UNITED KINGDOM – There’s a new app in town, and unlike other apps that help strangers meet, this app is for the hungry, not the thirsty. Designed to alleviate the imminent threat of food waste riddling our environment today and cure the epidemic of having eyes that are larger than stomachs when grocery shopping, mobile phone app OLIO is here to save the day by sharing leftover, unused, and excess fresh food and produce with strangers, friends, and anyone else who might want it.
After throwing away too much food in the midst of moving three years ago, entrepreneur Tessa Cook realized the wastefulness and unnecessity of doing so when she could have just given the food to someone else.
“I thought, ‘This is perfectly delicious food. I know there is someone within 100 meters who would love it. The problem is they don’t know about it’,” Cook said, according to a report by Reuters. When she realized there were no apps available yet to share food, she teamed up with Saasha Celestial-One, and OLIO was born.
Globally, $1 trillion worth of food and produce–mainly from homes–is thrown away every year, not only leaving it to rot and release toxic greenhouse gases into the environment, but also wasting the land and water used to produce it. However, OLIO users can download the food sharing app and upload a picture with a short description of the food they want to give away instead of throw away. Users can then contact each other via private message to arrange for pick-up. Or if users want to exchange clothes and furniture, there’s a section on the app for that as well.
Launched in January 2016, the app has over 322,000 registered users and over 400,000 shared food items. And now, supermarkets, like Sainsbury’s, are partnering with OLIO in order to also cut back on food waste and share leftover food within their communities.
While in the past, some, like Chrissy Teigan, have taken to social media to request and dispose of fresh food and produce, OLIO is hoping to streamline this process and help users not only reduce waste and save money, but also try out new foods. And, you never know, maybe one day an OLIO user will bring fresh produce to recently revealed banana-crazed Prince Harry craving his favorite yellow fruit.
For more new happenings stirring up the produce industry, stay up-to-date with AndNowUKnow.
SALINAS, CA – Stepping into the company’s newly created President role at Naturipe Brands, industry veteran Chris Coffman is joining the Naturipe team. His position, which he stepped into on November 13th, will be reporting to Naturipe Brands' Board of Directors, and strategic partnerships, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, investment opportunities, licensing, and brand extension opportunities will all be under his care.
"I am humbled at the opportunity to join an organization with a remarkable business model, extended history of success and most importantly, a culture of values that is exemplary,” said Coffman in a recent press release. “The prospect to steward the Naturipe brand and the extension of new business units and revenue streams is an excellent challenge.”
The company is excited to bring on such an knowledgeable and expert employee to steer its direction with the aforementioned duties.
“We are excited to have Chris lead Naturipe Brands, which is focused on delivering value to our grower-owners and customers,” said Dwight Ferguson, CEO and President of Naturipe Farms. “His breadth and depth of business development experience is key to execution of Naturipe's strategic growth initiatives.”
Coffman’s resume includes his role as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at J&J Farms, as well as his roles at PRO*ACT, Apio, and Del Monte. His career boasts of heavy-hitting names in the industry, and Coffman gained his education from UC Davis. While he currently lives in Wellington, Florida, he and his family will be making the move to Naturipe’s Estero, Florida, office in 2018.
Congratulations to Chris Coffman and the whole Naturipe team! We wish you every success moving forward!
LAKELAND, FL - The convenience-driven food craze is getting a winter-focused twist with Publix Super Markets’ new meal kit line designed for slow cookers. Launching three varieties for this first iteration of the line, Publix is offering packaged chicken and dumplings, chuck roast, and pork carnitas kits—all including at least one produce item.
Each kit makes a meal for four people, Publix Media and Community Relations Manager Brian West told the Tampa Bay Business Journal, and also comes with a slow cooker liner that makes cleanup a breeze. So far, the chicken and dumplings, priced at $14.99, and the chuck roast, priced at $19.99, are available in several stores in Tampa, near Publix headquarters.
On first glance, it looks as if the new meal kits will feature the following produce items:
- Chicken and dumplings: onions, carrots, and celery
- Chuck roast: potatoes, carrots, onions, and herbs
- Pork carnitas: lime and pico de gallo salsa
These additions come on the heels of spring 2017’s meal kit introduction from Publix, tapping into the company’s Aprons recipe development department. As we previously reported, the meal kits are offered at three different price tiers, and have options that span the gamut of culinary skill levels. Options are typically also made to serve a family of four, with six different meals to choose from.
Will meal kits still pull in consumer dollars even as companies like Blue Apron are seemingly beginning to flounder? AndNowUKnow is keeping a close eye on this new and growing trend.
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ – Capespan is getting a jump start on the whole “New Year, New Beginnings” mentality; it not only created the newly minted General Manager USA position, but also appointed Erin Meder to fill it.
"Linking sales and operations with this new position and reporting structure represents Capespan North America’s continued commitment to sales and service excellence," said Mark Greenberg, President & CEO, in a recent press release.
In her new role, Meder will be an executive with general management responsibilities within the entirety of the Capespan North America’s U.S. sales and operations domain. She will be reporting to Greenberg as she continues to work from the company’s Gloucester City sales office.
"Since her arrival at Capespan North America, Erin has demonstrated leadership, a firm grasp of sales and operations, and an unimpeachable work ethic. She is widely respected at all levels of our organization, among our grower base and by the customers she serves," added Greenberg.
In September of 2015, Meder joined the Capespan North America team as a Senior Sales Executive and Category Leader. In conjunction with her sales role, Meder took on the responsibilities for Category Leader of table grapes and soft citrus.
Congratulations to Erin Meder and the whole Capespan North America team from AndNowUKnow!
KINGSVILLE, ONTARIO – Grower of premium greenhouse fruits and vegetables DelFrescoPure® has been at work getting the freshest produce possible to its customers for over 35 years. And after introducing a pilot program producing everbearing, day-neutral strawberries last year, the company has expanded acreage and production to produce its optimally-fresh Yes!Berries strawberries.
“Last year…we had a successful campaign with them,” Carl Mastronardi, President of DelFrescoPure, told me on the floor of the 2017 PMA Fresh Summit. “This year we are expanding to ten-acre full production…The huge advantage for these strawberries is we intend on picking them and getting them to market the next day.”
With a Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and all the amenities of a state-of-the-art greenhouse growing operation in place, Carl tells me the company is now looking to work with its retail partners, introducing new packaging and pack sizes to meet demand.
“Were going to do an 8x14" twelve oz package and we’re also looking at new pack sizes for the future…We’ve also tried the snack size, and we’re going to test that this year in some of our [partners’] stores,” Mastronardi adds.
For more, watch our complete interview above.
CASTROVILLE, CA – With a revived focus on making life a little bit easier for consumers, Ocean Mist® Farms is launching its new-and-improved, high-functioning website. With the new design, the users can connect with the company to learn more about its expansive product line.
"Our inspiration for the new website design started with looking at our brand from the outside in," said Senior Director of Marketing for Ocean Mist Farms Diana McClean, in a recent press release. "People know us as a family-owned business dedicated to value, high-quality products, and chef recommendations. Because of that, we designed the website to convey a clean, bistro-style vibe and offer people a place to come to for inspiration and advice as if they were asking a friend."
The company’s deep roots in the industry, with four generations steeped in the family-owned farm’s values and traditions, highlights its strong adherence to integrity, quality, passion, and success. The new website will showcase its commitment to delivering high-quality products and customer service, as it strengthens its relationships with visitors through recipes, nutrition facts, vegetable cooking and storage tips, crop updates, point of sale materials, and more.
“We are ecstatic to have the new website as another resource to educate and spark creativity in consumers,” adds McClean.
As the company addresses the increasing interest into who is growing the foods we consume with behind-the-scenes industry details, Ocean Mist Farms has devoted video footage of its fields and the hard work that goes into them. Not only will it grant insight into the operations at the company’s farms, but it will also inspire visitors to join in on its sweepstakes, download its free cookbooks, gain information on what its growing, and learn about its harvests and food safety practices.
UNITED KINGDOM – News headlines went bananas last week after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, and apparently, the couple is also a little, well, bananas for a certain yellow produce variety. While no fresh produce was harmed, or used, to reveal their engagement, the couple has already kicked wedding planning into high gear and are set to have a banana-flavored wedding cake at their May ceremony.
“This will be the first royal wedding cake made from bananas,” a source close to the couple told The Telegraph. Typically, the top tier of the royal wedding cake is a fruit cake because it is said to be long lasting. However, because the couple is crazy about bananas, the two will break from this tradition, and go for a banana cake instead.
While their engagement is still fresh, the couple’s love for bananas is evergreen. According to Daily Mail, Prince Harry has loved anything with bananas since he was a kid, including banana flan and banana ice cream.
And this isn’t the couple’s first time capturing news headlines because of fresh produce. Thirteen months ago, Markle posted a picture on Instagram of two bananas spooning with the caption ‘sleep tight xx,’ which many interpreted as the actress confirming her relationship with Prince Harry.
Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle include more nods to their favorite fresh fruit in the wedding ceremony? AndNowUKnow will continue to report as the royal banana saga continues to unfold.
NEW ZEALAND – With branded apples increasingly growing category sales, it’s important to stay atop the shifting landscape of new varieties and value-added options and know what customers are looking for in an apple.
With that in mind, I spoke with Brock Nemecek, Marketing Manager, North America for T&G Global Limited, to find out more about the company’s ongoing marketing efforts with its popular Jazz™, Envy™, and Pacific Rose™ apples.
“Our approach to marketing is certainly brand first,” Brock notes. “We want consumers to always think of Envy, Jazz, and Pacific Rose—not necessarily at the time of year of the season.”
To that end, the company is working to close in on the goal of year-round supply. And T&G Global is building demand through segmentation, on-trend packaging, and unique brand messaging.
“Each of the brands is very distinct and unique just like each of the apples is very distinct and unique,” Brock explains. “Our marketing plans have identified target audiences for each type of apple—for the flavor profile, for use and different kinds of applications. Because of that, each of them have a stand-alone brand, we promote each of them individually to a different segment.”
For more, watch my video interview in its entirety above.
And for more fresh produce news, stick with AndNowUKnow.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Last week, Business Insider held its IGNITION conference, and amongst guests and panelists was Target’s Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell. Taking jabs at competitors like Walmart in order to tout his company’s success strategy, Cornell revealed the retailer’s focus remains on innovations it can roll out in stores and online within a five-year time frame.
“Experimentation is interesting, but if I can’t scale it—if I can’t do it 1,800 times—it’s not going to add a lot of enterprise value,” Cornell said, responding to a question about Walmart’s Store No. 8, robots, and virtual reality, as reported by Business Insider. “To do things at scale, they have to have broad-based applications. Otherwise they are nice little experiments that distract the organization and distract resources that really need to be reapplied to the core enterprise.”
However, not to be left behind by Walmart’s current ventures with shelf-scanning robots and new produce varieties, Target has partnered with the venture capital firm BCG Digital Ventures to launch a fourteen-week “innovation sprint” aimed at coming up with new ideas for growing its business. With it closing this week, the project involved Target managers collaborating with BCG Digital Ventures’ designers, engineers, and investors to produce ideas for new products and potential businesses.
“We’re going to see some pretty exciting ideas,” said Cornell, who will review the ideas after the programs end.
Target also recently announced the reimagining and remodeling of many of its brick-and-mortar stores in order to feature fresh food and grocery conveniently front and center.
As we embrace the future, will Target’s remodeling and innovation sprint strategies continue to fare well against competitors’ more unique approaches? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.
FRANCE - While jolly Saint Nick’s Christmas gifts aren’t thinning out, it looks like he might be. French grocery store Intermarché released a holiday advertisement titled “I’ve Dreamt So Much,” which might go beyond the traditional grocery-paying, older audience by addressing a younger audience and inviting them into the produce aisle for some fun. In the ad commercial, a little boy is taken to sit atop Santa’s lap like so many other little boys and girls have done before; this time, however, Santa is in for a few surprises of his own after making the little boy’s acquaintance.
"The transformation of lntermarché’s marketing and communication is putting us on the path of becoming the 'emotional leader' of the market," said Vincent Bronsard, the brand’s Strategic and Operational Marketing Head, according to Adweek. "More than anything else, these choices are bearing fruit... store traffic has gone up 0.5 points. Our ambition with this film is to take the 'Eat better' crusade even further, and to continue our progression."
As the ad goes on, consumers frequently get a glance of the little boy and his sister leaving their local Intermarché with diet on the brain—not for themselves, but for Santa! He has to fit down their chimney somehow, doesn’t he? Their grocery trips’ plunder is produce-filled and health-conscious, as they continue to visit Santa with their healthy and produce-packed meal suggestions—they even go so far as to leave an artichoke to accompany the staple glass of milk left as Santa’s snack.
All this to say, “We all have a good reason to eat better every day.” Well, so goes the Intermarché story, stamped with perfection as the little boy and girl hug with holiday cheer amongst the Christmas presents Santa was able to deliver—thanks to their dietary suggestions.
Looking for some holiday marketing inspiration? Enjoy Intermarché ingenious ad below for healthier eating during the holiday season that will attract jolly consumers both big and small.
The French grocery store's "I've Dreamt So Long" is the brainchild of Romance agency, whose Executive Creative Director is Alexandre Hervé. The child’s found affinity for healthier eating is in the same vein as the brand’s “L’Amour L’Amour” advertisement, another commercial directed by Romance agency, which was released earlier this year. In it, a young man is after a grocery store cashier’s heart, only to fall in love with the entirety of his grocery experience—cooking and all! The advertisement is signed off with the same quote at the end, procuring its signature healthy eating message that addresses the heartstrings attached to the gut.
How will holiday-specific marketing advertisements like "I've Dreamt So Much" that are being rolled out during this heartwarming and group gathering-filled time of year affect sales in our industry? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.