Church Brothers/True Leaf Farms adds to Disney line of products
Church Brothers/True Leaf Farms adds to Disney line of products
Salinas, CA-based Church Bros. LLC and True Leaf Farms -- Church's processing arm -- continue to roll out products in the "Disney Garden" line, which presents a variety of commodity vegetables and value-added items designed to reach younger consumers.
The "Disney Garden" line features Disney characters. But as sales manager-partner Steve Church and Ernst van Eeghen, director of product development and marketing for Church Bros./True Leaf Farms pointed out, the line involves much more than simply using Disney's name and characters.
"The mission is to increase consumption among kids," Mr. van Eeghen said. "This is not just another character on a package."
Mr. Church said that the Disney program promotes consumption of fruits and vegetables among children and that it's an "integrated program new to the market."
Over the past two months customers have been receiving "Disney Garden" line commodity items such as lettuce, celery, celery hearts, red leaf lettuce, Romaine and Iceberg lettuce. Introduction of the value-added items in the line will be spread out over November and December with Quick Snacks tray and dips, Foodles (three Mickey Mouse-shaped trays with vegetables and dips) and lunch box items (clamshells with five 1.5-ounce bags and two-ounce bags) and a line of family vegetables such as mini broccoli, mini broccoli florets, spinach, sugar snap peas and spring mix in various size bags.
Also rolling out in the "Disney Garden" value-added line is organic spring mix, spinach and Romaine heads. Church Bros. offers a range of in-store point-of-sale promotional materials. The backs of packages in the "Disney Garden" line feature recipes and a listing to Imagination Farms kid-oriented web site (www.i-farms.com). Imagination Farms owns the license to carry the "Disney Garden" line and Church Bros. is the co-packer for the line on the vegetable side.
Church Bros.' web site includes weather, prices, products and affiliated companies.
Church Bros. began its short harvest in Huron, CA, the week of Oct. 29. In mid-November the company will harvest Iceberg lettuce and leaf lettuces in Yuma, AZ. The company also grows commodities just south of Yuma in Mexico. Church Bros.' overall winter volume is about the same as last year but more of that volume will come from Mexico this year. The company also harvests broccoli year-round in Santa Maria, CA.
"Our commodities are steady for this year," Mr. Church said. "Value-added [volume] probably doubled for this year."
Back in April, Church Bros. and True Leaf Farms acquired Pride of San Juan's processing facility in San Juan Bautista, CA. Church Bros. has since acquired PSJ's processing facility in Yuma. Church Bros.' commodity and processing operations had been previously located in various areas throughout the Salinas Valley.
"Where we were before we couldn't grow," Mr. Church said. "We [now] have room to grow more."
The "Disney Garden" line features Disney characters. But as sales manager-partner Steve Church and Ernst van Eeghen, director of product development and marketing for Church Bros./True Leaf Farms pointed out, the line involves much more than simply using Disney's name and characters.
"The mission is to increase consumption among kids," Mr. van Eeghen said. "This is not just another character on a package."
Mr. Church said that the Disney program promotes consumption of fruits and vegetables among children and that it's an "integrated program new to the market."
Over the past two months customers have been receiving "Disney Garden" line commodity items such as lettuce, celery, celery hearts, red leaf lettuce, Romaine and Iceberg lettuce. Introduction of the value-added items in the line will be spread out over November and December with Quick Snacks tray and dips, Foodles (three Mickey Mouse-shaped trays with vegetables and dips) and lunch box items (clamshells with five 1.5-ounce bags and two-ounce bags) and a line of family vegetables such as mini broccoli, mini broccoli florets, spinach, sugar snap peas and spring mix in various size bags.
Also rolling out in the "Disney Garden" value-added line is organic spring mix, spinach and Romaine heads. Church Bros. offers a range of in-store point-of-sale promotional materials. The backs of packages in the "Disney Garden" line feature recipes and a listing to Imagination Farms kid-oriented web site (www.i-farms.com). Imagination Farms owns the license to carry the "Disney Garden" line and Church Bros. is the co-packer for the line on the vegetable side.
Church Bros.' web site includes weather, prices, products and affiliated companies.
Church Bros. began its short harvest in Huron, CA, the week of Oct. 29. In mid-November the company will harvest Iceberg lettuce and leaf lettuces in Yuma, AZ. The company also grows commodities just south of Yuma in Mexico. Church Bros.' overall winter volume is about the same as last year but more of that volume will come from Mexico this year. The company also harvests broccoli year-round in Santa Maria, CA.
"Our commodities are steady for this year," Mr. Church said. "Value-added [volume] probably doubled for this year."
Back in April, Church Bros. and True Leaf Farms acquired Pride of San Juan's processing facility in San Juan Bautista, CA. Church Bros. has since acquired PSJ's processing facility in Yuma. Church Bros.' commodity and processing operations had been previously located in various areas throughout the Salinas Valley.
"Where we were before we couldn't grow," Mr. Church said. "We [now] have room to grow more."
