New Potato Venture will Focus on Premium Spuds

Russet Potato Exchange, Pro-Health, CSS Farms and Plover River Farms have united to launch a new joint venture, Tasteful Selections LLC, a premium potato company.

The new venture brings together potato growers and marketers to form a vertically integrated operation that will include a world-class seed farm and greenhouse, growing and packing operations and a sales and marketing division, that together will grow and market baby potatoes, fingerlings and seed potatoes. This focus on vertical integration will include a high level of internal research and development that will result in a more rapid development and rollout of current and new, unique, proprietary varieties.

Tasteful Selections will differentiate itself from the marketplace by growing over a dozen premium potatoes of specialty varieties and focusing on the primary attributes of small sizes and distinctive flavors. Sizing will include the standard B and C (creamer) size potatoes, but will also include unique marble and peewee size potatoes.

Russell Wysocki, President of Russet Potato Exchange remarked, Our company is focused on creating growth strategies for the potato category. A key element of that strategy is the ability to find and deliver new unique-tasting varieties that deliver consumers great eating experiences that ultimately result in repeat purchases.”

“These specialty potatoes with their unique flavor and size profiles are sure to excite retailers and foodservice professionals. But more importantly we expect that these potatoes will inspire consumers to increase the frequency of use of fresh potatoes in home cooking by providing new and exciting flavors and textures,” Wysocki said.

The new venture will open its doors Jan. 4, and begin marketing its new crop potatoes with the April harvest. Tasteful Selections plans to grow and market year-round, producing over 1,200 acres of baby potatoes in 2010. All products will be grown in Bakersfield, Calif., with packing locations in California, Texas and Wisconsin.

Milt Carter, CEO of CSS Farms says, “We are very excited about this joint venture. All of the partners complement each other and together we are positioned to be the leader in baby potatoes with exceptional taste. We want to assure all of our existing customers that we will continue to support them and look forward to delivering additional growth strategies going forward.” ”