INDIANAPOLIS — The Produce Mom®, a passionate advocate for the fresh produce industry lead by Lori Taylor, announces a rebrand and name change to The Produce Moms.
What started five years ago, as a blog and consumer brand of the Indianapolis Fruit Company, has evolved into an educational media brand that is owned, authored and lead by Taylor. Under her leadership, The Produce Mom has grown in its aspiration and aims to serve three specific audiences: moms, children and school professionals with inspirational content and action-oriented materials that are ultimately geared to increasing the consumption of fresh produce in America.
“I believe that if we are going to change the way America eats and establish a preference for fresh produce, we have to start at the source and build a community of moms, children and school professionals that want to see positive change. This community of Produce Moms will be comprised of the people that will ultimately lead and shape change in their local homes, schools and communities,D” said Lori Taylor, CEO of The Produce Moms. “We intend to provide our community of Produce Moms with access to educative content on a regular basis, as we have done for the past two years. In addition, it is my goal to provide tools and turnkey solutions that The Produce Moms’ army can access and use to shape change in their own communities around the country.”
Working as the sole-source provider of a grant awarded to the state of Indiana by the USDA Team Nutrition program, The Produce Mom has led a two-year crusade across the state hosting special events at schools geared to introduce students to fresh produce varieties and encourage foodservice professionals to choose fresh form fruits and vegetables. The grant project continues for the next year and includes the publication of a national digital curriculum and continuing education program for school foodservice professionals in all 50 states. “The work that Lori and her team have conducted in K12 schools over the past two years has been transformational. I’m grateful to be a part of this movement as we’ve witnessed first-hand how children react positively to healthier food choices by making it exciting, available and delicious,” said Chef Todd Fisher, celebrated culinary veteran and spokesperson for Duda Farm Fresh Foods. “Through public-private partnership between the USDA and Duda Farm Fresh Foods, I had the great opportunity to collaborate with The Produce Moms and educate over 200 school foodservice professionals.”
Earlier this year, school foodservice professionals in the Midwest attended three days of live training, focused on culinary skills training, Smarter Lunchrooms strategies, and recipe development to promote the under-consumed vegetable subcategories. The live training impacted over 1 billion annual school meals, and was only possible through the support of The Produce Moms, Duda and the USDA.
The work being conducted by The Produce Moms is work that will ultimately benefit the fresh produce industry as a result of increased consumption and demand of the products that are grown and distributed by producers in our industry. In addition, The Produce Moms provides fresh produce brands with the opportunity to reach consumers in a way that is purposeful and puts fresh fruit and vegetable products at the forefront. A plethora of fresh produce brands have been partners, supporters and advocates of The Produce Mom since its inception.
The Produce Moms provides Wada Farms with an engaged and evolving resource for on-trend marketing discussions, both with The Produce Moms consumer community, and the other well-respected brands of The Produce Moms and â Family of Partners,” said Kevin Stanger, president of Wada Farms. “Wada Farms believes in The Produce Moms and has benefitted greatly from our two-year association with the brand.”
For more information about how to join Lori and The Produce Moms visit http://www.theproducemoms.com/.
