Thanks to their “superfood” status, sweet potatoes aren’t just for Thanksgiving and Christmas anymore. Retailers who tap into this surging category’s year-round possibilities will reap rich rewards.
In the post-COVID world, consumers want their fresh produce in packaging where it hasn’t been touched while on the store shelf, said Crystal Chavez, marketing coordinator of Santa Maria, Calif.-based Gold Coast Packing.
One of the main differences between the produce departments of yesterday and today, said Anne-Marie Roerink, principal of San Antonio-based 210 Analytics, is the enormous surge in packaged and value-added products.
Retail fresh produce is at a crucial juncture in its history, said Bruce Peterson, president of Bentonville, Ark.-based Peterson Insights Inc. How it responds to this moment will play a huge role in determining whether it continues to enjoy its coveted status.
In its most recent Feedback Group national grocery shopper survey, conducted in May 2022 with more than 1,200 instore shoppers, Lake Success, N.Y.-based Retail Feedback Group found that produce is the second highest rated department, in terms of satisfaction, across all channels, with a rating of 4.29 on a five-point scale and with 51% of those surveyed rating it a five.
The International Fresh Produce Association — a marriage of the two biggest US fresh fruit and vegetable industry associations: the Newark, Del.-based Produce Marketing Association and the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association — will host its first Global Produce & Floral Show Oct. 27-29 in Orlando.
On its main farm in Yerington, Nev., Yerington-based Peri & Sons Farms plants the Nevada White and Sweetie Sweet branded onions the company is best known for, in addition to other onion varieties, said Teri Gibson, Peri’s director or marketing and customer relations.
In an online survey conducted by OnePoll for Veggies Made Great, 1,000 millennial parents of school-aged children answered questions about their typical vegetable consumption habits.