In addition to its standard foodservice packs, Gold Coast Packing Inc. in Santa Maria, CA, does “a tremendous amount of customization for the foodservice trade,” according to Brent Scattini, vice president of sales.

“We are packing things specifically for restaurant needs and coming up with different pack sizes, different specs and different formulations” that may be needed by a national restaurant chain or a regional processor, wholesaler or distributor, he said. “Really what Gold Coast does a lot of is going outside the standard foodservice packs on our product lines and coming up with new items that are going to meet needs in a different way. We spend a lot of time focusing on that, talking to potential customers and existing customers about what we do and how we can provide those products in a format that better suits their needs.”

Brent Scattini and Terry Kuhel.If a restaurant chain has, for example, a particular recipe that it is using for which a Gold Coast product is suited, “we are very open to developing pack sizes that fit those recipe components — that along with selling existing foodservice packs of our product line” such as standard packs of broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, spinach, cilantro or parsley,” Scattini said.

For instance, “we are one of the largest” suppliers of washed, ready-to-use cilantro in the United States, “so we are doing a lot of custom cilantro packs” such as specific pack sizes of the washed, ready-to-use product “or even a chopped ready-to-use cilantro” that a chain might need either at the restaurant level or even at the recipe level, he said.

One trend in foodservice is that “we are doing a lot more in greens,” as are many other companies, Scattini said. As an example, “we’ve got several different kale products. We are working on several different customized blends or mixes for restaurant chains which can include a variety of different items” ranging from Kale to Brussels sprouts. All are ready-to-eat products. “We are doing a lot more in developing custom blends for the trade based on specific needs.”

“Sometimes those are based on specific restaurant needs and “sometimes they are based on products that other regional distributors might be producing,” he said.

That type of customization “is becoming a greater portion of our business,” he said.

“The majority of our business is based around the foodservice trade, Scattini added.”Probably 70 percent of our total sales program is geared toward the foodservice industry.” About 20 percent of the company’s business is geared to the retail trade, and “we are doing a lot of club store business as well.”

Gold Coast has a licensing agreement with Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., which operates Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation restaurants, “that allows us to utilize some of their in-store recipes and convert them into retail and/or foodservice products,” Scattini said. One of them is a Souplantation salad called Joan’s Broccoli Madness. “It is a broccoli salad kit being sold in club stores right now,” he said. “We are working on a multitude of different formats or salads that would be sold under that brand.”

Another new product from Gold Coast is a four-pound foodservice pack of washed, ready-to-use Lacinato kale, also known as Tuscan kale.

“We just started that several months ago, and it is going very well,” Scattini said. “We will evaluate utilizing that product in other salad blends as well as customized products for both retail and foodservice.”

The fresh-cut processing branch of Gold Coast is called Fresh Venture Foods. Formed as a joint venture of Gold Coast and Babe Farms about a year and a half ago, Fresh Venture operates out of a 75,000-square-foot facility in Santa Maria. “We plan on adding an additional 25,000 square feet to that operation,” Scattini said. In August, right after the PMA Foodservice Conference, “we will be moving into new office space within that facility.”

Gold Coast recently hired Terry Kuhel as regional sales manager, based in Southern California. He previously spent 15 years with Dole Fresh Vegetables on their foodservice side, Scattini said. He is now “calling on all sectors of the trade” including industrial, wholesales, regional processors, foodservice distributors, broad line distributors and retail.

“We have been exhibiting at the PMA Foodservice Conference since the first one,” Scattini said. “So we have been there for a very long time.” With Gold Coast’s heavy emphasis on the foodservice sector, the show is “our biggest focus of the year. We spend a lot of time at that show talking to national restaurant chains, distributors and wholesalers” about the company’s existing product lines and customization services.