Just like Taylor Farms, Whole Foods is committed to delivering high quality food to customers, and to finding creative new ways to meet customers’ needs. The latest example is the debut of a new grocery store venture, 365 by Whole Foods Market, designed to bring consumers the high quality Whole Foods is known for with greater value for shoppers.
To meet 365’s need for fresh, high-quality produce, Taylor Farms’ most popular products will be offered at the new stores. Our tasty premium Chopped Salad Kits, Organic Vegetables and Juicing Kale will be featured on the shelves in the new store.
On May 25, Taylor Farms Retail Manager Shannon Renz and Sales Representative Courteney Nelson joined Whole Foods in the trendy Silver Lake section of Los Angeles to launch the new store concept.
“When you enter the 365 store you instantly get the feeling of wanting to eat better. There are so many fresh options right as you walk in, it is definitely the focal point of their store,” said Courteney.
Courteney Nelson with Taylor Farms
Texas-based Whole Foods plans to open two stores in Oregon and Washington this year, plus at least 10 more next year. The company described the 365 concept as “quality meets value in an environment that’s fun and convenient.”
This month we are featuring a series of delicious recipe videos that will give you ideas on what to pair with our Stir Fry Kits. To kick it off, we’re highlighting our Taylor Farms Orange Stir Fry Kit paired with Pork Pineapple Skewers.
Watch for the full recipe:
For the month of October, we’ll be publishing one recipe per week, so be sure to come back next week for another tasty pairing!
The 2016 honoree was Cathy Alameda of Hollister, who operates Top Flavor and Sabor Farms with her husband, Tony. She was cited for her humility and dedication to helping the community. Cathy’s efforts include spearheading the Ag in the Classroom program and working to provide fresh produce to families of school children in San Benito County, along with work with the San Juan 4H Club and the San Benito County Fair. A breast cancer survivor, Cathy raised $45,000 for the American Cancer Society.
For 23 years, this prestigious award has honored a significant contribution to local agriculture, leadership in the community and advocacy for agriculture by women working within the agricultural industry in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties.
Through the Ag Against Hunger Harvest Program, more than 50 local growers and shippers – including Taylor Farms – contact the organization when there is a surplus of produce. Trucks pick up surplus produce and bring it back to a cooler for a short storage period. The food then is distributed to food bank partners.
A volunteer program hosted by Ag Against Hunger benefits from the help of over 1,000 generous individuals who believe in the organization’s mission. Their most popular volunteer activity is gleaning. After a harvest, some produce that is still healthy and edible is left behind. Local growers allow the volunteers to enter their fields to harvest this remaining produce, which is sent to a cooler and then distributed to food banks and food assistance programs.
The Salinas-based group’s members have collected about 242 million pounds of food in its 25-year history.
Taylor Farms Luncheon Attendees
Taylor Farms congratulates Cathy Alameda and Ag Against Hunger for making a real difference in our communities.
With the inviting theme “Innovate the Plate,” the annual Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Foodservice Conference and Expo — the only such event focused on fresh produce in foodservice — drew nearly 2,000 participants to the Hyatt Regency Monterey, July 29-31.
Taylor Farms played a large role in the event as a platinum sponsor, displaying a variety of products at our booth and providing processing facility and field tours. We also hosted a dinner and fielded a team to run a 5K race raising funds for the PMA Career Pathways Program that encourages college students to seek careers in the fresh produce and floral industries.
Romaine Field Tour
The Annual PMA conference participants had a range of networking opportunities and learned from top chefs and industry experts. Bravo’s “Top Chef All-Stars” winner Chef Richard Blais discussed the country’s top menu trends and New York Times bestselling author and marketing expert Jonah Berger presented strategies to grow sales by building better relationships with customers.
Throughout the conference, Taylor Farms offered plant and field tours of the Salinas Foodservice processing facility to explain how product gets from the field, to the bag, to the consumer. During the tour, we showcased some new items and sampled lemon cauliflower cupcakes and chocolate cauliflower cupcakes made from our Cauliflower Creations.
At the expo we debuted a new booth displaying our full line of products, from specialty salad blends to cut vegetables and showcased our new products- Mire Poix kit with diced onion, diced carrots and diced celery; Superfoods Blend; and we also introduced shredded beets in two new salads- Spinach with Shredded Beets and Carrots and Romaine Blend with shredded beets and carrots.
Foodservice booth display
The company also hosted its first-ever onsite dinner at corporate headquarters for more than 240 customers, vendors and industry friends.
Bruce Taylor Welcoming Dinner Guests
PMA Foodservice Dinner Party at Taylor Farms Corporate Headquarters in Salinas, California
Pictured: Tonya Giotta, Lisa Hearne, Scott Horton, Tanya Mason, Mike George
The 5K PMA Race for Talent on June 30 was another important part of the event. Each year runners, sponsors and sideline supporters make this event a huge success. Proceeds provide crucial support for the development and execution of PMA’s Career Pathways, a webinar series, and leadership development programs designed to attract the best and brightest students to consider a career in the fresh produce and floral industry.
Taylor Farms Runners at the 5K PMA Race for Talent
Taylor Farms was pleased to be an active partner in this important industry event.
Yesterday, we teamed up with “Labor of Love,” a program that gives thanks to the farming community, to surprise nearly 30 members of our automated celery harvester and automated cabbage harvester crews in Yuma, AZ with breakfast, coffee, gift bags filled with $25 Wal-Mart gift cards, new gloves, and handwritten Thank You notes.
Celery Harvester Crew
When asked about the day’s surprise, Juan Luis Ramos, automated cabbage operator, Taylor Farms, said, “We are motivated to do better work. I like working at Taylor Farms because it is a good team. Everyone is united and very caring.”
Taylor Farms team members in front of an automated cabbage harvester: Chris Rotticci, Juan Luis Ramos, and Christina Barnard
“At Taylor Farms we don’t have employees, we have family members,” said Christina Barnard, director of marketing at Taylor Farms. “And we pride ourselves on taking care of one another. With a family culture being our foundation, it is essential that we show appreciation and support to team members across the company.”
Celery Harvester Members
Celery Harvester Members
It is because of our team members’ dedication that we are able to deliver the best quality fresh food products everyday, and partnering with Labor of Love is a terrific way recognize all of their hard work. Watch the below video highlighting the day’s events:
