MCALLEN, TX - New additions are always welcome, especially in the fresh produce biz. For GR Fresh, these additions come in the form of new faces, both of whom boast years in the industry. Michael Lisitano, who is now a part of the Sales and Business Development team, and Raul Hernandez, General Manager of the McAllen Operations, took the time to share with me why they made the move to GR Fresh.
“I’ve been in Nogales, Arizona, for about 15 years, and I’ve been in produce all my life,” Michael begins, as we track his journey to GR Fresh. “I wanted to grow professionally and really stretch my wings. The team is authentic and the company culture fosters a real sense of unity. The attitude across teams is ‘we’re all in this together.’”
Lisitano brings to the team a wide berth of expertise, having worked as a Buyer for Unified Grocer, as well within sales teams for SunFed and Del Campo.
“It takes a lot of hard work to build trust, and as we’re looking to expand more into the West Coast, these relationships really come into play,” Michael notes. “I’m up for the challenge and I have all the support in the world from GR Fresh.”
Raul Hernandez, now General Manager of the McAllen Operations, is another strategic addition to the GR Fresh team.
“I’ve lived in McAllen, Texas, all my life and having had immigrant parents who worked in fields in various places in the U.S., I was able to get a good feel for this industry. My father worked at a local distributor of various fresh fruits and vegetables, inspiring me to get into this field at a young age,” he shares.
Now, seven years later, Hernandez joins a team that he can continue to add to with what he has learned.
“I wanted to bring my expertise to GR Fresh, where growth, success, and appreciation are all factors in a team-oriented environment. Where one’s ideas are greatly considered and shared within the company,” he tells me.
The two new additions are just one facet of growth for the company. This year, GR Fresh has also physically expanded its presence in McAllen quite aggressively, opening a new 100,00 square-feet facility in the region. As one year closes, it seems many opportunities remain open for the months to come.
We here at AndNowUKnow look forward to the latest news from the team at GR Fresh, and extend our congratulations to both Michael and Raul!
CHICAGO, IL - A new grocery contender is in town, and it is vying for the South Asian market. Quicklly is one of the first retailers of its kind, and recently announced its first expansion in San Francisco, California. Local consumers seeking out unique and diverse eating experiences now have access to Quicklly's offerings, which includes delivery, and the company plans to expand to San Mateo in the near future.
"We've had thousands of requests for Bay Area service since our launch in Chicago, from both consumers and vendors," said Keval Raj, Co-Founder of Quicklly. "The Bay Area has a high concentration of South Asian residents, which made it an attractive market for us."
Based in Chicago, Illinois, Quicklly connects people with local South Asian markets, restaurants, and caterers; allows them to order online; and manages delivery for vendors. Most vendors on the Quicklly platform are small businesses that are not on other e-commerce or delivery apps. Customers can shop and place orders from several grocers and restaurants and have everything come in one delivery. The company has nearly 15,000 customers and over 60 vendors in its hometown of Chicago.
According to a press release, Quicklly has already onboarded over 30 vendors for its Bay Area marketplace, spanning specialty grocers and restaurants, including India Foods, Niligris Cash & Carry, Sankranti, and Mangoes Indian Cuisine. Customers can order groceries, takeout meals, and even meal kits.
"The Quicklly team has been super helpful with the overall store onboarding process, training us on key systems and operational processes to ensure smooth sailing in today's unprecedented times. Quicklly's tech, marketing, delivery, and operations support has been available from day one. We are not only live on their digital platform, but we have been receiving daily orders within the first day of our launch, and our number of orders are growing 100 percent week over week," said Krishna Bhupal, Manager of India Foods, a grocer based in Fremont, California. "Also, our service area is now expanded to cover up to 20-mile radius. We tried traditional delivery apps but their fees were high, their delivery areas were small, and no one was going after a single South Asian ethnicity food. Quicklly has a much broader delivery area, expanding our reach within the South Asian audience significantly, and also has much lower fees. We anticipate making as much in a week with Quicklly as we did in a month with any other delivery apps out there."
Quicklly uses proprietary in-house technology, including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models, to help vendors identify the most popular items to meet local demand. The innovative service also allows for restaurants to sell grocery items and meal kits. During onboarding, Quicklly helps each vendor tailor its offerings for the local market, a huge point of differentiation for the retailer.
"Our aim is to help these small businesses survive and thrive," said Keval. "We view each one as a partner in this journey, and our growth is directly tied to their growth. If they are successful in their journey with us, we will be automatically successful."
Quicklly's Founders came up with the idea for the company after moving abroad and finding it difficult to identify and order from local South Asian markets and restaurants. The success of other ethnic marketplaces proves that the founders are on the right path in achieving huge scale in the South Asian marketplace in the U.S.
Will Quicklly’s innovative format leverage fresh as a way to grow its footprint? Stay tuned as ANUK reports.
ATLANTA, GA - Whether you’re a big company or a small one, there’s a universal feeling of accomplishment when you finally reach your goals. After more than ten years of working in the Atlanta community and programming on leased land, Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture is celebrating an accomplishment of its own as it now owns its Collegetown Farm at 324 Lawton Street in Atlanta.
“This is an incredible milestone for our organization,” said Carol Hunter, Executive Director of Truly Living Well. “Land ownership creates stability for the organization and permanency in a community that needs access to healthy food. We have the capacity to stimulate and contribute to a robust local food system from our location at Collegetown Farm and deliver other community benefits.”
The three-acre site features fertile ground to continue the organization's mission of educating children and adults to grow natural and organic food and producing thousands of pounds of fresh, healthy food for the Westside and Atlanta community.
As an African American and woman-led organization, Truly Living Well is committed to using urban agriculture as a transformative tool for health, wellness, education, and cooperative community opportunities.
“When I went to view the property, I was exhilarated by the possibility. Before us was an opportunity to own our own land—three-plus acres of flat land at the bottom of a hill, which we would initially lease, but eventually own,” Truly Living Well Founder and Former CEO K. Rashid Nuri said. “I couldn't be prouder that Collegetown Farm is my legacy for Truly Living Well.”
According to the release, Atlanta Housing offered Truly Living Well the site in 2015 when their lease was not renewed at Wheat Street Garden in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.
Truly Living Well works in collaboration with many Atlanta-based organizations and has recently partnered with both Atlanta Botanical Garden and Westside Future Fund. Mary Pat Matheson, Executive Director of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, has witnessed first-hand Truly Living Well’s unique ability to connect neighbors to the land where their food is grown, whether they are buying fresh food at the market or learning how to grow it on the farm.
“To have the land permanently secured is remarkable,” said Matheson. “Truly Living Well is going to be there for the next 100+ years. We’ve now got a strong green urban anchor on the Westside committed to growing food for the community. Growing food in cities grows more resilient cities.”
Will we see more ag associations like Truly Living Well take root across the nation? AndNowUKnow will report.
GERMANY - Today’s consumers expect their fresh produce to be as close to the farm-to-fork experience as possible. Aiming to meet this ever-growing demand, international fruit exporter and importer Don Limón has launched a new retail partnership program that places an emphasis on sourcing flexibility. This exclusive opportunity will expand Don Limón’s industry presence and bring retailers a new strategy for fresh produce sourcing.
“I want to intensify our dialogue with grape and citrus retail buyers to create long-term purchasing partnerships with Don Limón’s global sourcing and distribution offices in India, South Africa, Egypt, and Mexico,” Andreas Schindler, Co-Founder and CEO, revealed.
A press release explained that the company is calling on global retail buyers of table grapes and citrus to build long-term, tailored partnerships with Don Limón’s sourcing and distribution offices worldwide. Such partnerships are expected to create seamless and truly direct procurement from the country of origin straight to retail warehouses.
In addition to its direct supply of grapes from India, South Africa, and Egypt, Don Limón is offering citrus from South Africa and Egypt, as well as limes from Mexico and Brazil, via a range of value-added services and holistic solutions.
“We want to enable more retailers to buy directly from our network of global production, and to communicate directly with our growers, all with the support of our risk management service to overcome the many supply chain eventualities that occur with perishables,” Schindler continued. “Don Limón is offering a holistic partnership whereby the purchasing departments of corporate retailers can become truly involved in the production process with transparency, and develop a long-term understanding of the supply chain. Don Limón creates a seamless connection between the retailer and the grower to turn the retailer into the importer. Our consulting division wishes to deepen our dialogue with retail purchasing decision makers to become the flexible unit within their mostly rigid buying departments.”
Don Limón has long partnered with growers throughout the Southern Hemisphere, establishing offices and excelling in managing both people and product. Moreover, the company’s corporate retail partnerships across Europe add another layer of significant value to its supply chain.
“Don Limón offers retail buyers of grapes and citrus a variety of exceptional services to further strengthen their sourcing from overseas; from direct procurement and grower introductions to personnel recruitment, office space, and establishing local sourcing hubs,” Schindler explained. “We also offer our retail customers the opportunity to make decisions about quality control at the source, pesticide residue management, logistics, and repacking for citrus or heat-sealing for grapes.”
Direct sourcing requires a unique set of skills to establish a consistent supply of competitively-priced fresh fruits. Globally, Don Limón continues to develop a network of employees that is adept at managing the complexities of produce sourcing and commercialization.
“We have the people skills, the product knowledge, and the brand reputation to bridge the gap between growers and retailers,” Schindler said. “We are production focused, we know the growers, we understand the supply chain, and we are experts in communication and problem solving. Each of our traders is specialised in a specific product, and assigned to individual customer accounts. Our traders take the job seriously.”
Schindler concluded, “You need to find the right people and create the right atmosphere in your purchasing department. This is what we mean by Employee-First. You also need a flexible unit that can connect seamlessly with both ends of the supply chain to balance the chaos of the unpredictability of growing produce with the calm of the sophisticated logistics chain and the structured corporate retail market. Don Limón has that framework to ensure the supply chain flows seamlessly!”
Don Limón currently operates direct sourcing and distribution offices in Mexico, South Africa, and India. Egypt is next, and further hubs are expected to open in the future.
Retailers looking to diversify their produce aisles should not hesitate to jump on this exciting opportunity. Keep an eye out for more fresh produce news as AndNowUKnow reports.
DAVIS, CA - Engage3 is bolstering its C-suite rank with a formidable leader. Recently, the solutions provider announced Morgan Seybert has joined the company as its new Chief Customer Officer. Seybert will lead Engage3’s customer success organization, which enables clients to drive quantifiable value from its industry-leading Competitive Intelligence Management and Price Image Management solutions.
“I look forward to working with the team at Engage3 and leading their Customer Success organization,” said Seybert. “Now more than ever, retailers and brands need comprehensive and cost-effective tracking of competitors’ prices and actionable capabilities so they can optimize price, protect loyalty, and drive margin growth. Traditional solutions have proven to be incomplete and ineffective. Engage3 is changing the game with its next-generation Price Image Management solution that provides the most complete view of competitive pricing combined with award-winning models to optimize Price Image.”
According to the release, Seybert is a versatile analytics and product leader and has served as a trusted advisor to over 65 percent of the Fortune 500 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailers and manufacturers. Seybert joins Engage3 from Nielsen, where he served as Managing Director of its U.S. Analytics Business Unit. He led Nielsen’s analytics portfolio, which included revenue management, assortment optimization, and shopper analytics.
Prior to his six years at Nielsen, Seybert led Trade Strategy and Insights at The Coca-Cola Company, served as a pricing practice area lead with Kantar Retail, and led shopper insights programs with Cannondale Associates.
“Morgan is a proven trailblazer in the pricing and analytics space, having helped many of the world’s leading retailers and brands unlock value through a combination of big data, analytics, and SaaS solutions that impact their bottom lines,” said Edris Bemanian, CEO of Engage3. “We are very excited to welcome Morgan to our leadership team at such a critical time. Organizations today are focusing on pricing and assortment solutions that help them navigate the COVID-19-induced ‘new-normal.’ Morgan’s significant analytic experience will enable Engage3’s clients to scientifically track their Price Image and optimize prices to drive store traffic, grow margin, and increase shopper loyalty.”
Seybert received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Williams College.
Congratulations to Morgan Seybert on this next step of his journey!
BERLIN & NEW YORK - HelloFresh U.S. is gaining traction in the meal kit delivery sector, as it recently announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding equity interests of Factor 75, including its subsidiary Factor, for $277 million. The acquisition marks the next step in HelloFresh’s growth plan in the U.S. to strengthen its leading position and to expand its total addressable market.
“Direct-to-consumer ready-to-eat meals are a nascent food vertical that we believe has the potential to grow into a multi-billion dollar category over time. With Factor, HelloFresh, EveryPlate, and Green Chef, we have four high-growth food brands in our group, all benefiting from our strong growth engine, technology, and supply chain infrastructure,” said Uwe Voss, CEO of HelloFresh U.S.
The total purchase price for the acquisition is up to $277 million in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
This acquisition brings together HelloFresh’s global market expertise in delivering fresh ingredients to customers’ doorsteps across 14 countries with Factor 75’s proven success in ready-to-eat meals. Both companies share a strong vision for operational excellence and a data-driven approach to delight customers with great meals consumed at home.
“Since our founding, Factor has been at the intersection of taste, health, and convenience, providing simple, clean eating that not only tastes great but fuels consumers’ active and busy lifestyles,” said Mike Apostal, CEO of Factor. “By joining HelloFresh, the market leader in meal kits in the U.S., Factor will leverage new resources and category expertise to accelerate our growth, enhance our brand positioning and further amplify our mission.”
With this acquisition, HelloFresh will gain its first office in the Chicago metropolitan area, along with four production and fulfillment facilities. A new facility, which will be launched in the near future, will provide the capacity to deliver more than $500 million worth of prepared meals annually. Factor’s full-year revenue for 2020 is expected to reach around $100 million. Due to the complementary nature in product offerings, the acquisition of Factor will drive supply chain and operational synergies for both companies.
With the addition of Factor to its existing U.S. brand portfolio, HelloFresh customers will benefit from a diverse and distinct meal-offering for every need, occasion, and price point.
How will HelloFresh, and the meal kit delivery sector as a whole, continue to expand as freshness and convenience remain driving forces? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.
FRESNO, CA - Any great festive feast should include fresh produce, and Baloian Farms is working to ensure a cornucopia of the healthy veg retailers and consumers are looking for. With the grower’s Coachella, California, harvest currently underway, I tapped Richard Cowden, Sales/Business Development, to gauge how Baloian’s crops are shaping up and what the grower has in store for retailers amidst holiday demand.
“Right now, we are harvesting our bunched spinach and beautiful cauliflower in Coachella. We expect dark green leaves and fully packed spinach cartons, and our cauliflower has a beautiful white color. Also, we will continue to carry romaine hearts, celery, and green onions, which will be shipped out of Coachella too,” Richard shares.
With Thanksgiving just days away, Baloian Farms is keeping its production and harvesting in check to meet consumer demands. As the grower continues its annual holiday pull, Richard notes that leafy greens will have a tighter market, and the cauliflower category is currently in flux.
“We have been experiencing some elevated pricing in the leaf category as California’s Coastal and Central Valley areas come to their corresponding harvest conclusions. The cauliflower market continues to dance and will reach a plateau as new production areas start within the next two weeks,” Richard explains. “We forecast some gradual market easing as the Thanksgiving holiday pull finishes, and the desert regions in Yuma, Arizona, and Coachella begin to expand their harvest capacities.”
Celery production has been heavy leading into the holiday. Retail opportunities for celery should continue well after Thanksgiving and with widespread availability. Promotions in the wet veg category look favorable as December—and the next set of holidays—approaches. To bolster its wet veg promotions, Baloian Farms will roll out its newly redesigned graphics for its romaine heart bags at the beginning of December.
“These bags are designed with dual language in both French and English to accommodate Canadian requirements,” Richard tells me. “It’s a stunning and bold new look for our romaine hearts!”
Baloian’s romaine lettuce, green leaf, red leaf, and butter lettuce are in the final stages of growth and should be ready in early December. Bok choy, Napa, and daikon will also be available to compliment leaf orders, making the grower a one-stop holiday shop. In addition, Baloian’s facility in Coachella will continue to harvest green and red peppers.
Many growers in California faced extreme weather conditions this year from fires to fluctuating temperatures. However, Richard assures me that the grower is well on track to meet both customer and consumer demands.
“Weather presents its own challenges, as always, from heat to rapid cooling, but our field teams keep us on schedule to give our customers a premium pack,” Richard explains. “Our stellar food safety reputation in Fresno and Coachella is important to us, and our teams put in great effort to uphold that.”
With suppliers like Baloian Farms as a fresh partner this season, retailers are in good hands for the holidays coming up, so get in touch while there’s still time left!
WENATCHEE, WA - Driving consumer interest is half the battle, and CMI Orchards has been employing a digital marketing strategy since 2019 to do exactly that. In its most recent campaign, also aimed at directly targeting apple consumers and driving retail sales, participating retailers saw a significant bump in their apple category sales.
“CMI Orchards is the first Washington shipper to leverage digital advertising campaigns of this magnitude,” explained Marketing Specialist Danelle Huber. “We’ve worked hard to develop and use this cutting-edge technology to promote our brands and increase foot traffic to stores, and we’re able to offer it to retail partners in an easy and accessible manner. They do not need to invest any time or effort to take advantage of this tool.”
Category sales dollars grew 14.8 percent over the previous year, a press release explained, with KIKU® and Kanzi® apples sales showing a 28 percent growth during the promotion period.
CMI Orchards worked alongside MNI Targeted Media to analyze data to clearly identify target consumers and associated buying behavior. Through the use of geotargeting, analytics, and research, CMI then executes digital campaigns that drive consumers to retail locations, whether in person or online, for apples, pears, and cherries. One recent campaign, CMI noted, resulted in 4,267 direct impressions to a grocery store’s website.
“CMI is really stepping out of the box and providing incredibly strong support to its growers and retailers with these digital tools. Once we were able to really identify key target audiences, we then narrowed in on their consumer behavior patterns. We use this data to build campaigns that deliver results,” explained Sabrina Baklenko, Account Executive, MNI Targeted Media.
In addition, CMI Orchards remarked that it is the only Washington apple shipper to work directly with Instacart to sell bagged product.
“We began partnering directly with Instacart just over a year ago. It has been interesting working with them and learning the ins and outs of their business. They’ve been extremely supportive of working through UPC barriers and have given us fantastic tools on how to grow in the digital and online sales sector. It’s a partnership we hope to continue to grow as we see online shopping continue to increase,” continued Huber.
Retailers who are interested in learning more are invited to a free 30-minute webinar hosted by CMI Orchards and MNI Targeted Media on December 2 at 11:30 a.m. PST.
Capturing holiday dollars sound like a plan? Stick around with AndNowUKnow to find out more ways in which buyers can succeed this holiday season.
CINCINNATI, OH - Kroger and Ocado continue to carve out a path for further expansion, as plans for an additional Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) have been announced for the South region. The two partners are also collaborating on in-store fulfilment (ISF) capabilities with a planned rollout across Kroger stores beginning in 2021.
"Kroger continues to accelerate the expansion of our national network to redefine the customer experience," said Gabriel Arreaga, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Kroger. "Our partnership with Ocado is and will continue to be rooted in our ability to deliver a value-added customer-centric solution that brings fresh food to customers through our seamless ecosystem."
According to a press release, the new facility will measure 200,000 square feet. Currently, the exact location and construction dates of the new facility have yet to be announced, although they are scheduled to be revealed soon.
"In the long term, we know that winning online in grocery means having the best customer service, underpinned by the best operational economics," said Luke Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions. "In leveraging the wide range of Ocado fulfillment technologies, Kroger is accessing the best customer offering for online grocery in the world, proven in the U.K., one of most developed and competitive markets for grocery online."
The CFC model, which incorporates state-of-the-art automation and artificial intelligence (AI), will be used to expand Kroger’s products to a larger footprint.
Part of this growth plan includes investing and optimizing in-store fulfillment technology and processes. Kroger and Ocado are collaborating to leverage in-store fulfillment (ISF) capabilities in combination with the retailer’s technology and digital solutions.
"Kroger continues to accelerate the development and rollout of customer-centric technology and digital capabilities to build a seamless ecosystem that combines the best of the physical store experience with the digital experience," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's Chief Technology and Digital Officer. "Ocado's in-store fulfillment capabilities, leveraging AI, will further contribute to continuous improvement of the customer pickup experience."
As more word funnels down regarding Kroger's expansion in this sector, AndNowUKnow will continue to cover.
BOSTON, MA - Helping our foodservice partners has been of paramount importance within the industry ever since the onset of COVID-19, and Ocean Spray is no exception. The cooperative recently launched its Ocean Spray Farmers for Chefs Alliance alongside new partners, Massachusetts Restaurant United and the COREcares Foundation. This hospitality stimulus will help qualifying independent restaurants cover rent, utilities, and payroll costs, as well as offering discounts on the brand’s cranberry products.
“As a cooperative, Ocean Spray farmers know the importance of building and feeding communities, and share these values with local independent restaurants,” said Chris O’Connor, Vice President of Marketing at Ocean Spray. “Restaurants are of paramount cultural importance in neighborhoods across our commonwealth, and right now they need us. We know that by coming together, we can create real and lasting impact in our community.”
The grant will kickstart with $75,000, and Ocean Spray will match up to an additional $25,000 of donations as part of the cooperative’s mission to connect its farms to families for a better life. As part of the partnership, a press release explained, Ocean Spray will also offer discounts on key products such as Craisin® dried cranberries and Cranberry Juice Cocktail.
Currently, the Ocean Spray Farmers for Chefs Alliance is open to public donations and 100 percent of proceeds will go directly to restaurant operators in need.
“We are thrilled to partner with our friends at Ocean Spray on this important initiative to provide relief to independent restaurants that are in serious distress due to the global pandemic,” explained Chef Jody Adams, Founding Member of Massachusetts Restaurants United and Chef/Owner of Porto, Saloniki, and Trade in Greater Boston. “Over the last six months, restaurants across Massachusetts have been forced to reinvent themselves many times just to keep the doors open. Ocean Spray’s generous commitment to establishing long-term assistance funds will alleviate some of the overwhelming stress that so many local restaurants are currently faced with and will help strengthen restaurants in need now and beyond COVID-19. Massachusetts restaurants won’t survive unless they have relief, and we are grateful to Ocean Spray for being a champion of our industry.”
Throughout its history, Ocean Spray and its farmers have always understood the importance of relationships with the chefs who operate small restaurants.
We here at AndNowUKnow love seeing business operators helping others, and so we thank Ocean Spray for its commitment to the industry.