VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA - The juicy sweetness from the first bite of a summer tomato is what dreams are made of, and Oppy is making those dreams a reality. The premier grower, marketer, and distributor of fresh produce from around the world is ushering in the summer season with highly-anticipated Oceanside Pole label Roma and round tomatoes, with harvest underway and volume expected to peak in September and October.
“There are many retailers that can get their tomatoes elsewhere but choose Oceanside Pole for their incomparable Brix, robust flavor, and clean slicing texture achieved through this unique growing method,” Oppy’s Senior Sales Representative James Galindo said. “Not only is their quality truly one-of-a-kind, but we can also ship specific color and size requirements to suit varying customer needs.”
Oppy ships the superior, clean-slicing tomatoes to eager retail and foodservice companies across the U.S and Canada from Oceanside, California. According to the press release, Oceanside is one of the only large-scale pole growing operations remaining in California, a methodology that assures high-quality products are allowed to naturally ripen on the vine.
Oceanside Pole packs in 22-lb two layers, 25-lb volume fill, and 15-lb single layer and RPCs, allowing for a considerable amount of flexibility. Thanks to a commitment to food safety and traceability, Oceanside’s tomatoes have stringent protocols in place to ensure that its products are of the best quality. It’s central location also means that packing, shipping, and delivering to customers takes just 24 hours.
Another point of pride behind the Oceanside Pole brand is a dedication to supporting the local community. The farm is close to Camp Pendleton, one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the U.S., and Oceanside Pole has actively helped and hired many military veterans over the years.
The summer is swelling up to be one for the produce books! As more updates come from the fresh produce industry, ANUK will continue to report.
LOS ANGELES, CA - Things are heating up this summer for us in the United States, and I’m not just talking about the weather. Chili peppers are a great way to spice up any dish, quite literally, and Progressive Produce is here to supply the hot ammo. The year-round grower, packer, and distributor of fresh produce has begun harvesting the first fields of its 2020 California Jalapeño, Anaheim, and Pasilla chili peppers, and I for one can’t wait to see them in stores.
“Our yields this year are strong, and we’re excited about the high-quality of our crop,” says Veronica Rodarte, Chili Commodity Manager. “The plants are packed with beautiful, healthy, large-size jalapeños that are perfect for spicing up your socially distant summer barbecues.”
According to the press release, this is the first summer that Progressive’s California-grown chili peppers will be packed in its 112,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cold storage and distribution facility in La Mirada, California. The company’s dynamic chili pepper program offers many packaging sizes and styles, including a 50-lb field pack and a 20-lb premium pack to avoid shrink.
Progressive has recently started harvesting in Arvin, California, and will work its way towards Oxnard, California. Availability will run well into October with the locally grown crop coming directly from the field to its La Mirada facility.
“We are very proud of our grower partner network that supplies us with the best produce,” Gabriel Andrade, Sales Manager, said. After taking a bite from a jalapeño straight from the field, Andrade adds, “It doesn’t get any fresher than that.”
Whether grilled, baked, pickled, or deep-fried, peppers offer that diversifying experience consumers are looking for while practicing social distancing measures. Plus, the adrenaline-fueled rush sure livens things up. Pop some peppers into produce aisles this season and keep checking back for the latest in the industry.
ESTONIA - After strategic acquisitions and multiple market expansions, Lidl can’t seem to stop gobbling up new markets. This time, Lidl has announced that it is entering a new market in Estonia with investments of roughly €21.5 million ($24.5 million).
A representative for the company spoke with Estonian news source ERR, explaining that although it is too early to comment on the opening of the stores, the chain usually opens several stores at once. Multiple job advertisements have cropped up and construction is underway on several plots of land.
Last year, according to Lidl’s annual financial report, the store chain made investments in long-term assets in Estonia to the amount of €21.5 million, as mentioned above.
How will Lidl’s new market further bolster its success across the pond? After hitting triple digits in the States, it’s national and global expansion plans have accelerated tenfold. Keep reading AndNowUKnow as we plot the course of one of retail’s most dynamic players.
CALIFORNIA - Is Amazon gaining a further foothold in brick and mortar? After announcing its latest innovative launch, Dash Carts, one can firmly answer yes. The shopping carts are slated for use at the e-tailer’s Woodland Hills, California, brick-and-mortar store, which is predicted to open later this year.
According to an interview with CNBC, Dilip Kumar, Vice President of Physical Retail and Technology, revealed that the California store’s expanded offerings presented new challenges. The store itself resembles a more conventional grocery layout, meaning that its layout is much larger than a typical Amazon Go. As a part of a new chain of stores that Amazon plans to open soon, the e-tailer needed to figure out a solution that would benefit both itself and its shoppers.
Dash Carts build on the “Just Walk Out” tech that Amazon introduced with Amazon Go, only on a larger scale. Equipped with cameras, sensors, and a smart display, every item added is automatically charged as soon as the shopper removes the grocery bags from the cart itself.
Nonetheless, Lindon Gao, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of widely-known Caper AI, commented that Amazon's move is the latest in the next step for grocery shopping.
"The smart cart form factor provides a more flexible and scalable way to deploy autonomous checkout technology in larger store environments, like Whole Foods. Smart carts will ramp up quickly and eventually become an integral part of our everyday shopping experience," Gao shared with ANUK.
With Amazon’s plans for brick and mortar seemingly full speed ahead, when will we hear of the official launch of its full-sized format? AndNowUKnow eagerly awaits.
MOUND, MN - A recent rebrand firmly grounds GoldenSun Insights—formerly GoldenSun Marketing—as a company grounded in deep retail insights. The new name, modern branding, and newly-minted website doubles down on GoldenSun’s commitment to supporting its clients as they too expand and grow.
“At our core, we are a strategy-centric firm with a deep understanding of retail. We support our clients with business development and marketing strategy,” stated President Don Goodwin. “I am very proud of the work our marketing team does day in and day out supporting many brands. The key to our success is starting with a strategy and then building our marketing plan to win with the consumer at retail.”
Goodwin founded the company in 2004 on the promise of providing various services to the fresh produce supply chain from seed to retail. According to a press release, the rebranding includes a top-to-bottom redesign of the company’s website, logo, graphics, and communications.
GoldenSun’s new brand assets include a simplified, modern logo that utilizes an ombre of bright colors, which represent the shifting colors of fields and sunlight. The graphics on the website, both simple and modern, convey a refreshed look all while maintaining its produce roots.
“The modern branding reflects a circular shape which is meant to symbolize the full portfolio of services our company offers,” emphasized Naba Bakar, Director of Marketing. “The modern typeface and colors reflect our team’s approach to work: vibrant, fun, happy, and with passion. We put a great deal of thought into how we want our company brand to be represented and are excited to share our new look.”
Congratulations to GoldenSun Insights on such a dynamic upgrade!
CHELAN, WA - I think we can all agree that this summer has truly been unlike any other we have ever experienced. At Chelan Fresh, this is primarily because of its standout cherry season. With skyrocketing demand driving prices higher by the day, Sales Manager Tim Evans recently sat down with me to divulge the details of this dynamic cherry season.
“The next 20 days are key for retail,” he told me. “We’ve seen unprecedented demand, which has been very positive. Our growers continue to pick strong volume, and the fruit is the best of season right now. We’re also experiencing an anomaly for July pricing as it is the highest that I can remember in over a decade. There’s a nice balance between demand, production, and pricing and we’ve seen the average price in July rise on a daily basis.”
Representing every growing region in Washington state, Chelan Fresh is currently producing peak volumes and expects the season to be wrapped up by the end of the first week of August. Frost in April and early May caused some issues with lower elevation crops, but Tim informed me that the current weather pattern has been absolutely ideal.
“Chelan is currently harvesting Skeena, Lapin, and Sweethearts,” Tim continued. “We’re hitting our stride on red cherry varieties and those three Canadian varieties, and they’ve produced strong crops with super high brix levels and firmness off the charts.”
The grower is also working to allocate more cherries to its export markets because the demand is extremely high and pricing is the best it’s been in several years. Both near and far, though, Chelan Fresh is ensuring that its customers receive top-of-the-line service.
“We start our season early and finish late, so it was necessary to build a grower network that supports our marketing programs. It’s taken a while to get there, but we’re really pleased with every growing district," said Tim. "We’ve filled in seasonal gaps by allowing our customers to get started early and then taking them all the way to the end.”
The market is literally changing by the minute, so stick with us at AndNowUKnow.
MOBILE, AL - Look up to the sky! It’s a bird? It’s a plane? It’s … a drone?! With the ever-increasing use of drones for all manner of tech, we here at AndNowUKnow still couldn’t help our surprise when we heard that Rouses Markets is testing an unmanned grocery delivery pilot program—all with the help of drones.
“Drone delivery offers the fastest, safest delivery store to door. We should be able to get groceries to customers in 30 minutes or even less. Plus it’s more cost efficient, meaning we can save customers time and money,” remarked Donny Rouse, CEO of Rouses Markets, in a recent press release.
Partnering with Duece Drone to conduct this pilot, the experiment will roll out sometime this fall.
Rouses has taken to exploring new ways that shoppers—and retailers—can benefit from programs such as this, due to the fact that it’s more convenient and cost-effective. A win-win for all, I must say.
“We’re excited to partner with Rouses Markets and work together to alter the landscape of home delivery,” noted Rhett Ross, CEO of Deuce Drone, who also commented that Rouses Markets is an ideal test case for his company’s last-mile delivery solution because of its footprint and commitment to being first with everything.
Shall Rouses be the first to master drone delivery? AndNowUKnow will wait—and report—with bated breath.
BAKERSFIELD, CA - Grapes in the San Joaquin Valley of California are well under way, and not a moment too soon. With the state settling into the season, I touched base with Anthony Vineyards’ Rob Spinelli, Sales, to see how things are looking as operations crank up.
“We saw a really smooth transition out of Coachella/Mexico without much product left in coolers this year,” Rob shares, observing that growers were able to maximize fruit shipments before the move. “Toward the end of the season, the quality coming out of the desert, for Flames in particular, was not ideal, with lower color and size. This meant demand was up when met with the fresh, high-quality grapes we are seeing now from Bakersfield. This fruit has been desired and is moving well.”
Green grapes especially, Rob says, are looking great, with quality eating and decent volume. He projects that, as varieties transition toward the end of this month, we will likely see the market on greens specifically surge and then tighten, before balancing itself out in August. That is when most of Anthony Vineyards’ still-new sequence of specialty varieties will come on the scene.
“We get into our new specialized grapes in the next week, starting with our Candy Snaps and Sweethearts. Sweethearts will start at the end of July and then go about four weeks,” Rob explains. “We also started our organic grapes for all three colors, which continues to grow.”
Sweet Sapphires will then start the first week of August, followed by Candy Hearts and Candy Dreams in mid-August, making for what should be a domino-style succession for retail programs.
“Overall everything is looking really nice,” Rob concluded, ending our conversation with the eternal farming caveat that is Mother Nature. “She’s been good thus far—we’re supposed to see a heatwave in the coming days, but a little heat is usually nothing to worry about. As always, though, we’ll see.”
When the grapes are strong, summer smiles on. As we continue to follow all key fresh categories around the calendar, AndNowUKnow will bring you the latest.
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - New looks are always exciting to see, especially when leading produce innovators like North Bay Produce bring new packaging options to the table. The fresh provider is introducing new packaging to its fresh produce lines to reflect the high-quality products of the company.
“The first thing you will notice is the larger North Bay Produce logo,” commented Brian Klumpp, Director of Marketing and Strategic Development at North Bay. “This symbol, or our stamp as we often call it, remains the same as it has been for years and we think it represents well that we have farms all across the Americas and that we serve customers globally. By making the logo larger, however, we are simply trying to help people to know us better. NBP has an honorable history of being a quiet and humble company. We want to remain modest, yet let the world know why they should know us well.”
According to the press release, another noteworthy feature in the new packaging designs is the inclusion of the seal of the American Heart Association. For nearly 100 years, the American Heart Association has been known as the world’s leading organization dedicated to improving heart health and reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
North Bay believes it is important to let consumers know that its produce, combined with a healthy lifestyle, can contribute to improving their well-being. For these reasons, North Bay sought and has been certified by the American Heart Association’s Heart Check Food Certification program for its fresh produce.
“We conducted a national survey and asked hundreds of consumers whether the American Heart Association seal on our produce packaging was important to them; the vast majority said it most certainly was,” President Nick Osmulski explained. “We believe that listing the seal on our packaging will be helpful to consumers interested in making healthy choices."
Another prominent feature people will notice in the designs are the fresh, vibrant, and clean colors. The aqua color used in the conventionally grown produce, like the brilliant colors in the clear waters of Grand Traverse Bay where the company is headquartered, represents the pure and fresh fruits and vegetables that North Bay’s growers cultivate. In the organically grown products, the bright green color represents the “clean and green” practices that make Noth Bay’s organic produce so appealing. The vibrancy of the colors also indicates to consumers that there is a dynamic company behind the brand.
Retailers will be happy to know that by conducting nationwide surveys with hundreds of consumers, participants overwhelmingly chose these designs over others that were considered and said they would be more likely to select North Bay’s products because of the packaging.
“Our objective was that, in a quick glance, consumers would recognize that North Bay’s produce was clean, fresh, and great quality,” Klumpp stated.
Finally, as North Bay Produce is a cooperative, meaning that is are owned by their growers, the company wanted that clear on the packaging as well.
“We think it is important to let people know how our produce is grown and harvested and how directly it is provided to them,” added Klumpp. “Also, since our farmers feed their own families with their produce, the phrase ‘From our farms to your family. Naturally.’ summarizes best what North Bay Produce offers—the freshest produce right from where it is grown to you, while always using the best practices to assure the healthiest and finest tasting produce. Naturally.”
As industry leaders continue to roll out new and exciting programs and updates, ANUK will report on the latest.
UNITED STATES - Costco’s growth doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The wholesale giant recently opened up new branches in California and Wisconsin. Now, four new facilities are in its crosshairs for development. The retailer will be opening up four new locations within the next few months in Idaho, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Minnesota.
After nearly a year of construction, Costco in Idaho Falls, Idaho, officially has an opening date. According to local news source East Idaho News, the retailer is opening its doors on August 14. The 180,000-square-foot facility will be hiring positions in 34 departments, projecting to bring more than 100 jobs to the area.
In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Costco will be adding 459 jobs to a future operations center. News source The Oklahoman reported the retailer will be increasing its workforce from 1,044 to 1,503 new hires. According to the source, Costco purchased a four-story office building at 14501 Quail Springs Parkway for $25.4 million on May 21.
Another location set to be open later this year in November is in Plainfield, Illinois. This location will have a 152,000 square-foot store with a gas station at the northwest corner of I-55 and U.S. 30. Patch reported currently the closest Costco locations are in Naperville and Bolingbrook.
Last but not least, we sniffed out another site currently in the works in Duluth, Minnesota. The StarTribune reported construction on the location likely to start this fall on the approximately 160,000-square-feet facility. According to the news source, construction is expected to finish in the fall of 2021.
Where will Costco land next? ANUK will continue following the retailer’s trail.