We rarely think of a vegetable as a standalone superstar, but kale, the once lowly vegetable reserved for plate and salad bar garnishes has taken on a life of its own as it has grown in vegetable celebrity status. One just needs to look at the Google trends on kale to see its star power on the rise.
As we prepped and planned for National Kale Day, interacted with fans and media and shared stories of kale converts from around the country it got us thinking. Where did it all start – what are the makings of a great vegetable story? Some might say kale got its real start around the mid-2000’s when people started talking about kale as a superfood and restaurants started incorporating it into more actual dishes and not just using it for garnish – but we had not yet reached sexy status.
By 2009, Brad’s Raw Foods was introducing us to kale chips and people like Kathy Lee and Hoda were singing their praises. And somewhere during those early days, Bo was giving us t-shirts that proclaimed “Eat More Kale”, and of course the foodies got involved and started sharing their versions of kale chips and espousing the benefits of massaging your kale throughout the world-wide-web and a phenomenon was born.
In 2013 enter, Dr. Drew Ramsey and Chef Jennifer Iserloh of the Skinny Chef and their book 50 Shades of Kale – well named and well placed with that other unrelated 50 Shades text you might have heard of. With the book came the first National Kale Day and a grassroots army of passionate kale fans.
Today, Target sells Kale t-shirts, Beyoncé dances in a video wearing a kale shirt, more than a dozen national chain restaurants, including McDonald’s have kale on the menu, and kale continues to pop up in food, fashion and entertainment.
This year’s 3rd Annual National Kale Day just wrapped up on October 7th. With national sponsors that included the likes of EVEN Hotels, fujiKale, The American Macular Degeneration Foundation, San Miguel Produce & Cut-n-Clean Greens, Cal-Organic Farms, True Juice and Simply 7 Snacks, these sponsors have proven that they are committed not just to kale, but spreading the word about healthy eating as a means to healthy living. The kale army and sponsors engaged media and fans both online and offline at parties and events around the country. And what’s even more exciting is that more than 2500 schools around the country celebrated National Kale Day by putting kale on the menu. Kale was a conduit to education, excitement and the trial of a healthy new food. Over 600,000 students were impacted and that is a powerful number and provides a great outlook for future consumption.
What the kale movement proves to all of us in the food marketing industry is that consumers are passionate advocates that want healthy choices, but consumers need leaders and they need to be inspired. Kale needed a makeover and a pathway to modern consumers. That path came in the way of non-traditional serving methods that made it easy and tasty for consumers to enjoy – while also deriving all the health benefits kale had to offer. Kale might be a Cinderella story that won’t be easily repeated by just any vegetable or food, but there are lessons we can all learn that will give our products and ideas a boost.
- Explore the possibilities of the unknown (ex. Does kale have a potential beyond a garnish)
- Create new products with no boundaries in mind (Brad’s Raw Foods had a vision)
- Capitalize on trends early and don’t wait until they have fizzled or peaked – if you do, it’s too late
- Find passionate advocates to champion the cause. (Dr. Ramsey & Chef Jen are great examples)
- Let people get involved and give them tools to succeed (National Kale Day showed that great content and encouraging grassroots participation was a winning combination.)
I can’t wait to see what year four and beyond has in store for National Kale Day and the healthy eating message. I expect that we’ll see the conversation evolve to include more messaging on other leafy greens, superfoods, brainfoods and more – kale was just the conversation starter.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on kale the vegetable celebrity.
Written by Melinda Goodman
Managing Partner
Melinda@FullTiltMarketing.net
