SANTA MARIA, Calif. – With National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month in full swing, Eat Smart is giving veggie lovers another reason to celebrate with the launch of its new Eat Smart Vineyard Collection. Available on shelves across North America, the Eat Smart Vineyard Collection is a new and differentiated line of salad kits that thoughtfully pairs O Olive Oil & Vinegar dressings from California wine country with refreshing greens and delicious toppings for an extraordinary tasting salad.
According to Innova Market Insights, artisanal food and drink launches have seen annual growth of 28% over the past five years. Vinaigrette-based salad kits are also seeing strong annual growth of 15% in the US and 30% in Canada, with a gain in household penetration 10 times faster than non-vinaigrette salad kits, according to Nielsen. As people are looking for better, more authentic dressings and ingredients in salad kits, Eat Smart and OOlive Oil & Vinegar are coming together to meet this need.
“Eat Smart knows the world of vegetables and how to deliver fresh vegetable products to consumers across North America in smarter ways. O Olive Oil & Vinegar products offer a simple and surprising ingredient that make everyday food taste extraordinary, and give home chefs a fun and easy way to elevate their meals into a culinary experience,” said Ilya Sokolov, vice president of marketing for Curation Foods. “Eat Smart Vineyard Collection salads combine these artisan vinegar dressings from California wine country with refreshing greens and delicious toppings sure to delight those looking for more than just a salad.”
The Collection launches with two varieties:
California Champagne Caesar: A light and flavorful spin on the traditional classic, features a vinaigrette dressing made with handcrafted ingredients from O Olive Oil & Vinegar – Citrus Champagne Vinegar and California Olive Oil – blended with garlic, anchovy and lemon. This delightful dressing complements crisp romaine, shredded Parmesan, and multigrain croutons for a truly unique Caesar salad.
California Basil Balsamic: This light, Mediterranean-inspired salad features a tangy vinaigrette dressing – made with award-winning oak-aged California Fig Balsamic Vinegar and California Olive Oil from O, blended with basil leaves, garlic, black pepper, and honey – paired with feta cheese, flatbread strips, crisp romaine, shredded carrots, and radicchio for a perfectly balanced salad.
Learn more about these products at www.eatsmart.net
Making Salad Better, Together: O and Eat Smart
Curation Foods acquired the O brand in March 2017, with the vision of adding another plant-based, 100% clean ingredient brand to the Curation Foods portfolio and vertically integrating with Eat Smart salad products to craft a differentiated salad dressing offering. O‘s time-honored technique yields an incomparable selection of hand-crafted olive oils and vinegars made with simple, real ingredients in a fresh California style. The portfolio today includes a unique lineup of artisan vinegars made from grapes sourced in California Wine Country. The family of O vinegars consistently performs as top-selling vinegars in the premium wine vinegar category.
Curation Foods premiered the Eat Smart Vineyard Collection at Expo West 2019. The lineup received a positive reception from many customers across North America whose shoppers are loyal to the Eat Smart brand. Both salads are currently on shelf at Publix in the U.S. and Loblaws in Canada and available for shipments across North America. The launch is supported by marketing efforts integrated into key customers’ in-store and digital programs.
Since the launch of its first salad kit in 2012, Eat Smart has been one of the fastest growing brands in the packaged salad kit section. Eat Smart flagship product the Sweet Kale Salad Kit is the bestselling product in the entire salad kit segment in the U.S. and Canada. The innovative single-serve Eat Smart Salad Shake Ups line introduced in 2016 has been the fastest growing single-serve platform three years in a row, contributing more than 75% to the entire segment growth in the U.S. last year. Recently, Eat Smart became the first non-organic salad brand to commit to and achieve 100% clean ingredients throughout its entire portfolio.
Curation Foods was able to maximize the partnership between these two brands – Eat Smart and O – by facilitating the in-house development of 100% clean vinaigrettes made exclusively for the Vineyard Collection. As the market leader in vegetable-based kits, Eat Smart is also expanding into other healthy commodities, starting with romaine – used in the Vineyard Collection salads. This is the first step for Curation Foods in building a full lineup of lettuce-based salads.
“We are fully committed to the highest quality standards. Thoughtfully selected varieties of romaine are meticulously harvested and immediately cooled and produced to maintain freshness and the delicious taste of our romaine,” said Brian Zomorodi, VP Quality Assurance, Curation Foods.
About Curation Foods: Curation Foods is focused on innovating delicious, plant-based foods with 100% clean ingredients and increasing access of plant-based foods to as many people as possible. Curation Foods is able to maximize product freshness through its geographically dispersed family of growers, refrigerated supply chain and patented BreatheWay® packaging technology to ensure products reach consumers throughout North America in the freshest possible state. Curation Foods natural foods brands include Eat Smart® fresh packaged vegetables and salads, O Olive Oils & Vinegars®, Now Planting® pure-plant meal solutions, and Yucatan® and Cabo Fresh® avocado products. For more information about Curation Foods visit www.curationfoods.com.
