first year spearheading the fundraiser. “We’re not going to be just another food ministry, but one that will serve these families and will look to feed them both physically and spiritually,” Bret said.
So, not only will the ministry be collecting donations, but will also be buying up turkeys to deliver to families as needed: raw if the family has means to prepare it, cooked if they do not.
The drive takes place this Saturday, November 7th, in Bakersfield, CA. For those interested in finding out how they can help in making this a great holiday for those who struggle all year long, you can reach out to Morning Star directly for more information by emailing [email protected].
To donate to the cause, please visit morningstarfresh.org.
WENATCHEE, WA - CMI is about 60 days into this season’s apple crop, and reports that Nielsen data is showing a shift in consumer apple demand.
One thing that has been noted, according to a press release, is that the Ambrosia variety had one of the largest sales increases in the category, selling at roughly $2.40 per pound, one of the higher retail prices for September of any apple.
“Of the apples that sold over $2.00 per pound, 14 out of 15 had increased dollars for the period. Of the apples that sold at $1.50 per pound or lower, only four had increased sales,” Don Patella, Regional Marketing Director for CMI, said, noting that Nielsen data reflects that the McIntosh saw a year over year sales slip of nearly 10% despite being one of the lower priced apple options.
“The Nielsen data continues to show that consumer purchase priorities are shifting in the apple category,” Steve Lutz, Vice President of Marketing, reported. “Consumers are changing which apples they buy and demonstrating they will pay a premium for the products they really like.”
A smaller Washington apple harvest is driving tighter supplies and higher prices, according to the company, resulting in slower sales on many traditional varieties.
“It is evident that discount pricing alone will not build a healthy category in the coming year,” Patella said. “The real opportunity this year is making sure stores have the right products and position on the shelf. More importantly, stores need to review shelf allocation to make sure they have the right amount of space dedicated to these hot emerging varieties.”
Nielsen data showed that pricing shifted at the retail level within the first few weeks of the season, reflecting that from the initial kickoff through September 26 the U.S.’s total apple sales declined by 2.6% while volume dropped by 3.9%. The report also noted that average retail pricing for the total U.S. moved up 1.4% to $1.54 per pound.
CMI suggests retailers focus on emerging varieties that are propelling the category whose double digit sales helped offset the category’s decline overall. Among those are Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Ambrosia™, Sweetango, and KIKU®, which CMI reports all posted strong sales increases over last year for the start-up period through September.
ORLANDO, FL – The holidays are fast approaching, and Produce for Kids is launching a variety of tools to keep fruits and veggies top of mind for families throughout the rest of the year.
This holiday promotion includes a 12 Weeks of Slow Cookers giveaway, the third annual #FestiveFlavors Twitter party, a dedicated Ask The Expert meal planning session on the Produce for Kids Facebook page, the Festive Flavors free downloadable e-cookbook, a blogger, campaign, and dedicated overall communication strategy to elevate the #FestiveFlavors hashtag, according to a press release.
“The holidays are a crucial time for the sale of fresh produce and can make or break sales for the year,” said Trish James, Vice President for Produce for Kids. “It’s important to us to spread the healthy eating message year-round while supporting the sales efforts of our partners.”
Produce for Kids has already kicked off the holiday festivities by launching its 12 Weeks of Slow Cookers giveaway, which asks consumers to re-tweet the sweepstakes or take a photo of their slow cooker recipe and tag Produce for Kids for a chance to win a slow cooker.
Next week, on November 11 at 9:00pm ET, Produce for Kids will host the third annual #FestiveFlavors Twitter party alongside Naturipe®, Crunch Pak®, and D’Arrigo Bros. of CA. Attendees can win prizes, share recipes, tips, and healthy holiday ideas.
Then, on November 17 from 1:00-2:00 pm ET, Produce for Kids will host the very first Ask the Expert Facebook event where anyone on Facebook can have their holiday meal planning questions answered live by meal planning expert Brenda Thompson of Meal Planning Magic.
Last, but not least, the Festive Flavors: 12 Fresh Takes on Holiday Favorites e-cookbook will highlight fresh produce as main ingredients to re-create twelve holiday classics. Recipes include Sweet Potato Casserole and Cranberry Apple Crisp, as well as festive snack ideas and meal planning tips.
With all this and more, Produce for Kids is confident that retailers can help keep produce sales up all holiday long.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A recent study from Nielsen Perishables Group revealed key information on the potential value that Fresh Solutions Network’s Side Delights® Steamables had on the microwaveable/steamable fresh potato segment.
The study showed that Side Delights® Steamables accounted for 54.4% of all microwaveable bag volume measured by Nielsen and accounted for half of all dollar sales in the segment, according to a press release.
In addition, during the 52-week period ending 6/27/15, Steamables grew 18.2% in volume and posted a 17.1% increase in dollar sales. That is in spite of only accounting for 7 out of 25 SKUs that Nielsen categorizes as microwaveable/steamable fresh potatoes.
Fresh Solutions concluded that if Steamables had the same retail distribution that 5 lb. russet bags had, the brand would be worth more than $100 million in just the retail chains that Nielsen measures.
Kathleen Triou, President and CEO of Fresh Solutions, said that she hadn’t realized the sheer size of the opportunity that the company could capitalize on with Steamables until this study was released.
“The Nielsen data tells us that 53% of American households are buying value-added vegetables, but that only 1% of households are currently purchasing Steamables. Just think if all of those value-added households were to discover the healthy, tasty convenience of Side Delights® Steamables – we could find ourselves with a business possibly fifty times larger than it is today.”
According to the study, Steamables shoppers spend more on produce and across the retailer’s total store than the average shopper. When a shopper picks up Steamables, their basket rings up nearly twice as much as any basket with a different produce item, and 28% more than the average shopping basket that included fresh potatoes.
Lastly, using shopper insights gained from Oracle Data Cloud Shopper Intelligence, Nielsen found that Steamables shoppers tend towards affluent, fresh food- and waist-line focused small households looking for health benefits like gluten-free, and seeking out healthy items to snack on and cook at home.
WHITEFISH BAY, WI - A facet of the retail sector continues to grow: the cyber store.
Sendik’s has joined the wave, launching Sendik’s Express, an online grocery shopping experience, in several locations in the Milwaukee area yesterday.
“With the increasing popularity of online grocery shopping, the Milwaukee-area seemed ripe for a local option,” Mark Birmingham, Sendik’s Executive Director of New Business Development, said in a press release. “Sendik’s Express offers the same high-quality products that are available in our stores, along with the trusted, personalized service our customers have come to expect.”
Now up and running, this new offering is available at the following seven locations:
- 5200 W. Rawson Ave., Franklin
- N112 W15800 Mequon Rd., Germantown
- 2195 1st Ave., Grafton
- 10930 N. Port Washington Rd., Mequon
- 3600 S. Moorland Rd., New Berlin
- 8616 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa
- 500 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay
With a selections of more than 40,000 items, Sendik’s consumers can choose from nearly the entire inventory of the store from the comfort of their own homes.
“With families more and more crunched for time, Sendik’s Express helps make our customers’ lives a bit easier,” Chris Houser, Director of E-commerce, stated in the release. “With the ability to shop anytime, from anywhere, they can get back to spending more time with family and friends.”
Features of the new site include:
- An organized listing of products.
- Multiple images for each product.
- Nutritional facts.
- The ability to shop from the retailer’s popular weekly specials.
Pick-up is available from 10 a.m.–7 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on weekends. Orders must be placed four hours in advance, and specific pick-up times can be selected when the customer places their online order.
According to the company, there is a flat rate fee for online orders of $5.95 with no minimum order purchase.
When the customer arrives, they can call or text the store and an employee will load the groceries into the car at a designated parking spot.
Do you think online grocery shopping is just a fad, or will it become the norm? Take our poll by clicking here.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - On the heels of announcing 13 store closures nationwide due to falling profits, Target has also revealed that the company has been pursuing partnerships to help strengthen its weakening fresh food supply chain.
"There is an opportunity to use some partners who may be able to do things a little bit better," Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan explained in a recent interview with Reuters. He says that because Target's supply chain has evolved over time as it expanded into more fresh food options, the ending result was a less-than-efficient patchwork system. "I said to my team this looks like Frankenstein. We have made this thing out of a bunch of parts."
Mulligan added that Target has increased food sales by focusing on what the chain does best—"cheap chic." In fresh food, this means things like organic produce, fat-free yogurts, and other healthy food trends, he says, but added that the company's supply chain for fresh food isn't fully reliable in many parts of the country.
Mulligan declined to detail the company's exact plans to remedy the company’s supply issues, but Burt Flickinger, Managing Director of Retail Consultancy Strategic Resource Group, told Reuters that partnerships could mean billions of dollars for wholesalers, food distributors, and food and grocery manufacturers who have existing infrastructure to store and ship food products to Target stores.
Potential partners named by Flickinger are retail chain SuperValu Inc, North Carolina-based distributor MDI, and regional wholesale co-operatives like Affiliated Foods Midwest and URM Stores Inc.
Ultimately, Mulligan’s hope is to remain competitive with rivals like Wal-Mart and Amazon without having to maintain such a massive warehouse and distribution chain.
"We will not be building $200 million fulfillment centers all over the country," Mulligan explained. Target stores nationwide have some 8 to 9 billion items on store floors, in transit or in warehouses at any given time, he added. "The challenge of where you put inventory is going to be much more difficult in the future as we ship products from stores.”
Besides the potential supply chain changes in the future, Target has announced it will be closing 13 of its stores nationwide due to the stores’ falling profits. The Minneapolis-based retailer confirmed the closings Wednesday, saying, “the decision to close a Target store is not made lightly.”
The 13 closures include:
- Austin North East – Austin, TX
- Suncoast Pasco County – Odessa, FL
- Casa Grande, AZ
- Victorville, CA
- East Flint – Flint, MI
- Columbus Southwest – Columbus, OH
- Northridge – Milwaukee, WI
- Springfield, OH
- Ottumwa, IA
- Anderson, ID
- Dixie Highway – Louisville, KY
- New Ulm, MN
- Superior, WI
For more on Target’s potential fresh food deal as information comes in, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
WENATCHEE, WA - Having drawn nearly 70 top national food media, spanning across print magazines, newspapers, blogs, and broadcast, Stemilt Growers’ signature Piñata® reportedly made a splash at the Food Fete press event in New York City.
“Participating in Food Fete provides us the rare opportunity to connect our proprietary products with some of the top national media based in New York,” Roger Pepperl, Director of Marketing for Stemilt, said, according to a press release.
Held on October 27 at the Helen Mills Event Space, the Piñata® was served at the well-attended event as the team explained the apple’s unique heritage and flavor profile. A cross between Golden Delicious and the two heirloom varieties, Cox’s Orange Pippin and Duchess of Oldenburg, the apple is described as having a sweet-tart-tropical flavor with a thin skin.
Trish Clausen of Good Housekeeping, Lilian Woo of Fox News, Madeline Lankieb of the Food Network, and Amy Capetta of Yahoo! Health were just a few of the noted media members present at the event.
“We love coming out here and sharing our fresh produce with top-tier media. Given the great feedback we received from event attendees, we are confident they will share their love of Stemilt and the Piñata® with their readers,” Roger added.
According to Stemilt, not only was the Piñata® its shining representative on the floor, but the only fresh produce product, keeping the company’s booth busy throughout the two-hour-long show.
With the holiday promotional season upon us, the company also noted that Food Fete was an ideal time to promote the Piñata® apple’s usefulness not just out of hand, but in holiday tradition recipes like pies, cakes, and other baked goods.
Overall, it seems this event was a strong kickoff to the new signature Piñata® season, whose availability begins this month and lasts through May of 2016.
WALKER, MI - A trend is on the rise in the retail sector as chains try to meet the consumer demand for “easier, faster, better,” and Meijer is upping its stakes in the race by expanding its pilot curbside service program.
MLive reports that Meijer is adding eight stores to the list of locations that offer the grocery service, located in both Michigan and Ohio.
With the option of up to 60,000 products to choose from, the program allows consumers to select the products they want to order and shedule a pick up time online, with no service fee within the first 30 days the option is launched. Orders can be placed up to three days in advance, can be picked up within as little as an hour for shopping lists of 12 items or less, and is an additional $4.95 per order when the service fee kicks in.
"Our interest is to move expansion along as fast as reasonable," Michael Ross, Vice President of Digital Shopping and Customer Marketing for the chain, told MLive, reporting that current plans include looking at even more sites to roll out the program in its 222 stores.
Currently, the chain has a presence that spans six states, including:
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Wisconsin
Other retail chains are also beginning to see promising return for their investment in integrating online grocery shopping and curbside pickup.
As we previously reported, Walmart recently announced that it, too, was adding curbside pickup to its online grocery offering after having seen it positively received in pilot locations.
Are we seeing a change in the produce landscape of the retail circuit? Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to follow all trends influencing the produce industry.