Ready Pac Foods, the California-based subsidiary of vegetable multinational Bonduelle, is aiming to tap into growing demand for convenient and healthy fresh produce with the launch of Fresh Prep’d, a meal range designed to offer consumers an easier way to eat fresh and healthy food.
The fresh prepared meals category is now worth a reported US$8.3bn in the US and is reportedly growing at twice the rate of the overall food and beverage market.
The new brand will initially be used on two distinct product lines: Fresh Prep’d Soup Kits and Fresh Prep’d Wrap Kits.
Ready Pac is one of a number of salad companies worldwide that are aiming to diversify beyond their core market to capture market share in other parts of the fresh food business.
“We saw a great opportunity to diversify the company’s offerings and provide consumers with the convenient meal options they are looking for, especially as sales of products in the perimeter of the grocery store continue to grow,” commented Ready Pac chief executive Tony Sarsam.
According to custom research carried out by the company, consumers struggle to find solutions that meet all of their needs for convenient, fresh, healthy and great tasting meals.
They apparently told the company that options available today throughout the grocery store often force them to compromise on one or more of those important needs, perhaps foregoing great taste for convenience or healthy options for flavour.
Ready Pac chief marketing officer Galit Feinreich said: “In developing the Fresh Prep’d brand, we wanted to create an easy alternative to lacklustre desk lunches and unhealthy fast food.”
