"Potatoes and onions are an opportunity rather than a commodity"

For many growers, they see potatoes and onions as classic commodity crops – and consequently over-focus on growing and harvesting their products as inexpensively as possible so that they can sell at lower prices. While that approach may work for some, Fresh Solutions Network (FSN) sees the equation differently. FSN feels that only focusing on squeezing down costs can actually cost retailers more, by short-changing them on quality, innovation and marketing support.

These areas – product quality, innovation and marketing support – are in fact the three pillars that Fresh Solutions Network is using to rise above the competition while helping their retail customers to prosper. FSN believes the best breakthroughs – in products and in business – arrive at the intersection of insights and collaboration, so they work overtime to turn category data into insights and consult with their retail customers to develop innovative products and strategic solutions.

“We think the value proposition for retailers has changed and that many of the ways potato and onion suppliers continue to try to capture market share may be a thing of the past,” stated Kathleen Triou. “They fixate on driving out costs to win business, to the point that their packaging is ineffective and their marketing support is non-existent. Fresh Solutions Network’s approach gives retailers unprecedented access to competitive insights, to collaborative innovation, and ultimately to optimal assortments. For example, we recently collaborated with a regional retailer to strategize an optimized assortment that delivered a 7% sales increase and stole market share from their competition over a six-month pilot program.”

Fresh Solutions Network has reinvented the “supply-and-buy” model by focusing on a direct-supply “dream team”, an invitation-only network of potato and onion growers and shippers with superior products and trustworthy track records who personally own the land, work the soil, and pack the product. Many of the long held ways of buying produce mean retailers may not know where their potatoes and onions are coming from, and that puts quality and accountability at risk. FSN customers always know exactly what product they’re buying and which grower they’re buying it from. FSN members are accountable for quality and service — to each other and to their retail customers —because it is literally their farms that are at stake, not someone else’s.

For more information:
Kathleen Triou
Fresh Solutions Network
Tel: +1 (209) 627-6800
ktriou@freshsolutionsnet.com
www.freshsolutionsnet.com