LOS ANGELES, CA - Ölens Technology has a new tool for foodservice professionals and aspiring chefs which the company promises will make cooking the perfect artichoke a breeze. AndNowUKnow's staff was able to see Ölens' “Perfect Artichoke” in action at PMA Fresh Summit 2014 and witness its impact potential in the industry first hand. The Perfect Artichoke works by using the relationship between an artichoke's size and its proper cooking time to ensure that every artichoke is cooked to perfection.
“We've had the Perfect Artichoke in development for over a decade,” Co-Founder Ron Meritt explained to me. “It took hundreds of trips to the Farmer's Market and many more hundreds of artichokes cooked, but we were able to pin down the exact relationship between size and cooking time for the perfect artichoke. Our Perfect Artichoke conveys this to the user in a visual way which is immediately understandable and easy to use.”
To see how the Perfect Artichoke works in action, check out this video below from Ölens Technology:
Ölens Technology sees the Perfect Artichoke someday being widely used in home kitchens and foodservice establishments where speed, accuracy and ease of use are at a premium.
“One of the best things about the Perfect Artichoke is how it helps foodservice professionals plan their meals,” Co-Founder Paul McCloskey explained. “With it there's no longer a question about when to put in the pasta or take your sauce of the stove. The Perfect Artichoke reduces cooking time into a science.”
What could this product mean for overall category growth? Paul certainly believes the Perfect Artichoke could mean big things for artichoke consumption.
“I think some people get intimidated by the artichoke to be perfectly honest,” Paul explained to me. “We don't want anyone to miss out on the great taste of artichokes because they don't understand how to cook them. This was our motivation behind creating the Perfect Artichoke, which we envision as a potential big time driver of growth for the category.”
In addition to its Perfect Artichoke, Ölens Technology is also working on several other cooking aid products front-lined by the Perfect Potato. With a full range of products under its belt, Ölens Technology is looking to market its Perfect line as the place to turn to for cooking solutions. I know I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled on Ölens Technology for what this enterprising company comes up with next.
LEAMINGTON, ON – With family celebrations focused on food this time of year, Nature Fresh Farms™ is looking to help increase produce consumption with innovative recipe ideas that incorporate fresh produce to give new life to old family favorites.
“National campaigns created by PMA, United Fresh, CPMA, and the Produce For Better Health Foundation encourage increasing fresh produce consumption in your daily diet. We are reinforcing their message this holiday season by promoting unique recipe ideas online to help our customers make healthier choices,” said Andrea Quiring, Marketing & Social Media Coordinator.
The Nature Fresh Farms™ marketing team has been active on all of its social channels Wednesday and Thursday and will continue today to encourage its #VeryVeggieThanksgiving theme.
“We love seeing the innovative recipe ideas that people post online, it shows that they care about what they are cooking,” said Henry Furtado, Corporate Chef.
According to a press release, Furtado prepares over 150 meals for Nature Fresh Farms™ employees on a daily basis in the company’s state of the art restaurant-style industrial kitchen. His recipes use Nature Fresh Farms™ greenhouse grown peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers and have been developed with a variety of taste buds and food preferences in mind.
“We develop recipes that anyone & everyone can prepare; from snacks to simple hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, and desserts that are out of this world like our Roasted Pepper No-Bake Cheesecake,” commented Furtado.
Check out a selection of Nature Fresh Farms'™ recipes by clicking here.
Nature Fresh Farms™ is currently shipping bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers from its Leamington, Ontario greenhouses.
SAN FANCISCO, CA - Fresh & Easy has announced a new partnership with the San Francisco-based startup Instacart. Now Fresh & Easy shoppers in the Bay Area and Los Angeles will have access to online grocery delivery, the first time the retailer has offered its customers such a convenience, according to a press release.
“We’re excited to work with Fresh & Easy to deliver groceries in LA and the Bay Area,” shared Heather Wake, General Manager at Instacart. “Our customers are always looking for healthy and fast meal options, and Fresh & Easy, renowned for its prepared meals, is an excellent partner to help meet that demand.”
“Partnering with Instacart is a win-win for everyone – our existing customers will now have a convenient and reliable delivery option for their favorite products, and we will be able to extend our reach to new customers who may not have had access to one of our stores,” agreed Mike Evans, Vice President of Marketing at Fresh & Easy. “Online ordering and product delivery have been major priorities for Fresh & Easy this year and we are glad we are able to launch with such a strong partner in Instacart.”
Instacart shared that there are plans in place to eventually expand this partnership into other areas where Fresh & Easy has a retail presence. Considering that Fresh & Easy has 167 stores across Arizona, California and Nevada, there could be considerable growth potential for this partnership.
Instacart has been on the rise in recent months, announcing new partnerships with other leading retailers, including Whole Foods.
Congratulations on this new partnership, Fresh & Easy and Instacart!
WASHINGTON D.C. - The USDA has filed an administrative action against Snokist Growers, a Yakima, Washington-based company, for failing to pay for produce under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
The company allegedly failed to pay eight sellers for 402 lots of produce valued at $696,853, according to a USDA press release.
Because of these violations, Snokist Growers will not be permitted to operate in the produce industry until July 25th, 2016. After this date, it will again be eligible to reapply for a PACA license.
Snokist Growers' principals, Belinda Cole, Jim Davis, Kailan Dunn, and Dave Olsen, may not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee until July 25th, 2015. After this time, a company may once again employ these individuals, provided it posts a USDA-approved surety bond.
In the past three years, the USDA resolved approximately 4,600 claims filed under PACA involving more than $87 million. Individuals, including sole proprietors, partners, members, managers, officers, directors, or major stockholders may not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee without the approval of the USDA. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses operating subject to PACA.
LOS ANGELES, CA – Chicago-based Farmer’s Fridge is bringing its salad vending machine to Los Angeles, California next year.
Luke Saunders, Founder of Farmer’s Fridge, tells the Los Angeles Times that he is on a mission to make healthful food accessible to people on the go. We previously covered Farmer's Fridge's debut in Chicago. Check out that article by clicking here.
“I was traveling a lot for work and really couldn’t find healthy food,” Luke said. “I started thinking about ways to make it more accessible and how I could change the model of how healthy food gets distributed.”
According to its website, Farmer’s Fridge gets fresh, locally sourced produce every morning. At 5 am, the team makes everything from scratch every day in its local, fully licensed, shared kitchen. The salads are then delivered to the machine at 10 am. Any unsold salads are removed and donated to a local food pantry.
For the actual machine, it uses touch screens, bar code scanners for coupons and email receipts. The product images, nutrition and ingredient information is available in a large, easy to read format.
"The response generally from people has been that they have really embraced it," Saunders tells the LA Times. "Right now we are trying to convince the next level of consumer – the ones who are still skeptical about getting their lunch out of a vending machine."
The company is also interested in helping the environment. The jars and lids are 100% recyclable and the bags, utensils, salad dressing containers and packaging are all biodegradable corn-based PLA packaging. Also, the company states that power consumption for each kiosk is under $25 worth of electricity a month.
A lunch that is good for you and good for the environment? I can get behind that. Next time I’m in Los Angeles, I’m going to give it a try.
PORTERVILLE, CA - Welcome to What's in Store. Business is booming this year for Homegrown Organic Farms' winter citrus program. With increased volume on the company’s full line citrus program, retailers need look no further than Homegrown Organic Farms for all their citrus needs this winter season.
Homegrown Organic Farms offers a wide variety of premium citrus products throughout the winter months. Navels, Cara Caras, Mandarins, including Satsumas, Clementines, W. Murcotts and Gold Nuggets, Pummelos, Grapefruit, and Lemons are all grown on Homegrown's Southern California and San Joaquin Valley farms.
Navels and organic lemons are available now for distribution. The same is true for Satsuma and Clementine mandarins. Homegrown Organic Farms has also begun its harvest of Organic Pummelos. This will be Homegrown Organic's second season offering this variety and the grower is excited to build on the positive impression the fruit established last year with shoppers.
Bulk and bagged packaging options, as well as a new line of pouch bags designed for in-store displays, are available for select items of Homegrown's diverse citrus varieties. These new pouch bags can hold 2 or 3 pounds of premium citrus and are designed to give consumers a premium view of the fruit while maintaining the familiar Homegrown look and feel which have become staples in the produce aisle. Thank you for watching What's In Store.
SANTIAGO, CHILE – The inaugural Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fruittrade Latin America, which took place in Santiago, Chile on November 12-13, hosted over 2,100 attendees from across the fresh produce supply chain.
According to a press release, this first-of-its-kind event for South America featured 100 exhibitors along with 98 speakers from 11 countries across 5 continents for a series of educational workshops.
Nancy Tucker, Vice President of PMA’s Global Business Development said, “The number and quality of the attendees, the strength of the trade show, the excellent educational sessions and the unique business roundtable made this event a great value for all."
Sam’s Club Senior Director of Produce and Floral, Russell Mounce, spoke on the event saying, “This event in Santiago, aside from providing a great excuse to do business in such great weather, gave suppliers a time and place at the start of the season to finalize plans with retailers for now, and for next year.”
The event’s inaugural session kicked off with Chile’s Minister of Agriculture Carlos Furche, Sam’s Club Senior Director of Produce and Floral Russell Mounce, ProChile’s Director Roberto Paiva and Fedefruta President Juan Carolus Brown.
“Here, it has been pointed out that the international demand for fruit continues to be very consistent, and, as demographic data shows, the world population will keep growing," said the Chilean Agriculture Minister, Carlos Furche, in the session. He added that he valued the creation of the PMA Fruittrade Latin America to facilitate the supply of fresh food to the main world markets.
In the same session, Gustavo Yentzen, Yentzen Group’s CEO, added, “Today was the launch of a dream, a dream that is not just ours but shared by many who looked to accomplish a global trade fair in Latin America. And here we are, creating a new way to connect the Latin American horticultural industry with the rest of the world.”
Roberto Paiva, the Director of ProChile, was also present. He celebrated the fact that PMA Fruittrade Latin America brought producers and exporters from Chile and all South America together, to meet global buyers and increase their business opportunities.
"After years successfully promoting the direct trade between producers and importers, with business roundtables that have stimulated the growth of fruit producers in the commercial chain, we firmly believe that the alliance with PMA has definitely internationalized this event. The incorporation of educational conferences gave industry members the tools to make good business decisions,” noted Fedefruta President Juan Carolus Brown Bauzá.
At the event, about 100 buyers were able to meet with producers and exporters from Chile, Argentina, Peru and Colombia in an international business roundtable.
Congratulations on the successful event!
NEW ZEALAND – Zespri has appointed Simon Limmer to the new role of Chief Operation Officer (COO) to provide leadership on the supply side of the business.
Simon joined Zespri in 2008, and has held general management roles with Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) and Growers and Government Relations and, since early 2013, as GM China, according to a press release. He will transition out of his current roles as General Manager of both the Grower and Government Relations team and the China market by the end of the year.
Zespri Chief Executive Lain Jager says, “The new role of COO will better integrate Zespri supply as the Zespri Global Supply business continues to grow and new cultivars and markets are added to the business, as well as taking responsibility for relations with growers and the New Zealand government.”
According to a press release, Zespri is looking forward to strong global growth as the industry recovers from the impact of Psa and new SunGold volumes come online.
“The kiwifruit industry will experience very strong growth over the next five years and the new executive structure will support this growth,” says Lain. He added that the new COO will help to generate and ‘end-to-end’ view of the supply chain.
In this new role, Simon will help support global collaboration, best practice and standardization of metrics and processes in the supply chain, all while leaving regional and country managers accountable for in-market options.
“I’m also pleased to announce another two important appointments to Zespri’s executive leadership team, with David Hazlehurst starting as CFO in February and Blair Hamill’s appointment as General Manager Supply Chain. I’m confident that this new executive structure and these three appointments will support the strong increase in industry growth over the next few years,” says Lain.
Before this appointment, David served as CFO and Vice President, Commercial and Pacific Islands for NZ Steel, and Blair was recently the General Manager of Zespri Global Supply.
Congratulations on the new positions!
AUSTRALIA & U.K. - Aldi annouced some major leadership changes to its UK and Australasia divisions, appointing Joint Managing Director of Aldi UK Matthew Barnes to CEO of Aldi UK and Ireland while Group Managing Director of Aldi Australia Tom Daunt will take over as CEO of Aldi Australasia.
In his new position, Barnes will be responsible for overseeing Aldi's ambitious £600 million expansion plan which entails almost doubling its UK store base by the year 2021. The completion of this initiative would increase Aldi's store count from a little over 500 to 1,000, according to the Guardian.
Regarding the appointment of Daunt, there is some speculation that by choosing him Aldi is signaling its intent to expand into New Zealand. At this time, however, the retailer has released a statement saying it has "no immediate plans to enter the New Zealand market,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
While the legacy of his term as CEO has yet to be written, it is worth noting that Daunt spoke earlier this year of investing $700 million in order to construct two new distribution centers and stores in Australia. This would bring Aldi's Australian investment to almost $4 billion, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Congratulations on the promotion, Matthew and Tom!
SALINAS, CA - Andrew Smith Company has added 20 year industry veteran Dudley Brinan to its skilled sales team as its new Sales and Outside Procurement Manager. Andrew Smith's partners in the industry can rest assured that orders of fresh produce from the company and its affiliate, Colorful Harvest, will be backed by his wealth of experience as he sources, procures, and consolidates the balance of their loads.
“Maximizing efficiency and minimizing customer logistics is my mission,” said Brinan. “With freight rates going higher, when you can save the customer multiple stops it means a lot.”
“We’re happy that Dudley is part of the team,” agreed Dave Robinson, Andrew Smith Company's General Manager. “He’ll be a real asset in making Andrew Smith Company a one-stop-shop for produce buyers.”
Andrew Smith has also added Steven Garza to its sales division. Prior to this new position, he worked in sales support, logistics, and marketing for Colorful Harvest, according to a press release.
“Steven brings a new energy to the sales team,” Robinson shared.
Congratulations on your new positions, Dudley and Steven.