One goal that we had here at Gold Coast for 2018 was to be more involved with our community. We knew we wanted to get involved locally but we also wanted to help the next generation of veggie lovers. We wanted to include youth programs when we got behind any local projects. This year we teamed up with the Santa Maria Valley YMCA and Local 4-H groups.

As we joined up with new groups, we wanted to make sure to keep our long-standing relationship with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank intact. Our company makes several donations to our local Foodbank each year. In May we were honored with a Gratitude Award from the Foodbank. Gold Coast was given the award for donating more than 30,000 pounds of fresh produce. It is our goal to continue donating to our local Foodbank and helping the hundreds of families the Foodbank serves.

Summertime means fair time and that means the local 4-H and FFA clubs are busy prepping their animals for show. In June we were visited by a group of 4-H kids, they presented their projects in hopes that we would support them during the Santa Barbara County Fair and live auction. It was great to meet this group of talented kids and see what the next generation of farmers looks like.

During the summer we joined forces with the Santa Maria Valley YMCA. Karl and Crystal stopped by the Y during Cooking Camp week.  Our team taught the campers how to make Grilled Cheese Sandwiches but with a carb alternative… Cauliflower! What better way to get kids excited about vegetables and cooking then showing them some healthy options? The campers were quizzed on vegetable facts and shown cooking videos featuring our favorite veggies. Then we all rolled up our sleeves and made Cauliflower Grilled Cheese. Those that weren’t fans of the white cruciferous veggie were soon won over by the bread-free sandwich.

In mid-November we ventured back to the Santa Maria Valley YMCA this time to hang out with the preschoolers. This tiny bunch was so much fun.  The little ones shared their favorite veggies as well as their least favorite. We whipped up a batch of Cauliflower Mash for the Y’s Thanksgiving Feast and each preschooler made their own serving of the mash to eat during snack time. During the feast each child got to share the recipe with their families. This will now be a Fall tradition with the YMCA Preschool!

Here at Gold Coast we believe that children should be taught to love vegetables early on in life and if we can help, we will be doing more projects like these in the coming year. We are already working with local organizations on new ways to elevate our community in 2019.

As 2018 comes to a close we are reminiscing on all the good times we had at industry events throughout this year. Our team was busy traveling around meeting customers and networking with potential customers in various parts of the country throughout 2018.

Our team took on Southern Exposures in Tampa, Florida in early March and then we headed back to Florida in April for the Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference. Crystal and Natali took on Miami while networking with some great produce gals and listening to fantastic speakers including, Molly Fletcher, Colette Carlson and Gretchen Carlson. The ladies “Owned It” and are looking forward to the 2019 Conference.

Later in April John and Karl headed North to Vancouver and the CPMA Conference where it was all about Live Healthy and Eat Free! John and Karl enjoyed walking the show floor and meeting with customers. Shortly after our team headed to Palm Desert for the West Coast Produce Expo. Our team enjoyed meeting everyone who stopped by our booth. Those who stopped by got to sample our new Caulifornia™ Riced Vegetable Side Dish line. Our team had a great time in the desert.

June sent our team to Chicago for the United Fresh Conference. Early in July we headed to the happiest place on earth… that’s right Disneyland for the Fresh Produce and Floral Council SoCal Expo. This was such a fun event we are already looking forward to the 2019 show! Then July took us to Monterey. First for the Organic Produce Summit and then for the PMA Foodservice Conference. PMA Foodservice is always a fun show for the Gold Coast team. We have been a part of this conference since it originated and it’s always the perfect place to show off our newest items. This year we served up our new Sunny Superfood Salad. Our colorful blend was a hint with those that stopped by our booth. Our portion packs also got a lot of attention from those walking the show floor. We can’t wait to show you what we are working on for PMA Foodservice 2019!

We wrapped up the year at PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando. Our team had a great time at this show. The show floor was bustling with activity on each day of the expo. We celebrated our 40^th Anniversary while at PMA. We served up Anniversary cupcakes featuring one of our favorite vegetables. Yes! We had chocolate and churro flavored cupcakes made with our Caulifornia™ Snow Cauliflower Rice. The sweet veggie filled treat was a hit with everyone that stopped by our booth.

2018 was filled with very informative and fun filled industry events. The Gold Coast team is already looking forward to what excitement 2019 will bring, see you all soon.

Christmas has passed and there are just a few days left in the year. 2018 has been a great year for Gold Coast Packing not only did we celebrate our 40th Anniversary but we added to our team and to our product lineup.

We started 2018 by showing off our latest innovation, our Caulifornia™ Riced Vegetable Side Dish Kits. The side dish line offers 100% riced Cauliflower or a blend of riced Cauliflower, Broccoli and Carrots accompanied by a flavorful sauce.  The side dish kits are available in three flavors: Garlic Herb and Butter, Ginger Garlic and Spanish Rice. Cauliflower Rice remains a trendy veggie and will continue to stay on trend as more consumers focus on healthy eating and on plant-based meals in 2019.

Early in the year we saw the need for small portion packs. Meal Delivery Kits are booming and making small packs of our items for the kits made sense. We started with 8 oz. packs of our broccoli florets, which quickly grew to shredded cabbage and then to 4 oz. bags of spinach and 10 oz. of riced cauliflower. We now have nearly 20 different packs available. Any item that we currently process could be a portion pack… our innovation team is ready to help!

This year we also released small retail packs of some of our popular items. Added to our retail line up was a 12 oz. bag of our Caulifornia™ Snow, a 6 oz. bag of our Superfood Salad, 8 oz. of shredded Brussels Sprouts and an 8 oz. Broccoli Slaw. These items are the perfect addition to any store shelf, as they are at a great price point, all come with a recipe on the packaging and are all on trend items.

When our team headed to Monterey for the annual PMA Foodservice Conference, they went prepared to show off our latest Blend: The Sunny Superfood Salad. It is a bright and colorful blend of Kale, Napa Cabbage, Green Cabbage, Watermelon Radish, Broccoli Stem, Carrots and Cilantro. The Sunny Superfood Salad is a great blend that can be paired with any protein to make it a complete meal. It can be used hot or cold and it’s the perfect addition to any menu.

Our Product Development team has been busy at work throughout 2018 and is already busy working on our latest creations that will be released in 2019. Stick with us in the new year to see what new and tasty items we will make available to our customers.