Z&S and T&A deal extends 'Old El Paso' season
Z&S and T&A deal extends 'Old El Paso' season
FRESNO, CA -- Z&S Fresh Inc., here, which is licensed by General Mills to pack fresh produce under the "Old El Paso Fresh" label, will be extending its season for some product packed under the brand thanks to a co-packing partnership with Tanimura & Antle Inc. in Salinas, CA.
According to a press release from Z&S, "Tanimura & Antle has agreed to pack green and red bell peppers as well as sweet and red onions under the 'Old El Paso Fresh' label. The addition of Tanimura & Antle allows 'Old El Paso Fresh' to have a consistent year-round supply of superior products for each commodity, which will place 'Old El Paso Fresh' in a strong leadership position as a marketer of nationally branded Hispanic items."
"We have been working for the last several months on trying to shore up an agreement with a California producer," initially for bell peppers, Justin Bedwell, director of marketing for Z&S, told The Produce News March 10. The company had a strong program for bell peppers from Mexico from fall into spring, followed by a late spring deal from California's Coachella Valley, he said. But during the time that Northern California was strong in the bell pepper deal, "we as an 'Old El Paso' company were weak. So ... we started talking to T&A and looking at their product line."
T&A's prominence and reputation as a vegetable shipper are so well established that "people who are not familiar with T&A are probably not familiar with the produce industry," Mr. Bedwell suggested. The company is particularly well known as a shipper of lettuce and leaf items as well as products such as celery, cauliflower and broccoli. Bell peppers and onions may not come as quickly to mind when the name T&A is mentioned. But there are other items that T&A is "probably not historically as well known for" but with which it does "just as great a job," he said. Among those are bell peppers, red onions and sweet onions, which are "perfect for us."
Therefore, Z&S selected T&A to be "our Northern California partner" on those items "to give us a quality product year round."
Z&S has been sourcing product from T&A in its brokerage operations for several years and so was already well acquainted with the company and its quality, Mr. Bedwell said.
"We've got other co-packers for other items, but I think working with a company of the magnitude of T&A is really a shot in the arm for us, and we are looking forward to it," he said.
T&A will begin packing and shipping its first products in the "Old El Paso Fresh" label around late May or early June and continue through November, he said.
Bell peppers will be packed in standard 15-pound and 25-pound cartons. The onions will initially be packed in 40-pound cartons. "Once we get going with the onions ... we will be transitioning into our two- and three-pound high-graphic [consumer] bags, which have been very successful for us," Mr. Bedwell said.
According to a press release from Z&S, "Tanimura & Antle has agreed to pack green and red bell peppers as well as sweet and red onions under the 'Old El Paso Fresh' label. The addition of Tanimura & Antle allows 'Old El Paso Fresh' to have a consistent year-round supply of superior products for each commodity, which will place 'Old El Paso Fresh' in a strong leadership position as a marketer of nationally branded Hispanic items."
"We have been working for the last several months on trying to shore up an agreement with a California producer," initially for bell peppers, Justin Bedwell, director of marketing for Z&S, told The Produce News March 10. The company had a strong program for bell peppers from Mexico from fall into spring, followed by a late spring deal from California's Coachella Valley, he said. But during the time that Northern California was strong in the bell pepper deal, "we as an 'Old El Paso' company were weak. So ... we started talking to T&A and looking at their product line."
T&A's prominence and reputation as a vegetable shipper are so well established that "people who are not familiar with T&A are probably not familiar with the produce industry," Mr. Bedwell suggested. The company is particularly well known as a shipper of lettuce and leaf items as well as products such as celery, cauliflower and broccoli. Bell peppers and onions may not come as quickly to mind when the name T&A is mentioned. But there are other items that T&A is "probably not historically as well known for" but with which it does "just as great a job," he said. Among those are bell peppers, red onions and sweet onions, which are "perfect for us."
Therefore, Z&S selected T&A to be "our Northern California partner" on those items "to give us a quality product year round."
Z&S has been sourcing product from T&A in its brokerage operations for several years and so was already well acquainted with the company and its quality, Mr. Bedwell said.
"We've got other co-packers for other items, but I think working with a company of the magnitude of T&A is really a shot in the arm for us, and we are looking forward to it," he said.
T&A will begin packing and shipping its first products in the "Old El Paso Fresh" label around late May or early June and continue through November, he said.
Bell peppers will be packed in standard 15-pound and 25-pound cartons. The onions will initially be packed in 40-pound cartons. "Once we get going with the onions ... we will be transitioning into our two- and three-pound high-graphic [consumer] bags, which have been very successful for us," Mr. Bedwell said.
