Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1202142
22 POTATO GROWER | FEBRUARY 2020 If you were to guide your browser to the website of Fresh Solutions Network and navigate to the page that shows where the company's partner growers are located, you might be tempted to say they're scattered across the country. You would be wrong. "It's interesting that you use the word 'scattered'," says Kathleen Triou, Fresh Solutions Network President and CEO, before offering up a correction. "From the beginning, we viewed our partner farms as being very strategically placed geographically." Reviewing the organization's history, it's tough to argue with her. From its inception in 2008, Fresh Solutions Network hasn't made a move without a long-term strategy in mind. Fresh Solutions is the brainchild of three forward-thinking potato growers— Sterman Masser Farms of Sacramento, PA.; Michael Family Farms of Urbana, OH; and Basin Gold Cooperative of Pasco, WA—who saw the direction the retail potato market was headed and had no intention of being left behind. With the unabated rise in demand for food safety, traceability and transparency, only the strongest brands survive. But partnering with a big-name brand often forces individual farms into the background. Not wanting to miss the train or to abandon their respective roots, the three farms formed a partnership and began scouting for additional like-minded partners. The vision was to create a brand that customers could trust (Side Delights®), to provide a 52-weeks-a-year supply line for our customers, all while enhancing each multi-generational farming family's individual business. "Our farmers said, 'We have so much pride in our farms and their legacy,'" says Triou. "'We can do what retailers want us to do, and we can do it in a way that will give us a chance to keep our grandkids in the business.'" Today, Fresh Solutions Network is made up of eight diverse potato farms stretching from Washington state in the West, to Prince Edward Island in the East, and south to Florida. We grow a total fresh potato category assortment; russets, reds, yellows, whites, specialties, organics, and a full assortment of value-added convenience items. Their Side Delights Master Fresh Solutions Network® growers tell their stories to consumers "Today's technology affords us the opportunity to melt away the miles."