RIO RICO, AZ — A slow roll out toward consumer packaging and labeling is under way by SunFed Produce, LLC. The process began in October with new packages and brands displayed at the PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim.

Central to the efforts are the creative talents of Brett Burdsal, who was hired in August as SunFed’s director of marketing.

SunFed’s new branding art style is a take-off on 1930s and 1940s line art, and the1950s comic book pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, Burdsal said. The style involves bright colors and tongue-in-cheek humor. For example, one of Burdsal’s promotion pieces portrays a glamorous couple, with the woman thinking: “I do love him but must we always talk about SunFed Perfect Melons?” Burdsal, who started his career in the restaurant business, said his ability is “more production art. It’s more like Warhol. Not like Monet or Picasso.”

Burdsal credited SunFed “with providing phenomenal support” for the new effort.

Matt Mandel, who heads SunFed sales and marketing, said, “We are going with art, not graphics. At PMA people walked by and took pictures” of SunFed displays. “It is eye-catching and left them wanting more.”

One of the first new packages available is for a two-count eggplant in a pouch bag. Another promotes Roma tomatoes. In both cases the fun art humanizes the vegetables in a whimsical manner.

Mandel added that SunFed’s role models for the new consumer branding efforts are sophisticated firms like Mastronardi Produce Ltd., based in Kingsville, ON, and Windset Farms in Delta, BC.

SunFed has historically been “production-focused. We are confident on the products we sell. But in the last two or three years we have had more of a focus on being a marketing company. We are trying to reach a larger audience,” he said. The promotion is to have consumers buy the identifiable brand, enjoy it and come back to buy more. “This is a huge leap, but it’s literally only the first step. We are on a growth path.”

Mandel said, “No one goes to the store with green peppers, cukes and carrots on their list, unless they have a recipe. We are focusing on impulse buying, where a pouch bag” grabs the shoppers’ attention. Furthermore, a pouch bag for vegetables shows the consumer that the product hasn’t been touched by human hands in the distribution process.

The bags also benefit retailers by assuring that organic products are sold at the right price. “I’ll bet that half the organics are sold as conventional” by retail checkers who can’t differentiate. “We take care to help them sell more at the right price,” Mandel said.

One interesting piece of the new SunFed direction is a new shipping tray. Rather than continue to use white paper for the box, SunFed has gone to less-expensive craft paper. “It is more environmentally-friendly and we think we have a better looking box than before.”

Mandel said his firm has 52 grower-partners in Mexico. Providing new packaging materials to all of these partners is no small feat. And one of the reasons SunFed will be slowly making changes.

Mandel noted that SunFed works with these growers on all aspects of production, ranging from seed varieties to food safety practices. To protect the SunFed brand, “we need to control the quality of product and the eating experience and flavor to the end consumer. If we cannot control this through the entire process, there is a lot of room for error.”

SunFed and its growers are constantly testing vegetables and melons to develop the best-taste possible. “We have growers who can grow anything. We are not (figuratively) looking for ‘Red Delicious’ “ in SunFed’s product mix. “We are focusing on flavor.”

This entire process “is not cheap or easy but it is worth it. We continue to grow and people continue to ask for our products. We are doing something right.”