Value added packs grow SunSelect’s Outrageously Fresh line
As SunSelect’s BC season unfolds, it’s clear the Outrageously Fresh brand is about much more than its signature mason jar bags. While the colorful jar shaped bags of snacking tomatoes take the market by storm, the grower has also introduced the distinctive Outrageously Fresh moniker successfully on more traditional packs in the height of BC production.
“We’ve seen a terrific response to the three, four, and six pack pepper bags, as well as our two-pound BC pepper units making their debut in the Outrageously Fresh brand,” said Len Krahn, SunSelect’s chief operating officer. “The bright colored packaging is eye-catching at retail, and once consumers see SunSelect’s association with Outrageously Fresh, they know they can buy with confidence.”
Aaron Quon, executive director of greenhouse at Oppy, SunSelect’s exclusive marketer, agrees. He notes that SunSelect’s BC pepper season has been characterized by excellent quality and consistency across red, yellow and orange volume, and credits technology upgrades at SunSelect for enhancing quality and efficiency that was already the industry’s gold standard.
“We moved our packing operation to our Delta location and invested in a new grading line that involves greater automation and more drop lanes,” Krahn explains. “This accomplishes a higher output using considerably less labor and delivers a more consistent pack.”
Even with BC still in full production, Krahn is looking ahead to the fall when the grower’s California pepper season begins in Tehachapi, where light and climate favor high quality production.
“We’ll offer new-crop peppers starting in October,” he said. “This will be the second full-scale pepper season in Tehachapi, where we are producing them on 24 of our 64 acres. As the only large scale U.S. greenhouse grower to offer sweet bell peppers in the winter, we’re excited about the distribution and promotional opportunities ahead.”
Between BC and California, SunSelect offers sweet bell peppers year-round.
SunSelect and Oppy also offer a wide range of tomatoes, including grape, cherry and gourmet medley in mason jar bags and topseal punnets, as well as tomatoes-on-the-vine and cocktail tomatoes throughout the year in the Outrageously Fresh brand.
