California Giant Berry Farms in Watsonville, CA, a leading producer and marketer of strawberries and other berries, is focusing its promotional efforts not so much on retail-specific programs as on consumer outreach, mainly through social media and other internet channels, according to Cindy Jewell, marketing director.

“We are doing a lot with consumers,” Jewell said.

The company is making “a lot of online offers” to consumers, she said. “Consumers that connect with us either through Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or our website — all those various platforms — have an opportunity to instantly download eBooks that we are producing” such as Recipes for a Healthy Lifestyle and Berry Sweet Baking Guide.

California Giant is also actively promoting Tour de Fresh, a four-day cycling event scheduled for Oct. 13-16 in which fresh produce industry members will have an opportunity to cycle down the California coast for 275 miles from Carmel to Anaheim, just prior to the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit convention and exposition in Anaheim.

As reported previously in The Produce News, the cycling event is a collaborative industry effort in which various produce companies, customers and suppliers are involved. “Conceptualized” by Jewell and Anthony Gallino, California Giant Berry Farms vice president of sales, the not-for-profit event “will not only unite companies, brands and people within the fresh produce industry” but is expected to raise a total of $84,750 to finance 30 salad bars.

“Together, we are producing a Tour de Fresh training guide that will feature healthy recipes to complement workouts or fitness training,” Jewell said. “A lot of the material is coming from bloggers.”

With retail customers, California Giant is putting a lot of focus this year on cold chain management, Jewell said. That is “one of the most critical aspects of quality and getting the fruit to the consumer in the best possible way, but … it doesn’t seem like it is top of mind” with many retailers. “Training at retail” at store level “seems to not be as much of a focus as it used to be.”

In its California strawberry program this year, California Giant has an acreage increase of between 10 and 15 percent in the Santa Maria and Watsonville districts combined. Also, “we have a pretty good increase in organics” this year, and the company has some acreage in Santa Maria that is being transitioned into organic production.

In the Oxnard district, the company’s acreage is steady.

She was hopeful that all three districts would be going strong for the Mother’s Day pull.

A lot of volume would be coming off well before Easter, she said, so “we will be focusing on really trying to work with our retail partners to build momentum long before Easter” and having displays “already in place” before the holidays arrive.

In packaging, “we are looking at doing a lot more larger packs,” and particularly two-pound clamshells, “than we have done before,” Jewell said. “A lot more of our mainstream retail customers are offering two-pounders” to consumers.

Ten years ago, California Giant began to expand its berry program from strawberries into “a full line of berries because of retail demand,” Jewell said. “They are promoting the whole category together.”