Baking Trends: Webinar with Larousse and Chef Irving Quiroz

This webinar aimed to reach an audience of more than 300 bakery professionals and talk about the different ways in which California Raisins can be included in the baking industry, with two of the most important opinion leaders as speakers.

The renowned Chef, Irving Quiroz, addressed different topics on existing trends at baking in this free webinar, obtaining more than 2,300 download requests, and exceeding 660 attendees, which included bakery professionals and gastronomy students.

PORK RINDS PIZZA FROM LA RAMOS AT PIZZA DE PRIZZA

On February 18, 2022, Pizza DePrizza unveiled its new pizza with pork rinds; a collaboration between Real California Milk and Carnes La Ramos, one of the most important butcheries in the North of the Republic founded in 1968, which with over time and the quality of their products became increasingly popular with their customers and in the whole region.

Faced with this and wanting to surprise their loyal clientele, La Ramos, set out to launch a new product that, without imagining it, would become one of the most popular and most preferred flavors in the north of the country: Pizza with Chicharrón de La Ramos. This delicious creation can be tasted in simple bites, as a stew or in a succulent sauce, turning it, thanks to its versatility, into an iconic and one of the favorite’s products of the region that later became so in most of corners throughout the country.

During the first quarter of launch, from February 15 to May 12, more than 21,575 pizzas were sold. This implied an increase on the California cheese sales within the pizzeria’s consumption with more than 1,425 tons and with more than 4,275 tons of California cheese during the quarter. The launching campaign included radio spots, printed flyers, social media advertising, trucks, billboards, influencers and more.

As of the launch date and during this first quarter, this new variety begins to stabilize as a product that hopefully will perdure in the Pizza DePrizza catalog.

Within the northern market of the country, it has been well accepted and in other areas it is beginning to be known.

SuperChivas Christmas Promotion

The event consisted of a Christmas promotion together with the SuperChivas supermarket chain to position the Russet potatoes as well as the  “Grown in Idaho”  seal.

The draw was promoted in point of sale with an outdoor canvas in the stores and promotion in cash register, social networks (Facebook and Instagram) and SuperChivas website, posters in strategic points of the city of Mexicali, 40 monthly spots on local television, Mention in local radio and RadioChivas that is reproduced in the 21 branches of this supermarket. 

The promotion  stated that customers had to make a minimum purchase of 350 Mexican pesos in the chain to participate in monthly consumption vouchers for one year. 

There were a total of 21 winners who will receive monthly vouchers and we achieved 100% Idaho presente at the point of sale

Onion inbound trade mission – Idaho and Oregon

On behalf of the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA), an inbound trade mission was carried out in Idaho and Oregon with 4 buyers from Mexico with the objective of meeting with exporters of onions in both states. The following companies participated in the trade mission: 

• Casa Chávez

• Frescos del Sureste 

• Comestibles Maldonado 

• Coliman 

The buyers visited Idaho and Oregon to meet with 6 exporters and learn about their facilities and the harvesting process. As a result of the trade mission, there were purchases of around 4-6 loads of onion by importers. 

INTERNATIONAL GOURMET FESTIVAL

In November 2021, California Raisins sponsored the International Gourmet Festival in Vallarta. We were able to generate over 30 trade leads and have presence during the event with raisins and cheese boards in 2 of the participating restaurants during the opening as well as during the wine festival, with the participation of the best international and Mexican vineyards.

Mexico added-value Outbound Trade Mission in Mexico City and Monterrey with a Central American and regional buyers delegation.

On behalf of the Western United States Agicultural Trade Association (WUSATA), a trade mission was carried out in Mexico City and Monterrey with 16 US exporters with the objective of creating commercial ties between importers from Mexico and Central America and Western United States exporters. 3 importers from Central America were present at the business rounds in Mexico City; importers visited us from Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador. And in Monterrey we were accompanied by 4 regional importers from Tijuana, Mexicali and Chihuahua. 

One on one meetings were held at the hotel facilities, resulting in a total of 275 meetings with an average of 17 meetings per exporter. There were on-site sales. In the Monterrey portion, the US consulate general was present at the meetings and had the opportunity to meet with the exporters and trade members. 

Fábrica de Santa Sponsorship

In the month of December, hand in hand with other major brands, Real California Milk sponsored one of the biggest dynamics of the season, where a Christmas-themed musical theater production dedicated to children took place. The objective of this dynamic was to impact this segment of the market and at the same time, educate on how to Look for the Seal.

The event took place on dates prior to Christmas. Real California Milk participated as a sponsor with the “Look for the Seal” dynamic for a full month. The dynamic consisted of hiding the Real California Milk seals along the route and whoever found all the hidden seals would be the winner and would soon receive as a prize, a gift with branded backpacks, cheese boards, etc. At the same time, all of the attendees received a welcome kit with pens, balls, and pizza cutters.

The activity was very successful, with more than 10,500 cars at the end of the month, great attendee response towards the dynamics, and the prevalence of the Look for the Seal message was achieved.

Sampling activity in Sam’s Club for 2021 season .

For the end of the 2021 season, Imalinx coordinated a sampling session with Sam’s Club to increase the brand visibility of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit. 

The first step was to provide an extensive training to the demo personnel so that they could share the key messages, a little history of the product and its benefits with consumers. 

 In addition we provide brand materials, such as: branded stand, aprons, face mask, tasting trays (just kiwi SunGold), fruit for tasting, banners, Zespri spoons in each of the samplings for our customers. 

Among the comments of customers, it was highlighted that Zespri Kiwi SunGold has a unique and sweet taste,  and as a result of this sampling we had an increase in sales of Kiwi Zespri SunGold of 75%, this comparing to 4 weeks prior to the activity. 

Idaho’s culinary promotion in Tijuana

On November 24th, in coordination with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, we celebrated a  Thanksgiving dinner  which representatives of supermarkets, restaurants, media in Mexico attended, in addition to Thomas Reott, Consul General of the United States in Tijuana. 

 
“The objective was to show the richness and variety of food produced in Idaho, as a reflection of its natural and industrial characteristics that allows it to create more than 185 commodities and that place it in the top 10 of the main agricultural producers in the United States” (siempre la noticia, 2021) 

The Idaho Russet potato was  highlighted, as well as the yellow onion. 

The  Chef in charge of developing recipes was Javier Plasencia with more than 50 k followers on Instagram. 

Chef Javier Plasencia created a 5-course menu incorporating Idaho ingredients in a unique way:  

  • Mediterranean Mussels in an Idahoan mashed potato fake shell with smoked oysters and russet potato foam 
  • Russet Potato soup with AgroPur cheddar cheese and bacon 
  • The classic table-top Caesars salad with yellow onion croutons and AgroPur parmesan cheese (Tijuana recipe) 
  • Double R Ranch USDA Choice Top Sirloin cooked slowly in a mustard marinade, sweet smoked chili peppers and yellow onions, served with a russet double-baked potato with three AgroPur cheeses, black truffles, and plant-based Melt butter 
  • Apple crisp made with plant-based butter Melt Organic and ice-cream 
  • We had 26 attendees including produce buyers from Calimax, Coliman, Importadora -Exportadora de Tijuana, and Superchivas, among others. Local chefs from the region and local craft breweries also attended as well as nine Tijuana media guests including those from the local press.  Additionally, public relations and key food influencers on social media from the area were among the guests, publishing photos and notes about the event.   
  • SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE 

Burrata’s Route

This year DiStefano burrata cheese arrived to the best restaurants in Mexico! For two months, Real California Milk, in company of different media and influencers, traveled around “Ruta de la Burrata” visiting three different restaurants, all of them Italian, but with different concepts. Our first stop at Fornería del Becco, welcomed our guests with an exquisite burrata e pomodoro appetizer, followed by a burrata pizza with anchovy and spinach and calamarata pasta with asparagus and burrata, all exquisitely prepared by Chef Tobías Petzold.  

The second destination was Ornella, a new restaurant in San Ángel (Mexico City) runned by Chef Axel Vázquez and which recentely opened its doors in October of this year. The Chef’s creations delighted commensals with a caprese and burrata salad with pomodoro pastry. 

Finally, our trip concluded in Mattea, another restaurant under the command of Chef Vázquez, being an excellent option for fresh homemade pasta lovers. Here, the media enjoyed a pizza margherita with burrata, spaghetti with truffle, burrata with puff pastry and cherry tomatoes.  

Each experience was instantly shared through our guests’ Instagram stories, Facebook posts and web articles, which were shared through the media: Larousse Cocina, Food and Wine, Food and Travel, Maria Orsini, Cocina Vital and Paperbeat. The campaign was a success and managed to impact more than 1,943,708 consumers. 

Along with the media strategy during the “Ruta de la Burrata”, there was communication on the official social networks of Real California Milk, promoting the seasonal dishes with the DiStefano burrata and inviting consumers to visit the restaurants. The investment made in Facebook and Instagram successfully resulted in more than 3,795,015 impressions and around 1,544,026 people reached. 

Our guests favorably enjoyed each stop of out “Ruta de la Burrata” and we successfully achieved satisfactory communication in each of the media, achieving top-level diffusion for the participant restaurants, as well as the presence of the Real California Milk seal.