ANNUAL FRESH EXPRESS, NATURESWEET AND LITEHOUSE PARTNERSHIP IS A RECIPE FOR RETAIL SUCCESS

SANDPOINT, IDAHO (March 3, 2021) – Leading produce department brands Fresh Express®, NatureSweet® and Litehouse® are teaming up for the fifth annual “I Heart Salad” retail promotion highlighting easy and affordable ways to create the perfect salad. The exclusive promotion will run at Albertsons Companies Stores from March 3 – March 16, 2021 and will include in-store product discounts and promotional pricing.

The “I Heart Salad” retail promotion has consistently increased sales for grocery retailers and the brand partners during the promotion period. Cross promotions tying together salad ingredients can increase grocery retailer sales by at least 30% on average¹.

Through a combination of in-store, online and social media activity, “I Heart Salad” will be supported with initiatives including:

• Albertsons in-store signage, website and newsletter support
• Social media influencer content featuring easy salad recipes
• Online recipes and videos highlighting product versatility
• Integrated social campaign and an enter-to-win consumer sweepstakes where 14 consumers will win year’s worth of salad and a salad kit with kitchen essentials

The collaborative promotion includes high-quality ingredients for deliciously simple salads, including Fresh Express Salad Blends, NatureSweet 10-ounce Cherubs® tomatoes and Litehouse 13-ounce spoonable dressings, that will be discounted during the promotion at Albertsons Companies Stores nationwide. Consumers can mix and match products, and add additional ingredients, to create delicious salad varieties, like a classic cobb salad or a vegetarian friendly chimichurri chickpea salad.

All three participating brands can be found in the produce department, with Litehouse dressings and Fresh Express packaged salads found in the refrigerated section:

• Deliciously Fresh Salads: Packaged salad pioneer Fresh Express uses breathable bags custom designed for each leaf type, like Sweet Butter, American and Hearts of Romaine, so salads stay fresh. All Fresh Express salads are thoroughly washed, rinsed and gently dried, then sealed in a Keep-Crisp® bag for long-lasting freshness.
• Heavenly Salad Tomatoes: Bright, juicy and irresistible, NatureSweet is North America’s No. 1 selling snacking tomato². NatureSweet Cherubs tomatoes make salads divine and add a fresh burst of color with guaranteed sweetness.
• Delightfully Cool Dressings: Litehouse refrigerated dressings are made without artificial preservatives, colors or flavors and do not contain high fructose corn syrup. They are available in creamy and delicious combinations of fresh herb and vegetable flavors, like Homestyle Ranch, Chunky Blue Cheese and Jalapeño Ranch.

About Fresh Express

Fresh Express® is one of the brand leaders in Value Added Salads and is dedicated to providing consumers with healthy, convenient ready-to-eat salads, leafy greens, vegetables and fruits. With the invention of its special Keep Crisp® bag in the 1980s, Fresh Express pioneered the retail packaged salad category and was the first to make them available to grocery stores nationwide. Today, Fresh Express fresh salads come in more than 150 different varieties offering exciting new flavors and convenient new ways to meet the daily dietary requirements for both conventional and organic fresh produce. More than 20 million consumers each week enjoy healthy, convenient ready-to-eat Fresh Express salads, spinach, and vegetables. For more information, visit www.FreshExpress.com.

About NatureSweet

NatureSweet® Tomatoes is the single source solution for organic and conventional greenhouse grown vegetables in North America driven through the consumer’s preference and demand for snacking tomatoes. Always vine-nurtured and hand-picked at the peak of freshness, only NatureSweet® produce guarantees great taste all year round. NatureSweet® produce is carefully grown, harvested and packaged by more than 7,000 full-time Associates, and are sold at major grocers, mass retailers, club stores and food service operators in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Known for amazing Associates, award-winning quality, and innovative packaging, NatureSweet® is also committed to having a positive social, environmental and economic impact on the communities in which they operate.

About Litehouse:

Litehouse, Inc. started in the Hope, Idaho restaurant of the Hawkins family over 50 years ago. Since that time, it has become a leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, sauces, cheese and other innovative consumer packaged goods, manufacturing these delicious products at its five U.S. facilities based in Idaho, Michigan, Utah and Virginia. Litehouse offers its diverse portfolio of products through general retail, e-commerce, foodservice, deli, member stores, and value-added goods where Litehouse products are featured in meal and salad kits. Litehouse is proud to be 100% employee-owned and each one of the employee owners delivers on high standards of quality and innovation.

For more information, visit www.litehousefoods.com, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.

¹ IRI POS data from 2019 and 2020 promotion weeks vs previous year
² IRI Unify Portal – MULO, 52 Weeks Ending 12-27-20