Organic salad options expand
As consumers look for more variety in organic salad offerings, suppliers have expanded their lines to meet demand.
Retail sales figures from IRI/FreshLook Marketing, as revealed in the 2017 Organic Produce Market Guide, show organic salad mix made up 56.5% of all salad mix sales in 2015, and that figure should be similar for 2016. Salads are by far the largest organic item in the produce department, making up more than 10% of all organic produce sales at retail.
Fresh Express Inc. offers a range of organic salads, organic salad kits and organic chopped salad kits.
“We have seen consumers looking for their favorite conventional products such as salad kits and chopped salad kits to be made using organic ingredients,” said Hugh Dever, marketing brand leader for Fresh Express. “We have developed and launched organic salad and chopped salad kits delivering the taste and flavors that everyone can enjoy. We launched three great tasting organic chopped kits this year — Asian sesame ginger, sunflower ranch and balsamic vinaigrette.”
Marilyn Seeley, marketing manager for Ippolito International LP, Salinas, Calif., that produces the Queen Victoria Organic brand, said all the company’s organic salad items launched in July and are value-added.
Ippolito International currently offers 5-ounce clamshell packages under the Queen Victoria Organic label of baby spinach, baby kale, baby arugula, baby romaine, spring mix, 50/50 blend (baby spinach and spring mix) and a baby spinach/arugula blend. The baby spinach and spring mix are available in 11-ounce and 16-ounce options as well. Additionally, private labeling is an option for customers.
Dole Fresh Fruit/Dole Fresh Vegetables, Westlake Village, Calif., also has expanded its organic salad mixes and kits line that launched in 2016.
“Similar to conventional, consumers who prefer organic don’t want to sacrifice convenience or flavor to enjoy high-quality fresh produce,” said Bil Goldfield, communications manager. “To meet this demand, our expanded Dole Organic Salad line features two all-new organic salad kits, in addition to the six new mixes. For the first time, Dole consumers can enjoy a fresh, flavorful, restaurant-quality, all organic salad kit, including baby lettuces, signature dressings and toppings in the preferred clamshell package.”
Vicky St. Geme, vice president of marketing for Taylor Farms Inc., Salinas, Calif., said the company will continue to offer its value-added organic salad blends and kits, vegetable trays, fresh-cut vegetables, snack packs and on-the-go single-serve salads and snack products.
“We also are offering vegetable snacks in an organic format with traditional ranch dip and hummus,” she added.
