YAKIMA, WA – Sage Fruit has been named as a finalist for the 2014 PMA Impact Awards in Excellence in Packaging for its new product line featuring Marvel’s Spider-Man. The packaging encourages children to “Snack Like a Super Hero!”
The core of the new product line lies in the high-graphic packaging, however point-of-purchase material will also be made available. For retailers, there will be several packaging options:
- 3lb. Apple Pouch Bag
- 5lb. Apple/Pear Tote Bags
- 2.25lb. Cherry Pouch Bag
- 3lb. Mesh Apple Bags
- 5lb. Apple Poly Bags
The goal of the new packaging is to attract the attention of a younger demographic. With nearly 1 in 3 children being considered obese, Sage Fruit is looking to compete with the candy aisle and other non-desirable food aisles in the supermarket to encourage healthy lifestyles in children that will carry on into adulthood.
The point-of-purchase material and in-store promotional items will include display ready bins, as well as unique cardboard character cutouts. The Spider-Man bin and cardboard stand-ups will be released to retailers nationwide this fall. Spider-Man will include a voice box that encourages customers in the supermarket to make healthy choices.
In the hopes of helping parents by making nutritious eating and physical activity simple and fun, Sage Fruit will use the Marvel properties to market apples, pears and cherries throughout 2014 and 2015.
Sage Fruit will be at Fresh Summit at booth 1102.
Congratulations on the award nomination!
SANTA PAULA, CA - Limoneira Company has announced the passing of beloved Chairman of the Board, Alan M. Teague.
"So much of Limoneira's spirit and culture is attributable to Alan Teague,” shared Limoneira President and CEO, Harold S. Edwards, who will be assuming the duties of Chairman of the Board until Limoneira is able to find a successor suitable to carry on Alan's legacy.
“He was relentlessly supportive of our management team and took great comfort in the way the Company was operating and moving forward,” Edwards continued. “I know he was proud of all that Limoneira stands for today, and I know that he was proud of all that we are doing. We each owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alan Teague and I know that his spirit lives on within Limoneira."
According to a press release, Alan passed September 11, 2014, after suffering a stroke at the age of 76. In addition to his countless professional successes, he was a well respected leader of his community in Santa Paula.
AndNowUKnow would like to extend its heartfelt sympathies to the Limoneira Company and all those who were lucky enough to know Alan throughout his life. He was a great leader for our industry and he will certainly be missed.
SALINAS, CA - Moxxy Marketing has appointed Molly Briseño as the company’s new Director of Client Services. In this senior-level leadership position, Molly will be responsible for managing client relationships, overseeing various projects, including branding, graphic design, website/new media, video, tradeshow, and others, and assuring clients always receive exemplary service and project quality, according to a press release.
“In addition to her marketing expertise and exceptional client relationship skills, her overall business experience and genuine care for others – both coworkers and our community overall – gives me such joy to make this announcement about her joining me, Terry Feinberg, and all of us at Moxxy,” said Karen Nardozza, Moxxy Principal.
Briseño, who previously worked for Nardozza, was also most recently the former Vice President of Client Services at Full Steam Marketing & Design. Prior to that, she worked as a Senior Accountant at Fresh Express and as Controller at Progeny Advanced Genetics.
Since 2010, she has volunteered on the Relay for Life, Salinas committee. In 2014, she served as the event co-chair and will be chairing the event in 2015.
Her decade of marketing and agency expertise will no doubt be worth a great deal to Moxxy’s operational efficiency and continued growth.
Congratulations on joining Moxxy Marketing, Molly!
YERINGTON, NV - With its California onion season winding down, Peri & Sons is already working in Nevada to harvest its white, yellow, red, sweet and proprietary Sweetie Sweet® onions.
Teri Gibson, Peri & Sons Director of Marketing & Customer Relations, tells AndNowUKnow that early estimates indicate the company will have enough onions to supply customers until the California spring season begins in 2015.
“We are fortunate that a combination of increases in volume from our existing customer base and modest new-customer growth has allowed our company to consistently grow at a comfortable and manageable pace year over year. Overall volume for our 2014 fall/winter season looks to be consistent with our growth plan if all goes well,” Teri said.
Peri & Sons has been growing its own proprietary Sweetie Sweet seed for more than 10 years to develop a domestic sweet variety to fill the fall and winter time slot and give American consumers a choice of a fresh domestic onion that meets food safety and traceability standards. This year, the company is proud to celebrate the 10th year growing its proprietary Sweetie Sweet® onion.
Though drought conditions have made it more challenging for farmers, Teri tells us that the company is seeing a beautiful crop this year, with everything looking healthy and well developed. Peri & Sons is ready to meet holiday demand with a variety of tools.
“In general, it’s the holidays and events that bring friends and family together around food that fuel sales; so we offer a wide-range of onion recipes, accessible on mobile devices to keep onions on the consumers shopping list,” she added.
Additionally, to keep these onion varieties moving, Peri & Sons offers seasonal promotions like its Bloomin’ BBQ Onion, Sweetie Sweet onions, the PINK Breast Cancer Awareness promo, OnionXpress trade program and others.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest on Peri & Sons!
FRESNO, CA – Lotpath, a software provider, announced the availability of a Developer API for Lotpath Quality, a fresh produce inspection software app.
Lotpath Quality has a built-in customizable dashboard for viewing inspection data, inspection photos and graphs of numerical quality data. It also lets users share inspection data and photos with trading partners over email.
According to a press release, the Lotpath Quality Developer API will enable secure automatic retrieval of data from a Lotpath Quality account, giving produce companies power and flexibility.
To see the app in action, check out the video below:
“Lotpath works hard to stay at the forefront of software technology. We understand that in an interconnected world produce companies benefit from software vendors’ willingness to build integration points into their software apps. Lotpath lives in the world of software developer APIs and software app mashups,” said Mike Dodson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Lotpath.
Kingston Fresh began using the Lotpath Quality produce inspection software app in late 2013 because of its customizable inspection forms, native Apple iPad app and integration with Famous Software, Kingston Fresh’s accounting and inventory software.
Before using Lotpath Quality, Kingston Fresh filled out inspection worksheets by hand and entered the quality data into a database. With the new software, they are able to use iPads and the Lotpath Inspection app to record product quality data as well as capturing photos to eliminate the handwritten inspection worksheets and date entry steps, according to a press release.
Ryan Cheney, the Director of IT at Kingston Fresh stated, “Lotpath Quality and the Developer API filled our product quality tracking needs perfectly. We saved time and money by not developing the software app internally.”
More information on the app is available at the Apple App Store, and more information on Lotpath Quality is available by clicking here.
SACRAMENTO, CA – California Governor Jerry Brown signed the state’s first groundwater management legislation yesterday.
This signing comes after SB1168, SB1319 and AB1738 passed in the final days of the legislative session over objections from Republican lawmakers and Central Valley Democrats.
Barry Bedwell, President of the California Fresh Fruit Association, spoke to AndNowUKnow about the new legislation. “It is certainly no surprise that the Governor sees the need to enact this legislation. We don’t argue the need for groundwater management and overall sustainability. The real problem here is that a system has been created without proper input from all of the segments who are going to be impacted. This will have serious impacts on California for decades and decades to come,” Barry said.
“We are all going to do our best to move forward, but this has created a situation where lots of questions, legal and otherwise, will absolutely have to be answered,” he added.
The Associate Press (AP) reports that the new law will require some local governments and water districts to begin managing their wells, as well as authorizing state water agencies to intervene, if necessary. It will also allow for water metering and fines to monitor and enforce restrictions.
The AP quotes Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare, as saying, “While there is legitimate concern about the over-drafting of some groundwater basins, this massive expansion of state authority will not solve the problem.”
The new laws will take effect in January of 2015 and will target areas where groundwater basins are being depleted faster than they are being replenished to be sustainable by 2040, according to the AP. It will give local land planners two years to create a groundwater sustainability agency, which will then have up to five years to develop a plan for managing wells and pumping. If those communities fail to abide by the rules, the state Water Resources Control Board will step in and develop the plans.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to cover this legislation and what it will mean for the produce industry.
DENVER, CO – Strategic thinking is among the most important skills for professionals in any business setting to know, and the produce industry is no exception. In light of this truth, produce industry professionals will want to tune in this September 23rd to Krivanek Consulting's Julie Krivanek, the industry's foremost expert on strategic behavior, for her must-see free webinar on “Strategic Thinking for Young Professionals.”
“The world’s top executives have spoken, ‘being strategic’ is the most important business practice today’s business professionals should have,” Krivanek said, citing research from Management Research Group. “This is a key skill our industry’s young professionals will need for advancement.”
“Strategic thinking and planning skills separate the best business thinkers from the rest of the pack, no matter what your job title or function,” she continued. “Learning and demonstrating it early in your career will help you advance.”
According to a press release, during the webinar Krivanek will be covering the following topics:
- How strategic thinking is shaped by our industry’s unique drivers.
- What strategic thinking is and how it differs from strategic planning.
- How to assess whether you’re a natural strategic thinker, or need to rewire your brain.
- Test your “organizational intelligence” (how much do you know about what really counts?).
- Test your “industry intelligence” (how much do you know about today’s hot trends, and how they shape your thinking about the future?).
- Why most ideas fall flat, and how to avoid this most common trap.
- Hot tips that you can immediately put to use to think strategically now.
September's webinar will mark the 3rd time Krivanek has addressed the industry about this important topic. In fact, her previous talk, “Putting the Latest Trends to Work for You” last July was a highest-rated session at PMA’s Foodservice Conference in Monterey. She also addressed PMA’s annual Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference in May.
Krivanek founded Krivanek Consulting in 1990 after serving as Vice President to a major Fortune 500 company.
For more information about the upcoming webinar, check out the PMA's website here.
CUPERTINO, CA - With all the buzz surrounding the iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch lately, there’s yet another project still in the works for Apple...and this one comes with a $5 billion price tag. As pricey as it may seem, this latest venture for the tech giant may reveal what your company’s next headquarters could look like.
Is it a spaceship? A top secret military base? A lair for a James Bond-esque villain perhaps? Not quite. This is Apple’s colossal $5 billion campus currently under construction in a 176-acre site at Cupertino, CA.
“It’s a little like a spaceship,” said Steve Jobs when he presented his plans in front of the Cupertino City Council shortly before his passing. “We have a shot at building the best office building in the world. I really do think that architecture students will come here to see it.”
Apple is sparing no expense. Jobs’ plans included more than 6,000 trees (cherry, apricot, plum, olive, and apple trees, to name a few), underground roads, parking spaces, and even an auditorium, numerous cafeterias, and curved exterior walls with 40-foot, floor-to-ceiling panes of concave glass from Germany, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. You won’t find a single straight piece of glass here.
The massive ring-like structure is estimated to be four stories tall and will house approximately 14,200 employees, according to LA Times. It’s even being said that this colossal headquarters will rival the Pentagon in terms of size. In price alone, it already beats out the $3.9 billion being spent on the One World Trade Center complex in New York.
Approximately 700,000 square feet of solar panels, enough to generate 8 megawatts of power, or power for about 4,000 homes, will energize the campus. Jobs also envisioned “climate responsive” technology that would automatically let in the appropriate amounts of light and wind to keep the building as comfortable as possible.
YouTube user jmcminn captured video of the campus under construction by using a GoPro camera mounted on a drone.
Check out just how tremendous the structure is compared to the surrounding buildings.
Upon completion sometime in 2016, only six structures will be visible: the headquarters, the lobby to the underground auditorium, a four-story parking garage, a fitness center, and two research and developmental labs housing testing facilities such as an anechoic chamber for analyzing antenna signals, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Still, that $5 billion cost is not something to scoff at. Whether or not other companies will follow suit and try a similar futuristic aesthetic has yet to be seen, but this is definitely one project I’ll be keeping my eye on.
Let us know what you think about Apple’s new campus by voting in the surveys below!
SAN DIEGO, CA - Target has announced that San Diego, the 2nd largest population center in California, will be the latest location of its new TargetExpress format. San Diego, specifically the South Park neighborhood in the city, will be home to Target's 6th TargetExpress store, one among the 5 which Target has so far announced plans to build in 2015.
According to a press release, the proposed TargetExpress will be roughly 19,000 square feet, or about 14% of the size of a typical full-sized Target. It will be located at the northeast Corner of Grape Street and Fern Street, putting it at the center of the vibrant, densely populated neighborhood. Target says that it selected South Park in part because of the influx of both tourists and locals the area sees on a daily basis.
Like TargetExpress' other planned locations in San Francisco and St. Paul, Minnesota, this new TargetExpress will cater its product offerings to the tastes of its consumer base. Target explains how one possibility would be to stock the store with grab-and-go food options, a full beauty department and a pharmacy in order to meet urban guests' on-the-go demands. As the construction date gets closer, Target says that it plans on releasing more specific product information.
Target currently owns and operates one TargetExpress store in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis. During 2005, 5 more locations are to be constructed, including the San Diego location as well as 3 stores in the Bay Area and a 5th in St. Paul.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for further updates on TargetExpress and the North American retail market.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two PACA violators in California and New Mexico have been restricted from operating in the produce industry, according to a USDA press release.
KSP Enterprise Inc., a Fullerton, CA based company, failed to pay a $183,594 award in favor of a Washington seller. Brian M. Chong was listed as the Officer, Director, and major stockholder of the business.
Sage Med LLC, a Albuquerque, NM based company, failed to pay a $1,266 award in favor of a New Mexico seller. Henry Fonseca was listed as a member of the business.
In the past three years, the USDA resolved approximately 4,600 claims under the PACA involving more than $87 million. Individuals, including sole proprietors, partners, members, managers, officers, directors, or major stockholders may not be employed 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.