Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | February 2017

Council Update

The North American Mushroom Conference is June 21-23, 2017 in Quebec, Canada. Registration is open!
The next Council meeting will take place on June 20-21, 2017 in Quebec, Canada. If you would like to attend, please let us know so we can make sure you are accommodated.
Exemption Applications for 2017 have been mailed to those who are currently exempt. If you need an application, click here.
A call for nominations will be sent on February 1, 2017 for three positions on the Council for the 2018-2020 term. Positions are in Regions 1, 2 & 4.
Save the Date: Regional meetings will be held on March 14, 2017 @ the Italian American Club in PA and on March 15, 2017 in Gilroy, CA as well as a Webinar.

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

Stay tuned for a new nutrition resource under development – A Recipe for Success: Best Practices for Blend Recipe Development. This will be used with retail dietitians at Oldways and for the RDBA Recipe Contest but can easily be repurposed for industry partners.
Heinen’s Fine Foods is a specialty regional supermarket chain in Northeast Ohio and Chicago metropolitan area. They will begin testing Blend recipes for their prepared meat and foodservice departments. They will be testing a variety of the Council’s Blend recipes including the Mediterranean Blended Burger.
The Council is meeting with Coborn’s Grocery to discuss promotional opportunities for The Blend.

Buona Foods, Inc. is promoting The Blend during Super Bowl weekend with a three-day demo running from 10am – 7pm. The Council will support their program by supplying recipe cards for: Turkey Tacos, Turkey Mushroom Sliders and Beef and Mushroom Chili. The Blended Burger is featured on their website along with topping it with grilled portobellos.
In time for American Heart Month (February), we’re kicking off a new social media campaign: “Shroom-mates: Nutritious Pairings for the Heart & Plate,” spotlighting the health benefits of mushrooms and partner ingredients (lamb, tomatoes, and pulses). Follow Mushroom Council’s social channels to join in the fun, and share your own favorite nutritious mushroom pairings using the hashtag #Shroommates.
Blenditarian.com, a microsite designed to foster an online community of Blend advocates and fans, will launch mid-February. The website will feature Blend recipes, tutorials and a pledge form to join the movement. Stay tuned for the official launch date announcement!
Updated industry sales materials will be posted to assist the mushroom industry in selling fresh and USDA mushrooms to the school market
The Blend the Rules campaign continues to gain momentum. Encourage your local districts to participate and produce distributors to share with their school customers. Learn more information here www.mushroomsinschools.com/blend-the-rules/
Attend the CIA’s Worlds of Healthy Flavors and Healthy Menus Collaborative with a considerable number of major chains to move forward the work/progress we have made on menuing the Blend on several chain and FSM menus and showing other chains how they can use the Blend.
Product development for Firebirds Grill and several other major chains on The Blend with launch dates scheduled for later this year.

Highlights from January

Nutrition News About Mushrooms e-newsletter was delivered to 8,000+ nutrition professionals. The winter issue included a guest article by Michelle Dudash, RDN, a nationally recognized and award winning Chef and dietitian.
Mushrooms made the December issue of Today’s Dietitian Magazine, with mentions of mushrooms as a rich food source of vitamin D in the Editor’s letter and mention of sun-exposed mushrooms as a natural source of vitamin D in the monthly CPE article: Vitamin D — Learn About Its Impact on the Immune System, Its Role in Autoimmunity, and Its Importance for Specific Autoimmune Diseases.

North State Grocers ran a mushroom and meat promotion on December 7th. It ran through December 20th. Point-of-Sale signage was displayed in both the produce and meat departments featuring the promotion.
- This is the first time they promoted mushrooms between the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas when there is usually a lull in retail sales. The promotion resulted in a Total Unit increase of 8.2% over the same period last year. Total Sales had an 8.8% increase over last year. The retailer would like to work together in future promotions to grow the mushroom category.
The Council met with Northgate Gonzalez Markets to present The Blend. The Council will now begin building a promotional plan with them to promote The Blend in the produce department of all 41 California stores. The retailer is the leading Hispanic retailer in the Southern California region.
Harmons Grocery plans to run a test in the deli department with Blended Meatballs. If The Blend test is successful with their taste-testing shoppers, Harmons will roll it out to all 17 Utah-based stores.
The TODAY Show featured Blended Burger Project winner Logan Guleff making his winning blended burger on the January 17 show! Share a link to the clip on your social channels to spread the word about the trend to blend – here’s the link!
Farm to School sales of fresh mushrooms increased 43% in 2016 from 2015.
Over seven meat processors are now selling mushroom blended products to the school market.
Four videos demonstrating the best practices on cooking with USDA mushrooms were shared with the school nutrition industry.
Over 500 school nutrition professionals attended a School Nutrition Foundation Webinar and learned about the many benefits of incorporating the Blend and mushrooms into their school meals.
Four new school district success stories were added to the website. Use these case studies to show local districts on how they can incorporate mushrooms into their meal plan successfully www.mushroomsinschools.com/success-stories.
Partnering with James Beard Foundation and Foodservice Management on development of a BBP C&U which growers can leverage among their own universities to help them menu the Blend and join the promotion.
Menu Development with ARAMARK to help facilitate use of the Blend.

Digital Metrics

Events

Oldways Supermarket Dietitian Symposium. March 19-22, Scottsdale, A.
NACUFS Regional Meetings where we have proposed speaking roles for the Mushroom Council and our JBF partner.
Menu Directions participation with a speaking role to introduce BBP C&U

Topline Report

Tracker Highlights from 11/27/2016

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy:

In the 4‐weeks – Mixed sales trends result in flat dollars and volume for the category
In the 52‐weeks – White mushrooms continue to drive long term category dollar growth

Click here for the full report