‘Lettuce’ Use Fresh Summit to Show Off Brand: Bonipak

Bonipak, a leading California produce grower, provided lettuce to several high profile restaurants during the Produce Marketing Association's (PMA) recent Fresh Summit in Atlanta, to help promote its brand during the nation’s annual produce pageant.

The promotion included table tents and buttons for the "Bonipak Wedge" salad.

"We are always looking for ways to optimize our marketing efforts,' explained Mitch Ardantz, managing partner of Bonipak. "Trade shows are a cornerstone of Bonipak's marketing and it's important to figure out what we can do to leverage our attendance."

Ardantz said Bonipak wanted to use an innovative promotion to raise awareness of their booth during the conference. In addition to general advertising for their booth and restaurant placement of their product, the Bonipak sales team took their clients to participating restaurants to showcase their product in use.

Participating restaurants included Ruth's Chris, Pitty Pat's Porch, Pacific Rim and Azio. The restaurants featured the "Bonipak Wedge" throughout the weekend, as well as used Bonipak iceberg and romaine lettuce in various other dishes.

"This was one of the first promotions we have done of this type,” said Stephanie Tobben, spokesperson for Ruth's Chris, “and it was great to partner with Bonipak. The wedge salad is one of our signature dishes so it was important to maintain the Ruth's Chris brand standards. [Bonipak] provided a superior product that was a perfect fit for our menu, making the wedge promotion a great success,"

All restaurants saw a high number of attendees from the Fresh Summit conference over the weekend.

"We like to promote produce companies and give back to them as much as they give to us," said Alika Rose, public relations and marketing manager at Pitty Pat's Porch.