Leamington, ON (November 30, 2023) – With national initiatives being created across the food industry to encourage more family meals, the FMI (Food Marketing Institute) Foundation recently announced their 2023 Gold Plate Award winners, highlighting outstanding family meal programs & campaigns implemented by the food industry consisting of retailers, manufacturers, and community collaborators. In the category of Manufacturer, greenhouse fruit & vegetable company Pure Flavor® won the Gold Plate Award for their ‘Together’ campaign that supported FMI’s National Family Meals Month™ this past September.

“The Gold Plate Awards are a vivid celebration of the food industry’s dedication to promoting family meals,” said David Fikes, executive director of the FMI Foundation. “Through diverse initiatives like healthy family meals, celebrating cultural cuisines, and more, this award highlights the industry’s unwavering commitment to fostering family togetherness at home.”

Pure Flavor®’s ‘Together’ campaign was strategically designed to bring awareness to the idea that together, families can be as diverse and varied as the food that they share around their tables. The notion of together can extend beyond immediate family to friends, neighbors, roommates, and even special furry friends! The theme of Cook Together – Eat Together – Grow Together was at the core of the promotional campaign this year, highlighting the importance of family meals by encouraging meal prep, family interaction, and the consumption of fruits & vegetables, together.

Throughout the month-long omni-channel campaign, Pure Flavor® executed the following:

  • Dozens of fresh new recipes; promoted themed pins in Pinterest
  • Family-focused blog content on meal planning, time-saving, and healthy hacks
  • Weekly Instagram Live sessions with an influencer partner
  • Collaborated with the teams at The Healthy Family Project and Produce Made Simple to create engaging content to in to along with
  • Weekly emails reaching more than 50,000 people throughout the campaign
  • Published weekly Did You Know? Facts about family meals & related benefits
  • Content specific consumer surveys with Instacart eGift Card as prizes; more than 5,000 consumers completed during the campaign!
  • Family-friendly activity sheets for kids of all ages

“Our omni-channel approach garnered more than 1,000,000 impressions across all our channels combined during our ‘Together’ campaign. It further demonstrated that we were connected with the right people on the right channel at the right time with the right message. We are incredibly honored to receive FMI’s Gold Plate Award for the second year in a row for a strategic marketing campaign designed to help increase fresh produce consumption”, commented Chris Veillon, Chief Marketing Officer.

“Creating togetherness around mealtime has always been a goal for Healthy Family Project. When we make it a priority to be ‘Together’, we also tend to add more nutritious options to our plate, which helps create a healthier generation. We are honored to partner with Pure Flavor® to encourage family meals together during National Family Meals Month and beyond. By showcasing highlights on our website as well as social media we can inspire our followers and their families to spend time together and make memories”, said Tracy Shaw, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Healthy Family Project.

2023 Gold Plate Award Winners:

  • Category: Retailer 1-49 Stores; Skogen’s Festival Foods
  • Category: Retailer 50-199 Stores; K-VA-T Food Stores Inc. (Food City)
  • Category: Retailer 200+ Stores; Hy-Vee Inc.
  • Category: Community Collaborator; IFPA Foundation For Fresh Produce
  • Category: Manufacturer; Pure Flavor®

FMI Gold Plate Award Campaign Summaries: https://www.fmi.org/family-meals/award

Pure Flavor®’s ‘Together’ Campaign: https://www.pure-flavor.com/national-family-meals-month/

Pure Flavor® continues to create consumption focused content to inspire families and consumers of all ages to eat more fruits & vegetables, regardless of the season. Using a variety of digital strategies, the company is able connect with consumers on their channel of choice using tactical communication tools such as email, blogs, social media, as well as via the brands award-winning Live Deliciously® eMagazine which is published quarterly.

To learn more about Pure Flavor® or to flip through company’s award-winning Live Deliciously® eMagazine, visit: https://www.pure-flavor.com/live-deliciously/

About The FMI Gold Plate Awards –

The FMI Foundation created the Gold Plate Award in 2013 to highlight the outstanding programs implemented by the retail food industry to encourage family meals.  Examples include healthy family meals, quick and easy family meals and recipes, cooking with kids, themed dinners, breakfast with the family, MyPlate meals, and much more.

The award recognizes outstanding programs that food retailers and suppliers have implemented, to encourage families to share more meals, together at home, more often.