Walking the show floor this past week during United Fresh in Chicago, we caught on to one theme that really blew us away between produce companies and our FMI neighbors: partnerships. When produce companies strategically pair with complementary brands, particularly those with strong consumer brand awareness, it stands out – on the show floor and ultimately on the retail shelf. Many produce companies used this year’s show as an opportunity to unveil and showcase their perfect pairings, and with our combo with the FMI Showcase, we were able to scout out many more pairing potentials with the likes of powerhouse brands like Hershey and Budweiser. Here’s a recap of our favorite produce partnerships that payoff:
Sliced Apples and Comics
In order to appeal to a new demographic on the store shelf, Crunch Pak strategically teamed up with Marvel Comics to add super hero graphics to their packaging. Now with characters like Spiderman on their side, Crunch Pak is showing children between 9 and 15 that eating your fruits and veggies is the key to being strong and healthy like their favorite superheroes.
Potatoes and Seasonings
Black Gold Farms eliminates the guesswork out of side dishes with convenient McCormick seasoning packets tucked inside their 2lb red potato clamshells. With a partner like McCormick, busy home cooks can be confident that this no fuss solution will be a quick and delicious addition to their family’s meals.
RPCs and a Kid Chef
Kid Chef Eliana returned to the IFCO booth this year in Chicago to show off her cooking skills and talk about how she hopes to get more kids cooking and eating fresh fruits and vegetables. This pairing attracts a lot of attention to the IFCO booth and reaffirms their commitment to increasing the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, a winning goal for everyone on the show floor no matter what the product or service!
Tomatoes and Value-Added Labels
SUNSET® Produce products adorned with peelable Yerecic labels captured attention in the packaging category during the show! Pairings like these add value for consumers and raise awareness for both brands. The peelable labels on the Delano and Kumato tomatoes provide on-pack recipe inspiration for their 
customers without covering up any more of their gorgeous, bright-hued tomatoes.
Avocadoes and Soccer (or Futbol, depending on where you’re from!)
The Avocados from Mexico booth featured delicious tailgating treats and had a World Cup game on, uniting soccer (or football depending on where you’re from!) fans across the show floor. At the retail level, this partnership makes perfect sense and will provide consumers with 
ideas for their World Cup watch parties. Goooal!
Fresh Produce and Food Retail
The United Fresh Convention has a unique advantage in pairing with the FMI Connect show for a joint-event because it gives us the chance to elevate FRESH to our grocery peers and complementary brands. Walking through the FMI Showcase, it was clear that fresh produce is on trend. From the messaging, packaging and booth structures, to companies like Budweiser encouraging POP merchandising with watermelon and citrus, it was evident that the combination of the shows creates an interactive learning experience just waiting to be explored. Plus, produce marketers have the opportunity to experience successful CPG strategies through FMI. We’re encouraged that this isn’t the first, nor the last pairing of these two events!
Potential Payoff Pairings for Produce
With the United Fresh and FMI pairing planned for at least the next two years in Chicago, we recommend that produce marketers start thinking ahead about the opportunities to pair with a company on the FMI side to get a killer presence at the show. Here are some dream pairings we could see coming to life:
Hershey Spreads and Strawberries
The new Hershey Spreads are delicious. If you didn’t get a chance to try them in the booth, they served up small samples with strawberries as one of the main vehicles for tasting. Imagine if your logo was featured in the Hershey booth next to the samples – “Strawberries provided by…get more of a taste at booth #1234.”
Peanut Butter and Bananas or Celery
Along with the new “spreads” trends we saw along the FMI side of the floor, we also came across some delicious flavored Peanut Butter that really lives up to its name. PB Crave featured samples of their irresistible flavors like Coco Bananas and Cookie Nookie. Imagine if your celery sticks or sliced bananas joined together with PB Crave to create an enticing flavor sensation while sending each other’s’ traffic to your booths?
Michelob Ultra and Watermelon
Budweiser brilliantly took advantage of the pairing with United Fresh and featured stats in their booth about the top purchased items with Michelob Ultra – fresh produce! Cross-merchandise is suggested by the beer giant in their booth, so what if a watermelon company stepped up to the plate and offered up watermelon samples paired with Ultra? Budweiser already things this is a winning combo!
Texas Tamale Company and Avocados or Tomatoes
As Texans, our team is well-acquainted with tamales and can pinpoint superior tamale taste quite easily. That’s why we were so blown away when we sampled these delicious tamales – but weren’t surprised to see they’re from Texas! Image a fresh sliced avocado with this sample? Or freshly chopped pico de gallo? The pairing possibilities are making our mouths water…
These are just a few of the partnerships we saw paying off for companies on the show floor this past week, and the potential pairings are too numerous to name! We hope to return to Chicago next year only to be blown away by more power pairings on both sides of the aisle. Wondering if you can pair with a partner that pays off? Let’s discuss the possibilities!
