Bushmans’ ‘Boxcar Joe’ is leaving the station
Bushmans’ ‘Boxcar Joe’ is leaving the station
With the new year, Bushmans’ Inc. is rolling with its new potato brand — “Boxcar Joe” — according to Mike Carter, president and chief executive officer of the firm, which is based in Rosholt, WI. Carter said the brand’s initial distribution will be regional and will slowly move to national sales.
As the firm prepared to launch the brand last fall, The Produce News reported that the “Boxcar Joe” label will be used with the firm’s specialty, high-end potato line, “Spudalicious.”
The Spudalicious bags “look more elegant” and provide consumers with “special occasion, gourmet potatoes," Carter said.
The colorful brand name has a direct link to Bushmans’ history, which goes back 105 years. Founder Joseph Bushman, the great-grandfather of modern day Bushmans’ owner Mitchell Bushman, would ride with a coffee thermos in a boxcar loaded with Wisconsin potatoes to sell his spuds on the Chicago market. When sales were completed, Joseph Bushman would hitchhike home to central Wisconsin. Thus, he developed the nickname of Boxcar Joe.
In this day of consumer appreciation of hardworking farmers, Carter noted it’s the perfect time to roll out the new potato brand.
In other news, Carter said Bushmans’ purchase last year of Midwestern Farms Inc., in Plainfield, WI, has worked out very well. Midwestern Farms is farther south — almost four hours closer to the market — than Bushmans’ smaller and now-closed satellite potato facility to the north in Rice Lake, WI.
Improved logistics, packing facilities and larger volumes proved to be very advantageous this season, Carter said.