Category Catalysts: Dips - ¡Yo Quiero!

For years, Fresh Innovations has taken familiar dips and renewed consumer excitement and interest with smoky and bold flavor profiles, striking that delicate balance of incorporating unique ingredients to pique consumers’ interest while keeping the dip familiar and the medley of ingredients complementary and delicious. Since the Fresh Innovations team launched ¡Yo Quiero!, they haven’t stopped contributing to the growth of the broader refrigerated dips market with the team’s deep industry knowledge and ongoing commitment to innovation in the dips category, turning it into a destination in store. 

“Our team has been together since we started in the packaged guacamole category way back when,” said Tara Murray, VP of Marketing for Fresh Innovations. “When ¡Yo Quiero! started, it was with the same group of individuals who helped establish the guacamole category which has now led into a big massive refrigerated dips category.” 

With the launch of the ¡Yo Quiero! brand, the goal was to become more than just a guacamole brand. Company leaders created the “ultimate dip destination” for retailers and consumers by offering a diverse range of dips, including the “trinity of dips”—salsa, queso and guacamole and later putting their one-of-a-kind twist on elote and expanding on flavor profiles to offer smokey and candied jalapeno offerings. 

“We wanted to provide retailers and consumers with what we call the ultimate dip destination,” Murray said. “We wanted to provide guacamole, salsa and queso—the trinity of dips. We wanted to disrupt that by asking what are consumers after, and what do they want?”

At this year’s Global Produce and Floral Show, the team proudly introduced a jalapeno ranch dip and candied jalapenos. 

“We’re looking to disrupt the market, looking at what consumers are really looking for in their dips besides nutrients and proteins,” Murray said. “We want to provide retailers with an exciting dip shelf. What are different things they can add to their shelf to drive consumers to their shelf for that excitement for them to become a dip hero.”

“We call it familiar with a twist,” Murray continued. “For example, we launched a hatch chile guacamole. During hatch chile season you’ll see that at specialty retailers, but we wanted to take that and go year-round with it because it has such a good, rich flavor. And it’s just really delicious. We look at those trends and at those ingredients we have at our disposal and ask how can we look at what’s trending, and how can we take what we have and make that a delicious, craveable dip? It’s familiar with a twist. Consumers know that it’s just different enough to spike their interest and say, ‘Hey this is different. This isn’t something you see every day. What is this? I want to try it.’”