ONTARIO, CANADA - We are what we eat, or so we are told. But, for Mucci Farms, this sentiment goes beyond just the high-quality produce the company offers. The company has managed to create a culture embodying this concept, with a three-pronged approach focused on marketing efforts to showcase its seed-to-retail journey, catered pack sizes to address consumers’ needs, and, of course, the production of quality produce using the latest technology. In fact, it has so much pride in the on-going interactions between its own staff, retailers who sell its products, and consumers who enjoy its produce, that it refers to the cherished relationships as “Partners in Produce.”
With so many moving parts and innovators in the industry, what makes a consumer gravitate to one brand over another in the market? To shed light on Mucci Farms’ success with its “Partners in Produce,” Digital Media Coordinator Ajit Saxena explains a few strategies the company is using and what sets it apart from others.
“Today’s consumer is willing to pay a little more if they know that what they are buying helps to create and sustain jobs for their fellow citizens, promotes the local economy, and is environmentally responsible. The overall awareness level of the impact of buying local shows the market is trending in a direction where consumers care about a lot more than just picking up fruits and vegetables for a meal they are preparing,” Ajit shares with me.
The company is focused on attracting the growing mass of consumers looking into the story behind its produce, and Ajit points out that the company’s efforts address this narrative and the origin of Mucci Farms’ produce as well as how it is impacting local communities. With that in mind, the company has mastered the art of marketing towards audiences cognizant of their foods’ backstories, all the while catering to the specific needs of the increasing variety of retailers.
“We offer pack styles of every product to suit all three types of retail partners: retail, foodservice, and club stores. This allows us to create individual size packs for individual customers, offer bulk items for foodservice and larger pack styles for club stores and at-home chefs,” Ajit tells me.
But, while the distinctive pack size makes Mucci attractive for specific retailers, the company takes it even further by proactively implementing marketing strategies at all points of sales operations. This includes display-ready units for several items and in-store demos for retailers to promote sales of its products; an in-house marketing team to offer specific support for retailers’ needs with the ability to print in-store point-of-purchase posters, cards, brochures, and more; and a digital media and video production and packaging development teams.
“Mucci Farms is vertically integrated at all levels and truly provides retail partners with every resource they would need with zero degrees of separation,” he continues. “We have partnerships with so many major retailers because of our vertically integrated system and commitment to efficiency. We are growers, packers, shippers, and marketers focused on improving in each area by constantly reinventing ways to do things and investing in automation and technology that improves the customer’s experience with our products.”
The company’s integrated, involved, and proactive approach to marketing efforts is matched by its innovative efforts in production. The company utilizes LED lighting, or Grow Lights, for 30 of its 200+ acres of greenhouses. In particular, lettuce production benefits spectacularly, with no drop-off within the calendar year due to the advanced process.
“From seed to retail, everything happens in-house at Mucci Farms and this allows us to deliver on efficiency. We are very proactive on moving the industry forward and have invested in world-class, state-of-the-art automation and robotics that have allowed us to execute at the highest levels on every end of the business.”
With so much focused energy spent on various aspects of business, Mucci Farms has cultivated an active approach to sales that, much like the detailed account of its produce’s journey, transitions from seed-to-retail with direct precision on consumers’ wants and needs while pushing the industry forward with technological advances.
