Fresh Focus: Getting Americans to Think Produce

As I was strolling through the grocery store after Halloween, I noticed a lot of baking ingredients stacked in the center aisle for attention. Apparently, Americans still bake a lot of cookies, candies and pies during the holiday season, even though we love convenience foods. It started me thinking about fresh-cuts and how they fit on our holiday groaning boards.

Are Americans thinking of fruits and vegetables when they plan their menus? How can our industry get more involved in recipe development and food preparation? Many companies already include recipes on their packaging or on their Web sites. How did they find these recipes, and is there a way to approach this methodically so recipes are tested and verified as tasty or healthy?

Old Family Recipe

The lettuce company I worked for many years ago sold endive in bags printed with a salad dressing recipe that came from the German restaurant across the street from the main office. It was popular with the locals, but there was no way to determine if consumers were impressed.

Another company changed the recipe on its apple bag last year. It had been using the same recipe for apple tarts, from an in-law of a company employee, for more than 20 years. The new recipe for an apple salad came from a local restaurant that is now defunct. The print was hard to read and there was no way to determine if anyone even noticed.

I have a feeling many companies approach the use of recipes in the same haphazard way. There are alternatives to using homemade recipes or local restaurant favorites. Here are several ideas to kick-start your featured recipe or product development program for the New Year.

Culinary Schools

The prominence of reality TV shows like NBC’s “The Restaurant” and Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” has created interest in the field of culinary arts. Internet searches for culinary programs, culinary degrees, culinary schools and other related terms have increased several percentage points since 2003, according to Google Trends, which tracks search results worldwide.

In virtually all states you will find some kind of culinary school specializing in training chefs, bakers and other food experts. Visit the school nearest your company (www.cookingschools.com) to explore a partnership to help develop more fruit and vegetable recipes, new products, training courses or hands-on production experience for students in your operation.

These schools can be a great resource for tracking foodservice trends. You could invite their top chefs to make presentations for your staff and customers during an on-site meeting, organize a tour of their cooking and training facilities or conduct a cooking demonstration using some of your products.

Or look at institutions that specialize in fruits and vegetables. The Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI) is an example of a learning center focused on produce. The CVI is a culinary educational center surrounded by a 100-acre working farm. The farm features land for research and development of hundreds of heirloom vegetables. More than 500 varieties of vegetables are tested in CVI’s state-of-the-art kitchen every year. CVI also sponsors Veggie U for kids – dedicated to the development of national curricula to promote healthy choices and understand agriculture. You can read more about these efforts at www.culinaryvegetableinstitute.com.

Professional Chefs, Consultants

If you want to stay close to home and work to develop proprietary recipes or new products, you can work with a professional chef or consultant who specializes in your area of interest. These professionals charge by the hour, project or monthly retainer. Be clear about what you want to accomplish and have something in writing that outlines the responsibilities of each party.

These professionals can develop recipes, research unmet foodservice needs, develop new products, act as a spokesperson for your company and conduct cooking demonstrations. They can also work with customers to solve product challenges or provide training for new product uses. Think of them as part of your staff and use their expertise to expand your company’s sales and marketing programs. Look at www.chef2chef.com for information on professional chefs.

Universities, Local Incubator Kitchens

Don’t forget your state university or community college when looking for support. Many schools have test kitchens and charge reasonably for testing recipes, conducting product development studies or creating cooking and recipe procedures. Often, there are many experts with higher education degrees working in the test kitchen that are capable of solving any challenge you find with your food products.

In addition, there are new “incubator kitchens” opening in many cities. Some are affiliated with a state university and some are not. A shared-use commercial kitchen is a type of business incubator where caterers, street cart vendors, farmers and producers of specialty or gourmet food items can prepare their food products in a fully licensed and certified kitchen.

The kitchens, often sponsored by an umbrella nonprofit organization or existing business incubator, provide start-up businesses the opportunity to explore food production without the high cost of buying their own equipment or constructing their own building. Kitchen incubators usually offer technical assistance in food production as well as general business management skills, networking opportunities among entrepreneurs and the opportunity to form shared services cooperatives for marketing, distribution and supply purchasing.

Both university test kitchens and incubator kitchens offer licensed environments with commercial-grade cooking equipment for companies to use to develop new products or test original recipes. This is an interesting choice for those companies that want to branch out to produce a wider range of products but don’t want to invest in the equipment before they’re ready.

Whether you choose to work with individuals, culinary schools or test kitchens, talk to several professionals to get a baseline of costs, availability and realistic expectations. Make sure the support you need, in cooking, recipe testing or product development, is professional and reliable. Your new recipe or product could launch a holiday tradition that consumers will turn to year after year.

Edith Garrett is president of Edith Garrett & Associates, a consulting firm that helps the produce industry with third-party food safety audit preparation, fresh-cut product development, market research, marketing strategies and advertising plans. For more information, call (616) 784-2728 or visit www.edithgarrett.com.



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