WATSONVILLE, CA - California Giant Berry Farms is touting a number of innovations as the company heads to the year’s PMA Fresh Summit.

Adding to its partnerships focused on breeding, mechanical harvesting, and sustainability, the company has announced a “scary and playful” new collaboration with Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, debuting at the company’s booth—#2159—at PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando, Florida, October 19-20.

The two have created a unique blend of organic strawberries and hops resulting in a custom strawberry-infused beer that aligns strategically with California Giant’s seasonal Scary Berry promotion launching October 10^th.

“We have always enjoyed forming partnerships to be creative while extending our brand reach and visibility,” said Cindy Jewell, Vice President of Marketing for California Giant Berry Farms, in a press release. “This partnership is more local—but definitely fun and a great way to think beyond produce and typical recipes for berries. We also know that serving unique items at conventions is a challenge. We think because of this partnership, booth #2159 will be busy and so will the tap room at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery!”

California Giant is also already planning its Second Annual Chef Invitational—building on the success of the first event this July.

According to the company’s press release, the Invitational unites foodservice partners and their talented chefs for the first time ever in a new industry competition to strengthen foodservice relationships, develop creative, create innovative recipe content, promote their new foodservice program, and encourage the utilization of all four berry types, while uniting local sponsors during this 3-day culinary event.

“Foodservice is a key factor in our strategic growth plan. The California Giant label on all four berries year-round and expanded logistics and service capabilities will continue to solidify our place as a premium berry supplier to the foodservice industry,” noted Tom Smith, Director of Foodservice. “We will continue to innovate and elevate the berry category with chefs, restaurants, influencers, bloggers, and our foodservice distribution partners. We are excited that our Second Annual Chef Invitational will be announced in the coming months and we look forward to further collaboration with our foodservice partners and their wonderful chefs!”

California Giant noted that they will also continue to work with previous chef participants to gather timely recipe content, trends, and collaborate on future initiatives to continue to strengthen these direct relationships with leading industry chefs. Just this year, the company launched its foodservice website—offering Chef Invitational news; foodservice data; and a soon-to-debut section titled “Tom Talks” that is dedicated to Smith’s views on restaurant trends, foodservice insights, and his very own foodie-findings.

The company also noted that its 2018 marketing efforts have focused on generating lifestyle, people-centric content that showcases everyday people and various, everyday moments that California Giant berries live in. With its new mantra, “Everybody’s Berry,” the company plans to highlight its four year-round berry offerings—strategically grown in a variety of regions and climates for consistent supply.

The berry company just wrapped up the summer with their Fresh Start promotion—targeting mothers of children headed to college and new college-age shoppers—and reported impressive results from this “untapped” demographic.

“This is the next generation of shoppers and with discretionary income we have already captured their attention and a portion of their shopping basket,” added Jewell. “The late summer promotion generated over 185,000 entries in our sweepstakes and over 20,000 new contacts in our database full of shoppers looking for fresh and healthy solutions as they enter college.”

Visit booth #2159 to see more from the innovative berry provider.

California Giant Berry Farms