Conscious Foods, a Pairwise brand, Partners with Food Broker RSquared Fresh Solutions in Retail Channel
In anticipation of the retail launch of its unique Conscious™ Greens salad blends, Pairwise has announced a strategic partnership with national retail broker RSquared Fresh Solutions to bring the first CRISPR gene edited products in the US to retail across the Western United States. The first product from Conscious Greens, a field-grown, baby leaf blend of colorful, flavorful purple and green leaves, launched into the foodservice channel in May. The RSquared Fresh Solutions partnership signals continued momentum as the products enter retail in the coming months.
Pairwise’s partnership with RSquared Fresh Solutions, a division of Advantage Solutions, a Fortune 1000 sales, marketing and technology company, will play a crucial role in retail sales and store coverage. RSquared Fresh Solutions boasts a wide network of grocery retailers nationwide and is recognized as the fastest growing produce-focused retail brokerage in the country. With their combined expertise and reach, the partnership is well-positioned to bring Conscious Greens to shoppers seeking innovative nutrient-dense options in the salad aisle.
Conscious Greens are now available in 20 states through a leading food service broadline distributor. Following its foodservice launch, Pairwise is now looking to the retail channel with two new 5oz. baby green blends, Purple Power and Green Zing.
“We are excited to partner with such a market leader in the retail distribution industry,” said Neil Merritt, Vice President of Sales at Pairwise. “The partnership will greatly enhance our retail presence from Denver to the Pacific coast.”
RSquared Fresh Solutions will support Conscious Foods in retail with high quality, in-store coverage and category management support and its broad network creates opportunities for future expansion. Today, Conscious Greens are field-grown in California and Arizona with grower partners and are processed with a packer-shipper partner out of Santa Maria, CA for distribution coast-to-coast.
“There’s a lot of opportunity here,” Jeff Kyer, western US representative for RSquared Fresh Solutions, said. “We can’t be more excited to leverage our network to ensure that the innovative products coming from Conscious Foods reach customers.”
Conscious Greens come from the same family of highly nutritious vegetables as Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale but have been developed to deliver a unique, fresh flavor experience through the use of CRISPR technology, so that consumers never have to choose between healthy and delicious. The result is a blend of purposefully nutritious, deliberately delicious leafy greens with up to double the nutrition of romaine.
The two 5oz. baby greens blends provide versatile options for variety-seeking consumers, with Green Zing showcasing rich and complex buttery flavors, while Purple Power has an added pop of flavor and color that excites the senses. Pairwise is developing a complete portfolio of innovative fruits and vegetables for the North American market, with new varieties of greens, berries and cherries underway.
Pairwise is committed to transparency and the process used to develop Conscious Foods products. More information can be found about Conscious Greens here. The technical details of how the greens were gene edited are available in the open access journal, Plants.