​For years, the fresh produce industry has focused on what it does best: growing, sourcing and supplying fantastic products, but increasingly, that's only half the battle. Today's consumers don't just want to know what's in their shopping basket - they want a story, an experience, a greater reason to invest. That's why two recent developments caught my attention.

The first was Florette's #SaladTok IRL pop-up, which transformed an online food trend into a real-world experience, inviting consumers to try the kind of bold, colourful salads they've been seeing all over social media.

The second was the rise of Kathryn Turner, M&S Food's Director of Product Development, who has built a substantial social media following by taking consumers behind the scenes of product development and showcasing the thinking behind M&S food innovation.

On the surface, one is a pop-up event and the other is a social media success story, but they're both doing exactly the same thing, which is making food more human.

The End of Anonymous Food

Historically, fresh produce has faced a challenge that many other categories don't, and that is that most consumers know very little about the people behind the products. They know the supermarket, they might know the brand, but they rarely know the individuals that sits behind what reaches the shelf. Recently it has seemed like that's beginning to change.

M&S has found enormous engagement by giving consumers direct access to someone who genuinely creates the products they buy. Kathryn Turner isn't an influencer in the traditional sense, she's an expert, which is precisely why people trust her. Her content gives shoppers access to product development decisions, food trends and the stories behind product launches.

In an age where authenticity is often overused as a marketing buzzword, consumers do seem to be responding to the real thing.

Florette's recent activation follows a similar principle. The company recognised that consumers, particularly younger shoppers, are discovering food through social media and wanted to bring that behaviour into the real world. The result wasn't simply a sampling exercise, it was an experience that connected consumers with a trend they'd already been engaging with online.

Importantly, it repositioned salad - not as a healthy obligation or side dish, but as something culturally relevant and worth queuing round the block for. To me, that's a significant shift for a category that has often struggled to generate excitement. 

The Consumer Connection

I think the lesson here isn't that every business needs a London pop-up, nor do they all need a viral TikTok personality. The real lesson is that consumers are increasingly engaging with food through experiences and people, not just products.

Fresh produce businesses have incredible stories to tell - growers adapting to changing climates, breeders developing new varieties, agronomists embracing technology, commercial teams spotting trends before they hit the mainstream.

The problem definitely isn't a lack of stories, it's that the industry hasn't always been brilliant at telling them.

Ultimately, consumers still care about quality, taste and value, but they also care about connection.

The success of people like Kathryn Turner and campaigns like #SaladTok suggests consumers want to get closer to the food they buy. They want to understand where trends come from, who creates products and why particular ingredients are worth getting excited about. For fresh produce, this is a huge opportunity, because for the first time in a long time, fruit, vegetables and salads aren't just competing on price or health credentials, but they're actually competing for attention. In a world driven by feeds, creators and AI everywhere we turn, the brands that win attention are often the brands that feel the most human.

As someone who spends their days speaking to businesses across the fresh produce sector, what I find most interesting isn't necessarily the pop-ups, the TikToks or even the viral salads, it's what they tell us about how rapidly our industry is evolving.

For years, fresh produce was often viewed as a traditional sector. Relationships mattered, operational excellence mattered and getting quality products from field to fork mattered above all else. Of course, those things are still critically important, but today's industry requires so much more.

We're seeing businesses that need commercial teams who understand consumer trends, marketing leaders who can connect brands with younger audiences, product developers who can spot the next opportunity before it reaches the mainstream, retail specialists who can think beyond the shelf, and increasingly, people who can translate complex supply chains and agricultural expertise into stories that consumers want to engage with.

The success of campaigns like Florette's #SaladTok activation and the organic popularity of Kathryn Turner at M&S demonstrate just how closely connected fresh produce has become to wider consumer culture. What happens on TikTok can influence purchasing decisions. What starts as an online trend can shape category growth. A product developer can become one of the most recognisable faces of a food brand.

Ten years ago, that would have been really difficult to imagine, but that's exactly why fresh produce continues to be such an exciting industry to work in. Behind the perception of tradition is a space that is constantly adapting, it's encouraging to see fresh produce proving that it can be every bit as innovative, creative and culturally connected as any other sector.