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trend trackers fresh-cut marketing 10New
Packaged Salads
PBY CAROL BAREUTHER
ackaged salads have grown in a short 30 years from non-existent to the No. 1- ranked vegetable and No. 2 category overall after berries, in produce department
dollar sales, according to FreshFacts on Re- tail, 2017 Year In Review, published by the Washington, DC-headquartered United Fresh Produce Association. Said another way, packaged salads amounted to a $5.5 billion category during the 52 weeks ending July 28, 2018, according to West Dundee, IL-based Nielsen Perishables Group data, up 3.8 percent in dollars. ere are many factors driving this continued growth.
“Packaged salads have evolved into various blends, kits and, most recently, chopped kits and bowls, all driven by consumers’ increasing needs for convenience,” says Michael Golder- man, marketing brand leader for Fresh Ex- press Inc., in Salinas, CA. At the same time, “more products are moving to what can be described as closer to ‘restaurant-quality,’ to provide “kitchen con dence’ to consumers who don’t have the culinary skills or time ... or both, to prepare delicious salads. Addition- ally, ‘clean/cleaner’ ingredients are becoming increasingly in demand. Locally grown is another trend that will take on more signi - cance and importance as we move forward.”
1. BRIGHTFARMS
SUNNY CRUNCH - ICEBERG-LEAFY GREEN HYBRID IRVINGTON, NY
Sunny Crunch is a hybrid lettuce that blends the crunch of an Iceberg with
the nutritional value of darker-col-
ored leafy greens to make a fami- ly-friendly salad starter. e lettuce,
rarely seen in the U.S. market, sells
in a 4-ounce clamshell made of 100-percent recycled plastics. e product ticks the local box, too, with 24-hour, harvest-to-store delivery, from retailers near the company’s hydroponic green- house farms in Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and in 2019, Texas. Sunny Crunch is part of
the BrightFarms innovation line, which includes Fresh Kick, Happy Beet and Mighty Chard, launching in
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