SMART & FINAL STORES: CHEF'S REVIEW ASIAN VEGETABLE BLEND

SN Editorial Staff

Restaurant-quality is the buzz term behind Chef's Review Asian Vegetable Blend at Smart & Final Stores.

The frozen blend was part of an effort to create new, innovative, restaurant-quality products in the frozen-vegetable category, one that generally is dominated by basic products along with a few specialty-blend and value-added products.

"Our goal was to create a few premium items that would appeal to a broad group of customers with enhanced versions of our most popular blends," said Richard Campbell, director of marketing for corporate brands at Smart & Final.

The retailer calls Chef's Review a three-tier quality brand with a three-star value tier, four-star national-brand equivalent tier, and a five-star premium-products tier. The Asian Vegetable Blend is a Chef's Review five-star item, Campbell said. Smart & Final's other premium frozen-vegetable offerings are a Venetian Vegetable Blend and Haricot Very Extra Fine Green Beans.

The retailer worked with its frozen-vegetable packers to develop a distinctive product that would enjoy wide appeal among its food-service and household customers alike, Campbell said. The end product contains broccoli, Chinese pea pods, whole baby carrots, sliced mushrooms, red pepper strips and sliced water chestnuts. A 2-pound bag retails for $2.79.