Fondues and pizza help build overseas demand for U.S. frozen potato products

Farm and Ranch Report August 25, 2010 Every had potatoes on your pizza? In Japan you can. That’s as a result of the work of the U.S. Potato Board’s International Marketing Program for Frozen Product. Susan Weller manages that program. Part of its strategy is expanding the use of frozen potato products through new products or alternative channels.

Weller: “So for example, in Japan a pizza delivery chain, that has 115 shops, added roasted baby bakers on top of their pizza. And they also used the baby bakers in a gratin. And so you can see that is not just necessarily another fry, but adding some sort of frozen potato into the dish.” 29

In South Korea Quiznos launched a new potato side dish called “White Fondue Potato.”

Weller: “Sounds very elegant but basically it was a deli-wedge, a frozen wedge potato, that they added a white cheese sauce to.”

The success of this approach is pretty easy to measure.

Weller: “Actually for FY10 we were able to have a total of 57 items and menu applications that were launched.”

Which helps meet the overall goal of the U.S. Potato Board.

Weller: “We want to make sure we expand the sales of frozen potato products so that the growers are able to sell more potatoes.”

That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.