KINGSVILLE, ON - Mastronardi Produce Ltd.®, one of North America’s top growers and distributors of greenhouse produce, searched far and wide, and together with visionary John Paul DeJoria, the company has selected the Middle East as the first market in which to develop the world’s largest and most technologically advanced indoor farming project.

“As pioneers in the greenhouse industry, we are passionate about increasing access to local, sustainably grown fruits and vegetables,” said Paul Mastronardi, President and CEO, and the fourth-generation family member to lead Mastronardi Produce. “Our first location in the Middle East will allow us to reach over half the world’s population in less than 8 hours, and this is just the start. Look for more global locations as we continue to scale to meet the growing need for food security, safety, and sustainability.”

Green International Ventures (GIVE), the newly formed company, will make locally-grown fresh produce more widely available around the globe through its proprietary Advanced High-Density Farming System. This project will be the first for the groundbreaking GIVE venture and will reduce the Middle East’s dependence on imported food, create a sustainable source of local employment, and significantly increase the region’s non-petroleum-based exports.

GIVE will also support the region with the integration of modern AgTech initiatives into the local farming community and expand knowledge of sustainable agricultural techniques by establishing a permanent Research and Development facility in the region.

“It has long been my passion to help feed the world’s population,” said John Paul DeJoria. “The introduction of this revolutionary model in the Middle East is the first step of many towards increasing global access to sustainably grown fruits and vegetables.”

GIVE projects will employ proprietary Advanced High-Density Farming Systems that incorporate several cutting-edge growing systems, including water-saving irrigation and energy-efficient lighting, and utilize advanced automation and robotic devices, AI processes for predictive analysis, and real-time crop and soil monitoring.

The fresh produce grown in these innovative AgTech systems will be marketed under the SUNSET® brand. SUNSET’s many exclusive labels, which include Campari®, the world’s first branded tomato, and the uniquely colorful Aloha™ pepper, are all well-known for their award-winning flavor, innovation, and packaging. SUNSET of Holland® will be the first distributor for the GIVE partnership.

Want to know more about this exciting new venture’s impact on the industry? Keep reading AndNowUKnow.

SUNSET®

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA - Fresh Gourmet Company has announced the launching of its new sourcing program, Grower Direct, offering retailers a simpler and more efficient process for ordering premium packaged produce. This program streamlines the ordering process, allowing retailers a one-stop option for order placement, while increasing the efficiency of their shipping, accounting, and storage.

“Our team is excited to bring this program to retailers to ease stress caused by changes in the industry,” says Andrea Brule, Senior Vice President and General Manager. “Transportation prices have increased, and retail storage space has decreased, making the profitability per square foot of the produce department space critical for retailers.”

Through the wide assortment of high-quality products from premier growing regions and by sourcing exclusively domestic produce, Grower Direct is able to promote domestic sourcing and encourage bundled ordering—retailers will save by having their products ordered, shipped, and managed from one vendor. The new program will focus on transparency, safety, and continuity from USA family farms and co-ops. According to the press release, this ensures strict consumer protections and labor standards are followed throughout the growing, storage, transportation, and sales steps.

Fresh Gourmet Co. also offers a broad assortment of merchandising and in-store promotion solutions to encourage impulse purchases. By bundling products under one umbrella, categories that may otherwise get lost in the department are more actively supported with sales-driving initiatives. With warehouse space declining and retailers shrinking their backrooms, having superfluous SKUs takes up critical square footage, so the program will also aim to address these issues along with minimum order requirement waste by offering a variety of products aimed to reduce shrink, making purchasing more efficient. Bundling and reducing category sizes reduces shipment costs and trucks on the road, allowing for more efficient transportation.

Keep reading AndNowUKnow for more advancements in the retail industry.

Fresh Gourmet Co.

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA - In an effort to grow its grocery delivery presence, Walmart Canada and Instacart have recently announced the expansion of their relationship and distribution footprint in Canada. Consumers will now have the opportunity to have their groceries delivered from nearly 200 Walmart stores across the country in as little as one hour.

"Instacart is proud to have grown its partnership with Walmart Canada to help make it even easier for valued customers to get the groceries and household essentials they need quickly and easily," said Nilam Ganenthiran, Chief Business Officer for Instacart. "Our expanded collaboration shows that demand for online grocery delivery continues to grow in Canada, and we're proud to work with Walmart Canada to extend their delivery reach into new regions and give customers more ways to access Walmart Canada's everyday low prices."

The expansion plan follows a 17-store pilot in Winnipeg and the Greater Toronto Area, which received an overwhelmingly positive response from consumers. Instacart’s delivery capabilities can provide millions of Canadian customers with a wide variety of Walmart products, including fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood, and other various grocery and household items.

"Canadian families are busy. By introducing more online shopping options at Walmart, we're helping make life easier and more convenient for them," said Lee Tappenden, President and CEO of Walmart Canada, in a press release. "Expanding our relationship with Instacart provides our customers with even more time-saving ways to shop at Walmart in their community."

According to the press release, Instacart’s on-demand delivery option is one of a range of services offered by Walmart Canada and third-party partners, allowing Walmart Canada customers to shop in the way that works best for them.

The suite of services offered includes:

• Grocery Pickup in-store at 175 Walmart stores, set to expand to 190 stores by the end of January
• Grocery Pickup at nine urban PenguinPickUp locations in the Greater Toronto Area
• Next-day grocery delivery anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area by ordering through Walmart.ca
• In-store shopping at 340 Walmart Supercenters
• General merchandise available for home delivery and in-store pickup by ordering through Walmart.ca

The service is now available to customers in communities throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, and Labrador, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Customers can shop through the retailer’s website or through the Instacart app, select their city and store, and begin adding groceries and household items to their Instacart grocery cart. Customers can then choose a delivery window spanning from one hour to up to five days. After the order is placed, an Instacart personal shopper will pick, pack, and deliver the order within the designated time frame.

With this level of expansion, will Walmart edge out the competition? Keep reading AndNowUKnow for updates.

Walmart Instacart

WEEHAWKEN, NJ - The battle for optimal retailer locations is alive and well on the east coast. While Acme Markets attempts expansion towards the New York metropolitan area, it also faces the closure of locations in Hudson County, New Jersey. The company began in Pennsylvania but established a strong presence in New Jersey before things were shaken up in 2015.

“Closing a store is always a tough decision, but we are focused on growing our business and reinvesting those resources into our existing stores along with aggressively exploring other new sites,” Acme reported to Jersey Digs.

A company spokesperson added that Acme’s Weehawken store, which took over a competitor’s location less than four years ago, is set to close by October 2^nd. Acme capitalized on the bankruptcy of the Montvale-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which owned A&P, Pathmark, SuperFresh, The Food Emporium, and other supermarkets in the region. Although the chain took over many of these locations, the majority closed within subsequent years. Despite all of this, Acme was determined to develop a presence in the state of New York.

Acme has us on our toes here at AndNowUKnow, so be sure to check back with us for more updates.

Acme Markets

YAKIMA, WA - It is no secret that many people desire a college education in their pursuit of a career that they are passionate about. Superfresh Growers® is responding to this desire and doing its part to see that people of all ages can obtain their degree. Superfresh awards scholarships of $5,000 per year of undergraduate studies to employees and their children. At its annual Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF) luncheon this year, the company named Joselin Marin as their newest scholarship recipient.

The company dubs its awards as the Kershaw Companies Scholarships. Each year, a new individual is chosen in addition to the students currently completing their undergraduate degrees. 2019 recipient Joselin Marin is the daughter of employees Arcelli Badillo Islas and Oscar Marin Flores. With a 3.9 high school GPA and a passion for education, Joselin plans to study at University of Washington. As stated in a press release, she would like to have an impact on students similar to that which her own teachers bestowed upon her.

In addition to Joselin, three other students continue to receive their scholarships from the company: Adilene Badillo Hernandez, Imelda Andrade Anguiano, and Ilse Manzanarez Leyva. Adilene has worked as a Sales Assistant for Superfresh Growers during the first two years of her scholarship, and plans to transfer to a university and pursue international business.

“All the help I’ve received, big or small, means the world to me,” she said. “I really could not be doing any of this without the love and support from my friends, family, and awesome coworkers.”

Imelda is in her third year at the University of Washington, studing psychology in hopes of working for a nonprofit after graduating. She is the daughter of employee Marisol Anguiano Diaz. To reduce financial stress even further, Imelda closely monitors her budget so she may stay focused on her studies.

Ilse is receiveing her final year of scholarship in her fourth year at Heritage University. Throughout her career as an undergraduate, Ilse has lived at home with her mother, Marissa Manzanarez, an employee at Superfresh, to help pay rent and other expenses. She will graduate next spring with a degree in business administration, hoping to obtain a managerial position.

The final scholarship awarded this year was the Brian Kershaw Memorial Scholarship, given to Carli Short. Carli is the daughter of employees Jay and Keishia Short. She committed to attending George Fox University with plans to pursue a marketing degree and compete on the track and field team.

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award. I’m looking forward to earning my marketing degree and seeing where the future takes me," Short stated at the luncheon.

From watching her parents in the industry, Carli plans to follow her family’s passion for treefruit when she earns her degree.

We, at ANUK, are so thrilled for these bright, young scholarship recipients. Stay with us to follow their journeys to success.

Superfresh Growers

CHINA - Alibaba is once again proving why it remains one of Walmart’s biggest global competitors. The retail giant unveiled a new operating system and platform designed to optimize brick and mortar. This move continues the trend of major online grocers streamlining their operations in order to be as efficient as possible in both the online and traditional supermarket arenas. The new platform also launched the same week as the end of Alibaba’s June quarter, in which the retailer revealed that it has continued to expand its active user base by over 20 million.

“Alibaba had a great quarter, expanding our user base to 674 million annual active consumers, demonstrating our superior user experience,” said Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer, in a press release. “We will continue to expand our customer base, increase operating efficiency, and deliver robust growth. With strong cash flow from our core commerce business, we will continue to invest in technology and bring digital transformation to millions of businesses globally.”

The new operating platform was rolled out via Alibaba’s consumer service units, Ele.me and Koubei, and is already in use by more than 10,000 supermarkets and 200,000 retail chain outlets across 676 cities. According to news source technode, the platform will allow Alibaba’s retailers to integrate their online membership engagement, payments, marketing, and on-demand deliveries with their management of supply chains and stock levels, and even leverage Alibaba’s network of services and technology capabilities, including its Taobao, Tmall, Ant Financial, Fengniao, and Alimama platforms.

“We are pleased to see sustained user engagement and consumer spending across our platforms. We continue to invest for long-term growth while at the same time gaining cost efficiencies in our investment area,” added Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer, in a press release.

Alibaba also slayed its financial results, reporting a 42 percent increase in revenue year-over-year, which puts pressure on rival Walmart and other global retailers not affiliated with Alibaba’s grocery network.

For more news like this, keep reading AndNowUKNow.

Alibaba

RICHMOND, VA - Legacy Foodservice Alliance is expanding both its membership base and the SKUs available to this membership base with an all-new service. Officially debuted this week, the new VirtualWarehouseOnline service is bringing a wider assortment of natural, specialty, and organic products to distributor members.

“In a technology driven world, Legacy is constantly looking for ways to give its members a competitive advantage,” stated Michael Push, Operations Manager. “Access to this extensive catalogue of items, without having to keep them in regular stock, allows distributor members to adapt to a growing and changing climate in the dining scene. The distributor member can better serve customers’ needs and vastly expand their product offerings, without expanding their facilities.”

According to a press release, VirtualWarehouseOnline allows distributor members the ability to order smaller quantities of foodservice and non-foodservice items and have them shipped to their location or directly to customers within two days for free. The service’s catalogue boasts 20,000 on-trend SKU’s and counting.

In addition, distributor members have the ability to customize their VirtualWarehouseOnline portal, which is already available for use!

To stay apprised of exciting innovations like VirtualWarehouseOnline, stay right here with AndNowUKnow.

Legacy Foodservice Alliance

SANTA BARBARA, CA - With a value proposition of tapping into its plant-derived technology to deliver longer-lasting freshness and less waste on retail shelves, Apeel Sciences has revealed its family of supplier partnerships. With these collaborations, Apeel will be able to achieve its goal of bringing a consistent year-round supply of avocados, limes, asparagus, and apples to the produce department spread.

“Apeel’s supplier network allows us to connect with retailers and other companies who look to technology for solutions that deliver superior products, increase profits, and reduce our environmental footprint,” Gordon Robertson, Chief Revenue Officer, shared. “We’re proud and honored to stand with this incredible network of industry leaders who are shaping the future of food.”

Apeel’s supplier network partners include:

• Avocados: Del Monte, Eco Farms, Del Rey, The Horton Fruit Company, RV Aguacates
• Asparagus: Alpine Fresh, Beta, Farm Direct Supply, La Venta
• Limes: SiCar Farms, Organic Apples, Olympic/Sage Fruit

Building on the already stellar success of the company’s program with avocados, Apeel’s expansion into the asparagus, lime, and apple categories brings more value to retailers across the U.S.—just ask retailer’s with Apeel avocado programs like that of Kroger and Harps. You might find a testimonial worth considering.

Apeel’s technology demonstrates a greater than 50 percent reduction in food waste at the retail level. The company provides its strategic suppliers with access to the company’s deep expertise in science and technology, sophisticated data about shelf-life extension, and a host of future supply chain solutions and in-store brand activations, according to a press release.

Looking to become a produce supplier in the Apeel network or are you a retailer interested in a few more deets? Check out this business form for more access.

So, what is the industry saying about the Apeel program? Here are a few words to satiate your curiousity:

“Together, we have taken the idea of eliminating food waste and collectively engineered a comprehensive program that delivers on that mission, every day, while enhancing the consumer experience when it comes to enjoying ripe avocados,” said Mike Wise, President, The Horton Fruit Company. “We look forward to being a part of this evolution and providing shoppers with even more choices of fresh, Apeel treated produce, in the future.”

“The ability to extend shelf life with Apeel is an incredible value-add that we see,” said Walter Yager, CEO, Alpine Fresh. “In addition to bringing dollars and value per box for us and our retail customers, Apeel will allow us to provide a better product for our consumers.”

“The Sage Fruit/Olympic Fruit team is honored to collaborate and work directly with Apeel Sciences,” said Chuck Sinks, President of Sales and Marketing, Sage Fruit Company. “When two companies can work together at this level to provide the consumer with a great product, we feel that everyone wins. This amazing product has the potential to extend the shelf life of produce, ultimately benefiting the consumer, retailer and the grower. The impact that Apeel has on longer lasting fruit quality is outstanding.”

For more of the latest fresh produce news, AndNowUKnow has you covered.

Apeel Sciences

DELANO, CA - These days, it’s easy to get caught up in what the consumer wants—after all, the consumer is who we’re trying to satisfy, impress, and woo. But sometimes it’s about the retailers’ needs and how growers, shippers, and packers can help them meet consumer demand in fresh ways. Jasmine Vineyards has implemented a strategy to do exactly that, introducing free-pack grapes to retailers, brokers, and wholesalers throughout the table grape season.

In order to push free-pack grapes—large and medium-sized bunches that arrive in retailers’ container of choice: styrofoam, plastic, or cardboard bin—across all channels, Jasmine Vineyards has launched its “Let’s Get Naked!” campaign to bolster the presence of free-pack grapes Stateside and to meet the growing demand for sustainable environmental footprints. To find out more about this strategy that has long been popular with retailers worldwide and that is just now breaking into the U.S. market, I chatted with President Jon Zaninovich.

“Jasmine Vineyards decided to offer free-pack grapes for a couple of reasons,” Jon began to tell me. “Outside of the U.S., free-pack grapes are popular with retailers, allowing more choice when it comes to packaging and displaying grapes. Another reason is consumer demand: People want less packaging. Consumers are basing buying decisions on minimal to no packaging when it comes to produce. As a result, free-pack grapes offer a much-needed packaging option for retailers and consumers alike.”

For growers, the free-pack grapes also help to reduce packaging, a company’s environmental footprint, and staff time, while still ensuring the same level of food safety. And, as environmental concerns become a primary purchase driver, the Jasmine Vineyards team believes the popularity of free-pack grapes will only increase.

 

 

 

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We're excited to show off our NEW GRAPE TAGS! Retailers can now offer a zero waste solution, market-fresh displays -- or use your own packaging!

A post shared by Jasmine Vineyards (@jasminevineyards) on Jul 23, 2019 at 11:02am PDT

On the buyside, free-pack grapes offer retailers flexibility when it comes to boosting grape sales. Jon noted contests as a fun and effective way retailers can create attention-grabbing displays around key promotional events, like the 4^th of July, Labor Day, Back to School, and Thanksgiving—all while merchandising free-pack grapes.

“One thing to note, though, for retailers is that since they are handling grape bunches directly, they are advised to follow stringent food handling procedures. Grapes are often an impulse purchase, so we always recommend placing them at eye level at store entrances,” Jon explained. “Loose-pack grapes have the same shelf life as our bagged grapes and follow the same general guidelines: 24 hours in unrefrigerated displays and 48 hours on refrigerated displays.”

For more tips on how to promote free-pack grapes at retail and wholesale, click here.

And to stay in front of where our industry is headed thanks to innovative strategies like that of Jasmine Vineyards, keep reading AndNowUKnow.

Jasmine Vineyards

SUMMERLAND, B.C. - As a kid snacking on apples sliced by my mom, nothing irked me more than seeing that vintage-brown tint growing darker by the minute. To my mom’s dismay, I also refused to eat pre-packaged apple slices because they never tasted fresh. I imagine chefs and foodservice providers face the same challenges, catching them in the crosshairs of quality and convenience. Thanks to Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. (OSF), foodservice providers can avoid those trivial annoyances with the new non-browning Arctic® apple fresh slices.

“For the first time, this year’s anticipated Arctic apple crop volume will support expanding into foodservice,” explains Neal Carter, President. “We’ve been extremely busy planting in the orchards. We expect to have an estimated 8 million pounds of Arctic apples for the 2019-2020 season and plan to continue to increase availability in coming years.”

OSF revealed its innovative apple creation at the Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) recent Foodservice Show. According to a press release, Arctic apples fresh slices were developed through bioengineering to reduce food waste for chefs and foodservice professionals. The 28-day shelf life extends well beyond the industry average of 18-21 days. Gone are the days of biting into a pre-packaged apple slice with a grimace. These non-browning apples provide a crisp, juicy experience akin to eating apples fresh from the grove.

“It was exciting for us to exhibit at the PMA Foodservice show for the first time and to give attendees the opportunity to experience the orchard freshness of Arctic® Golden fresh slices,” said J.F. Gamelin, Director of Sales. “Arctic apples’ non-browning trait offers a key benefit to the foodservice industry—including less prep, less waste, and better taste.”

The OSF sliced Arctic apples will be available in 40 oz bags of both Arctic® Golden and Arctic® Granny varieties, along with a 100-count case of 2 oz packages.

AndNowUKnow is thrilled to see this concept come to life; check back with us for more updates from Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.