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Lettuce Leaves Are on a Roll
from Fresh Cut Magazine, September, 2002
SALINAS,
Calif. — Seven years ago, the late Jake Hougham handed David
Mills a bag of lettuce leaves, starting a dialogue that led to the
launch of Whole Leaf, LLC. His legacy, Great Northern Wholeaves®,
is still relatively new but momentum is building as foodservice
operators see the advantages of ready-to-use lettuce leaves in their
kitchens.
"We’re doing more food shows this year than we’ve
done in quite some time," David says about the washed whole
leaves of romaine, red leaf and green leaf lettuce he sells. "We
are well received wherever we go. This product is so phenomenal.
It’s an item that really appeals to foodservice. Quick-serve
sandwich chains are very much interested in it. It’s a high-end
product that solves a lot of their problems. And the quality is
such that it’s very appealing to white tablecloth restaurants
and family dining concepts, too. We see a balanced growth between
these two segments."
Hougham spent about 11 years developing a patented process for tearing,
rather than cutting single leaves of lettuce from their heads. Cutting
lettuce leaves from the core causes enough cell damage to release
an enzyme that triggers browning, higher respiration and leaf death.
Tearing leaves from the head, however, damages fewer cells and retains
enough stem tissue at the base of the leaf to form a natural seal.
The leaf "thinks" it is still attached to the stem and
does not release the enzymes that shorten shelf life.
Extended Shelf Life
In the case of lettuce cut for packaged salads, processors rely
on refrigeration, modified atmospheres and breathable bags to slow
respiration and extend product shelf life. All things being equal,
especially temperature, whole leaves do not require MAP techniques
because the product routinely achieves a 16-day shelf life when
packed in ordinary corrugated containers with vented plastic liners.
The
excellent quality and shelf life that foodservice operators demand
doesn’t come easily, according to David and Jim Mills. For
nearly half a century, Mills Family Farms, the family’s produce
business, has been a vertically integrated grower/shipper of lettuce
and other vegetables. Relying on a storehouse of farming expertise,
the company has experimented with lettuce varieties and adjusted
cultural practices to produce quality lettuce especially tailored
for the patented decoring process.
"We’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with different
seed varieties for the product, particularly in the case of red
leaf where we go for more color," reports David, who serves
as vice president of sales and production. "And the product
needs to be grown so it is open as opposed to closing up. We do
just the opposite that you would for a romaine hearts product.
"There are little things that either we knew early on or we
discovered in the learning curve the hard way, such as when to water,
when not to water, the harvest time and the type of ground you need.
It’s a little bit different way of doing things than for conventional
whole head lettuce, which obviously is the majority of what we do.
Quite honestly we use less water with this product because the harvest
is a shorter period. It works very well."
Food Safety
In addition to expert farming techniques, Mills Family Farms also
employs good agricultural practices on the 12,000 acres of rich
farmland where the company grows lettuce and vegetables. It’s
important to be sure lettuce leaves are as clean and safe as possible
before they come into the processing plant. Then, when the product
is washed, dried and packed under controlled conditions, the result
is a convenient, ready-to-use product that’s also safe for
consumers, according to Jim Mills.
"Quality is very important," he reasons. "Food safety
and food security are part of that, too. All of our product is packed
under HACCP conditions and we have independent third-party testing
done. We also have weekly microbial testing of the product. Our
customers know when they open the box that it’s not only a
clean product because it’s washed and handled carefully but
also a safe product because we test it regularly."
The tender loving care they invest in their whole leaf product is
paying off, according to Jim and David. Recently Great Northern
Wholeaves® were honored by the American Tasting Institute and
were awarded the Gold Medal Taste Award for Romaine Crowns, Romaine
Hearts, Green Leaf Crowns, and Red Leaf Crowns.
"We were at a food show in Southern California and some of
the executives from the organization had never seen our products
before and were fascinated by them," recalls Jim, vice president
of sales and marketing. "They suggested doing a blind tasting
of the products from all the companies that produce whole leaf lettuce
and that took place in December of last year. In January, we got
the word that we had swept the competition in every category. Then
in April, we were presented with a nice gold medal taste award for
our whole leaf products. In addition to the taste, the product was
also judged by appearance and presentation.
Instant Credibility
"Dave and I have been extremely committed to this entire product
line since its inception but the award gave us a real nice marketing
edge and marketing focus. It gives instant credibility to the product.
It’s a tribute to the way our organization is committed to
bringing this product to market and nurturing it."
Both Jim and David point out that whole lettuce leaves are the only
value-added products Mills Family Farms produces. That enables them
to focus intensely on every step of the production and processing
effort and to emphasize quality at every turn.
"We definitely take it seriously," David explains. "It
has been great for us to start from zero units seven years ago and
watch it grow. We take a lot of pride in it. Ten or 12 years ago,
we made a decision not to enter the bagged salad arena and become
a value-added bagged salad processor and compete with some of the
very large companies. But whole leaf is a very nice value-added
product geared toward foodservice."
The company’s commitment to whole leaf products is evident
not only in the number of food shows they attend, but also in the
endorsements they have sought from various chefs that help bring
the value of the product home to attendees who visit their booth.
Chefs include John Pisto, owner of The Whaling Station, Abalonetti
Trattoria, Domenico’s on the Wharf and Paradiso Trattoria in
Monterey, California, as well as Nancy Holm of A.W. Shucks Oyster
Bar in nearby Carmel and Chef Wendy Brodie of Lincoln Court Restaurant
in Carmel, who is well known for her creative, food-as-art menus.
Instant Acceptance
"It’s really nice at these shows to have a couple of distinguished
chefs with us who have used the product, believe in it and are willing
to talk about it to some of their fellow chefs, because there’s
instant acceptance," Jim continues. "Chefs listen to chefs.
They like to hear what their brethren are doing and learn new concepts
from each other.
"We made the decision years ago to gear our business primarily
toward foodservice. What we think is great about this product is
that it gives you advantages over the whole head product but it’s
not so finely processed that you just pour it out of the bag leaving
nothing for creative chefs to work with. They still get the opportunity
to be creative."
The product’s foodservice appeal is evident in the steady growth
the company is experiencing. David Mills says the product seems
to have "taken on a life of its own," while sales have
grown to about 3 million five- or 10-pound cartons annually.
"It’s growing at a good pace every year," David adds.
"We’re getting short of space in our facility and we’re
in the process of designing a new facility both for here in Salinas
and for the desert [Brawley]. We have two shifts Monday through
Saturday and last week we had to work Sunday. We had excellent business."
Lettuce heads are separated into three leaf sizes: outer or crown
leaves; smaller inner leaves; and the smallest or tongue leaves
that are used for making a green leaf/romaine salad blend with radicchio.
The company also offers a new celery pack featuring celery stalks
separated from the root stem the same way as whole leaves are separated.
Consistent
Quality
Consistent quality is one of the most appealing attributes of wholeaves,
according to David. Chains appreciate providing the same products
to all their units. Extended shelf life is important for supplying
units in different geographic areas. Other advantages include, of
course, reduced labor and preparation time in the kitchen, reduced
risk of contamination and—a real plus—a savings on storage
space since one carton of wholeaves is equivalent to a carton and
a half of regular head romaine, green leaf or red leaf lettuce.
"We also offer stable pricing," David adds. "I don’t
think we’ve changed our prices in three years. There may have
been some unusual circumstance that caused us to raise it for a
short period, perhaps because of the raw material cost of acquiring
product outside of what we normally grow. This last winter, when
we had all those high prices on leaf lettuce and iceberg, we were
able to gut it out and make it through without raising the price.
We made a lot of friends by being able to do that."
Both David and Jim foresee continued growth as more and more foodservice
operators become acquainted with these advantages.
"Quality is always first, but then the stable price and all
of these other benefits are important, too," Jim concludes.
"It’s just a matter of us doing our homework and marketing
the product to get the word out there. We’ve made a major commitment
to do that over the next couple years by attending a lot of shows
to demonstrate the product."
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