ORLANDO, Fla. — Several companies made creative booths and dressed for the "Produce: The Final Frontier" Star Trek theme at the March 2-4 Southeast Produce Council's Southern Exposure conference and expo at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort.
And then others kept their promotions company-specific. All had people on hand to tell about new products, packaging, expansions, services and marketing strategies.
Besides their dedication to the show's Star Trek theme, Stanley Trout, Mark Daniels, Ross Johnson and Alan Kahn of the Idaho Potato Commission talked about how the commission has extended its popular February Idaho Potato Lover's Month display contest through March.
“Some retailers emphasize floral so much in February due to Valentine's Day that they asked to extend it; plus, with St. Patrick's Day in March, it makes sense,” Johnson said.
Hundreds of retailers participate, and one winner gets a one-week trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Rob Campbell, Gary Caloroso, Jason Bushong and Mike Walsh shared about Giumarra Cos.' new lemonade apple, a hybrid of gala and braeburn, developed in New Zealand by the Prevar breeding program.
“It came out yellow, which excited us, and then there's the tart-sweet flavor, and it's dense and juicy,” Bushong said. “We see an opportunity in the yellow category.”
The trees were planted in Washington state and Pennsylvania about three years ago, and Giumarra expects volume to triple in 2023, with a promotable time domestically in November and December, as the apple variety matures nicely in storage.
Tammy Wiard and Tim Beerup say the National Mango Board is offering retailers their eye-catching educational display bins, such as this bin for honey mangoes.
On the orange, wide side, the bin explains the taste features at three levels of ripeness: tart, slightly sweet and golden creamy treat.
“Some cultures like them green and super-tart,” said Wiard, senior manager of retail marketing.
The other side of the bin where it's green and narrower gives an important tip that's not just for shoppers. It can help inform produce managers and clerks too: When the skin on honey mangoes wrinkles, don't throw them away. That means they're good, Wiard said.
The information has to be brief and clear to be effective. “We like to be tight with our messaging because consumers won't stand there forever reading it,” she said.
Also, “Cinco de Mango” is coming up soon, a celebration on May 5 that provides a ripe opportunity for promoting mangoes.
Abby Prior, Christine Paquette and Josh Curland shared how BrightFarms is breaking ground on four new regional salad greenhouse hubs, to begin opening in 2024, adding to the six high-tech greenhouse farms in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois.
Construction is underway on the first regional hub in Yorkville, Ill., and BrightFarms will break ground this summer on similar facilities in Macon, Ga., and Lorena, Texas, followed by another hub in the Northeast later in 2023.
The company is also introducing three new varieties of salad kits, in addition to the Chickpea Caesar and Sunny Bacon, in the next year or so.
Todd Gosule and Ruth Bozeman of B&W Quality Growers said they are commercially permitted and licensed to grow and ship a new variety of cooking vegetable particularly loved by the Asian community, called ong choy, a type of water spinach. It's available year-round from Florida, has a distinctive crunch, thick, crisp stems and is an excellent source of vitamins A and C.
B&W also now has a red watercress available year-round, which is great for foodservice.
Dan Davis, Mike Marboe, John Cannon, Shawn Loudon and Krista Beckstead of Starr Ranch Growers said that their company launched a new variety of apple in 2023, the Karma apple.
“A percentage of sales go to feed hungry kids,” Marboe said. The apples are grown in the Pacific Northwest and are in 2-pound resealable pouches.