Seeking the Unique

A Minnesota fresh-cut produce company is finding success by combining a relatively small distribution area with big ambitions.

G.O. Fresh processes salad blends and other value-added products from its facility in Minneapolis. From the start — including a decision to devote its business to fresh-cut — the company has aimed at uniqueness.

“We like to do the things that not everybody does,” said Mark Remold, G.O. Fresh purchasing manager. “The nice part about being a regional processor is that it allows flexibility to offer customers unique blends and cuts that a large processor on the coast would find ineffective and cost-prohibitive to do themselves.”

G.O. Fresh creates salad blends, vegetable blends, fresh-cut fruit and fresh-cut vegetables primarily for private label customers, with a total product mix of more than 700 SKUs. The lineup includes approximately 70 different vegetable blends and stir-fry blends.

The company specializes in customizing blends to meet specific customer needs, and looks for niches in the marketplace.

“That’s the role of our fresh-cut consultants,” said Remold. “They make a lot of visits to our customers and users, talking to chefs and discussing different ideas and things they’d like to do.”

These conversations gave birth to new blends that have found acceptance, including a shredded salad mix that uses romaine lettuce. A popular new gourmet salad blend includes romaine, endive, radicchio and shaved carrots. Vegetable blends include bruschetta, fajita blends, pico de gallo, stir fry and a festival blend of carrots, pea pods, red peppers, red onions, yellow squash and zucchini.

Geography helps determine the product mix at G.O. Fresh, which targets some of its products for appeal to its closest consumers.

“Being in the Midwest, our customers are more interested in root vegetables such as rutabagas, turnips and parsnips,” said Remold. “It’s more of a regional thing as compared to the southern part of the U.S. where root vegetables are no as popular.”

Potatoes are another area of specialty for G.O. Fresh, including fresh chips and french fries using a specialty variety grown in North Dakota. These products are sparking interest from restaurants and gourmet sandwich shops, according to G.O. Fresh. The fries are now in the research and development stage.

“They are unique in that they change the french fry industry and allow a french fry cooked from the fresh stage rather than going through the blanching process,” said Brent Beckman, G.O. Fresh director of sales and marketing. “That’s an example of a regional product we’re encouraging.  We’ve only been working with a couple months and we’re seeing a lot of success.”

Fresh-cut fruit has shown strong growth in recent years. Beckman estimates fruit has grown from five percent to 15-20 percent of the company’s business, with peeled pineapple now in the company’s top 10 list of items. Mango, papaya and melons are among the other cut fruit offerings on the rise.

The goal for the G.O. Fresh fresh-cut fruit program is to give the customer the ability to do a variety of different things with a product that is completely ready for use.

“We do brix testing of fruit on arrival. This adds to the customer’s sense of assurance that they will get a good sweet fruit every time. They don’t have to worry about flavor, color, flavor or sugar. It’s all there,” said Beckman.

G.O. Fresh delivers to customers only within the Midwest, starting with Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Iowa and more recently into Missouri and Nebraska.

“Our belief is that we want to deliver fresh product within what our trucks can get to within a day. So we keep within a 300-mile radius,” Beckman said.

The company employs 110 workers at its 45,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Minneapolis, and that space is going to grow by 15,000-20,000 square feet when a building renovation project is completed in the fall of 2013.

The larger processing facility is intended to help G.O. Fresh adapt to a future that appears to be bright for fresh-cut products, due to an increased focus on healthy eating. One indicator of this trend: green leafy vegetables are increasing in popularity, and romaine is growing in sales as a percentage of the lettuce category at a faster rate than iceberg, Beckman noted.

“The future is wide open,” said Remold. “There are so many different facets of the industry opening up now for precuts. Niches like schools are getting back into fresh cuts and there’s a return of salad bars. There’s more interest in different types of foods like jicama sticks to expose students to.”

G.O. Fresh is owned by Patricia Greene and Marylou Owen and was formed in 2004, with roots in another fresh-cut business, Custom Cuts, and a produce company owned by Beckman’s family. The Minneapolis location was a Custom Cuts plant until it was purchased by Owen and Greene and renamed G.O. Fresh.

Lee Dean, editorial director



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