MIAMI, FL - Once a specialty product found in higher-end restaurants, now a beloved veggie for everyday dining, French beans, or haricots verts if you’re fancy, are the perfect year-round product for retailer’s looking for a reliable and delicious green to offer in produce aisles.
“Since Crystal Valley Foods switches production regions in the Guatemalan highlands to different micro climates, we are always in production,” Jay Rodriguez, President, tells me. “As is typical during this season every year, we do expect extra promotional volume during the holidays. We manage our crop production as best as possible to match the demand peaks in the market which historically has exhibited higher demand during holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.”
To help retailers promote French beans and other Crystal Valley products, Crystal Valley’s marketing department is available to create the right, relevant POS and sales support for your store, recommending eye-catching displays that show the addition of tasty French beans to holiday meals along with turkeys and roasts. Retailers also have the option of specifying the portion size that best fits their customer profile, and are even available to private label if needed.
“We offer a tremendous degree of flexibility to our customers in the area of pack sizes, and they have an option of receiving clipped beans as well,” Rodriguez says. “Food service customers can select 5-pound ‘bulk packs’ with beans packed in extended shelf life bags, or they can opt for 2-pound bags packed in a case of 10 or 5. The packs with the 2-pound bags offers our customers that larger volume they might need but with smaller units in order to maintain freshness.”
Crystal Valley also offers white asparagus—perfect for Hollandaise-based holiday dishes. Produced in Peru year-round and distinct from green asparagus in appearance, preparation, and serving, white asparagus gets its color from the way it is grown—in sandy soil conditions in northern Peru with the spears growing into the sand, unexposed to sunlight—and is a more neutral tasting vegetable providing uniqueness for holiday tables.
Or if you’re looking for something sweeter, Crystal Valley imports blueberries from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, and blackberries from Mexico and Guatemala. With the season in full swing now, Crystal Valley expects a good volume. It offers blueberries in 6 oz dry pints or 18 oz and 24 oz containers, and blackberries in 6 oz and 12 oz containers, as well as organic for both varieties.
For more on exceptional year-round offerings in our industry, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
