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PHOTOS COURTESY OF WEGMANS
"We find chefs are much more open to new and unique items. Once these items establish themselves on restaurant menus, new varieties become familiar to consumers, and they start asking us where to find them."
— Loree Dowse, Mann Packing
familiar offering in many delis and on salad bars, as are Italian-style Caprese salads,” observes Rodriguez.
Sides. The Brussels sprouts craze — roasted, charred, slaws and sliced, started among restaurant chefs, according to Chef Neil Doherty, senior director of culinary development for the Houston-headquar- tered Sysco Corporation. Kale, too, is a dish made popular in foodservice, which is now an everyday item in many prepared food departments.
The Mann Packing Company first intro- duced its Caulilini Sweet Stem Cauliflower to its foodservice customers before retail, says Loree Dowse, director of marketing for the Salinas, CA-based operation, a division of Del Monte Fresh Produce. “We find chefs are much more open to new and unique items. Once these items establish themselves on restaurant menus, new varieties become familiar to consumers, and they start asking us where to find them. With the Caulilini brand, for example, we receive requests all the time on social media and through our website about where it can be purchased. We now have it in the prepared foods section at a nationwide retailer and are working on a retail pack. This approach has worked really
24 / APRIL 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS