WENATCHEE, WA - The pedal has hit the metal with a hot campaign. Peirone unveiled a new truck trailer featuring fourth-generation apple orchardist and Stemilt grower Kaitlyn Thornton as a part of its Taste Local campaign to drive awareness about the growers behind its products during a retailer meeting on June 9.

“We started the Taste Local truck trailer campaign three years ago,” said Peirone President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Kamphaus. “We’re trying to drive awareness about the farmers who grow the food that our consumers are purchasing. We believe making this connection adds value to our partnerships with the four key players in produce: the grower, distributor, retailer, and consumer.”

Thornton said it was a “huge honor” to be on the Peirone Produce trucks and shared the event with her 350k+ followers in her TikTok and on Instagram.

Two years into the campaign, Peirone was looking for a new face for the campaign, and Thornton’s name came up. As noted in the release, she is the daughter of pear grower Geoff Thornton and a young orchardist and “ag influencer” whose mission is to close the gap between producers and consumers through social media and education.

“From a farmer’s perspective, we admire Peirone’s willingness to invest in sharing the story to consumers about who and where their local produce comes from,” said Thornton. “It’s a great story for people to carry with them as they walk through the store. It doesn’t resonate with people the same way as when they can actually see the faces behind the products they’re buying, and that’s exactly what they’re seeing on the side of Peirone’s refrigerated trailers.”

Approximately 10 times a year, Peirone invites six retailer groups that make up 95 percent of its product volume to communicate new items. These meetings are an effective tool for getting ideas out into the market quickly, noted the release.

“Peirone can’t be the one to tell the story to consumers,” said Kamphaus. “We’re a wholesaler and distributor. The whole idea was to drive awareness in the stores that we service. To do this, we give retailers POS materials and encourage them to talk about growers in their stores during these summits. We want consumers to walk in the grocery store and see our signs telling them where their produce comes from in the Northwest.”

Check out more details on the feature here.

Congratulations Kaitlyn Thornton on this honor! We can’t wait to see how our industry spreads the word of fresh.

Stemilt Peirone Produce