News bites: Apples, potatoes, juice, blueberries, dates, plant-based products
We've gathered easily digestible news tidbits from six companies to keep you informed about new products, services, packaging, expansions and company strategies.
Pulmuone/Nasoya
It’s all about being “Plantspired” for Dan Breen and Ryan Hoy of Pulmuone/Nasoya, Northport, N.Y. The company’s Plantspired line of soybean products launched in early 2022 as a convenient and ready-to-eat option for grocery shoppers.
Expect to see this in the produce departments of retailers.
“Many of our consumers are vegans and vegetarians, so they aren’t going to the meat department, so our main focus is placing it in the produce department,” Hoy said.
The steak has caught the attention of consumers the most so far.
“R&D did really well with the texture and flavor profile of it,” he said.
RPE and Affinity Sales
RPE, the company behind Tasteful Selections of bite-sized potatoes in sustainable packaging, has partnered with Affinity Sales to grow business in the Northeast, said Drew Callaghan. “We’re looking for logistics, cross-dock solutions for full truckloads in typically LTL shipments,” he said of less-than-truckload freight.
Tasteful Selections offers creamy potatoes with thin skins. These are baby potatoes, making even, consistent cooking easier, and they’re pre-washed for consumer convenience.
Joolies
The amount of news from Los Angeles-based Joolies was daunting. The company sells organic “California superfruit,” or “palm tree candy,” according to marketing materials.
It’s medjool dates, by the way — but in so many forms. The company started with cardboard boxes but is now launching pouches made from post-consumer recycled materials, said Amanda Sains, Joolies marketing director. Also, the pouches help Joolies scale up and add more value to consumers.
Dates made the Whole Foods Market 2023 trends list, which shows the increasing popularity of dates, in all forms and as an ingredient.
“Companies are coming to us wanting to switch to date sugar,” she said. Besides fresh, whole and diced dates and date syrup, Joolies also has an industrial department to meet those kinds of requests.
Also, the company created a prototype of date toppers, to be sprinkled on salads and such, in pouches, available in January. Joolies has commitments from ShopRite so far, Sains said.
Jooliettes, chocolate-covered diced dates in different flavors, is another new product line. “It’s a spin on Raisinets,” Sains said. The blood orange dark chocolate Jooliettes won Best New Sweet Snack in September at the New Hope Network 2022 Expo East NEXTY Awards.
Keeping in mind that dates are a staple in many Middle Eastern diets, Joolies is offering a special Ramadan box for the season, available at ShopRite and Safeway’s Mid-Atlantic stores and Acme.
“We wanted to do something to pay homage to that,” Sains said.
And lastly — but probably not for long — Joolies has started individually wrapped pitted dates, which look like Halloween’s mini-sized candy bars and have the slogan “single and ready to mingle" on the packaging.
Berry Brothers and NuBerry Farms
The domestic brand of Berry Brothers, Hammonton, N.J., meets retailer needs for local produce, and then a new partnership with Fru-Veg Marketing, an importer, helped create NuBerry Farm brand a couple months ago. To satisfy retailer demand when U.S. berries aren’t available, NuBerry blueberries are imported from Peru, Chile and Argentina, say Cassidy Conner and Hannah Warner of NuBerry.
“We’re dabbling in blueberries from Mexico for March when nothing is left from Chile and Florida is just ramping up,” Conner said.
Red Jacket Orchards
Founded by the Nicholson family in 1958, in the Finger Lakes region of Geneva, N.Y., Red Jacket Orchards is a farm, juicery and farm store.
Three generations of the Nicholson family have grown apples and summer fruits, including apricots, berries, currants, cherries, peaches and plums.
Red Jacket makes cold-pressed juices with no added sugar, plus pantry items.
“Not a lot of people know about cold-pressed juices and how much more natural it is,” said Adrian Guzman, Red Jacket’s New York City area sales manager.
Crunch Time Apple Growers
Snappy the Dragon posed for photos with attendees at the New York Produce Show, but as it was ending, so did Joel Crist, chairman of the dragon’s organization, Crunch Time Apple Growers, Lockport, N.Y. SnapDragon and RubyFrost are the proprietary varieties grown and marketed by the cooperative of about 150 growers throughout New York state, united with one mission — to introduce new, flavorful apple varieties to the marketplace. Crunch Time represents 60% of the state’s apple production.
SnapDragon apples, the first official apple of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, are sold at Highmark Stadium on game day, on select menu items throughout the stadium and at different events centered on youth, health and wellness.
“We’re trying to grab a new audience,” Crist said.
This apple variety is available at grocery stores throughout New York state, including Wegmans, Aldi and Tops. Outside New York, SnapDragons are at Publix, ShopRite, HEB, The Fresh Market, Harris Teeter and many other retailers.
