WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed an administrative complaint under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) against Huxtable’s Kitchen Inc.
According to a USDA press release, the company, operating from California, allegedly failed to make payments to six produce sellers in the amount of $551,829 from October 2015 through May 2016.
Huxtable’s Kitchen Inc. will have an opportunity to request a hearing. Should the USDA find that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. Furthermore, 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.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,500 PACA claims involving more than $58 million. Its experts also assisted more than 8,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $140 million. These are just two examples of how USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
INDEPENDENCE, KY - Looking oh-so-fresh these days, Crosset Company has unveiled www.crosset.com With its new look and enhanced functionality, the company’s website has launched a redesigned digital home base.
“We redesigned and restructured our website to better communicate the Crosset Company organic produce advantage and the broad range of products and services we offer our customers and growers,” said Bob Lummis, Crosset Company Sales/Merchandising Manager. “Crosset has been at the leading edge of the growing consumer demand for organic produce. We jumped in early-on to help our customers realize the potential of a well-executed organic program. In fact, we are the largest distributor of organic produce east of the Mississippi River. In addition, our new website visually reflects the beauty and freshness of the organic and conventional produce and floral products we move from farm to market every day.”
The company addresses several aspects of the industry, as it has proven itself to be a leader in the distribution of organic fresh produce, as well as a premier full-line, full-service wholesaler of fresh produce and floral products. To garner the attention of its vast array of customers, the new website is reported to be fully responsive, mobile optimized, and easy to navigate, and it will become the central platform displaying the company’s full range of products and services.
“We bring generations of produce experience to help our customers and growers get ahead and stay ahead,” said Lummis. “We invite retailers, grocery wholesalers, foodservice distributors, and growers to browse our new site and learn more about how we put our experience, scale, network, and high-touch service to work for them…delivering fresher, delighting shoppers, simplifying supply chains, and driving profitable growth.”
So, what is all the excitement actually about, and how does it help you? The website’s main focus is to deliver information, insight, and resources for customers in order to ensure they are able to profitably grow their businesses. The “Resources” section of the website has been further developed, and there is a new Crosset Company blog. Customers can also download merchandising tools and tune into the new Produce Talk, a weekly newsletter that will give customers up-to-date information about conditions on the supply chain, trends, new and seasonal items, merchandising timing, promotional opportunities, and more.
Stay tuned into AndNowUKnow for more fresh produce news and to hear how Crosset Company and others continue to push the consumer engagement envelope with evolving platforms.
HOUSTON, TX – Good things are coming in twos for Sysco this week; the foodservice company announced robust first quarter fiscal 2018 results this morning—with solid growth in sales and profits—and the completed acquisition of leading Costa Rican food distributor Mayca Distribuidores.
“We continue to consistently execute our customer-centric strategy in a cohesive and effective manner, as our U.S. Foodservice Operations delivered solid first quarter results, more than offsetting the softer performance of our International Foodservice Businesses,” said Bill DeLaney, Sysco’s CEO, in a company press release. “In doing so, we largely mitigated the unfavorable near-term financial impact of multiple devastating hurricanes in several of our key markets. I am exceedingly proud of our 65,000 associates who collectively supported our customers, communities, and each other throughout the quarter.”
First quarter fiscal results included:
- Sales increased 4.9% to $14.7 billion
- Gross profit increased 3.8% to $2.8 billion; gross margin decreased 20 basis points to 19.07%
- Operating income increased 9.9% to $623 million; adjusted operating income increased 5.6% to $662 million
- Earnings Per Share (EPS) increased $0.11 to $0.69; adjusted EPS increased $0.07 to $0.74
- Operating income was $781 million, an increase of $36 million, or 4.8%, compared to the same period last year
Though the company noted “mixed results across…various businesses” in its international foodservice operations, sales for international foodservice operations rose 6.4% to $2.9 billion. Though operating income and adjusted operating income were down, Sysco noted its excitement about the acquisition of Mayca Distribuidores in a separate press release.
“We are excited to officially welcome our partners from Mayca into the Sysco family of companies,” said Scott Sonnemaker, Sysco’s SVP-International Foodservice Operations, Americas. “Increasing our international presence has been a large part of our strategy in recent years, and the success and growth we have seen in Costa Rica are great examples of our strategy at work.”
Sysco initially entered into partnership with Mayca in 2014 after purchasing 50% of the company. The Costa Rican company has been in business since 1995, and in addition to its distribution business, has a retail cash-and-carry affiliate with twelve locations, and three additional locations under construction, in addition to a cold-storage company and a truck leasing company. In April, Mayca moved into a 170,000 square-foot facility, one of the largest foodservice distribution centers in Central America, designed to represent the best in technology and energy efficiency.
“The closing of this acquisition is a huge benefit to our associates and customers,” said Jose Maroto, Mayca’s CEO and President. “Our customers will continue to benefit from the wide variety of Sysco’s product assortment, eCommerce solutions, services and expertise.”
Following the acquisition, Maroto will continue to serve as CEO and add new responsibilities as Sysco’s VP of Business Development, Central and South America, to assist with executing Sysco’s strategy by growing business in Costa Rica and the surrounding regions. Osael Maroto, Mayca’s Operations Manager, will assume the role of President.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report with more important foodservice industry news.
NOGALES, AZ - With the beautiful Tubac Golf Resort as its backdrop, the produce industry descended upon Nogales, Arizona this week, uniting once again for this the 49th Annual Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) Annual Produce Convention and Golf Tournament. As one of the largest entry points for Mexican produce in the United States, Nogales lent the perfect arena for discussing everything from the latest on NAFTA and expanding produce consumption, to our own CEO Robert Lambert touting some of the innovations we’ve seen throughout the produce industry.
Serving the needs of more than 100 North American companies involved in the growth, harvest, marketing, import, and distribution of Mexican produce, this year, like the years before it, provided a powerful voice for improvement and sustainability.
Kicking off on November 2 with a welcoming lunch and a session from ANUK’s CEO Robert Lambert, who offered insights on everything from from robotic harvesting to optical sorting and beyond. Those at the session followed along on their mobile devices with our proprietary real-time survey feature, engaging in some of the best and brightest innovations the industry has to offer.
Next, attendees were treated to one of the most comprehensive looks into the recent NAFTA modernization efforts that our industry has to offer, with panelists featuring President of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association Ron Lemaire, President of Fresh Evolution Martin Ley, Managing Member at Fresh International Javier Badillo; and Trade Economist for American Farm Bureau Federation Veronica Nigh and moderated by FPAA President Lance Jungmeyer. These highly respected representatives of the fresh produce industry from across sectors of the industry joined together to discuss what they would like to see in the revamped trade agreement.
And this was just the beginning of the educational sessions offered on day one. Wilson Produce gave a case study on how it has learned its company’s strengths as it has forged a future in the produce industry. With James Martin of Wilson Produce taking on a yearlong process of mapping the company’s history and attributes, Wilson Produce portrayed it visually in a mural-esque animated video that showed the company’s unified and singular mission.
Next, friend of AndNowUKnow Lori Taylor of The Produce Moms offered her insights on just exactly what moms think of Mexican produce. Touching on what moms look for as they shop in the fresh produce department, Taylor surveyed her online audience and shared the results with FPAA’s knowledge-hungry attendees.
Last but not least on the education front at FPAA was keynote Rick Stein, Vice President of Fresh Foods at FMI. Stein offered his thoughts on consumers in the fresh produce department, sharing with those at the show exactly what they buy more of and why through FMI’s yearly Power of Produce Study.
Ending the night with the always bustling and boisterous Opening Fiesta and Networking Event in the Ball Room, the FPAA crew was well-prepared for another day of knowledge, networking, and, as always, the annual golf tournament.
Following the Shotgun Start of the tournament at 9:30 am, some of the sleepier attendees made their way to the FPAA’s 2nd annual Culinary Showcase, featuring top dishes out of Mexico’s top produce categories. Offering samples of unique and delicious culinary creations from chefs and culinary teams, the event sponsored by the FPAA and the Mexican Consulate of Nogales brought a flavorful twist to the end of a day of learning.
As the day closed out with the annual Gala Event and “Pillars of the FPAA” Awards Ceremony, this year honoring James and Sylvia Chamberlain, Founders of J-C Distributing, a distributor of vegetable and tomato products from its 90,000-sq.-ft. facility operated out of Nogales.
Those at the Gala had an elegant sit-down dinner, danced the night away to musical entertainment, and sent off the ceremony with the Pillars of the FPAA recognition award ceremony and the annual United Fresh Salad Bar Program presentation, which highlighted the organization's recent 5,000th salad bar donation.
Thank you to our friends at FPAA for another chance to give the produce industry a look into this thriving border community. Here’s to an always growing Mexican growing sector, and to keeping this date on our calendars year-after-year.
BIRMINGHAM, AL - The act of meal-prep can be daunting for consumers who live fast-paced lives and are trapped in the always layering daily happenings. Dietary limitations can make it even more difficult to squeeze the practice into our day. To provide another option for its customers, eMeals has created a new vegan option for its meal kit line.
“One of the challenges of going vegan is varying your meals so you’re getting balanced, nutritionally complete meals and aren’t eating brown rice with tofu and vegetables every night,” said eMeals VP of Content Scott Jones, in a recent press release. “With seven new recipes every week, the eMeals vegan plan provides variety and inspiration that helps avoid the same-old-dinner boredom. It’s like having a personal chef who helps you maintain your commitment to a vegan diet by continually surprising you with new and interesting dishes.”
Seven easy-to-cook vegan recipes are sent to subscribing smart-phones or emails. On top of that, special recipes featured on EatingWell that have been approved by eMeals’ plant-based diet experts will be sent to those wanting to capitalize on the company’s new frontier. Some options that consumers can choose from are a one-dish ratatouille with white beans and polenta, portobello mushroom burgers with paprika mayo, slow-cooker three-bean veggie chili, farro pilaf with roasted cauliflower, and a vegetable-packed “meat loaf” featuring cremini mushrooms, peas, roasted red peppers, and walnuts.
Feeling overwhelmed by all those ingredient lists that hit you when you find recipes of your dreams? Fear not! eMeals automatically generates a grocery list that can be used to self-shop or even be sent for by Amazon Fresh, Walmart groceries, Korger ClickList, or Instacart for either curbside or home deliveries. Talk about convenience!
The plant-based and animal-free menus offer creative meals that change on a weekly basis at the low, average cost of $3.50 per serving, half the cost for other meal kit options. eMeals’ collaboration with grocery stores rather than meal kit services brings the pre-proportioned meal set-up to all of our vegan friends' doors at lower rates. To keep costs low, eMeals’ fulfillment options and standard packaging eliminates expenses by measuring, bagging, boxing, and mailing portion-sized recipe ingredients, which are required with most conventional meal kits.
According to a recent press release, other benefits include:
Flexible weekly meal choices
Customers are able to tap and delete unneeded meals or substitute favorites from eMeals’ recipe box. The customer’s grocery list will be automatically adjusted to accommodate changes made.
Non-vegan options
Customers don’t only have to select vegan options. If new-to-the-game vegan customers are looking for ways to ease into the meat-less and dairy-less lifestyle, they can choose other health-focused meal plans to help pave the way.
More-than-meal-kit grocery shopping
Customers can order more than what they need for their kitchen cupboard. The convenience of this new service extends into all aspects of the home, so customers can big extra shopping trips a happy farewell.
Less packaging waste
eMeals is focused on making shipments more ecofriendly, with no cardboard containers or cooling packets that add unnecessary waste when shipped.
Customers can subscribe to the meal planning system for $5 per month. To check out the sample menus and free 14-day trials, visit www.emeals.com/meal-plans/vegan/. Consumers can find more information at www.emeals.com/how-it-works. Pricing information can be found at https://emeals.com/account/signup.php
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Last month’s PMA Fresh Summit featured some of the brightest stars in produce, and among those was The Wonderful Company.
Adam Cooper, VP of Marketing for the rapidly-growing provider of citrus, pistachios, pomegranates, and more, was on hand and filled us in on the latest packaging and branding innovations and consumer campaigns for Wonderful’s popular Halos, Pistachios, Pom Wonderful products.
Watch our complete video interview above.
“The Wonderful Company is company is coming off our biggest year ever,” explains Adam. “We’ve had double-digit growth and have actually added more dollars to produce than any other company.”
The company highlighted new Wonderful Pistachio items and an NFL-themed consumer campaign, new Halos retail support, and touted its premier position in sales-driving categories.
“Wonderful Pistachios is now America’s fastest growing snack brand. We have a lot of new news—new packaging for no-shells, for in-shells; we have a new product with Natural Raw, and a whole football campaign that’s sure to be great in-store,” Adam notes. “Wonderful is coming off a year where they’re 12 percent of overall produce department growth, and so we have a huge new campaign for Halos including an in-store…'Grove of Goodness'…we even have orchard displays that people are getting really excited about.”
Likewise, Adam noted that the company’s Pom Wonderful brand products are seeing major success in the Pomegranate and juice categories.
“Pom juice is having one of its biggest years ever, and actually we have the number one seller in all of premium juice. And then our fresh season is just getting off to a really good start,” says Adam, noting that the company’s new ready-to-eat pomegranate aril product is primed to meet burgeoning demand. “Our Pom Poms product is going to be great.”
For more exclusive videos on all things produce, check in with AndNowUKnow.
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed an administrative complaint under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) against Olympic Wholesale Produce Inc.
According to a press release, the company–operating from Illinois–allegedly failed to make payment to four produce sellers in the amount of $898,725 from December 2016 through May 2017.
Olympic Wholesale Produce Inc. will have an opportunity to request a hearing. Should USDA find that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. Furthermore, 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.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,500 PACA claims involving more than $58 million. Its experts also assisted more than 8,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $140 million. These are just two examples of how USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
ROSEMONT, IL – 2018 is already brimming with fresh starts and new board members after US Food Holding Corp. announced the appointment of Ann E. Ziegler, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CDW Corporation, to the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2018.
“Ann is a highly accomplished senior executive with nearly 30 years of leadership experience across multiple industries, including technology, consumer packaged goods, and the food industry,” said Pietro Satriano, President and Chief Executive Officer of US Foods, in a recent press release. “Her background as a public company chief financial officer and her ten years of experience as a senior leader at a well-respected business-to-business value-added distribution company will be an asset to our board.”
Prior to her current position at CDW, Ziegler held a number of executive positions with Sara Lee Corporation including finance, strategy, and general management roles in both U.S. and international businesses. After joining the provider of technology solutions to business, government, education, and healthcare CDW in 2008, Ziegler plans to retire at the end of 2017.
“We look forward to welcoming Ann as a new independent director,” said Robert Dutkowsky, Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. “Her impressive background of strategic business leadership and financial expertise will bring valuable perspective to the board and audit committee.”
Ziegler also serves on the Board of Directors of HanesBrands and Groupon, the supervisory board of Wolters Kluwer N.V., and the board of governors of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.
ANUK wishes Ziegler luck with her new board and will continue to bring you the latest produce industry news.
SALINAS, CA – Industry marketing veteran Kyla Oberman has joined Tanimura & Antle’s team of employee owners, taking on the role of Director of Marketing. In her new role, she will oversee and manage the company’s brand identity, marketing initiatives, and communications program.
“Kyla’s wealth of strategic marketing experience paired with a deep understanding of our unique industry makes her an incredible asset to our team,” said Chief Marketing Officer Jeffry Jackson, who will be working closely with Kyla in her new role.
Kyla began her marketing career in the produce industry as an Account Executive at McDill Associates in 2004. In 2010, she took on a new role at Naturipe Farms as a Marketing Coordinator, later being promoted to Marketing Manager and then to Director of Marketing. There, she was responsible for the strategic planning, development, and implementation of various integrated corporate marketing and communications programs, overseeing the direction and execution of brand management. This included brand standards, product marketing, digital media strategies, trade shows, sales materials, video and photography, and more.
“We are ecstatic to welcome Kyla to our Tanimura & Antle family of employee owners. We were immediately impressed with her proven track recored of reliability, team-centric character, and her commitment to developing, implementing, and delivering process,” said Ashley Pipkin, Senior Manager of Marketing, in a recent press release.
With a continued commitment to growth and innovation, Tanimura & Antle was impressed not only with Kyla’s industry finesse, but with her leadership achievements as well. In addition to being selected as a winner of the Produce Business 40 Under 40 and graduating from the PMA Emerging Leaders Program, Kyla has served on a number of industry committees such as the PMA Foodservice Committee and is a career ambassador for the Center for Growing Talent by PMA.
“Tanimura & Antle is bringing on a real marketing professional. Kyla has an industry reputation for both retail and consumer marketing expertise as well as strong strategic marketing insights,” said Mark Munger, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at 4Earth Farms. “Kyla’s creative marketing and communication expertise will be a great marriage with Tanimura & Antle’s innovative and consumer oriented product line.”
We here at ANUK wish Kyla luck in her new role. For more produce industry updates, keep following AndNowUKnow.
TEMPLE, PA - An instrumental member of establishing Giorgio Fresh in the mushroom business has announced his nearing retirement this week. Brian Threlfall, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the company, has revealed he will be leaving the company at the end of 2017, and in his stead current Vice President of Sales and Marketing Greg Sagan will be succeeding into the role starting January 1.
When Threlfall joined Giorgio in 1987, the company had no involvement in the fresh mushroom market and had been mostly known for its canned and jarred products, according to a press release. The company now credits Threlfall with being an indispensable leader in establishing Giorgio as a major player in the fresh mushroom industry.
"Brian has had a tremendous impact on Giorgio Fresh and Giorgio Foods," said company President Joe Caldwell. "His leadership, dedication, and expertise have been key factors in the company’s success and legacy of growth."
Now named Threlfall’s successor, Greg Sagan brings with him forty years of food and mushroom industry experience to his new role. Sagan touts an appointment by the USDA to two terms on the board of the Mushroom Council, better known as the industry’s promotion, research, and consumer outreach organization for the category.
"Greg is highly experienced and forward-thinking, and we are fortunate to have him leading our sales and marketing efforts in the future," added Caldwell.
As the produce industry bids farewell to one mushroom pioneer and advances the career of another, we at AndNowUKnow wish the best of luck to all parties involved!