GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Convenience-store supplier S. Abraham & Sons, a subsidiary of Imperial Trading Co., is switching its Fruit Ridge Farms brand salads to locally grown lettuce from Revolution Farms, Michigan’s largest year-round lettuce farm.
Revolution Farms’ hydroponic greenhouse, based in Caledonia, Mich., will provide salad and lettuce blends that will go from farm to store in fewer than two days.
“Fresh and convenient are two words that we believe can and should go together, and Revolution Farms’ vision of farming means the same freshness you expect at home or in a five-star restaurant can be accessible on the go,” said John Green, Revolution Farms CEO. “Our partnership with S. Abraham & Sons brings together our mission to reach more people with fresher, healthier, more nutritious food, and raise awareness of how to eat local greens all year round.”
The salads will now be made from the Revolution Farms Michigan Spring Mix blend, which combines bibb, red oak and sweet crisp lettuce for an elevated everyday mix combining crunch, nutrition and flavor, the company said.
“As families travel more, their food should travel less,” said George Bennett, chief marketing officer at S. Abraham & Sons. “Partnering with Revolution Farms brings an incredible innovation to fresh foods on the go. Their lettuce is traveling 95% fewer miles to our kitchens, where it’s made into salads and travels to store shelves in as little as two days.
Working with Revolution Farms means S. Abraham & Sons’ customers get fresher, more nutritious and safer salads that are grown year-round, closer to home, Bennett added. “We are thrilled to make this switch and provide more ready-made options at thousands of convenience stores across our marketing area,” he said.
Revolution Farms’ 3-acre indoor farm has the capacity to produce more than 1.5 million pounds of fresh lettuce and salad greens for the Midwest each year, the company said. The farm just added two additional acres, which are part of a fully automated system, taking the non-GMO lettuce from seed to package without ever touching human hands. Its lettuce goes from farm to store in as few as one to two days, less than half the time it takes for lettuce grown and shipped from California, Arizona and Mexico to make it to Midwest store shelves.
Imperial Trading Co., Elmwood, La., and S. Abraham & Sons, Grand Rapids, Mich., provide marketing, distribution and technology solutions to convenience-store retailers. They service more than 5,000 retail locations and have six distribution centers serving 19 states.
Revolution Farms was founded to leverage the social, economic and environmental benefits of hydroponics, the company said.
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