Little Potato’s Richard Vann concurred that while the overall potato category is declining, creamers are “on fire.” Progressive Grocer agrees that potatoes that are prewashed, come with seasoning and are ready to cook are right on trend. Little Potato is leveraging that trendiness through cross-promotions including placements in the meat department and even at checkout.
Snack Solutions
The combination of fruit and vegetables with nuts, cheese and other snack bites continues to gain traction. One grower that excels at leveraging this trend is California’s Naturipe, which displayed several of its popular snacking concepts at the summit. Naturipe reports growing distribution for its snack line, which includes 5-ounce ready-to-eat fruit cups, complete with a handy plastic fork; snack boxes with several combinations of fruit, cheese and nuts; and fruit bites featuring blueberries solo and with grapes. With a network that now includes four Fairtrade Certified farms, Naturipe is touting its Fairtrade blueberries and working on more sustainable packaging. Squeeze pouches from Wana Bana are filled with
delicious snackable purées made of fruit and nothing else. The brand’s Catherine Vieira said that the fruit — hand-pollinated and grown using natural pesticides — is processed very close to where it’s harvested in Ecuador. Officially launching at Fresh Summit, Wana Bana has been in the United States since July, at stores in the Miami and Los Angeles areas. With flavors like Banana & Strawberry, Mango, and Banana & Passion Fruit, it also has a great brand story: The company provides employment to women and single moms in its growing region. Continuing to grow by leaps and bounds as a snacking solution is SunGold yellow kiwifruit from New Zealand’s Zespi. Enjoying year-over-year sales growth topping 30 percent, the brand works closely with grocers to create strategic displays to drive incremental growth in the produce section. Zespi stresses the health benefits and convenience of the spoonable fruit, as well as its sweetness and readiness to eat upon harvest, compared with green kiwis. The Wonderful Co. unveiled a new retail merchandiser as a produce department destination for its popular Halos mandarins as part of a new $30 million marketing campaign that’s rolling out through May. “Retailers see the advantage and are doubling down on Halos,” said Adam Cooper, of Los Angeles-based Wonderful. “Mandarins are driving all the growth in citrus.”
#fruitlog2019
fruitlogistica.com
6|7|8 FEBRUARY BERLIN
Messe Berlin North America 520 William Street · Suite E Fredericksburg Virginia 22401 Tel +1.540 372 3777 berlin@b-for.com