Tasteful Selections Celebrates Facility Grand Opening

Tasteful Selections celebrates its investment in the future of the potato industry with the grand opening of a 200,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility in Bakersfield, Calif. The recent celebration kicked off with a ribbon cutting ceremony, press conference, luncheon and tours of the facility. Tasteful Selections co-owners Bob Bender, Milt Carter and Russell Wysocki began the ceremony with opening statements followed by questions from the press. The family-owned company then invited all attendees to the luncheon sponsored by Valley Irrigation, a valued Tasteful Selections vendor. The menu featured Tasteful Selections potatoes prepared in three recipes to showcase the versatility of the product. Tours showcased the stainless steel facility and exceptional measures taken to ensure the highest quality potatoes possible, including improved storage, refrigeration and humidification. Retailers and foodservice professionals are also invited for private tours throughout the coming months. This grand opening directs the future of the industry. “For the past five years, Tasteful Selections has been proud to lead the specialty potato category,” says Bender, also general manager of Tasteful Selections. “Our new facility is 200,000 square feet of dedicated space just for Tasteful Selections, which means endless possibilities for our future.” Carter, also president of CSS Farms, continues, “We pride ourselves on everything Tasteful Selections potatoes have to offer: fantastic flavors, uniform cook times, and less preparation time with prewashed, thin skins. Today, we get to celebrate being able to bring even more of those special baby potatoes to our consumers.” Tasteful Selections potatoes are proudly marketed by RPE. President and CEO of RPE, Wysocki, says, “When we started Tasteful Selections in 2010, we knew we had something ‘simply amazing,’ but even we were surprised by how fully our customers embraced it, and we’ve had double digit growth every year.” Tasteful Selections has opened its doors to the future and welcome all to learn more about this new phase of specialty potatoes.