Latest News From Foodservice

California Avocado Month is June, and that means outreach to consumers involving social media influencers, recipes, public relations campaigns and more.

CHICAGO — Students may be a captive audience at lunch time, but school foodservice officials say they want options and ideas from produce marketers to present fruits and vegetables to kids in an attractive way.

Church Brothers Farms, Salinas, Calif., has entered into partnership with FiveStar Gourmet Foods, which has value-added salads and packaged snacks for retail and a range of fresh-cut items for foodservice operators.

Naturipe Farms, Salinas, Calif., has appointed Jill Overdorf as director of business development for foodservice.

For foodservice operators, a new research report shows that Chilean lemons are in the right place at the right time.

Gold Coast Packing, Santa Maria., Calif., is adding to its on-trend Brussels sprouts line with whole and halved Brussels sprouts for foodservice customers.

Citrus suppliers will have plenty of product for retail and foodservice customers over the summer months, and they plan to promote them in numerous ways, particularly in stores.

Wendy’s Berry Burst Chicken Salad is back on menus, with a half-cup of fresh strawberries and blueberries in the full-size option.

Boggiatto Produce, Salinas, Calif., has changed its name to Hitchcock Farms in a rebranding.

The United Fresh Produce Excellence in Foodservice Award Program will honor eight chefs and foodservice professionals.

The Dallas Fresh Food Association has donated a salad bar to Faith Family Academy-Oak Cliff in Dallas.

Definitions of sustainability are in no short order, and while there is not a universal definition, many in agriculture see sustainability as achieving triple bottom line benefits to people, planet and profit.

Crunch Pak, which pioneered sliced apple availability at retail and foodservice, is introducing sliced and diced fresh-cut pears.

It’s happened with kale, avocado and cauliflower: Fresh produce trends move through a menu cycle in an established pattern of inception, adoption, proliferation and ubiquity.

Watermelon is seeing growth on restaurant menus, and more chefs and foodservice operators are turning to the National Watermelon Promotion Board for ideas.

California Giant Berry Farms has chosen the chefs who will participate in its second-annual Chef Invitational competition.

Bayer has pledged to donate $30,000 to the United Fresh Start Foundation to provide salad bars to four elementary schools in the Rosedale, Calif., school district. 

Avocados from Mexico anticipates record-breaking import volumes for Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

Salinas, Calif.-based vegetable grower-shipper Coastline Family Farms has formed a new dry onion growing/packing joint venture with Echo, Ore.-based Madison Ranches. The new entity is Madison-Cox Onions LLC.

Following the granny smith and golden delicious, the Arctic Fuji apple, engineered to resist browning, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

It’s apt that as Earth Day (April 22) raised the awareness of sustainable packaging and alternatives to plastic, a trio of companies have been in strawberry fields testing a prototype cardboard clamshell.

The United Fresh Produce Association has chosen the chefs and foodservice professionals to be honored through the United Fresh Produce Excellence in Foodservice Award Program.

Feeding children produce in schools is important to me because I care about education, progress, the future of humanity — and I make a living off of selling healthy produce.

Like everyone else, I’m a big fan of Amazon Prime — the ease of one-click shopping and virtually instant gratification of my needs or wants.

The Urban School Food Alliance has named Katie Wilson as its first executive director.

It’s no longer just iceberg lettuce and blue cheese crumbles on the salad menu these days.

Pure Hothouse Foods, Leamington, Ontario, is adding organic greenhouse growers for its Pure Flavor brand and launching a culinary line.

Pure Hothouse Foods, Leamington, Ontario, is adding organic greenhouse growers for its Pure Flavor brand and launching a culinary line.

Two leading personalities shaping U.S. food culture will share top billing at Produce Marketing Association’s Foodservice Conference & Expo.

The Irvine-based California Avocado Commission completed some multi-tiered research last fall and has shared some of the foodservice-related findings.

The James Beard Foundation is bringing back the Blended Burger Project for the fifth year, promoting diced mushrooms as an add-in to ground meat/protein patties.

DENVER — Crowd-sourced nutrition fads, low-carb diets, the “snackification” of America and global competition are some of the challenges facing the U.S. potato industry.

DENVER — Crowd-sourced nutrition fads, low-carb diets, the “snackification” of America and global competition are some of the challenges facing the U.S. potato industry.

Gordon Food Service, Grand Rapids, Mich., has formed an exclusive partnership with indoor farming company Square Roots, expanding the greenhouse company’s reach from its New York base.

Mango importers and handlers will be receiving ballots to vote on whether the National Mango Board programs should include frozen mangoes.

Produce distributor FreshPack Produce, Denver, is the exclusive supplier to Torchy’s Tacos in Colorado.

Guava and rutabaga are among the fresh produce items highlighted in the winter 2019 issue of United Fresh Produce Association’s Fresh Insights for Foodservice report.

Los Angeles-based Coast Produce Co. has been awarded a contract to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to military commissaries in the Western U.S.

Mike Needham will be the new senior vice president of purchasing and logistics at foodservice distributor Ben E. Keith Foods, succeeding the retiring Andy McCaskill.

The United Fresh Produce Association has opened nominations for the Produce Excellence in Foodservice Awards Program.

Foodservice supplier US Foods Holding Corp. is expanding its Marrero, La., facility, nearly tripling its size to support growth in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Packaging company StePac, Tefen, Israel, has changed its Xtend films so they’re compatible with automated bulk and retail packing lines.

California Giant Berry Farms is sponsoring a second annual Chef Invitational, seeking chefs at foodservice partners across the country to compete.

Satur Farms, Cutchogue, N.Y., is recalling baby spinach and mesclun mix over salmonella concerns.

Satur Farms, Cutchogue, N.Y., is recalling baby spinach and mesclun mix over salmonella concerns.

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Once acclaimed as a top chef for the elite, Dan Giusti has a vision to bring better food to students.

Stemilt Growers’ spokesman chef, Ethan Stowell, recently visited the company’s Fresh Center headquarters in Wenatchee, Wash.

The rising interest in less common fruit means more merchandising opportunities for retailers and foodservice providers.

I don’t like mushrooms, but I keep trying to buddy up with them because they’re so popular.

A new year is a time to both look back and forward at what’s ahead. There are lots of publications with food trends and it can be tough sifting through all the ideas.