“We are beautiful and joyful [and] “We love looking at delicious recipes in cookbooks, cooking the food and enjoying meals together. But how does it take seeing a recipe in a cookbook or on social media to make us recognise an interesting product, see it in a store and want to buy it? And ultimately, what makes it end up in our shopping cart?” asked Gee.
“We wanted our recipes to be on trend, not fad.”
Founded in 2004, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation that offers a variety of microgreens, including kale, broccoli and arugula. Last year, the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to return to profitability at its flagship farm in Danville, Virginia.
Before AeroFarms rolled out its digital recipe strategy, the company surveyed consumers about their experience with its products, Gee said. AeroFarms found that consumers were using its products not only on salads but also as toppings for a variety of dishes, including takeout and pizza.
Using this data, AeroFarms identified six occasion categories for recipe inspiration, including burgers and hot dogs, soups and stews, eggs and omelets, pizza and takeout, tacos and sandwiches, and entrees and sides, she added.
“We took a step back with these six use cases. [and said,] “This is really different.” Originally, [we thought] “This product was primarily going to be used in the bulk of our salads, but it's actually being used in a completely different way. Once that prep work was done, we wanted to see how people were actually using it and what people were saying about it,” she said.
She noted that rather than chasing recipes that are trending on social media, AeroFarms prioritizes creating recipes that tie into enduring trends, and also prepares content that can be used if an ingredient becomes popular.
“We wanted to tie our recipes to trends, not fads. … We're a relatively small marketing team, so sometimes it feels really tempting to recreate a video that's trending, but ultimately, [we are focusing on] “What are the longer-term use cases for our products?” Gee said.
AeroFarms uses FlavorSpectrum to create recipes and compelling social media copy
AeroFarms' FlavorSpectrum product framework categorizes microgreens based on flavor characteristics such as sweet, earthy, green, peppery, mustardy, hot, tangy, floral and umami to educate consumers on specific occasions and uses, Gee explained.
For example, Aerofarms Micro Kale sits at the sweet end of the FlavorSpectrum, while Micro Rainbow Mix sits at the opposite end of the umami end.
“We grow micro kale, which is great for smoothies. You probably wouldn't put micro wasabi in a smoothie. That would be a whole different use case. So what I'm really doing as I start my recipe strategy is splitting up all of my product lines based on where I want people to utilize those use cases and what are the retailers where they'll be sold,” Gee said.
