On September 9th, we held a produce handling training for our Live Well Community Market Program participating markets. Produce Manager of Whole Foods Hillcrest, Francisco Rendon Castellanos, trained our markets on produce handling, storage, and display techniques.
Program Intern, Leah Contardi, planned and organized the training and our Director of Urban Food Environments, Elle Mari, facilitated the agenda. Francisco led a fantastic hands-on learning experience for market owners, managers, and staff. The training concluded with a grand finale produce display competition with market owners working in pairs to test out their new skills! Winners (okay, everyone won!), went home with tons of organic fresh produce courtesy of Whole Foods, brand new produce price signs, display bins, and more!
Moving forward, our team will continue to provide one-on-one technical assistance with our markets to see how this training has influenced their produce handling in-market and produce sales.
Markets that attended included:
- African Caribbean Market, City Heights
- Bruno’s Market, Grant Hill/Logan Heights
- Dur Dur Market, City Heights
- Leon Produce, North Park
- Mid-East Market, City Heights
- Minnehaha Food Market, City Heights
- Monze Farmer’s Market, La Mesa