Tanimura & Antle supplies HarvestSelect boxes to retailers

Tanimura & Antle, Salinas, Calif., is introducing HarvestSelect, a box of fresh produce, to retailers for their consumer pickup and delivery programs.

Each box contains at least eight fruit and vegetable products and a recipe card, and has its own Universal Product Code for quick scanning, according to a news release. A Produce Traceability Initiative-compliant sticker includes packing dates and where the items were grown.

Tanimura & Antle first made the boxes for its employees and donations to community groups. and plans to sell to foodservice operators and wholesalers participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Buy Fresh program, known as the Farmers to Families food box program. 

Tanimura & Antle packs similar boxes during the holidays each year. The company continues to donate to local food banks, according to the release.

“After packing over a thousand boxes locally, e-mails and phone calls started coming in,” Scott Grabau, president and CEO, said in the release. “Our retail partners began requesting the option to carry these convenient packs in stores to help provide additional lift to the produce category and offer consumers a convenient and valuable produce option.”

The boxes will begin appearing in grocery stores in mid-May.

“Our HarvestSelect box promotes healthy home-cooking for families, with the convenience of being pre-selected and packaged,” Grabau said in the release.

To see how other companies are changing business models to meet the needs of consumers during the pandemic, see The Packer's COVID-19 webpage.

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