After a positive 2023 despite the difficulties affecting the sector, Organizzazione di produttori Altamura looks to the new year with optimism, determination and a lot of news that also involve the widening of the fresh-cut range thanks to a new partner for baby leaves in Basilicata, a line dedicated to the H&R sector, and a line of powdered leaves. All this will be presented at the Berlin fair.
"Luckily our company welcomes new partners every year, meaning we have more hectares and types of crops. This year, we have welcomed a new company that covers 30 hectares in Metaponto (Basilicata). We are among the first to cultivate baby leaves in this area and the first tests conducted last year came back with very positive results. We started toying with the idea of setting up collaborations for baby leaves in that area two years ago, when Azienda Agricola Condoluci, specializing in the production of yellow melons and strawberries, became part of our PO," explains Fabio Altamura, vice-president of the PO."
ChefSalad: the line dedicated to the H&R sector
"Seeing the demand coming from the H&R sector, we decided to create a new line in a convenient 500 gran format, a way to promote the work we have been doing for the catering business even more and to guarantee produce that is always fresh while reducing the waste that usually comes with larger formats."
All company products will be available, from PGI arugula to niche options such as Red Rumex, pea sprouts, eastern mixed salad, Tatsoi, Red Pak Choi, and baby kale. The new packaging designed by NJU Comunicazione in collaboration with our marketing team puts a white plate with our salads as protagonists at the center. It is way to stimulate the creativity of the chefs while promoting our products. We have reached this new concept after years of collaboration with a few cooking schools and sector guides. The new packaging will be presented at Fruit Logistica."
Powdered leaf line
Something else the company will present during the fair will be powdered leaves (arugula, parsley, chard and baby spinach). "The product can be used both in the kitchen to prepare and garnish pasta and risotto and to create baked products, for example. We received requests from clients that already commercialize such products, especially dried aromatic plants, so we decided to create a line of naturally-dried products with our baby leaves. The powders are obtained in dedicated drying cells in our nursery."
2023 was a good year
"2023 was a good year, with a slight yet constant growth. Of course there were the difficulties we all know, such as unsustainable production costs, a complicated geopolitical situation and the ensuing problems affecting the market, which is characterized by increasingly higher costs met with the impossibility of reflecting such costs in the sales prices. As a consequence, margins are lower, which of course causes difficulties for companies also in terms of investments and development."
Extension of the fresh-cut range
"In 2023 we also started producing adult salads such as iceberg, pan di zucchero chicory, radicchio, escarole and a few dedicated mixed salads. We are already supplying the products to a few big retail chain platforms in Italy and abroad. At the moment, half of the production is under our own brand (Mama Salad) and the other half is private label."
The Altamura PO will attend Fruit Logistica 2024 (Berlin, February 7-9) in Hall 4.2/Stand C-10. Click here to book a meeting.
Photos supplied byOp Altamura
For further information
Op Altamura
via Pacinotti
Pontecagnano Faiano (SA) - Italy
info@opaltamura.com
www.opaltamura.com