Kilometre Verde, an Italian vertical farming company, made a deal with Coop Italy to distribute four different salad varieties under the Fior Fiore brand to 700 stores. The varieties available will be multi-leaf lettuce, green lettuce, curly lettuce, and variegated lettuce, all packed in compostable paper bags.
"We are proud to start the collaboration with Coop, one of the most important distribution chains in Italy, attentive to the quality of the products offered, to goodness, safety, and respect for the environment. This is the result of years of research, which does not only meet the needs of customers but also those of the planet. Sustainable in every aspect: from the first production phase to the final packaging," says Giuseppe Battagliola, Founder of Kilometro Verde.
In the first phase, the Fior Fiore products will be available in the five cooperatives of the Coop Italia consortium (Unicoop Tirreno, Coop Alleanza 3.0, Coop Centro Italia, SAIT and Unicoop Firenze). From January, the consortium of cooperatives from the North West will also be added, i.e., Nova Coop in Piedmont, Coop Liguria, and Coop Lombardia. Eventually, the partnership aims to cover the entire Coop network in Italy, from north to south of the peninsula.
"We immediately believed in the value of the project and wanted to match the vision of Kilometro Verde, including it in the Fior Fiore line of our branded products. We were persuaded by their technology, but above all by the quality and crunchiness of the product," affirms Claudio Mazzini, head of Freschissimi at Coop Italia.
Source: Food Affairs (in Italian)