06/20/2006

Consolidation, branding, consistency, consumer-friendly packaging and globalization - Market Fresh Produce LLC, based in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, MO, is integrating all these benefits for sweet onion buyers.

Steve Phipps, principal owner and director of sales and marketing for Market Fresh Produce, said, "Our focus on this onion program is to come to market with a consistent trade brand of sweet onions to where the retailer could embrace the packaging."

Market Fresh is very carefully coordinating grower-copackers, then marketing consistent supplies of sweet onions from Vidalia, GA, Texas, California, Walla Walla, WA, and Peru. In the process, Mr. Phipps said, "We offer consistent flavor, size and packaging, and retailers don't have to worry about managing different vendors and the logistics of shipping [less than truckloads] to distribution centers. We manage all these things behind the scenes and come to market."

An important component is high-graphic display packaging, which the onion co-packers place into one "consumer friendly box." It is a "one touch" box for produce managers, who simply put the box on display. "While onions are not as delicate as tomatoes, they still bruise," he said.

The open, flat box eliminates handling for merchandising. By reducing handling, PLU labels are less prone to being knocked off, as is often the case with bulk displays. Less handling means lower shrink and lower labor costs for retailers, Mr. Phipps added.

For retailers wanting mesh bags, Market Fresh is offering a full line of sweet onions in mesh bags containing either two, three, four or five pounds, each with high-graphic cards.

"All of our packaging shows the USDA food pyramid and the '5 A Day' logo, and a [toll-free] consumer feedback number to report problems or talk about the onions when the consumer is home."

05/01/2006

Market Fresh Produce, based in Lee's Summit, MO, has launched a new onion program with state-of-the-art packaging. The program includes suppliers from Vidalia, GA, California, Texas, Walla Walla, WA, and offshore product from Mexico and Peru.

Market Fresh started shipping product April 9. The program offers euro display-ready packaging in both bulk and mesh bags.

Market Fresh offers both foodservice and retailers contract pricing and says it remains committed to consumer-driven programs that maximize sales and consumption of fresh produce.

The Packer, September 15th, 2008

Market Fresh Produce adds tomato line
Nixa, Mo.-based Market Fresh Produce LLC has launched a year-round tomato program with supplies from Mexico, Canada, California and Florida.

Owner and director of sales and marketing Steve Phipps said varieties include hothouse beefsteak, grape tomatoes, romas, golden grape tomatoes, black jewel, strawberry tomatoes, and field-grown vine ripes.

Market Fresh launched the program in June as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration were investigating the category as a possible source of a salmonella outbreak.

"A lot of our tomatoes are grown in controlled atmosphere greenhouses," Phipps said. "We have the food safety deal tied up. Consumption of tomatoes has been down, but it's been exciting for us because we have a lot of people calling us."

Phipps said the company is working with repackers in Milwaukee; Memphis; Dallas; Tampa; Atlanta; Savage, MD., Newport, KY.; and Anaheim, CA.

The Packer, July 7, 2008

Nixa, Mo.-based Market Fresh Produce LLC has completed its lineup with the addition of a tomato program.
Steve Phipps, owner and director of sales and marketing, said the company planned to begin its first shipments of hydroponic tomatoes to 14 states July 5.

"I've got a lot of passion and have had positive experiences marketing tomatoes," he said. "We've had it in our strategic initiatives to bring in tomatoes to our program." Phipps was national sales and marketing director for two years at Nation Fresh, a national sales arm for a group of a dozen tomato packers and distributors, after a year at one of its founding members, Combs Produce Co., Dallas.

Phipps said the first shipments were from greenhouse growers in Canada and Mexico. Market Fresh plans to add more sourcing regions and varieties, including field-grown product from California and Florida, in the coming months.

"We even plan to support a lot of the locally grown product in our national strategy," he said.
Initial offerings include a variety of sizes and packs of beefsteak, tomatoes on the vine, black jewel, yellow on the vine, red and yellow grape, strawberry and medley packs. Tomatoes complete the lineup of produce Market Fresh plans to offer. Phipps said, logistically, it makes sense for the company to carry potatoes, sweet potatoes, storage, and sweet onions. "They all pretty much fall into the same storage and temperature zones," he said.

The Packer, September 17th, 2007

Market Fresh Produce LLC is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new location. The sales agent moved from Lee's Summit, MO., to Springfield, MO., earlier this year and moved again to the Springfield suburb of Nixa, MO., in August.

"We can get a lot bigger with more space and a better value," said Steve Phipps, owner and director of sales and marketing. "We needed more space, and it's less expensive than downtown Springfield."

Market Fresh, which manages sales, distribution and logistics for sweet potato, sweet onion and potato growers, launched a year-round sweet onion program in August 2006. The company added Italian red onions this year.
"We were thrilled with its success," Phipps said of the onion deal. "Our rejection rate was less than 1%."
Phipps said the company is experiencing the biggest growth spurt in its short history. He said Market Fresh had a 45% increase in customers in the past year.

"We don't lose customers," he said. "The high-quality products we ship are being well received by the industry. You can have a beautiful display with little labor."

Market Fresh differentiates itself from the competition, Phipps said, with high-graphic packaging.
"We really believe graphics on packages, especially display-ready boxes, are important and help the image of the brand," said Phipps, whose company has customers in 27 states.

The high-end bags, boxes and bins aren't just for high-end retailers.
"That's a misconception," Phipps said. "There's not a huge cost difference. You're taking them from good to great packaging for not a lot of money."

"We've had good response, even with retailers that are really cost-driven. For upscale retailers that do a lot of hand stacking, the display-ready carton doesn't mean much to them. Upscale retailers don't show much corrugated. They don't need it."

The Packer, June 18th, 2007

Market Fresh Produce LLC, Springfield, Mo., is offering Italian red sweet onions for the first time.

The onions, produced by numerous California growers, are in produce departments now and are expected to ship nationwide through September, said Steve Phipps, owner and director of sales and marketing.

Phipps said he hopes the addition of the red sweet onions continues Market Fresh's rapid growth. In 2006, Market Fresh entered the onion category, agreeing to supply a 1,600-outlet chain with year-round supplies.

"We're always looking to add to our premium brand," Phipps said of the red sweet onions. "We thought it complemented our overall offering to our customer base. Last August, we launched sweet onions, and that program has been very successful."

Market Fresh offers the red onions in bulk, jumbo loose packs and 2- ,3- ,4- and 5-pound bags, all of which are distributed in high-graphic, display-ready containers. The firm also has foodservice packs available in 40-pound and 20-pound split boxes, Phipps says.

The Packer, May 22, 2006

When Market Fresh Produce LLC entered the sweet onion business in mid-April, the Lee's Summit, Mo.-based company didn't do so tentatively.

Out of the chute, Market Fresh promised year-round supplies and signed a national retailer with about 1,600 outlets across the country.

Co-owner and national director of sales and marketing Steve Phipps said he wants to do for Market Fresh in onions what he did for NationFresh in tomatoes. Phipps had a similar position at the national tomato company, which is the marketing arm for a group of 12 grower-packers.

The goal, he said, is to provide consistency and quality.

"That consistency is what retailers across the country are looking for today," said Phipps, who works from the company's national sales office in Springfield, MO.

The company sold its first sweet onions in mid-April, packed by Stanley Farms, Vidalia, GA., and will continue that program through the summer.

In the meantime, Market Fresh will serve some customers with a Walla Walla, Wash., program that starts in mid-June. Shippers who handle onions from Peru will participate through the winter, followed by onions from Texas and Mexico next spring.

Unlike some sales agencies, including NationFresh, Market Fresh is not owned by its member shippers, Phipps said.

"We are free to make decisions for our customers, and that means the list (of suppliers) is wide open to discussion and will be analyzed daily," Phipps said. "We're wanting to have the very best partners out there, and we're looking long-term to put the right product in this brand."
Anthony Totta, principal owner and operations director of the eight-year-old company, declined to name the company's co-packers.

Several other personnel additions are helping Market Fresh roll out its product line.
Veronica Page, a former customer accounts specialist with NationFresh, is in the same position in Market Fresh's Springfield office, and Darrin Carpenter joined the company as national program manager on April 24. Carpenter, based in Tulsa, Okla., previously worked for World Variety Produce Inc., Los Angeles, and Fleming Cos., Lewisville, Texas.

"He's working with our target customers and oversees a lot of procurement initiatives, because he has a lot of buying experience in his background," Phipps said. "He's working with grower-shippers all the way through the supply chain."

Jim Richter, Vice President of Business Development, has worked for Associated Wholesale Grocers, Kansas City, KS.; Randalls Food Markets Inc., Houston; Marsh Supermarkets Inc., Indianapolis; and 7-Eleven Corp., Dallas. Phipps said he plans to hire other customer account specialists. "Our focus is on putting people in the Southeast, Northwest, all four quadrants of the country, to penetrate retail accounts with this branded message," he said. In mid-June, the company plans to roll out a similar program for potatoes, with Colorado, Idaho and Washington potatoes, Phipps said.

INFO BOX
Aggressive plan
Market Fresh Produce LLC, Lee's Summit, MO., plans to market about 250,000 40-pound cartons of onions the first year, said National Director of Sales and Marketing Steve Phipps.

The company is expected to double that to half a million cartons in its second year, he said. The company's brand-building campaign includes point-of-sale material and an emphasis on the high-graphic Market Fresh cartons.

The onions also will be available in 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-pound black mesh bags, and one co-packer in the Northwest offers a peeled and wrapped onion.

The Packer, May 1, 2006

LEE'S SUMMIT, MO. -- Rarely in a career can someone go into a company and help build a brand from the beginning, said 20-year produce, merchandising and marketing veteran Jim Richter.
But that's just what Richter, new executive vice president of business development for Market Fresh Produce LLC intends to do.

Market Fresh Produce offers a full line of onions, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Its new onion branding effort began earlier this year.

Richter joined eight-year-old Market Fresh on April 10 after leaving his post as vice president of merchandising of perishables, dairy/frozen, and grocery at Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., Kansas City, KS.
Richter said he can relate to retailers because he has a retail-heavy background with experience at Houston-based Randalls Food Markets Inc., Indianapolis-based Marsh Supermarkets Inc., San Antonio-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co., and Dallas-based 7-Eleven Corp.

Richter also said he plans to make products available year-round in consistent packaging. Each Market Fresh package features the Food Pyramid and 5 a Day symbol, for instance.

Having consistent quality, Richter said, often means the difference between a 30-case display and a 50-case display.

Richter particularly touts Market Fresh's high-graphic stackable boxes without lids.
Anthony Totta, national marketing director, is bullish on the new onion pack. He said a 1,500-store chain would begin carrying the product soon.

Another opportunity for growth, Richter said, is car-friendly produce dishes.
Along with his experience in retail, Richter served as the Newark, Del.-based Produce Marketing Association exposition chairman in New Orleans in 1998, and as the PMA convention chairman in Atlanta in 1999. He has worked on the PMA retail board and the PMA board of directors. Richter also has served as a speaker and panelist at PMA.

In 1999, the International Fresh-cut Produce Association, Alexandria, Va., named Richter fresh-cut promoter of the year.

Richter isn't the only one at Market Fresh with years of retail experience. Co-owner and sales and marketing director Steve Phipps and Totta have spent time in the sector.
"We're all a little different, but we all share enough to see why this is a good business model," Totta said.
On April 24, Darrin Carpenter joined Market Fresh as national program manager.
He will handle procurement and logistics, managing all of Market Fresh's programs with its growers and customers, Totta said.

Carpenter previously was a regional manager based in Tulsa, Okla., for World Variety Produce Inc., Los Angeles, which sells under the Melissa's brand.

The Packer, March 20, 2006

With year-round supplies common for many sweet potato producers, the challenge now is to get consumers thinking about eating sweet potatoes weekly rather than annually.

"Instead of being just something that's on the plate for Thanksgiving and Christmas and occasionally Easter, we have them year-round," said Jeremy Fookes, salesman for Livingston, Calif.-based A.V. Thomas Produce.
After the Christmas and Thanksgiving peak, many consumers no longer are thinking about candied yams and sweet potato pie, grower-shippers said.

Fookes said the industry must demonstrate how sweet potatoes can be used in the different seasons.
"During barbeque season, we can really educate people that it's a great substitute for the potato," he said. "You can just throw them on the barbeque grill."

Bob Riggle, Sales Manager for Vardaman, Miss.-based Alexander Farms, agreed that most consumers don't know about the different ways to prepare sweet potatoes.

"It's way in the back of people's minds," Riggle said. "They'd never think to throw them on a grill."
Consumers concerned about their waistlines also could help boost year-round consumption, said Roy Hansen, sales manager at Dawson Farms LLC, Delhi, LA.

"I think people are getting educated on the health benefits," Hansen said.
Because they are available year-round, sweet potatoes easily can be used in place of a more traditional vegetable, Riggle said.

"With a little low fat butter on it, they're a great eating item like a squash, but they have more vitamins and nutrients than a squash," he said.

Foodservice also has helped with year-round demand, Hansen said.

"I think it's increasing demand because people are trying them and liking them in restaurants," Hansen said. "Ten years ago, you wouldn't think of having a sweet potato with a steak."

A restaurant is a good way to introduce consumers to the different ways a sweet potato can be cooked, said Benny Graves, Executive Secretary for the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council, Vardaman.

"Steakhouses were really the core of the foodservice market," Graves said. "But I've seen it grow into the more upscale restaurants with sweet potato french fries and hors d'oeuvres"

And once consumers try them at a restaurant, they're more likely to try them at home, said George Wooten, president of Chadbourn, N.C.-based Wayne E. Bailey Produce Co.

SIZE is important: Market Fresh Produce LLC is trying a different way to boost year-round sales.
This fall, the Lee's Summit, Mo.-based company rolled out petite sweet potatoes in 2-pound mesh bags.
Co-owner and sales and marketing director Steve Phipps said consumers who may be put off by the size of a U.S. No. 1 could find petite sweets more manageable.

"The sweet petite has a much quicker bake time," he said. "You could take it to work and microwave it in much less time than a jumbo or a No. 1."

Phipps said feedback has been positive so far. The retailer featuring the product has shown a category increase of about 20%, he said.

Market Fresh expects to ship 75,000-100,000 cartons of sweet petites in the 2005-06 season, Phipps said.

The Packer, March 13, 2006

A Midwestern produce marketing firm plans to bring a national brand of sweet onions and potatoes to supermarket shelves.

Starting with Texas 1015s in mid-April, Market Fresh Produce LLC, Lee's Summit, Mo., is rolling out a year-round program of sweet onions under its Market Fresh brand. The marketing company has signed on more than a dozen co-packers throughout the U.S. and South America.

National branded storage onion and potato deals are also in the works.

Market Fresh's entrance into the national deal follows buy-ins from two new investors into the 8-year-old company.

The company is readying packaging at sweet onion growing regions and preparing to ship Texas 1015s.
The company plans to ship 250,000 to 300,000 modular boxes and 40-pound bulk cartons of all sweet onions in its first year of its national program, said co-owner Steven Phipps.

Market Fresh plans to ship medium sweet onions in 2-, 3- and 5-pound mesh bags in display-ready modular boxes. Medium, large and jumbos will also be shipped in 40-pound boxes.

The co-packers are:
* J.F. Palmer & Sons Produce Inc., Pharr, TX;
* Rio Queen Citrus Inc., Mission, TX;
* Stanley Farms, Vidalia, GA.;
* Hendrix Produce Inc., Metter, GA.;
* Griffon-Holder Co. Inc., Rocky Ford, CO.; and
* North Weld Produce Co., Greeley, CO.

Because Market Fresh was recruiting shippers from California, the Walla Walla region and Peru in early March, Anthony Totta, Market Fresh's National Marketing Director, declined to announce their names until the relationships have been finalized.

Totta had planned to visit the Washington and California shippers the week of March 6 but had to delay his trip after his 86-year-old father, Tony Totta, a Kansas City, MO., grocer, died March 7.
Because of the progression of the sweet onion seasons, Anthony Totta said Market Fresh was focusing on the 1015s and then the Vidalias.

Phipps, who previously worked as national sales and marketing director for the Centennial, Colo.-based NationFresh tomato marketer and for apple packer Pride Packing Co., Wapato, Wash., bought a third of Market Fresh ownership Nov. 10. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

Jim Cipriano, who owns Boston-based potato packer Arrow Farms Inc., joined as Market Fresh's third partner Jan. 1. He also bought a third of the company. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

Cipriano also owns Boston-based citrus repacker JJR Distributing, which does business as DiSilva Fruit, and he co-owns Boston-based potato and onion wholesaler Gold Bell Inc.

Market Fresh announced the sweet onion deal to retail and foodservice buyers while exhibiting at the Southeast Produce Council's Southern Exposure 2006 retail and foodservice conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

"With Steve's expertise, we're giving the distributors all the ammunition they need to grow sales," Totta said. "We have the supply and state-of-the-art packaging that communicates to the end user the information they need about the product and a full supply chain management program. It will be big and powerful partnerships with the grower-shippers that is proving to get a lot of results."

By the end of April, Market Fresh plans to roll out a national branded potato program. The program will include Idaho and Colorado bakers and yukon, red and baby yukon and baby red potatoes, Phipps said.
Market Fresh was developing relationships with storage onion shippers to supply a 12-month red, white and yellow onion program. The company plans to focus its efforts on the fresh deal, Totta said.
Market Fresh has been marketing a line of smaller, 4- to 6-ounce sweet potatoes in 2-pound mesh bags to retailers since September.

One retailer reports the brand has helped increase sales in its 1,600 stores by 20%, Phipps said.
Market Fresh also carries individual wrapped microwaveable sweet potato.

The marketer also has been supplying custom-sized sweet potatoes to a national restaurant chain, Phipps said.
Market Fresh plans to use Cipriano's operations as a Northeastern forward distribution center and his expertise in strategic planning, Phipps said.

Market Fresh, founded by Totta, was originally supposed to be a regional produce distribution firm. After it shedded itself of its warehouse, the company moved into marketing and consulting.

"We're now a total marketing organization," Phipps said. "We're vertically integrating and bringing growers together to put out one consistent brand that makes for a seamless relationship."