Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle Has its Sights Set on Millennials and Gen Z with Salad Kit Packaging Refresh
August 13, 2025 | 4 min to read
Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle has launched a packaging refresh for its DOLE® Salad Kit line to attract Millennial and Gen Z shoppers, incorporating vibrant colors and clear ingredient information. The new design, aimed at making shopping easier and enhancing visual appeal, debuts on August 18 with a money-saving offer via Instacart, allowing customers to save $1 on every $8 spent. This initiative supports Dole’s goal to improve nutritional health through fresh salad consumption.
To introduce the refresh to salad lovers, Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle is teaming with Instacart to offer savings on DOLE® Salads starting August 18
MONTEREY, Calif. – As part of its continued leadership of the packaged salad space in both product quality and merchandising innovation, Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle, manufacturer of DOLE®-branded packaged salads, has completed a bold new packaging refresh of its DOLE® Salad Kit line to make it easier for salad lovers to choose, shop and enjoy their favorite all-inclusive salad experiences.
While intended to appeal to all salad kit users, which remain the fastest-growing segment of packaged salads, the refresh, incorporating compelling new colors, photography, ingredient iconography and callouts, represents an intentional nod to the growing number of Millennial and Gen Z shoppers buying packaged salads for the first time.
The research-backed new look is being unveiled this month on the company’s 31 Chopped, Premium and Classic salad kits at supermarkets throughout North America
To introduce the refresh to salad lovers, Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle has launched a money-saving offer good on any DOLE® Salad on its Instacart page, starting Aug. 18.
According to David Austin, Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle’s VP of Marketing & Innovation, the Instacart offer will help customers visualize the extent of the redesign, which represents the first time in years that the packaging has been reimagined on such popular, industry-defining kits as Sunflower Crunch, Endless Summer, Sesame Asian and its five Caesar flavor varieties.
“The new packaging is meant to better communicate specific brand and product benefits to make it easier for occasional and frequent salad users to choose DOLE® Brand while reinforcing our identify as the premier provider of fresh foods,” said Austin. “Because they tend to shop differently, Millennials and Gen Z are often motivated more by visuals, transparency and specific flavor, nutrient and ingredient claims than other consumers.”
“Ultimately, we want more people to experience the flavors, freshness and convenience of a DOLE® Salad as part of our larger goal to increase Americans’ nutritional health through a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Austin said that one of the goals of the redesign was to accelerate the growth of DOLE® Branded packaged salads among Millennial and Gen Z consumers, which account for 42% of the U.S. population combined, and represent much of the growth of the segment. The company conducted extensive qualitative and quantitative research with Millennial, Gen Z and older packaged salad users to measure packaging appeal, believability, clarity and impact on purchase intent.
Dole Fresh Vegetables introduced its first packaged salad in 1993. The company, now represented through Bud Antle, was instrumental in the launch and growth of new salad varieties, such as its DOLE® Chopped Salad Kits line, and the overall salad segment.
Dole Instacart Offer
Under the company’s Instacart promotion, for every $8 that Instacart shoppers spend on participating DOLE® Salads they will save $1. The offer is available starting Aug. 18 on any DOLE® Salad Blend or Kit on the DOLE® Salads Instacart page, while supplies last.
For full promotion details, go to https://www.instacart.com/store/brands/dolefresh-vegetables/salads.
About Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle
Dole Fresh Vegetables/Bud Antle is one of the largest fresh and cut vegetable producers and distributors in North America. The Monterey, Calif.-based company markets a wide range of value-added salads and farm-packed vegetables throughout the U.S. and Canada under the DOLE® Brand, through three geographically diverse, state-of-the-art U.S. salad processing plants able to supply its broad retail and foodservice customer base.
In the U.S., DOLE® brand was ranked as the most-trusted brand in Salad Kits in the 2025 BrandSpark Most-Trusted Brand Awards Presented by Newsweek. The rankings were determined by 29,000 American shoppers who shared their insights on which brands they trust most and why.