Last updated on June 13th, 2024
Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., the farmer-owned cooperative, has opened a marketing and innovation hub called Lighthouse within the Seaport District of Boston, Massachusetts, establishing an urban footprint in the Silicon Valley of the East Coast. Ocean Spray’s innovation and marketing teams are based out of the Lighthouse, inspiring collaboration, creativity and ingenuity both internally and together with other growing brands in the Boston area.
Innovation plays a critical role in the company’s mission and growth. The company is committed to connecting farms to families for a better life, and Lighthouse will serve as a space for rapid research and development.
“As we think about exploring new channels and creating innovation that is beneficial to both people and the environment, being located in the heart of cutting-edge developments alongside other innovators will help us accelerate our cooperative’s evolution,” said Bobby Chacko, president and CEO.
Notable attendees of the Lighthouse opening event May 13 included Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who gave opening remarks, and Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots, who came to support breast cancer awareness.
“A lighthouse, by definition, shines a light as a navigational aid, and I’m so pleased to share in the vision of Ocean Spray as they embark on a journey to improve the health of people and planet,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who attended the opening. “The farmer-owned cooperative has been synonymous with Massachusetts, and it is a true testament to Ocean Spray’s commitment to the city of Boston and to fostering new talent to open new doors in the heart of the city.”
Ocean Spray will continue its current work and grow its innovation toward health and wellness. Most recently, Ocean Spray announced a commitment to sustainably farming all of its cranberries, making Ocean Spray Cranberries the first fruit cooperative in North America to verify 100 percent of its crop as sustainably grown. The company is now working to verify Ocean Spray’s fruit as sustainably farmed by benchmarking it to the Farm Sustainability Assessment, a comprehensive tool for sustainable farming that was developed by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform.
“Our innovation at the Lighthouse is focused on health and wellness with the ultimate destination of creating food that is medicine,” said Chacko. “We plan to break down silos, drive health and prosperity and prove the concept of doing well by doing good. We are proud of opening our Lighthouse as a big step toward our mission.”
Founded in 1930, Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry farmers in the U.S., Canada and Chile who have helped preserve the family farming way of life for generations. The cooperative’s cranberries are currently available in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Ocean Spray’s Lighthouse opening, Seaport District, Boston, Massachusetts, May 13, 2019
