United Fresh Foundation Will Launch Fresh Produce Pavilion at School Nutrition Association Annual Convention
April 26, 2014
The United Fresh Foundation will host the first Fresh Produce Pavilion at the School Nutrition Association Annual Convention July 14-16 in Boston.
The pavilion establishes a destination area on the trade show floor that will focus exclusively on promoting fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Our goal with this pavilion is help schools maximize their success in serving a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables,” said United Fresh CEO Tom Stenzel.
He added, “We’re committed to helping school foodservice directors understand the ins and outs of purchasing produce, as well as making sure they’re aware of the many fresh and fresh-cut produce items that that can appeal to the next generation of produce consumers.”
The new pavilion will include exhibits by several of United Fresh member companies and an educational learning area for school foodservice directors.
The Foundation’s learning area is co-sponsored by PRO*ACT, which is bringing a number of produce distribution experts to serve as consultants for schools to answer all their produce-related questions, share guidance and tips for writing produce RFPs, and talk about the wide variety of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables that are ideal for school foodservice.
The learning area will display salad bars for school meals and snacking options to comply with the new “Smart Snacks in Schools” standards that go into effect next school year.
“We appreciate PRO*ACT’s assistance in staffing the learning area, where school foodservice directors will be able to consult with experts outside of their own procurement process.” Stenzel said.
He added, “This provides a low-pressure learning opportunity when buyers are not negotiating with their own vendors, but instead are learning from distributors who are not actually competing for their business.”
The 1,600 square foot Fresh Produce Pavilion will feature 12 booths from member companies, including Chiquita Brands, Grimmway Farms, National Watermelon Promotion Board, NatureSeal and Ready Pac Foods.
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