AUSTIN, TX - Whole Foods is doubling down on its pick of root-to-stem as one of 2018’s most anticipated food trends, introducing an array of new whole-produce offerings to its salad bars beginning December 27. The retailer will incorporate both composed and “build your own” salad recipes that focus on the trend, along with highlighting seasonal produce items and other superfood ingredients.
“We’re refreshing our salad bars for the New Year to support shoppers who are looking for convenient, healthy dishes that don’t sacrifice quality or taste,” explained Tien Ho, the company’s Culinary & Hospitality Executive Coordinator. “Our stores are excited to celebrate peak season produce and serve up plant based, nutrient dense recipes that we know our customers crave this time of year.”
According to a press release, two of the soon-to-be-released ready-made salads will be one, roasted sunchokes with sunflower seeds, sprouts, and chile dressing, and two, chopped fennel bulbs and stems tossed with lemon honey vinaigrette and honey crisp apples. The refreshed salad bar will also begin featuring the following items:
- Blueberries
- Wakame seaweed
- Turmeric sweet potatoes
- Broccoli florets
- Quinoa
- Roasted mushrooms
- Flax seeds
- Superfood salad dressing
- Power greens
As we reported last month, Whole Foods’ buyers and culinary experts shared their top food trend predictions for 2018, including the root-to-stem movement. The trend appeals to consumers who are both looking to experiment with new flavors and reduce food waste, as it incorporates lesser used parts of produce categories, including stems, rinds, seeds and leaves.
Is Whole Foods’ move setting a precedent by getting ahead of this soon-to-be-everywhere root-to-stem trend? AndNowUKnow will keep offering you the latest.
HOUSTON, TX – With cold storage on the rise as one of the largest growing sectors over the last 24 months, Brothers Produce announces the expansion of its Houston Cold Storage division to 65,000-square-feet.
“We feel we have positioned ourselves in a very unique way within this market segment,” said Brent Erenwert, Chief Innovation Officer, in a press release. Under this expansion, he has also created a new segment of the storage division that will be dedicated to the restaurant and distribution business. “We are very excited about this new segment and already had several restaurants who have committed storage needs with us before we even took the service live.”
Unique in the business, the new service will allow small, medium, and large chains to control costs, inventory, and distribution of various items within their concept, as well as offer other options for items requiring restaurant distribution.
“Today we live in a world that has become all about service in nearly every business you are in. It does not matter if it is produce, dry goods, grocery, or any other aspect, and the cold storage business is no different; people want service,” said Erenwert.
The former President of Brothers Produce, he recently took a new role as Director of Innovation, upon which he stated that he had major plans for the cold storage division.
The company’s storage division began in 2015 when it mostly stored produce related items. However, today, Brothers Produce has expanded to include the storage of flowers, wines, water, various food related items, and dry goods. With a fleet of over 110 trucks to transport products, Produce Brothers’ customers have come to rely on both the storage and distribution solutions the company offers. Ever a pioneer in the evolving produce business, Brothers Produce innovation in the cold storage business is showing a positive future for the company.
For more produce industry news like this, stay up-to-date with AndNowUKnow.
YUMA, AZ – With the time of frenzied, last minute holiday grocery shopping upon us, demand for fresh produce is even more evident than ever. This season, Tanimura & Antle’s Commodity Manager Ryan Mazzuca reports that while broccoli and cauliflower quality is strong, supply will be tight moving into the December and January holidays.
“Quality is excellent right now, with fields trending 7 to 14 days ahead of schedule,” Ryan tells me. “Our organic cauliflower and broccoli demand is strong as well, with tighter supplies moving into the New Year. Markets are also trending upwards for conventional and organic cauliflower and broccoli supplies. We anticipate lower volumes moving into the Christmas and New Year’s pull due to cooler weather conditions. Although conventional volumes continue to trend under budget, organic cauliflower and broccoli promotions are available.”
Ryan also notes that, to date, growing conditions have been ideal. However, as we approach the end of the year, weather has been cooling, which has slowed product down in the field and decreased supply.
“We will see a spike in demand and pricing through December into January,” Ryan continues. “Organic markets will follow on the coattails of conventional cauliflower and broccoli with markets trending upwards.”
As both organic and conventional broccoli and cauliflower see excellent quality but extreme markets during the next few months, keep your eyes peeled for Tanimura & Antle’s broccoli and cauliflower as we move into 2018.
For more market updates on fresh produce, keep checking back with AndNowUKnow for the latest.
SWEDEN AND FINLAND – Consumers have spoken, and McDonald’s is listening...well, Swedish and Finnish McDonald's, that is. After a trial run with its McVegan menu option in a Finnish city, the fast food company has decided to onboard the alternative burger to its permanent menu throughout Finland and Sweden.
The vegan option debuted in the small city of Tampere from October 4th to November 21st to thunderous praise; banking on the success in the initial release, the company has announced that it will sell its McVegan in the two countries starting December 28th.
"The test in Finland blew all the expectations out of the water," said Staffan Ekstam, McDonald's Head of Food Strategy in Sweden, in a recent Nordic Business Insider article. “We can now offer our guests a vegan burger developed in Sweden. Our ambition is that there should be something on our menu for all of the 400,000 guests who visit us every day," he said.
This has been a long time in the making, as the same article explains that McDonald’s went through 100+ different recipes to create the perfect meal for the specific audience. In order to find its soy-based vegan patty, the company looked to Annama, a southern Sweden niche food company whose notoriety comes from its expertise in vegan options within the fast food industry.
McVegans will be offered at a competitively low price; for just 49 Swedish krona, or approximately $5.80, consumers can get their hands on the vegan burger. The burger is being described as a cheaper option than the vegetarian burgers being sold by its rival, Max, according to the Nordic Business Insider article and Food &Wine.
While the McVegan menu item has not been accepted into the European or American assortments, this next step might offer valuable insight into whether the company wants to take the menu option even further. In the meantime, I’m lovin’ it!
BENTONVILLE, AK - Walmart has launched a new app, in partnership with Silicon Valley tech start-ups Even and PayActiv streamlining the idiom “time is money.” The new launch, which the retailer described as an industry-first tool, allows more than 1.4 million employees accross the nation to cultivate financial wellness and even access their check pre-pay day.
“Traditional approaches to workforce well-being often focus solely on physical health, but we know from listening to our associates that financial well-being is just as important. We’re investing to give our people financial tools that help provide more stability in their lives, which we believe will empower them to be all they can be when they are at work serving our customers,” said Jacqui Canney, Walmart Chief People Officer.
Available to all Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Walmart e-commerce employees when it launches, the Even app connects to checking accounts, prepaid accounts, or Walmart Associate Paycards securely while linking to Walmart's payroll systems.
Expenses will automatically subtract from a user’s anticipated cash inflows, allowing associates to see exactly how much money they’re okay to spend. Associates will access the tools through the Even app, available for both iOS and Android devices, according to a press release. Unexpected expenses? Employees can now access earned wages ahead of schedule using an “Instapay” feature. Trouble mapping out room for spending around bills and savings? This looks to help Walmart workers automatically do so.
“Money management is something people across every income level struggle with, in large part because they don’t have access to good tools,” said Jon Schlossberg, CEO of Even. “In real life, if you want to get ahead, you’ve got to make a financial plan, and also have a way to fix the plan when it breaks. Even offers tools for both, together in one app. Working with Walmart and PayActiv gives us the opportunity to put these powerful, easy-to-use financial management tools in the hands of millions of hard working Americans."
Not only do the companies say the technology will cut out the work of figuring out how much money is okay to spend, but it should also provide the flexibility needed to avoid overdrafts, high-fee funding, or credit options.
“Every American worker faces unexpected and stressful between-paychecks expenses,” said Safwan Shah, Founder and CEO of PayActiv. “With on-demand access to earned wages, Walmart associates will be able to save more, avoid the financial traps that reduce their take-home pay, and get a level of stability that few service sector employers provide.”
Walmart said that it will cover the entire cost of Even’s automated financial management tool for both hourly and salaried associates, ensuring associates can use Instapay up to eight times per year for free. Associates can use the program more frequently if needed, in which case the retailer would subsidize the additional Even subscription required to do so.
The latest in a slew of financial- and tech-related moves, AndNowUKnow will continue to report on this developing strategy.
WESTERN CANADA – There is a new face around the towns of Western Canada, and its not your run-of-the-mill new neighbor experience. FreshCo, a discount food chain, is moving into Western Canadian neighborhoods next year. This is a move by its parent company, Sobeys Inc., as it plays catch up with its competitors who have stepped into the low-cost food retail arena.
"The absence of a large discount banner put us at a structural disadvantage," Michael Medline, Chief Executive Officer of Sobeys and Empire, told an analyst conference call on Wednesday according to The Globe and Mail. "Discount grocery is the fastest growing segment of the bricks-and-mortar market…We need to participate to a greater degree in this higher-growth segment."
While the majority of the changes will take place over the coming four years, Empire Co. Ltd., the umbrella company under which Sobeys and Safeway reside, has its eyes set on transitioning 65 of its 255 of the two retailers' stores in Western Canada to the discount chain locations.
FreshCo is not a new face to every customer, as it has an established consumer base in Ontario. The movement to Western territory has been long in the making, but the retailer has gone through some difficulties along the way, including the anti-climactic financial results of its Safeway takeover in Western Canada for $5.8 billion in 2013.
Sobeys is welcoming more discount stores to challenge competitors’ perception of high prices. Project Sunrise, the company’s attempt to realign its operations in the coming months, is another way it is tackling the evolving market.
Estimates for minimum wage costs show up to $25 million in 2018 and $70 million the following year, a financial offset the company is already weighing. That being said, hope FreshCo could pervade the discount market, which currently makes up 40.5 percent of Canada’s $100 billion+ food retail market, is the next strategic step. On top of that, FreshCo is ranked the sixth discount banner in the country, according to Medline in the same article.
While looking to new and improved tactics to highlight its low pricing, FreshCo is offering a word to the wise, too, as Medline expressed in the same article that Sobeys will be altering offerings based on consumers’ tastes and surrounding communities.
AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you up-to-date with the latest!
WOODRIDGE, IL – Sunfarm Food Service is a company that prides itself on hard work and dedication, and when time came to look for an ERP software solution provider, they wanted to select a company that could optimize the solid business they had built in the St. Louis area over the last 90 years. They selected Produce Pro Software.
“Our goal is to get to know a company from the ground up and really understand their business when presenting a tailored solution to best fit their needs,” explain Marc Hatfield, National Sales Manager at Produce Pro Software, in a press release.
Sunfarm needed a software solutions provider that could work with them throughout the entire implementation process to provide the highest level of customer service and support.
“I first met Marc Hatfield of Produce Pro Software, at a trade show. Even though one of our competitors was already using Produce Pro, it’s the system we had our eye on. There were several things I was impressed with throughout the sales process as well as implementation. I can’t speak enough of how fantastic it was for Produce Pro to ask the right questions and learn our business. They even came out to our facility to see our operation first hand before we made our decision,” commented John Pollaci. “Produce Pro dedicated an entire team to ensure our implementation ran smoothly. I could not be more impressed with the level of professionalism of their staff, and believe it or not, they made it fun! The whole process before going live with the new system was great and made for a very smooth transition.”
Produce Pro noted in is press release, that the benefits that Sunfarm reaped from pairing with the software provider include:
- Better inventory visibility
- Increased system speed and flexibility
- Robust reporting and exporting
“Thus far, Produce Pro has exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to keeping that momentum going,” added Pollaci. “Next up, we are implementing Produce Pro’s Driver Solution which will help us realize a huge reduction in paper usage and additional costs.”
For more on companies that service the fresh produce industry and opportunities to improve operations, check in with AndNowUKnow.
RIO RICO, AZ - In the wise words of Texas’s Charles Goodnight, “Above all things, the plainsman had to have a sense – an instinct for direction... Few men have this instinct... I never had a compass in my life. I was never lost.” Similar to Goodnight’s instinct for direction when traversing the land, SunFed has shown an instinct in its company’s direction by expanding with meticulousness into its new category, onions, and by making its long-anticipated journey back into U.S. production.
Joining me to discuss the company’s forward thinking and expansive growth is CEO Craig Slate and Vice President of Operations Matt Mandel, as SunFed evolves its focus to include a new onion product line set to roll out in early 2018.
When I ask about the team’s newest item in the company’s product line, Matt explains to me, “SunFed is going to be handling traditional white, red, Spanish yellow, sweet yellow onions across the portfolio of products. They fit really well with what we currently provide, on multiple levels.”
As the company makes strides into this produce territory, the new category seems a fitting addition and a natural next step in their established produce line, which includes bell peppers, squash, and more.
Craig shares in the sentiment and adds that the company’s items work to its incoming category’s advantage, especially where their biggest markets are concerned.
“All of those can be cross-merchandised together. They all complement each other and the style of category. Bell peppers and our squashes are great sauté items. We do a lot for the retail throughout Texas. That’s a big area of penetration for us on the veg items,” he tells me.
While news of the company’s expansion into a new category is exciting, what makes the company’s movement into onions so monumental is SunFed’s simultaneous step back onto U.S. soil. Onion production will start off on Mexican land at the start of the year before being transitioned to the company’s Texas farms come springtime.
“We’re going to start with Mexican production, but it’s not all coming from Mexico, which is going to be slightly different for some veg. It’s been over a decade since we have grown domestically. So, this is going to be our dramatic and triumphant return to domestic products. We will be starting the earliest onions out of Mexico in January. That will carry us into the domestic production which will start mid-to-late March” Craig explains.
With so much excitement swirling around this news, the company has already begun to plan retail promotions, though it wants to get its feet firmly planted in the category before extensively mapping out and announcing impending moves. First things first for the company: creating a quality category that aligns itself alongside the other successful produce items it has to offer consumers. With that being said, these movements in the company’s production give credence to the idea that its instinctual moves lead to its successes. Perhaps nothing proves this more than SunFed’s U.S. homecoming.
“We’ve seen growth over the last couple of years, but we are anticipating accelerated growth through our Texas division. If you look at our normal annual production on squash and cucumbers—we’ve already seen those segments ramp up. Going into 2018, we’ve got a higher percentage of production coming from Central and Eastern Mexico, which supports that Texas facility much more so,” Craig tells me. “As a company overall, we’ve really seen continued growth, but probably more at an accelerated rate through the Texas facility. We’re starting to hit our stride on that three-year plan as to where we want to be over the next five-to-eight years.”
With so much on the expansive horizon, the company’s navigation of the industry with instinctual and natural determination for success continues to show steadfast growth. We at AndNowUKnow look forward to seeing how its category growth and the onset of U.S. production push SunFed’s story forward with more achievements.
WENATCHEE, WA — The first commercial release of USA-grown KORU® apples comes just in time for the holiday season, with flavor and size perfect for holiday shoppers craving crisp, sweet, and naturally delicious apples.
“We’re excited to be part of the KORU family and to work with these other two great companies,” said Chelan Fresh Director of Marketing, Mac Riggan, who noted that 2017 is the first year the company has participated in marketing the new KORU variety with New York Apple Sales and Oneonta Starr.
New Zealand’s season runs from May through September, and the New York crop was harvested right on cue in late September–a month earlier than Washington’s November harvest–which allowed the fruit to hit the market in October.
“We had a great start in October and were able to keep one of our retailers from gapping between New Zealand and U.S. fruit,” Jim Allen, Vice President of Marketing for New York Apple Sales, said in a press release.
New York Apple Sales, Oneonta Starr Ranch, and Chelan Fresh are collaborating on the KORU project, and all report positive findings–with consumer feedback reveling the apple variety’s “Escape Ordinary” flavor profile and characteristics–of the fruit that has risen to the fourth most popular new variety spot in the United States this past summer.
“This is really a great apple, one of my favorites,” said Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers National Marketing Representative Bruce Turner. “It’s interesting that it’s a naturally pollinated cross of Fuji and Braeburn found in New Zealand and yet it tastes like neither parent. In response, consumer feedback has been amazing, and we receive quite a few emails from consumers who tell us how much they love KORU.”
With the KORU apple variety off to a good start and distributing to over 11,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada, retailers and buyers alike should keep their eyes peeled for KORU in 27-pound euro cartons and 2-pound pouch bags now available. And with production in both New Zealand and USA gearing up as young trees mature, the apple variety will soon be available year-round beginning in 2019.
For more on fresh produce from near and far, stay up-to-date with AndNowUKnow.
New York Apple Sales Chelan Fresh Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers
MIAMI, FL - We are completely immersed in the greens and reds of the holiday season. In Dave’s Specialty Imports’ case, it’s the ruby red line-up of luscious berries. The company has welcomed organic cherries from its farm in Argentina for the first time, bringing the program to market for a few short weeks in December.
“It is a very unique program and available for just a few short weeks. We are thrilled to offer it and hope it really gives an added benefit to our customers,” said company Vice President Leslie Simmons.
This is not the only holiday red the family-owned operation is offering, having planted strawberries on 100 acres in central Florida for the first time this year as well.
“The quality and appearance has been outstanding and the flavor is spot on,” said Mike Bowe, President. According to a press release, Dave’s has started shipping high-quality fruit to retail and foodservice customers in 1 lb clamshells. He continued, “This has been a wonderful opportunity for us to continue to build out a stronger domestic program to complement our Mexican strawberries.”
Rounding out the flushed lineup are Chilean red currants, which are especially sought after around the holiday season and pomegranate arils—in flat trays from India and 4.4 oz and 8 oz cups from Peru will start up in January.
Both make their return as popular winter items to the Dave’s import offerings, so keep an eye out as you look to add a splash of red to your produce department.