March 22, 2023 | Frieda's LLC - The Branded Produce Company

Los Alamitos, CA (December 2019) – Winter is around the corner, which means that shoppers will be looking to discover new seasonal citrus favorites for an extra boost of vitamin C. This year, Frieda’s will be offering new grab-n-go citrus pouches for two new items: mandarinquats and lemonade lemons.

“Our data shows that the Frieda’s brand means something to shoppers and helps to get them over the hump of trying a something new,” says Cindy Sherman, director of marketing and innovation at Frieda’s. “Because some of these items can be intimidating, we like to help them get ideas on how to enjoy our products. Using our packaging to educate makes it easy and convenient for shoppers!”

For instance, mandarinquats are a hybrid of two favorites—mandarins and kumquats—and Frieda’s encourages shoppers to use these small fruits to add a punch of citrus flavor to any dish. Frieda’s lemonade lemons are delightfully sweet, so we recommend eating them as is, peel and all, or adding them to your favorite drinks.

All this information—and more—can be found on Frieda’s branded citrus packaging, which has always been a retailer favorite because of its convenience, ease of merchandising and low shrink. With a third of all consumers making their purchasing decisions based on packaging¹, Frieda’s wants to ensure that retailers have the best opportunity to grow their incremental winter citrus sales.

All new items will be available in January. Call your Frieda’s account manager today for more information about our winter citrus line-up!

References:

What Consumers Look for in Packaging. (2018, September 21). Retrieved from https://www.klbdkosher.org/news-and-articles/what-consumers-look-for-in-packaging/.

About Frieda’s Inc.

Frieda’s Specialty Produce has been inspiring new food experiences for friends, families and food lovers everywhere since 1962. From kiwifruit and dragon fruit to Stokes Purple® sweet potatoes and habanero peppers, Frieda’s has introduced more than 200 unique fruits and vegetables to the U.S. marketplace. Founded by produce industry trailblazer Dr. Frieda Rapoport Caplan, subject of the 2015 documentary “Fear No Fruit,” the family company is owned and operated by Frieda’s daughters, Karen Caplan and Jackie Caplan Wiggins, in Orange County, California. Find Frieda’s on Facebook, @FriedasProduce and Friedas.com. Inspire. Taste. Love.

Los Alamitos, CA (December 2019) – Shoppers are more interested in cooking Asian food at home now than ever before (61% of them, to be exact¹), which is why Frieda’s developed a customized Asian vegetable program just in time for Lunar New Year (LNY), which begins on January 25^th, 2020. This is a great way to help shoppers try something new in the comfort of their preferred retailers.

“Some of our most popular items for this time of the year are Shanghai bok choy, fresh ginger and Chinese eggplant, which fall right in line with the findings of our consumer research,” says Alex Berkley, director of sales at Frieda’s. “We did the work for our retailers by finding out what consumers are looking for and where, thus giving us the items to create the perfect sets!”

Pairing the unfamiliar with the familiar is the first step in bridging the gap for shoppers, especially because 34% of shoppers are intimidated by Asian vegetables¹. This coupled with utilizing Frieda’s in-store signage and educational packaging is a recipe for success, given that 56% of shoppers say that they want to be able to shop for Asian produce in their regular grocery store¹.

“We, at Frieda’s, take pride in knowing that our brand really resonates with shoppers,” says Berkley. “They trust us provide high-quality product, consistent supply and inspiring recipe ideas, and that extends into our Asian vegetable line up, too.”

Call your Frieda’s account manager today to learn more about how to create a custom Asian produce set for your stores.

Reference:

C+R Research, 2019.

About Frieda’s Inc.

One of my favorite times of the year is during the end-of-the-year holidays, when my mailbox is not completely filled with junk mail. (Well, I still get a fair amount of junk mail, catalogues, etc.) But, I receive holiday cards from my friends and family near and far.

Over the years, especially since I started sending cards myself—including photos of my daughters and me and a one-page newsy family update—my evenings have become even happier as I open dozens of envelopes and then hang the cards and photos in my entrance. It has become a wonderful way to update my circle of family and friends (and a few close business colleagues) about the happenings in my family. I personally address each card. (I do get help with stuffing and stamping the envelopes, but I take great joy in hand-addressing the cards—no pre-printed labels or auto labeling from a company.) For perspective, this year I ordered 600 cards to send out.

When people question my sanity in spending my time hand-addressing that many cards, I always tell them, it gives me a moment to reflect on my relationship with each person, and I actually feel I put “love” all over the envelope when I address it. So, I address 50 or 100 each evening and they eventually get mailed. (Then I wait for the emails and comments from people when they are surprised and delighted.)

But at my office, it’s a whole other story. We stopped sending out company holiday cards many years ago because we knew our clients would get so many other cards that we wouldn’t stand out. And frankly, it seemed to be a waste of paper and postage. I mean, a corporate holiday card would be meaningless to clients. So impersonal. We would much rather call a client or send a short email or text to send a business colleague a holiday wish.

However, there are still people who we do business with who think sending a holiday card is a good use of their resources. It’s a free world, but I kind of think some companies may be on auto-pilot and maybe no one has given much thought to the whole process.

Mostly the reason I say all this is that we receive holiday cards from other companies with preprinted address labels. Preprinted company names on the inside of the card. And pre-printed postage. Every year when I get these cards, I just shake my head. I ask myself—what are they trying to accomplish?

It is so old-school to send preprinted holiday cards like this. Admittedly, we do receive an occasional card with a photo of the sales team from a company. But unfortunately they usually don’t have each person identified, so it’s impossible to know who’s who. What’s the point?

Think about it: the cost of paper, cost of printing, cost of postage, labor cost. Could you put those resources and time to better use somewhere else?

My bet is that most companies relegate this decision to someone who isn’t responsible for the bottom line or who isn’t involved in customer relations. That’s too bad.

It tells me a lot about a company, their decision making and their priorities when I receive a completely preprinted impersonal holiday card. It makes me wonder if I want to do business with them, and how much attention they will pay to my business.

Think about it. If you work at a company that sends out preprinted cards … perhaps you could make a suggestion on a better way to thank clients at the holidays!

Karen

I don’t recall where I read it, but it was a recent interview with a business thought leader. When asked, “What is the one thing you would change about Americans?” she said it makes her crazy that we say “sorry.”

At first I didn’t get what she meant. And then I started noticing how often “sorry” is said.

You might bump into someone or walk around them and say “sorry.” Back in the old days, we might’ve said “excuse me” or “pardon me.” In Spanish you would say “con permiso” (with permission may I pass?). But now we’ve become an apologetic society that says “sorry”—not even I’m sorry—for almost everything. If you think I’m crazy, spend the next few days noticing how often you say it or people say it to you.

It’s actually not a very sincere thing to say, because, frankly, much of the time we’re not sorry. We just want people to move. Or we want something. One of the most ridiculous ways it is used happens when you are ordering food at a restaurant or asking for assistance at a store. We consumers start our conversation with an apology. Next time, instead of saying “sorry” think about saying, “Thank you for your help. I would like …”or “Excuse me, I’m looking for some assistance.”

I will say, it may be difficult to make the change to remove the word “sorry” from your vocabulary. First you have to notice it. And then you have to make a very real, conscious effort to not use the word. I’ve tried, and it’s hard.

But I think it’s worth it—because starting a conversation or interaction with “sorry” doesn’t seem very positive, polite or engaging. It’s kind of lazy. So, my challenge to myself—and to you—is to avoid using that word. Unless of course you ARE sorry, and then you should say “I am sorry.”

Since we’re considering phrases that really don’t make sense, also think about the phrase “no problem.”

You go to a restaurant, to a store or interact with a friend and you ask for something, and their answer is “no problem.” If you think about it, it’s not a really sincere response. It’s actually kind of negative, as you are using two words that are not positive: “no” and “problem.”

This is another one of those phrases that we Americans have created. By giving an answer of “no problem,” we imply that the person’s request is easy to solve or resolve. To me it’s kind of a trite, insincere answer.

Because, frankly, most of the time they don’t resolve my issue. It’s like a brush off.

A friend recently pointed out the phrase “no problem” to me, and I immediately reacted by telling him that I never or rarely say that. Boy was I wrong.

Because I am trying hard NOT to say either phrase (my own personal experiment in human behavior), I catch myself daily, and sometimes multiple times a day, saying “no problem.” As I catch myself, I take a breath and smoothly insert the phrase, “my pleasure” or “that would be my pleasure” or “I am happy to help.”

But it takes discipline.

And why am I doing this? Because I think there is an opportunity for me to be more thoughtful. More engaging. More sincere. To stand out.

Now, when someone makes a request to me, instead of saying “no problem” I say, “my pleasure.” It sounds kinder just reading it, don’t you think?

Come to think about it, this kind of reminds me of when we used to say another over-used phrase, “Have a nice day!”

Think about it!

Karen

Los Alamitos, CA – (December 2019) – Frieda’s Specialty Produce, known for spotting trends like veggies for dessert and unicorn food, has released its predictions for 2020 to help retailers make room for what’s hot.

Frieda’s trendologists are at it again. “We are in the fields with our growers and in the kitchens with our chefs,” says Cindy Sherman, director of marketing and innovation. “We dive deep into our consumer research to identify real changes in behavior versus the fads that are here today, gone tomorrow.” Find Frieda’s trend predictions below:

About Frieda’s Inc.

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Los Alamitos, CA (November 2019) – In August 2018, Frieda’s Specialty Produce and foodservice powerhouse Sysco joined forces with the goal of helping chefs get the best quality and variety of produce through their innovative e-commerce platform, Supplies on the Fly. On October 24, 2019, Sysco recognized their best vendor partners in a special award ceremony and, out of 2,300 vendors, Frieda’s was awarded a Bronze award for their valued partnership.

Other produce vendors who received awards included Taylor Farms, Church Brothers Farms, Driscoll’s, EarthFresh Farms and Bonduelle. We give a hearty congratulations to Frieda’s and everyone else who received awards this year!

About Frieda’s Inc.