OLATHE, Kan. - Dole’s national “Get Up and Grow! Together” tour recently made the first of 14 scheduled Kansas City-area stops at a Hen House in Olathe, and the enthusiastic group manning the bright blue tent drew plenty of visitors even on an overcast Friday morning with schools in session.
“You would be surprised the number of people that are looking for healthy options,” tour manager Lazelle Free said as pop music pulsed from a speaker in the tent. “The problem with healthy, it always gets a bad rap because A) people think it’s going to be extra expensive, and B) they’re thinking it’s not going to taste good. One thing about this particular tour is we emphasize both the inexpensiveness of it and the fact that it tastes delicious.”
The samples offered - smoothies and salads - served to give visitors a perspective on how good the produce could taste, and coupons given out for certain Dole products made the items more affordable as well. Some of the products, including Dole bananas, were tagged in the store with stickers that alluded to the tour.
Free, fellow tour manager Sarah Overholser and six other staff members also handed out recipe booklets that focus on fruits and vegetables. One shopper who visited the booth decided to follow the meal suggestions nearly to the letter.
“They got the recipe book and went in and bought all the ingredients for 15 of the recipes out of the 20,” Free said. “They said literally they were starting on a brand new healthy plan, they didn’t like anything else they saw, and they went in and they brought all the produce and all the necessary items to get it, and they were going to start the next day and do the next 15 days, nothing but those recipes.”
While not everyone has participated to that level, the response from shoppers thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, Free said.
“We’ve had setups where we’ve had people stand in line and make a line in front of the store in order to try and get a healthy smoothie and salad, because they’re all free,” Free said. “We encourage them to try both a salad and a smoothie, and you’d be surprised at the reaction, when people say, ‘Oh, can I have one or the other?’ ‘No, no - you can have both. Two hands – two samples.’
“That’s how we encourage it,” Free said. “We’ve had people literally come out here and dance to the music while they’re eating their salad, they’ve used it for their lunch break, and they’re like, ‘This is so great.’”
Ron and June Giancarlo were two Olathe residents who stopped at the booth, tried the samples and visited with staffers.
“The salad was very good,” June said. “I would make that, for company and just for us. It was very, very good. I love pineapple.”
