ALBERTA, CANADA - Sunshine Greenhouses' owners Dirk and Keith Vis and Devin Jaspers have teamed up with marketer Oppy to create a new produce brand based out of the frozen prairies of Alberta called Frank & Able. The new brand is a reflection of both innovative greenhouse tomato-on-the-vine producer and renowned marketer and distributor Oppy. Retailers can get their hands on the first Frank & Able tomatoes later this month, when they will be made available.

“Through honesty and hard work, we are growing a basic necessity of life—nutritious, wholesome fresh produce,” said Dirk Vis. “As we rejuvenate our overall go-to-market approach, we’re anchoring our efforts with a brand that reflects what’s really important to us. By being frank and being able, we do our very best to grow well and deliver especially high quality every day.”

Dirk and Keith have been raised in the greenhouse community, with parents that first began with half an acre under glass in Redcliff, Alberta, in 1989. Production has spread to 13 acres and is now year-round, including those single-digit-Fahrenheit winters, as the younger generation has taken the helm. Dirk Vis assures, in a recent press release, that the new addition to the family’s production is true to the company’s established character and heritage. To do this, the Frank & Able have created a hand-crafted aesthetic that is propped up with the tagline, “Put the best on your table.”

“It’s a simple idea that we believe will create confidence at the trade and consumer level,” said Vice President of Marketing at Oppy, James Milne. “Here’s a group of earnest young growers who have taken to heart the values of the last generation and made them relevant to today’s market. The Oppy marketing team rolled up its sleeves to undertake a very fun and energetic brand development collaboration with Dirk, Keith, and Devin. Guided by the growers’ values, we created a look and feel for Frank & Able that truly expresses the spirit of the brand, as well as the positioning line and the architecture that will sustain it into the future.”

Executive Greenhouse Category Director for Oppy, Aaron Quon, expanded that the artisanal approach the company takes mirrors that of a craft brewer, producing fine tomatoes for families that are TOV-grown. Using grow lights that enable tomato production to resume unaltered, the company has plans to add five additional high-tech acres under glass and a new packaging facility before the year ends.

“We are very excited to bring Canadian tomatoes-on-the-vine of this caliber to the marketplace,” said Quon.

Frank & Able tomatoes will be available in bulk 11 lb cartons, cello bags, vexar bags, and RPCs exclusively through Oppy.

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