Venturing into a New Healthy Snack: Sweet Potato and Dragon Fruit Chips

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Rincon Grande's Dragon Fruit Chips
Alimentos Rincon Grande, S.A., located in the small municipality of San Andrés Iztapa, Chimaltenango, is a family-owned and operated enterprise that produces organic fruits and vegetables to sell in domestic markets. In an effort to increase their profits and diversify their products, they have recently begun producing added-value goods, such as chips, from their sweet potato and dragon fruit crops. As part of these efforts, Partners of the Americas sent two F2F volunteers over the summer to provide support in fortifying their marketing strategy and improving the packaging of their sweet potato and dragon fruit chips.

Dr. Melvin Pascall discussing packaging materials with staff
On September 25th Ohio State University professor, Melvin Pascall, travelled to Guatemala to help Rincon Grande improve the packaging and labelling of their chip products in order to extend their shelf life and increase their marketability. During his time in Guatemala, Dr. Pascall visited a few of Rincon Grande’s processing plants and the fields where they grow their sweet potatoes and dragon fruit crops. These visits were meant to inform him of current operations and allow him to evaluate their current packaging and labelling methods.

Through these observations and his discussions with Rincon Grande staff, he developed several recommendations that the enterprise could begin to adopt in order to meet their goals. To be able to extend the shelf life of their chips, Dr. Pascall led a presentation to staff members on the various elements that affect the quality and safety of food products, including physical, chemical, and microbial changes, all of which can be better controlled through adequate packaging. In addition to his recommendations on appropriate packaging materials and methods, he also trained staff on basic labelling standards to meet US requirements. Dr. Pascall has extensive experience in food science and technology, and has conducted several trainings in packaging and labelling both nationally and internationally.

F2F volunteer Jillian Blanski visiting Rincon Grande's fields
Following up on Dr. Pascall’s efforts was another F2F volunteer, Jillian Blanski, a former Peace Corps volunteer and current sales representative at Mondelez International. During her trip, Jillian continued building upon Rincon Grande’s goal of developing added-value products using their sweet potato and dragon fruit crops. Through her assignment, she focused on strengthening the enterprise’s marketing strategy and identifying new potential business partnerships and ventures that they could pursue. Jillian worked very closely with Oscar Arce, owner of Rincon Grande, to assess the current presentation of their chips, including the logos and packaging colors, as well as the various flavors they’ve developed.

In addition, she visited local organic markets to assess the potential opportunity for Rincon Grande’s sweet potato and dragon fruit chips. In order to continue on their progress, Jillian recommended that Rincon Grande diversify their sweet potato chip products to also include strips that can be added to soups and salads. She also recommended they try to process their yucca crops into chips as another potential value-added product.

Through the combined work of both Jillian and Dr. Pascall, Rincon Grande is expected to take significant steps towards reaching their goals and expanding their business. Partners’ F2F program will continue to collaborate with Rincon Grande in this next year to help them continue making progress.

Rincon Grande's Sweet Potato Chips




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