Vick Family Farms has a compelling message to buyers and menu developers at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Foodservice Conference: sweetpotatoes are a top trending menu item.

Charlotte Vick, partner/sales and marketing manager at Vick Family Farms, based in Wilson, NC, said influencers promoting healthy lifestyles have helped the category grow. 

“Our message is we want to continue to encourage foodservice companies to add them to their menus,” Vick said. “They are very versatile, healthy and would be a big hit to consumers now.”

While whole sweetpotatoes in 40-pound cartons or bulk are the main product Vick Family Farms supplies to foodservice operators, the company sells to some processors who make fries or hashbrowns that are “great additions to foodservice,” Vick said.

“There is so much that restaurants can do with them now, and even just the plain sweetpotato itself is a hot menu item,” she said.

Vick Family Farms wants to continue to grow its foodservice sector and sees the IFPA Foodservice Conference as an important way of attracting new customers interested in adding sweetpotatoes to their menus. Vick Family Farms will be at booth No. 302 on the expo floor, showcasing the traditional Covington orange-flesh variety.

“School lunchrooms really want to add them to their offerings to kids and continue to explore ways that are convenient for their staff and that the kids will love,” Vick said.

Family gatherings around Thanksgiving and Christmas in homes and restaurants are the main driver of sales, but Vick Family Farms stresses to retail and foodservice customers that sweetpotatoes are available year-round to promote on menus and in produce departments as fresh, delicious and nutritious.

The IFPA Foodservice Conference attracts menu developers and operators who are looking for trendy, innovative and versatile options to incorporate into menus. 

The North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission plays an important role throughout the year by developing new recipes, said Vick, who is on the commission’s marketing committee.

“We continue to try and find new and easy ways to serve a sweetpotato that would attract new young consumers as well,” she said.

The conference programs and venue promote great networking opportunities, she said.

Vick Family Farms is in the middle of its sweet corn season and is wrapping up sweetpotato planting.

“We are almost complete with planting and finally after months with no rain have been receiving rain the last week,” Vick said in late June. “This was truly a blessing because we have been in an extreme drought. The timing is perfect for sweetpotatoes and we hope we have a great growing season and harvest to begin in early September.”

Harvest usually kicks off in mid- to late August, but it’s likely there will be up to a two-week delay this season because of the lack of rain throughout North Carolina growing regions.

“You can ride by our fields the last week and almost see them growing, so that is a major relief,” Vick said. “Our last year’s crop is still holding in storage well and we should be able to continue supply until our new crop cured is ready to be packed in late September.”