Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/14183
“The product is so close to fresh that you really have to be particular to be able to make a discernment between the two,” he says. INDUSTRY LUNCHEON Generally speaking, at the Industry Luncheon, Peterson will be pointing out that the one- size-fits-all approach to dealing with retailers and foodservice distributors is really not a good idea. “You really have to do a much better job of understanding what the marketplace looks like with respect to what these companies are trying to accomplish. Because “It’s just outstanding from a performance standpoint,” he says. “From a consumer standpoint, it makes it real easy—leave it in the freezer, and you don’t have to go through peeling. When you’re ready to have mashed potatoes, you can have them, and they taste good.” He points out that this challenge the fresh sector faces is not unique to the potato industry—Bird’s Eye Steamfresh is a similar product for others kinds of vegetables. they’re all trying to differentiate from one another, their go-to-market strategies tend to be different.” As an example, Wal-Mart is a competitor of everybody, so everyone is trying to figure out how to deal with them. “It’s really important to understand who your receiver is—from the perspective of a grower-shipper—who your customer is.” In addition to understanding a customer, it’s also important to understand the consumer, such as why they’re moving toward frozen mashed. One of Peterson’s favorite sayings, which he emphasizes to grower-shipper commodity groups, is the expression, “Hope is not a strategy.” “I think for a number of years now, many people in the potato industry have ‘hoped’ that things are going to get better, or hope that things are going to change or hope that a retailer is going to do X-Y-Z, when in fact, that’s not going to happen. They have to develop plans not necessarily for today, but, ‘What is this retail world going to look like three, four, five years from now, and how do I arrange my business to be able to put myself in the best position to deal with that?’” Because of his many years on the retail end of the business, being the CEO of a grower-shipper company and as a former Walmart ag representative in Washington, Peterson understands the politics behind agriculture. “What I tell people, as I’ve gone through my career, I don’t know that I’ve gotten any smarter, and I don’t even know that I’ve gotten any wiser, but I guarantee you I’ve got perspective.” PG 18 IGSA 2010 IGSA “Idaho Potatoes...Safe and Sustainable Food for Today and Tomorrow”