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Walk into a ShopRite store this summer and you might notice something unusual near the produce section. Trays of living herb plants, roots still intact, are stacked on eye catching pallet displays, ready to be carried home and kept growing on a windowsill or patio. This is not a one-time seasonal accident. It is the second phase of a merchandising partnership between Wakefern Food Corp., the cooperative that runs the ShopRite banner, and Edible Garden AG Incorporated (NASDAQ: EDBL), a New Jersey based grower that specializes in controlled environment agriculture.
The program is called Garden Starters, and it began earlier this year as a spring initiative. The idea was simple. Instead of selling cut herbs that wilt within days, Edible Garden offered USDA Organic Certified herb plants that customers could take home and continue to grow. The plants were merchandised on large pallet displays placed in high traffic areas of the store, a format designed to catch a shopper’s eye without requiring much explanation.
That spring run apparently worked well enough that Wakefern decided to bring it back for a midsummer encore. The expanded promotion will run at participating ShopRite locations throughout the rest of the summer, timed to match the season when people are grilling, mixing cocktails, and cooking with fresh ingredients more often than usual.
Jim Kras, the company’s chief executive officer, framed the expansion as evidence that the format resonates with shoppers. He said the program gives customers “an easy way to enhance grilling, seasonal recipes, cocktails, and everyday meals with herbs that continue growing long after they leave the store.” He also described the retail partnership as reflecting a shared commitment between Edible Garden and Wakefern to deliver quality and value while creating an engaging shopping experience.
There is a broader story behind this small merchandising update. Edible Garden has spent recent years trying to diversify beyond fresh herbs and produce into higher margin categories, including protein powders under its Vitamin Way and Vitamin Whey brands, a sports nutrition line called Kick, and fermented condiments sold under the Pulp and Pickle Party names. The company is also converting part of its Webster City, Iowa facility into a ready to drink nutrition manufacturing hub, part of what it calls its Farm to Formula strategy.
None of that shows up directly in a pallet display of basil and mint, but it points to why merchandising programs like Garden Starters matter to a small agricultural company. Retail real estate, especially the kind of prominent floor space a pallet display occupies, is hard to win and easy to lose. A program that performs well in spring and earns a second placement in summer suggests Edible Garden has built enough trust with Wakefern’s buyers to keep that space through multiple seasons rather than a single promotional window.
Wakefern itself is not a publicly traded company. It operates as a retailer owned cooperative, meaning the ShopRite stores that carry its name are independently owned by its member companies rather than controlled by a single corporate parent. That structure has made Wakefern one of the largest supermarket cooperatives in the United States, and it gives suppliers like Edible Garden a single relationship that can open the door to dozens of individual store locations at once.
For now, the practical outcome for a shopper walking into a participating ShopRite is straightforward. There will be a wider assortment of living herbs available through the rest of the summer, merchandised in a way meant to be noticed rather than searched for. Whether that translates into a permanent fixture on the store floor, or just a well-timed seasonal push, is something only the next quarter of sales data will answer.
