A California grower‐processor was recently named winner of US Foods' Fresh Innovation Vendor of the Year award for two of its new products.

Gold Coast marketing vice president Brent Scattini (center left) and business development manager Terry Kuhel (center right)

US Foods, one of the country's leading foodservice distributors, presented the award to Santa Maria-based Gold Coast Packing representatives in recognition of its Riced Cauliflower and Cut & Washed Broccoli Leaves.

The two products were developed for the distributor as part of its SCOOP seasonal promotions, whereby unique and innovative items are featured and sent out to restaurant chains nationwide.

Speaking to www.freshfruitportal.com, Gold Coast sales and marketing vice president Brent Scattini said the company had been increasing its focus on innovation.

"We’ve dedicated quite a bit more resources to it over the last couple of years, so we’ve put together what we call our Product Development and Innovation team," he said.

"They work to develop new products in new formats for Gold Coast and also to do customized product lines for different customers or end users, so they’ll work with corporate chefs and even the culinary group at US Foods to develop new products especially for those organizations."

Scattini said Rice Cauliflower was marketed under the Caulifornia Snow brand, and is now being sold on the open market. He also described the broccoli leaves and having a similar taste to kale.

"A great focus for U.S. Foods is the fact that we’re basically eliminating waste in the field," he said.

"So we’re taking a product that wasn’t normally consumed, and turning it into something that the consumer may enjoy, so it can be served raw or cooked in a multitude of different formats."

US Foods vice president of produce Christian Harris said that company was pleased to recognize Gold Coast with the award.

"It is great to have a vendor that really understands how they can help us to be First in Food by working with us to develop high quality, innovative items that help make SCOOP successful for us and our customers," he said in a release.

While a significant portion of Gold Coast's business has been has been geared toward the foodservice sector, Scattini said the company now had a range of products that were well suited to retail.

"We are putting additional resources into the retail part of the business because some of the products that we’ve introduced and developed lend themselves very well to the retail sector," he said.

www.freshfruitportal.com