For the third year in a row during the busy holiday season, Minnesota-based Crazy Fresh Produce surprised unsuspecting grocery shoppers with its “Crazy Fresh Christmas Cash Giveaway.” From Dec. 4 to Dec. 15, various customers were randomly selected while in-store shopping and were presented with a $50 grocery store gift card and a box containing $75 worth of Crazy Fresh products.
Andy Howie from Wells Marketplace in Wells, MN, presents surprised shopper Carol Schroder with a ‘Crazy Fresh Christmas Cash’ gift card and a box full of Crazy Fresh product during the Crazy Fresh Produce holiday giveaway.
“We’ve got some great stories of people who weren’t expecting anything,” said Pat Miller, vice president of sales and marketing at Russ Davis Wholesale in Wadena, MN — the parent company of Crazy Fresh Produce. “They are randomly selected. We walk the stores and choose somebody we feel would be fun for the giveaway. A couple of years ago, someone’s house had burned down and they had lost everything. We picked that person without knowing that. They were having a hard time at Christmas and we were able to help them with some free product and food for their Christmas holiday week.”
Crazy Fresh Produce products include fresh-cut fruits, veggies, salads, salsas and specialty items in convenient grab-and-go packaging. The company’s customer base is located throughout the upper Midwest — Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This year, 100 grocery store partners participated in the Crazy Fresh Christmas Cash Giveaway.
“We think it’s very important to give back and to thank our consumers with product as a gift from us during the Christmas season,” said Miller. “We’re all about our customers and our customers’ customers — the end consumer — and we want to make sure they are appreciated for their loyalty and to thank them for purchasing our product throughout the year. We can’t thank every consumer, but we try to get out there and thank some consumers for backing our product.”
Unsuspecting shoppers were very grateful for the fortuitous holiday blessings, and Miller shared that Russ Davis Wholesale and retail store employees also really enjoyed collaborating in the surprises.
“It’s always fun to give back at this time of year; it makes it really special,” Miller said. “We’ve always talked about the full-circle partnership between us and our retail partners and our consumers. It goes full circle — we are all partners together and this is one way we can solidify and show who we are.”
