SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Digital branding has taken on a life of its own over the past year as more and more companies vy for a slice of the e-commerce market. Lucky for Side Delights®, this fresh potato brand portfolio had already begun to build out its digital footprint before it became a cornerstone of supply-side strategy. As we delve deeper into this online space in the fresh produce industry, I had the chance to chat with Kathleen Triou, President and CEO of Fresh Solutions Network, to get an inside look at Side Delights’ digital brand strategy.
“Side Delights began building our digital brand a couple years ago by updating our product lines and transitioning our promotional sell sheets developed for retail and foodservice buyers into a digital e-book,” she told me. “This transition was accompanied by updates to creative materials, statistics, and programming. It was a great upgrade to how we sell and share our product and promotion information. This first step was received well by our customers. However, at that time, the pandemic was inconceivable, and we were going digital to reinforce our position as a cutting-edge, innovative supplier, not out of necessity.”
Over the past year, Side Delights concentrated its efforts on establishing its social media presence with an ownable brand voice and creative expression. The company took a grassroots approach that connected farmers to its potatoes, leading with the Grown Where It Matters quality message and Time for What Matters consumer messaging. On Facebook over the past 10 months, the company has grown its followers by 12.5 times, with significant growth reflected on Instagram as well. Side Delights also established its own YouTube channel along with eight new “how to” videos around tips and tricks for potatoes.
“We are now announcing our digital product line kits for our retailers’ e-commerce platforms,” Kathleen continued, noting how this digital strategy has been made available to buyers as well. “Omni-channel has become omni-present, so we want to ensure our products, whether they are in our Side Delights packaging or a retailer’s private label, are represented to the consumer in the best light possible. Our e-commerce kits include, among other things, beauty shots of our products and customized social media posts. We believe that every brand and every product should communicate what it is and what makes it special both in-store and online. The quality of the communication makes a difference, and we are ready to help retailers with this task.”
Having entered uncharted territory with this strategy, Side Delights had to get creative in finding solutions that would bolster its digital brand presence. The brand utilizes signature recipes with links to its YouTube and FAQ pages, as well as clearly calls out nutritional information and functional benefits. On top of this, Side Delights is taking a more abstract approach by appealing to consumers through total brand transparency.
“You gotta talk about what you are doing!” Kathleen proclaimed. “The Fresh Solutions Network of farmers are excellent farmers with amazing stories to tell. Being honest and proud about who we are and how we farm was a great starting point. Check out our recently launched site for more examples of how we provide brand transparency.”
Be sure to take notes on how Side Delights is growing its share of the fresh produce market through digital branding. For more exciting strategies across the industry, keep an eye out for reports from ANUK.
LOS ANGELES, CA - With each week that passes, football fans from across the country are stocking their kitchens with beloved game-day fare. Avocados reign supreme surrounding Super Bowl Sunday, and Giumarra Companies is primely positioned to take over category sales in the produce aisle. I had the chance to chat with Gary Caloroso, Regional Business Development Director, to get a read on the avocado market and a sneak peek at Giumarra’s Big Game promotions.
“The avocado market is very steady. Currently, we are supplying Mexican avocados to our retail, wholesale, and foodservice customers across the United States and Canada. While there are promotable volumes, we have seen an increase in demand as a result of football playoffs, the upcoming Big Game, and the overall nutritional benefits of avocados,” Gary told me. “The quality of our Mexican avocados is very good.”
Giumarra’s Big Game promotions are headlined by Avocados From Mexico (AFM). AFM has a comprehensive marketing plan in place, including thousands of in-store bins and diverse online content with football legend Troy Aikman and respected broadcaster Erin Andrews, all of which is supported by its massive digital presence.
Not only will these promotions be powered by the AFM brand, but they will be backed by Giumarra’s impressive avocado prowess.
“At Giumarra, we take pride in our comprehensive avocado program. We offer customized programs that help retail, foodservice, and other customers grow their avocado business with consumers,” Gary continued. “Avocados remain a highly valued item. In the face of the pandemic, we greatly appreciate the continued support from our customers and consumers.”
Giumarra supplies avocados every day of the year, sourcing from Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, as well as California, where the company has two packinghouses in Escondido and Ventura. On a final note, Gary reiterated that avocados contain naturally good fats and nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, which is important to consumers who continue to prioritize wellness and immunity during this time.
As the Big Game draws nearer, be sure to keep an eye out for the latest reports from AndNowUKnow.
TORONTO, CANADA - A new marker of one year passed and another beginning in our industry has emerged in the form of the Execulytics Produce Almanac. Just as surely as 2021 arrived, so too did the third edition of the Almanac, offering a comprehensive tool for industry members to brush up on the produce markets.
“Throughout last year I received great feedback on our 2020 cost predictions, we just had to make that a signature part of the new Produce Almanac," said Mike Mauti, Managing Partner of Execulytics. “Now produce professionals can plan their programs using predicted costs determined by a sophisticated algorithm. This is going to be better than just using last year’s cost alone.”
The third edition of the Produce Almanac encompasses the entire produce marketplace, ranging from produce buyers to produce sellers. According to a press release, the new Almanac features cost predictions for every commodity and every week using 2020 data and calculated using the Execulytics Produce Moneyball algorithm. Together, the new almanac will help provide better understanding of the industry markets in an easy-to-digest form.
The 2021 Produce Almanac offers key features including:
- Exclusive cost predictions by week for 2021
- 5-year weekly cost histories
- Organic premiums versus conventional
- Year over year retail prices by week
- Over 1,000 colorful graphs and charts
- Easy to read sourcing details
- Useful tips to drive sales and consumption
As industry members have gotten their hands on the new almanac, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The Produce Almanac is an invaluable tool for anyone involved in the buying or selling of produce,” said Greg Ogiba, Founder and Principal of Gro Advantage. “Mike does a great job detailing historical price trends for each commodity, as well as identifying promotional opportunities throughout the season. This analysis offers a huge advantage to buyers and sellers who are planning ahead over the next year. I highly recommend having the Produce Almanac in your tool kit.”
Tom Coleman, Director of Retail and Foodservice Sales Canada for Bonduelle Fresh Americas also commented on the usefulness of the new Almanac.
“I’ve known Mike from Execulytics for nearly 25 years," he said. "He has always been one to put data and numbers behind his decisions. That’s what the Produce Almanac is all about. We all know that analytics are key to success at retail, be it merchandising or procurement; this book is the best tool to deliver on that purpose. After referring to it several times, I quickly realized it is a must on the bookshelves of all produce professionals.”
To get your hands on the 2021 Produce Almanac, click here.
AndNowUKnow will continue to bring you the latest tools for both buy- and supply-side partners from across the industry.
CINCINNATI, OH - It’s raining new leaders across the retail industry, and Kroger is part of the incoming storm. The grocer recently announced that it had elected two new members to its Board of Directors: Kevin Brown and Amanda Sourry. Kroger also announced that after 21 years of service, Bobby Shackouls will be retiring from his spot on the Board.
Brown currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Supply Chain Officer for Dell Technologies, according to a release from the company. He has spent the past two decades working in progressive leadership roles at Dell and has established himself as an authority on sustainable business practices in his time with the company.
Brown earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.S. in Engineering Management from George Washington University. He currently serves as a member of the National Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the Executive Leadership Council.
Joining Brown is Sourry who served as the President of North America for Unilever until announcing her retirement in December 2019. She served in a multitude of leadership roles in her more than three decades with the company in both the U.S. and Europe.
Sourry earned a M.A. from Cambridge University. She currently serves on the Board of PVH Corp.
The two new leaders have been elected to serve until Kroger's annual meeting of shareholders in June 2021, where they will be up for election by the shareholders.
"We are delighted to welcome Kevin and Amanda to Kroger," said Rodney McMullen, Chairman and CEO. "Amanda brings to Kroger extensive global marketing and business experience in consumer packaged goods, including overseeing Unilever's digital efforts. Kevin combines deep global supply chain and procurement expertise with a track record of sustainability and resilience leadership that will benefit our business and shareholders. They will both be tremendous assets to Kroger's Board of Directors."
With the announcement of Sourry and Brown’s appointments also comes the news of Bobby Shackouls' retirement. After serving the Board for over two decades, his impact and leadership will be remembered.
"We are grateful to Bobby for his more than two decades of service on the Kroger Board of Directors, including five years as lead independent director," said McMullen. "The Board and the entire Kroger family wish Bobby, his wife Judy, and their family all the best in retirement."
Congratulations to Amanda and Kevin on their new positions and best of luck to Bobby as he enters his retirement!
SALINAS, CA - Generating a sense of ownership, accountability, and pride is one mission and mindset that many companies in this industry strive for. Taking that to the next level is what Pacific International Marketing has done since its inception, putting its greatest advocates—its employees—at the head of the table.
“As an employee-owned company, our team has a very unique sense of ownership, dedication, and passion that truly aligns with our vision for excellence,” Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President Dave Johnson share. “We are a very opportunistic and take-action-type group of people. We make things happen, or we figure it out accordingly.”
Since the company’s birth in the late ’80s, Pacific’s employee-owned program has encompassed virtually all of its key sales and management personnel and remains one of the most impactful decisions made by the founding visionaries, Dave Johnson and Tom Russell. When you can sense, taste, and experience the dedication and passion of a group of people in the quality of their produce, you know that you have created the stuff of legacy. That dedication can be seen in the longevity of Pacific’s employees. Over 20 percent of the Pacific team has been with the company for more than 20 years.
“Because we are employee-owned, the decision-makers are involved every day. It allows for ideas to be pushed and executed,” Chief Operating Officer and Vice President David Black tells me.
As Pacific looks to expand its vision today and into the future, the company has invested deeply in the next generation of team members coming in and is laying the groundwork for the company’s excellence to ignite the industry.
“We’ve been a grower for more than 30 years, and we are looking forward to the next generation coming in with fresh, innovative ideas,” Dave says. “We are moving to a new office to prepare for the growth and energy the second generation of employees will bring.”
Part of this investment has been working with local colleges in the heart of California’s produce growing regions, aka the Salad Bowl of the World. And this is just a teaser of what is to come.
Asking a company like Pacific International Marketing, “What’s next?” is akin to asking for a blueprint for success. And that is exactly what Pacific is preparing for, and we, for one, are excited to see it all come to fruition.
BENTONVILLE, AR - With a store network as vast as Walmart’s, the possibilities are endless in terms of optimization. The company has positioned itself well in the market, and recently announced a new strategy to leverage its extensive store count. Partnering with tech companies Alert Innovation, Dematic, and Fabric, Walmart is rolling out a new initiative to scale up its fulfillment centers across the country.
“It’s clear that one of Walmart’s competitive advantages is our stores,” said Tom Ward, SVP of Customer Product at Walmart, in a company statement. “And today, stores are transforming to serve more and more purposes, we’re using them to fill pickup and delivery orders, make Walmart.com deliveries, and more. We have a great operation that will serve us well for years to come, but we aren’t stopping there.”
According to the statement, Walmart is planning dozens of store transformations in order to expand its fulfillment center footprint. Utilizing a local fulfillment center (LFC) format, which is a compact center added to a store location, Walmart can store and distribute groceries from across its portfolio of products.
Technology will also play a large role in this initiative, as Walmart will be using AI bots to fulfill orders at these centers. The company reportedly tested its first LFC in Salem, New Hampshire, which resulted in extremely positive outcomes:
- More availability: Are able to pick more orders and do it quicker
- Faster fulfillment: The system’s speed can allow orders to be picked up or delivered within the hour
- Greater efficiency: One local fulfillment center can fulfill orders for many stores, which means its benefits can be felt by customers in stores nearby
Utilizing its tech partners, Walmart will be testing different concepts across its updated network.
“We’re excited to announce today that we’ve partnered with Walmart to bring them our Micro-fulfillment technology as part of their local fulfillment center initiative. Having the largest retailer in the world and the leading innovator in the online grocery space as our customer is an honor, and this is a true testament to the speed, efficiency, and scalability of our solution. As we expand our presence in the U.S., we hear from our retail partners that they need a flexible solution that can fit into any space. This is critical for leveraging existing real estate by building Micro-fulfillment Centers into existing store footprints, a model that will be core to scaling. Fabric’s solution modularity and elasticity allows retailers to easily scale and expand their fulfillment center capacity as demand grows,” said Fabric Co-Founder and CEO, Elram Goren.
Curious to see how this strategy plays out? Stay tuned as ANUK reports.
LEAMINGTON, ON - With less than a month on the calendar already, Nature Fresh Farms is wasting no time in making this year an impactful one for itself and those it serves, with both physical and portfolio expansions in the works.
“As we move into 2021, we are excited to share that we have invested in the operation of a 15-acre greenhouse with an additional 15 acres under construction,” Ray Wowryk, Director of Business Development, shares.
The new move is in Central Mexico, and is in addition to Nature Fresh’s future expansions planned for its Ohio farm. This comes hot on the heels of a new facility in the Lone Star State, which adds resources rather than produce to Nature Fresh’s portfolio.
“The new 61,000-square-foot distribution center in Laredo, Texas, does not grow product but provides a new major hub of fresh produce. The warehouse optimizes our distribution network, helping us to better meet the needs and expectations of our consumers and customers,” Ray explains.
And, he adds, access and acreage are not the only areas planned for expansion this year.
“We are also looking forward to expanding distribution of our compostable Cucumber film with our retail partners,” Ray comments. “We are noticing that consumers are more aware and informed on sustainable greenhouse farming and are willing to pay more for products that reflect those qualities. We believe through more consumer education on sustainable growing we will see this trend continue.”
Likewise, as Ray points out, consumers’ consumption of fresh produce remains strong, and Nature Fresh believes that will continue to grow with shoppers focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
“With the growing demand, we will see the greenhouse category retailers promote products more often, both in-store and through weekly ads. This increased promotion will support a healthier market to meet the overall demand for the category,” Ray tells me. As for what is and will be hot off the vine, he adds, “Our Ohio greenhouse is in the middle of their season. At our Phase 6 greenhouse in Leamington, we are currently planting Organic Tomatoes and will begin planting at our Phase 7 and 8 in the Spring.”
With so much already on the table for the year and January not yet wrapped, I can only imagine what Nature Fresh Farms might have up its sleeve.
CALIFORNIA - As we here at AndNowUKnow reported a few days ago, a massive storm has hit California, creating heavy downpour and unyieldingly high winds. With the storm expected to continue throughout the week, what else does this atmospheric river have in store, and what will be the effects on key agricultural regions across the state?
According to a report from The Weather Channel, the storm is being created by a low-pressure system near the West Coast that has guided a long trail of Pacific moisture, known as an atmospheric river, along the coast of California.
The pressure system has already caused exceedingly high winds that have reached up to 65 mph in parts of Northern California’s valley region, according to information from The Sacramento Bee, leaving over 400,000 residents without power. Winds are expected to reach gusts of up to 70 mph as the storm continues to make its way through the area, and the Sierra mountain region has already hit 125 mph gusts.
With the storm shifting over California, the Bay Area has already been hit by extreme downpour, and the storm is now expected to make its way toward Southern California as the week continues on.
Flash flood warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) from Napa and Sonoma Counties throughout other parts of the Bay Area and south of Monterey into Thursday afternoon, The Weather Channel went on to report. Areas south of San Francisco could likely total 5–12 inches of rain, and lower altitude areas are expected to reach three inches as the storm continues on. It is likely that the flood warnings will extend into Southern California later in the week.
In the Sierras, a blizzard warning has already been put into effect by NWS. The highest elevations in the Sierra could see up eight feet of snow through Friday, with winds gusting up to 50 mph.
As the storm continues to rage on, we hope that our fellow industry members remain safe and that no extreme damage is done. For more weather updates, continue reading ANUK.
IRELAND - In today’s digital age, the importance of an efficient website cannot be overstated. Fyffes recognizes this and is continuously working to improve. In 2020, the company began developing a new website, which officially went live this week, making it easier for customers and other users to find the information they need.
"Consumers and other stakeholders told us that they want to know more about the provenance of our bananas, pineapples, melons, and exotic range, the so-called ‘farm to table’ journey. They want to know more about how we care for our people who harvest and pack by hand so that our products arrive in perfect condition to the supermarket shelves,” said Caoimhe Buckley, Director of Corporate Affairs at Fyffes.
Fyffes interviewed employees, retailers, NGOs, media, and surveyed consumers to find out what information was most important to them and what they expected from a fresh produce label website. According to a press release, navigability and ease of search came out at the top, as well as transparency and accountability.
”We want to make it easier to access information about our sustainability efforts, our certifications, quality controls, and standards. We also want to help people find a good banana bread recipe during the many global lockdowns we are all experiencing,” Buckley said.
The new website was designed by Friday, a Dublin-based digital agency. The main goal of this redesign was to have an enhanced user experience, to be easy to use on any device, to be modern and with a creative treatment, which brings to life Fyffes’ blue logo.
“Collaborating closely with the team at Fyffes and their customers enabled us to gain valuable insights into the business, its values, footprint, and ambitions,” Dave Jackson, Co-Founder and UX Director of the agency said. “We were inspired by the energy and commitment of people throughout Fyffes and are delighted with the results we achieved together. We are excited to see how Fyffes future unfolds and hope to be working with them to help realise it.”
Spanish, German, Russian, and Dutch versions of the website will be available soon. For more of the latest news across our industry, keep checking in with us at AndNowUKnow.
SANTA PAULA, CA - Finding the right partner in life or business can lead to a world of new possibilities. For Calavo Growers, that partnership comes in the form of Apeel, the innovative industry solutions company. In joining with Apeel, Calavo will be able to extend the shelf life of its avocados and continue the brand’s goal of giving its customers the best product possible.
“Teaming up with Apeel to extend shelf life and transportability of Calavo’s premium avocados was a natural fit with our solution-based business approach,” said Robert Wedin, Executive Vice President of Fresh Sales. “We pride ourselves on providing customers with options to fit their unique business strategies and challenges. With Apeel, retailers can experience less shrink and the ability to maintain avocado displays that are ripe and ready-to-eat. Quality, flavor, and ripeness retained longer, [and] consumers have more time to enjoy their avocados after bringing them home from the store.”
Apeel uses plant-based technology to create a protective, edible shell or “peel” around the outside of the avocado that helps to retain moisture and block oxygen from drying out the fruit, according to a press release. The end result is a longer shelf-life and an extended window of ripeness for the coveted green gold, meaning lower food waste and happier customers.
In addition to locking in longer peaks of freshness, Calavo’s partnership with Apeel also benefits the company’s sustainability strategies. In using Apeel’s technology, Calavo can combat food waste, which supports the company’s overall mission of being good stewards of the communities in which it operates.
As Apeel continues to form pivotal partnerships across the fresh produce industry, which company will be the next to adopt the innovative technology? AndNowUKnow will bring you the latest updates in innovation throughout our industry.