Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | November 2017

Coucil Update

Council Meeting: The next Council meeting will take place in February 2018 in San Diego, CA. If you would like to attend, please let us know so we can make sure you are accommodated.

Nominations: Background forms of eligible nominees have been sent to the Secretary of Agriculture for possible appointment. At this time we are still waiting on appointments.

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

School Foodservice

• The Council will exhibit at the California School Nutrition Association Conference November 9-11th in Sacramento, California. If you are interested in attending School Nutrition Association conferences in your state to increase school mushroom sales review the How To Attend a SNA State Show here.

Highlights from October

Digital

• We executed the #TeamBlenditarian social media campaign, resulting in 125 blenditarian pledges and pledge confirmations. Click here to learn more about the promotion and get delicious gameday recipes for your next tailgate.
• A new study on satiety published in the October issue of the journal Appetite indicates that eating a mushroom-rich breakfast may result in less hunger and a greater feeling of fullness after the mushroom breakfast compared to the meat breakfast. Access the full study here.

Foodservice

• AVI Foodsystems is one of America’s largest, family-owned and operated food and hospitality provider, hosted a recipe contest featuring crimini mushrooms. consumers were asked to make one of the three recipes –  1. Curry Tomato and Crimini Shakshuka, 2. Smoked Paprika and Crimini Mushroom Chicken and 3. Pasta with Crimini Mushrooms and Feta Cheese – and share their completed recipes on Facebook for a chance to win a $100 gift card for Fiestaware or Ninjakitchen.com. Although the contest is now closed, you can still share the great recipes via the links below.
  1. Curry Tomato and Crimini Shakshuka 
  2. Smoked Paprika and Crimini Mushroom Chicken
  3. Pasta with Crimini Mushrooms and Feta Cheese 
• There is still time to encourage your consumer followers to cast their vote in the Blended Burger Project™ Campus Edition. The 6 C&U’s with the most online votes will win a trip to cook at the historic James Beard House in NYC. Those who cast their votes will also be entered to win a $1,000 on-campus gift certificate, as well as 10 Runner-Up Prizes: $100 VISA gift card. Cast your vote ever 24 hours.
• The Blend was featured in Restaurant Business Magazine under their Menu Innovation section. Burgh’ers, a 3 time participant in the Blended Burger Project™, talks about their experience with The Blend and how it generates 10%-15% of their weekly revenue. The article also highlights how The Blend eases preparation times and maximizes margins. Read the full article here in the November issue of Restaurant Business. Also watch for a case history that sales teams can utilize coming next month.

Retail/RD

• Albertsons’ supermarket retail dietitians provided two-hour blend food demonstrations featuring a blend burger developed by the Albertsons Company Wellness Services Corporate Dietitian. Fifteen demonstrations took place during October in the following banners: Alberstons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco and Acme. Please see the Facebook videos below. The videos had a total of 243,000 views. Shippers are encouraged to visit the stores and amplify distribution by talking to the produce and deli managers.
  • Molly Tevis makes Mini Umami Burgers:
    • Watch on Albertson’s Facebook
    • Watch on Safeways Facebook

School Foodservice

• The Mushroom Council exhibited at the Florida School Nutrition Association State Conference. Council associates, Dayle Hayes and Malissa Marsden, engaged with hundreds of attendees, sampling the blend and sautéed mushrooms. We displayed our brand new banners, handed out recipe cards and a newly developed 50 Mushroom Recipes Menu Calendar. Download the calendar and share with your school customers.

Digital Metrics

MushroomInfo.com

Blenditarian.com

Tracker Highlights from 08/13/2017*

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy: Click here for the full report.

• In the 4‐weeks – Mushroom category outpaces total produce in dollar growth rate
• In the 52‐weeks – All regions contribute dollar growth to mushroom category

* IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing