Solanum is breaching the borders between fresh produce and grocery with its Pesto & Potatoes packs at Waitrose.

It is part of the supplier’s drive to provide supermarket customers with its Potato Solutions, an initiative that gives them associated foodstuffs and a wide range of support material such as variety, recipe and nutrition information all within the bag.

Solanum claims it is the first in the industry to work with Partners in Packaging of Heywood, Greater Manchester, to invest in the technology.

The link-up is a response to research commissioned by Solanum, which showed shoppers need help when identifying the best varieties for specific cooking purposes and that they enjoy different recipes. Many also wanted to know much more about the crop, and where and how it was grown.

Laura Brown-Waite, Solanum national account manager, said: “We regard this as a real breakthrough which has almost limitless promotional opportunities. It has enabled us to cross the boundaries between fresh produce and grocery, and target consumers at the potato fixture with everything they are looking for, by providing Potato Solutions matching their needs.

“As British Potato Council research has shown, approximately 66 per cent of purchase decisions are made at the fixture, and our own research has shown that the addition of practical information has encouraged sales.

“There are other potential benefits such as sales incentives like competitions and scratch cards which can add further interest,” she added.

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