Snack Takes

Freshway Foods rolls out Snack Takes, its first fresh-cut snack line

The snacking segment continues to be a growth opportunity for fresh-cuts, and new products are finding great success with health-conscious consumers.

Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio, introduced its first snacking line this summer, called Snack Takes. The line features four single-serve fresh-cut items with a dip side for on-the-go convenience: sliced apples and grapes with caramel dip, sliced apples with caramel dip, celery and carrots with ranch dip and whole strawberries with chocolate dip.

The low-calorie snack packs are perfect for sack lunches, afterschool snacks or a pick-me-up any time during the day, according to the company.

“We are thrilled that our latest product line expansion is a consumer focused snack solution,” said Dan Purdy, Freshway Foods’ vice president of sales and marketing. “Our entire fresh-cut business is built on the commitment of delivering healthy, great tasting products that provide an extra layer of value to the end user, and we believe that expanding into fun and convenient snack solutions is a natural next step. We can’t wait to introduce the new items we’ll be adding to the Snack Takes core four very soon.”

The launch of the retail Snack Takes builds on fresh-cut fruit growth at the Freshway Foods. Last year, the company was selected as the Midwest processor for the Mott’s sliced apple program, and currently processes red and green apple packs for retail grocery stores, club stores and foodservice under the Mott brand.

Food safety is an important aspect to the business and every grower and supplier is audited for Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices before supplying the plant with raw product, and the plant is HACCP compliant. The fresh-cut products have full traceability in place so a package can be traced back to the field.

Freshway Foods was founded in 1998 by Frank and Phil Giraldi as a fresh produce distributor, but they saw the growth of the fresh-cut segment and added a processing plant in 1992. The company continued to grow, and a new processing facility was added in 1996, then those operations were consolidated to an even larger facility in 2000. That coincided with the launch of a new line of salad kits, and the company’s focus on customer service has led to growth in that segment as well. Freshway Foods offers custom processing for foodservice and retail customers to meet the needs of those markets, and the company also has a repack service to fill a variety of pack sizes for a range of produce items.

Freshway Foods now operates out of a 100,000 square foot facility in Ohio, and with its own distribution company, Freshway Logistics, is able to distribute to every major market east of the Mississippi, ensuring a consistent cold chain from field to market with its own refrigerated trailers and trucks.

 



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