Los Alamitos, Calif.-based Frieda’s Inc. is celebrating 60 years in business and is taking the opportunity to celebrate the innovations the company has contributed over the decades.
Frieda Rapoport Caplan founded the company in 1962 and is celebrated for her focus on lesser-known fruits and vegetables, including her pioneer marketing of kiwifruit.
In the 1960s, Frieda’s began to label its produce with a sticker that also featured a recipe, according to a news release.
“We were the first to not only label our products, but because there was some empty space on the first label, my mom decided to offer free recipes to the consumer by asking them to send us a self-addressed stamped envelope with ideas,” Frieda’s CEO Karen Caplan said in the release. “Never could she imagine that more than 300-500 individual shoppers would write to us for recipes every week! I know this happened, as answering those letters was my first job! This was before the internet, so Frieda’s became the trusted source for recipes and information to shoppers for new and exotic produce.”
Based on a C&R omnibus research survey of 1,000 people in partnership with Frieda’s, 60% of shoppers are saying that Frieda’s branded produce is:
- more likely to catch their eye in stores;
- contains the most appealing names, and
- has the most up-to-date branding versus the leading specialty produce competitor.
“Consumers are telling us that our packaging looks better than ever, and our research shows that shoppers are willing to pay more for our items vs. the competition,” Alex Jackson, Frieda’s director of sales, said in the release. “Not only does that help bring your produce department to life, but it also translates into higher sales per square foot for our retail clients.”
To celebrate the company’s 60-year anniversary, the release said Frieda’s has released a birthday cake recipe that features some of the marketer’s most exclusive and favorite items, including Popjoys kumquats, Stokes Purple sweet potatoes, and Frieda’s pink lemons.
