NEW ORLEANS, LA - In the chaotic landscape of PMA Fresh Summit, sometimes all you are looking for is a nice place to kick your feet up and enjoy the busy hum of the show floor. Lucky for attendees of this year’s convention, Fresh Solutions Network (FSN) is once again bringing the FSN Spud Zone to tailgate and potato lovers alike. Setting up camp at FSN booth #1507, the company will be fully equipped with tasty bites, tailgating fun, and a closer look at the new Side Delights® A Cut Above® fresh-cut potato line.

“Tailgating, as you know, is a popular activity either before, during, or after sports games, where friends come together to celebrate the day and eat tasty, yet easy to make food,” company President and CEO Kathleen Triou tells me. “Ask anyone, tailgating is mostly about the food, even though some type of a sporting event provides the anchor for the day. Whether you tailgate in a parking lot, a driveway, or a backyard, Side Delights potatoes are a great addition to the menu.”

Also this year, the FSN booth will highlight the launch of the company’s Side Delights A Cut Above fresh-cut potato items, which offer consumers fresh, never frozen, washed and pre-cut potato products that can work for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack menus, and, of course, tailgating!

“Add these potatoes to other items on the grill by cooking in a foil packet, or heat up in a hot plate with your favorite herbs, spices, and other veggies,” Kathleen says as we talk about the new Cut Above line. “Its simple, healthy, good eatin’. We will be sampling this new product line in our booth, so be sure to come over and taste our Red Diced Skillet potatoes and Carnival Cut Fries.”

This year will also mark the first PMA Fresh Summit where FSN will be a title sponsor of the event. The company is one of four breakfast sponsors at this year’s show, providing Red potatoes from North Dakota out of FSN’s NoKota Packers facility to make Side Delights Potatoes O’Brien at Saturday morning’s General Session.

“PMA Fresh Summit is the only national show all year we exhibit at where ALL our Network members participate,” Kathleen explains. “Generally, we tend to focus on the regional shows as they are more relevant to the 8 geo-diverse partners of Fresh Solutions Network, but we make a special effort to show up in a big way at PMA Fresh Summit with a large booth and a food-related theme that really leverages how and where food is being consumed.”

In addition to FSN’s new A Cut Above line, the company will also be sampling its Side Delights Flavorables® potato product line, which pairs fresh potatoes with bold, globally-inspired seasoning blends created specifically to bring out the best flavors in fresh potatoes. Visitors to the booth will be able to try both the Chimichurri Seasoning, which includes roasted garlic, cilantro, and lemon, as well as the Smokin’ Tomato Seasoning featuring roasted tomatoes, garlic, and chives.

And this will not be the last big bang we hear out of FSN for 2017 either. Kathleen tells me to stay tuned as the company wraps up another Food Blogger Challenge, this year tackling #PotatoPowerBowl, with new one bowl, potato-focused meal recipes.

“As we look to the end of 2017, many of our Network partners are still harvesting with AMAZING potato quality,” Kathleen adds. “2018 will be a great year for potato consumers as they will be enjoying beautiful, delicious, and nutritious spuds all year.”