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By Douglas Bond, Chef/New Product Development Manager Many of us became acquainted with salad bars in the 1970s when they became mainstream additions to our favorite restaurants. Those early salad bars had a limited selection, including iceberg lettuce, a few pop- ular vegetables, croutons and creamy salad dressings. Over the years, salad bars have gotten bigger, with the addition of prepared salads, meats and cheeses. Spring mix and romaine have large- ly replaced iceberg. Yesterday's tomato wedges have been replaced by grape tomatoes. Lighter dressings and a variety of toppings have expanded the appeal. However, the salad bar has not been the most innovative part of the menu. Well, that is changing for the better. With the new focus on healthy eating, and the increasing number of consumers who want on-the-go meal options, salad bars are becoming the go-to spots for healthy, innovative meal options. Foodservice and retail operators are elevating the salad bar by adding colorful THE HUMBLE SALAD BAR GETS A MAKEOVER Among the many challenges a distributor or warehouse owner faces is managing fresh produce quickly and efficiently. When your produce arrives at the warehouse, it tends to sit on the dock until you are able to process it, leading to possible qual- ity control issues. The goal is to get the produce processed and moved to the optimal environment as quickly as possible. Warehouse management systems have helped with this in the past. However, they have also created double work that involves re-keying the information captured when the produce was received into the system in the back office by someone else. This step requires more clerical staff and also has the potential of error as information is keyed incorrectly. The rise of inexpensive mobile technology is an advantage for produce warehous- es. Mobile technology enables you to automate and expedite many of the typical processes that occur in a warehouse, such as checking in a truck and capturing prod- uct-sensitive data for quality control and weights. It also improves the management of The Mississippi Sweet Potato Council was formed in 1964 to help a growing Mississippi sweet potato industry market its crop. The Council has played an impor- tant role by supporting sweet potato promotion, research and information sharing. "We have a unique history with sweet potato production here in North Mississippi around the town of Vardaman," says Bobby Whitt of C and W Farms. "Several fami- lies moved here from Tennessee in 1915 and started raising sweet potatoes because that was what they knew from home." "The soil and climate provided the right combination for sweet potato production, and sweet potatoes became a staple crop in this area of Mississippi," continues Randle Wright of N and W Farms, a family farm operation for five generations. Wright knows the value of the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council in promotion of sweet potatoes as well as keeping up with farm-related issues on the state and federal level. "The Mississippi Sweet Potato Council has supported us with information about farm An interview with Paul Kinsman, Director, Sales and Marketing, OutFront. PSD: Tell our readers about your company. PK: OutFront Custom Built is a member of the OutFront fam- ily of manufacturing and service companies with customers across a broad range of markets with food retail being a major focus. They have two North American manufacturing facilities (Buffalo, New York and Beamsville, Ontario) that service their customers across the U.S.A. and coast to coast in Canada. OutFront Custom Built manufactures refrigerated and non-refrigerated merchan- disers, hot and cold food bars and custom millwork. Our experienced engineering department can assist you with concept and design solutions to meet all your mer- chandising needs. OutFront Custom Built is a UL-Listed manufacturer that builds products to meet all industry standards. C o ntinued o n P age 2 1 C o ntinued o n P age 2 1 THE MOBILE ADVANTAGE IN THE WAREHOUSE MISSISSIPPI SWEET POTATO COUNCIL CONTRIBUTES KEEP IT FRESH WITH OUTFRONT C o ntinued o n P age 1 9 C o ntinued o n P age 2 1 O s e r C o m m u n i ca t i o n s G r o u p C h i ca g o Tu e s d a y, J u n e 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH UF