Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/9408
the frozen potato products remain in good shape and frozen by the time the consumer’s shopping trip concludes,” Weller says. “So a point-of-sale box with nutrition and cooking information as well as other frozen product benefits was created to carry the products so they would not become crushed or damaged during the trip.” “We don’t see potatoes used as a topping on pizza in the U.S., but Japan has seen success with pizza delivery places,” says USPB International Marketing Manager Susan Weller. Other countries use potatoes as pizza top- pings as well, such as this Korean chain. Courtesy photo. Filipinos don’t favor purchasing large bags of frozen product. Consumers in this market like picking their own amounts and making their own package of U.S. frozen potato products to try. At first, this importer only offered two bulk U.S. frozen potato products. Today, his stores offer six or more assorted frozen potato offerings. Customers pick what they want from the bulk assortments to take home and prepare there. “One issue we dealt with is ensuring STREET VENDING In Indonesia, street vendors traditionally sell products made from cassava, a starchy tuberous root cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. Today, 2,000 different food-vending push carts now offer U.S. frozen potato products. The vendors actually prepare servings of U.S. frozen potatoes for their customers in open-air street settings. Pans and woks are used in street-side vending stalls. Will all of the street vendors switch to U.S. potatoes? Probably not, but certainly, as vendors and consumers both become familiar with the taste and quality of these U.S. frozen products, the development of alternatives and possibilities will continue with this new market channel. LOCAL CUISINE A local cuisine initiative (LCI) in China introduces U.S. frozen potatoes in splendid new arrays and possibilities. It goes without saying, but 90 percent of Chinese restaurants are in fact traditional Chinese restaurants, and many of these are up-and- coming chains or franchise establishments. The USPB presents many LCI seminars to get these traditional Chinese chefs excited about using U.S. frozen potatoes—especially specialty products like waffle cuts, frozen mashed potatoes and potato skins. “They really like the U.S. frozen specialty cut products because they can’t create these from local fresh potatoes,” Weller says. “Chinese restaurants fry these in woks and incorporate them into their specialty dishes. The USPB holds regional chef contests to encourage Chinese menu development with U.S. frozen potatoes, then offers support through cooperative LCI promotions. We’ve had up to 12 different restaurants conducting promotions at the same time on their winning dishes from the contests. These items stay on Chinese restaurant menus if they continue to sell well.” Another frozen potato product performing well in Chinese LCI is the potato skin—dug-out potatoes with about a half-inch of flesh left on the skins. The chefs wok-fry these to make them crispy. Potato skins provide a unique shape, and serving these filled with favorite ingredients and flavors makes a nice presentation package. EXPLORATION The USPB explores new channels and works with importers to identify new uses for existing products, or the creation of new products to fill the channel’s need. Beyond frozen fries and QSRs, opportunities abound in pizza, bakery cafés, home-shopping networks, retail deli, street vending and local cuisine foodservice channels for U.S. frozen potatoes. In maturing shoestring fry markets, in order to tap new opportunities for products in a variety of channels, it will be important to drill deeper and wider into the markets. Potential channels include: local cuisine, Western dining, new menu applications, institutional foodservice, manufacturing, convenience as well as the retail sector. Once the best opportunities for frozen potato products are analyzed and discovered, key channel players in the markets must be supported via education, training and new product introdu ction support. PG 18 Potato Grower | MAY 2010