Next Level Fresh LLC is open for business with category growth strategies that result in new meal and snack solutions designed to appeal to the massive 40-and-under shopper demographic.
Fresh Life Harvest Whole Ear Gourmet Sweet Corn, developed by Next Level Fresh’s managing partner, Daniel Whittles, is one of the company’s initial products. This product enables sweet corn lovers to satisfy a craving for the veggie in less than 2 minutes.
Each ear of Fresh Life Harvest Whole Ear Gourmet Sweet Corn is a premium non-GMO variety. Prior to harvest and again prior to packing, all corn is “sweetness-certified” according to the company’s standards. All corn in this line starts out as a single, individually-wrapped, fully shucked, washed and ready-to-cook ear. They are then assembled and merchandised in three forms: as a retail grab-and-go item or prepared as a foodservice product, in a 4-pack for retail and 8-pack for club stores. The product will be available year-round and aims to boost sweet corn sales beyond the traditional selling window of April through the Fourth of July.
John E. ‘Buddy’ McKinstry, founder and owner of JEM Farms, and Rick Roth, president of Roth Farms, joined Whittles to create the Fresh Life Harvest Whole Ear Sweet Corn product. Both farmers are prominent agricultural business leaders and have multi-generational family operations that date back to the 1930s.
“Our goal with the Fresh Life Harvest™ brand is two-fold. First, to create cutting-edge products using commodities where we own strong, vertically-integrated production and packaging facilities. Secondly, to have a pipeline of creative, fresh and timely meal and snack solutions in order to proactively target exciting non-traditional selling channels as well as the established market,” explains Whittles.