US: Organic produce company reduces tradeshow footprint with new booth design
The new booth design reduces the shipping weight of the company’s tradeshow exhibit by a whopping 90%, while still maintaining the same 10’ x 20’ booth size.
“Incorporating sustainability into our business decisions is second nature for us” said Addie Pobst, who heads CF Fresh’s sustainability initiatives. “When it came time to redo the booth, we immediately looked for ways to reduce our tradeshow footprint.”
The largest portion of the reduction in weight comes from eliminating fresh produce from the display. Historically, the company has shipped an average of 1300 lbs of fresh produce per show, which is displayed for a few days and then donated to a local food bank. Instead, a donation will be made to a local foodbank, and the booth will feature monitors that will display digital images of the company’s organic produce and growers.
“While we appreciate the charitable aspect of donating a large amount of fruit after each show, we realized we could eliminate the wasteful shipping of produce for display purposes and still make a donation locally” said Luis Acuña, President of CF Fresh. “Plus, we wanted to get away from the ‘fruitstand’ display style and show people the more modern, professional face of CF Fresh and the organic market.”
In addition to eliminating fresh produce from the display, the infrastructure of the new booth is significantly lighter, weighing in at a mere 180 lbs compared to nearly 500 lbs on the old booth.
Shipping the new booth from the company’s offices in Sedro-Woolley, WA to Anaheim, CA will produce approximately .018 metric tons of CO2, or about 37 lbs. Shipping the old booth and the usual amount of produce would have produced slightly more than ten times as much CO2, about 400 lbs.
“It’s exciting to see our efforts result in a concrete reduction in carbon emissions” said Pobst. “It’s even more impressive when we look at show venues further away from our headquarters, such as Orlando, FL, which is twice as far away as Anaheim. These reductions in the weight and style of the display will significantly reduce our tradeshow footprint for years to come.”
The new booth will make its debut at PMA’s Fresh Summit October 26-28th in position #3810. Acuña and Pobst will be attending, along with CF Fresh Sales and Marketing Manager Matt Roberts and Sales Representative Roy Ruff.
CF Fresh is a leading organic marketer providing fresh, certified organic produce to retail chains and wholesalers throughout North Americas as well as exporting to Europe and Asia. With growers located in Canada, the western US, Chile and Argentina, CF Fresh offers a year-round supply of high quality organic apples, pears, onions, potatoes, stone fruits and more. The company is a highly regarded pioneer in the organic industry, and is well known for innovation, quality and sustainability.
For more information:
Addie Pobst
CF Fresh
Tel: 360-855-3195
E-mail addie@cffresh.com