Lettuce Marketing Success
October 10, 2012 Hollandia Produce, a Southern California lettuce grower/packer/shipper, is really into being green. Really green.
“Green lettuce grown in a green way, hauled by a green truck running on green fuel,” is how the company puts it. Hollandia grows its Live Gourmet line of greenhouse vegetables in Carpinteria, CA, but the operation takes being green a step further.
According to the company, if you’re hauling fresh lettuce, it’s nice when your trailer looks as fresh as the product. For Hollandia, its new vehicle wrap projects just that image.
The company’s packaging for its butter lettuce, designed by Bill Schoneberger of Clear Concepts in Santa Barbara, CA, was a 2011 recipent of the Produce Marketing Association’s Impact Award for excellence in packaging. That excellence now extends to its trailer wraps. The trailer graphic incorporates the same award-winning design, serving as an extension of the product’s packaging.
“There are many items on the grocery shelves; it is too easy to be overlooked,” says Pete Overgaag, Hollandia’s president. “But they can’t miss our trailer. Since everyone is a potential customer, our trucks out on the public streets are the perfect advertising vehicle.”
Using Space Wisely
Proudly incorporating the product packaging on the side of the trailer (“Live Gourmet. Living Butter Lettuce. Absolutely Fresh Because It’s Still Alive!”), the trailer makes good use of the space. With a fresh head of lettuce at one end and a picture of the product as it appears on store shelves on the other, trailer space is not wasted yet does not overwhelm the messaging.
According to the company, even the trailer’s side skirt is put to use, touting the fact that the product is “hydroponically grown in Carpinteria, California.”
Hollandia Produce not only talks the green talk, it drives it, too.
The new state-of-the-art tractor-trailer truck runs on natural gas and the
trailer is cooled by a hybrid electric refrigeration unit, making the delivery rig nearly as green as its sustainably grown contents.
The emerald-green Peterbilt tractor features a compressed natural gas engine that lowers total carbon emissions. The company says the truck is so environmentally friendly it was recognized by EPA’s Smart Way program. Plus, its aerodynamic design is said to boost fuel efficiency up to 12% and reduce drag 24%.
Saving Greenbacks
A green tractor needs a green trailer, and the Utility VS2RA fills the bill. It’s equipped with a hybrid electric Thermo King Smart Reefer refrigeration unit that features a number of technologies designed to deliver greater fuel efficiency and reduce emissions and noise.
In the end, it all comes back to the farm and the production of quality products. The operation grows all of its produce hydroponically — including butter lettuce, 3 in 1 lettuce, upland cress and red butter lettuce — and delivers it fresh and alive.
For more information, visit www.livegourmet.com.
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