New Products
Fresh Express used the 2026 International Fresh Produce Association Global Produce & Floral Show in Orlando to debut two additions to its Chopped Salad Kit lineup: the Roasted Poblano Caesar Chopped Kit and the Fire-Roasted Queso Crunch Chopped Kit. The launches signal the brand's continued push to close the gap between restaurant flavor profiles and retail refrigerated produce — a segment where Fresh Express claims category leadership with more than 100 SKUs and a weekly reach of over 14 million consumers.
The Strategic Play
Both kits are framed around restaurant-trend translation, a positioning that has driven outsized growth in the value-added salad segment as grocery operators seek to capture consumer spending that might otherwise flow to fast-casual dining. Fabian Pereira, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation at Fresh Express, said the company views flavor intensity and convenience as complementary levers for category expansion. "Our newest innovations reflect our commitment to bringing restaurant-inspired experiences into everyday meals," Pereira said. "IFPA provides an important opportunity to share our vision with retail partners and demonstrate how Fresh Express continues to lead innovation and create new opportunities for category growth."
The company activated Booth #2243 at the show, where retail buyers and produce industry leaders could sample the new kits firsthand — a format that carries increasing weight as grocery category managers evaluate shelf-space allocation in the competitive packaged salad aisle. Fresh Express brought two of its Fresh Expressionists™ brand ambassadors to the event: country singer and cookbook author Jessie James Decker and registered dietitian Steph Grasso. Both figures have existing partnerships with the brand under its "Express Yourself" platform, which emphasizes consumer personalization and everyday meal versatility.
What It Means for Retail
The dual-ambassador strategy reflects a broader industry pattern in which produce brands deploy credentialed nutrition voices alongside lifestyle personalities to address distinct shopper segments simultaneously — health-motivated buyers and convenience-oriented households. For retailers, the approach is designed to reduce friction in the category-growth pitch: a brand that arrives at a trade show with media-ready ambassadors, new SKUs, and a defined consumer narrative makes range-extension conversations easier.
Fresh Express, which pioneered the retail packaged salad category with its Keep Crisp® bag technology in the 1980s, now competes in a market that has expanded well beyond its original convenience mandate. Bold flavor development — fire-roasted ingredients, globally inspired dressings, crunchy toppers — has become the primary battleground for share in bagged salad kits, as operators and manufacturers alike target the consumer seeking a full meal experience rather than a side dish. The IFPA show, which draws grocery buyers from across North America, represents one of the most consequential venues for announcing retail-facing innovation in the fresh produce and value-added segments.
The two new Chopped Kits are available now. Fresh Express has not disclosed retail pricing or an initial distribution footprint for the launches. For additional context on produce industry trade dynamics, see our coverage of emerging consumer trends in fresh produce and the broader retail grocery channel strategy.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
