GREEN GIANT LICENSES BRAND FOR PRODUCE

LISA A. TIBBITTS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Pillsbury here has embarked on a licensing strategy aimed at expanding its Green Giant brand more widely in the fresh produce business.

Last month the company said it had given a group of former Pillsbury executives headed by Jeff Sholl, former general manager of Green Giant Fresh, the exclusive rights to the Green Giant name for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Also based here, The Sholl Group II has been charged with marketing Green Giant and Green Giant Freshtables, a line of value-added produce, to companies for use in retail and food-service arenas.

The Sholl Group already has licensed the Green Giant brand to a number of growers, processors and packers, including Haas Fruit Co., Yakima, Wash., for apples; Pioneer Growers Cooperative, Belle Glade, Fla. for sweet corn, and Wayne E. Bailey Produce Co., Chadbourne, N.C. for sweet potatoes.

Sholl, who is president and chief executive officer of the group, described the wide latitude is has been given in chosing which marketing methods work best. "We can go out and we can generate more license agreements," he said.

Or, "Of the Sholl Group wants to go into the broccoli business and we want to own that business, we can set up our own company."

The licensing method is cost-effective as well as creative -- licensees bear all responsibility for bringing the product to market.

Sholl's colleagues at The Sholl Group is comprised primarily of former executives from Pillsbury's Green Giant Fresh division: chief operating officer Steve Ottum previously served as business manager; vice president of operations Mel Davenport served as operations manager; and vice president of sales Kent Romrell served as sales operations manager.

The precedent at Pillsbury was set last year when the subsidiary of Grand Metropolitan formed Potandon Produce, Idaho Falls, Idaho, to market fresh potatoes and onions under the Green Giant brand.

"Potandon is owned by a group of investors made up of key suppliers in the business -- potato and onion growers and packers and management -- and Pillsbury still retains some ownership of the business," Sholl explained.

He said Pillsbury decided to build on the success of its canned vegetables line through some unorthodox methods because executives saw an opportunity to create a national fresh brand.

"In the produce business, there are a very few mega-businesses," he said, citing Chiquita bananas, Dole pineapples and Sunkist oranges. But there isn't a category-wide national brand."

Despite the backing of a widely-recognized brand name, Sholl acknowledged the trade will be a tough judge. "The Green Giant name gives us permission to play but it doesn't buy us an open door. If we don't bring the correct service elements to the game and the correct kind of pricing, as well as brand support, we're not going to be any more successful than anybody else," he said.