Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | July 2018

Council Update

Nominations: The call for nominations for three positions on the Council for the 2019-2021 term is now closed. Letters are being mailed to those who have been nominated to verify the acceptance of such nomination. Region 2 which includes PA has two seats opening and Region 3 which includes CA has one seat opening.
Ballots: Ballots will be mailed on or about June 1. If you are in Regions 2 or 3 and do not receive a ballot and believe you are eligible to vote, please contact Cheryl @ [email protected]

The Mushroom Council sees the pursuit of diversity in board membership as an opportunity for embracing new ideas and growth that will enable the Council to better serve the industry. Central to this effort is having leadership to serve on the Council that reflects a diversity of perspectives and opinions. The industry population is diverse, and the Council should reflect, without discrimination, that diversity in the size of operations, experience of members, methods of production and distribution, marketing strategies, and other distinguishing factors that will bring different types of individuals, perspectives and ideas to the table.

Council Meeting: The next Council meeting will be held on June 7-8 in Boston. If you would like to attend, please let us know so we can make sure you are accommodated.

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

DIGITAL

July marks the seventh Blenditarian Challenge™, and the theme is Summer Fiesta! Make one of the featured recipes (or your own favorite recipe) and post a picture to Twitter or Instagram with #BlenditarianChallenge. Learn more here.
Retail dietitians are being challenged to share their Blend demos on social media now through July 20. Please engage your retailer to participate via this link from Retail Dietitians Business Alliance.
For the fourth year, the Mushroom Council is partnering with the Beef Checkoff for a summerlong veal grilling promotion at retail. Check out this article in The Packer for more info.

FOODSERVICE

The James Beard Blended Burger Project™ enters its final month for voting. There are more than 300 participants, in most states. Visit the James Beard Foundation website to find a participating restaurant in your area, and get out and give it a try! Check out all the inventive burgers that are being blended with mushrooms here, and cat your vote daily. There are also food trucks, universities, retailers, like Neiman-Marcus, and business dining like Pinterest and Twitter who are participating.
In July, NACUFS will hold their annual event for college & university foodservice operators. While it is too late to exhibit, you may still be able to attend if you want to continue to penetrate the college market. The Council will be there exhibiting and serving blended items and speaking on a panel.

Highlights from June

DIGITAL

The June Blenditarian Challenge™ (Brunch) received more than 70 entries, including Barbara’s Blended Omelet and Vimon’s Blended-Beef Hash.

FOODSERVICE

The Mushroom Council held a hands-on chef training session with 75 West Coast C&U dining chefs at NACUFS 2018 Pacific Region Chef Net.
SONIC Drive-in finished their Signature Slinger promotion and are reviewing the results. Food Business News is offering a sneak peek into the results of the highly successful 6 month LTO. Click here to read the article.
The Council exhibited at IDDBA where we met a number of meat manufacturers who are interested in The Blend. We also exhibited and presented an update on The Blend at the UMass Culinary Conference. At both events, we distributed information on The Blend, The Blend at Burgh’ers and the Datassentials Summary all which can be downloaded below.

Digital Metrics

Click images to enlarge

Mushroom Council

Blenditarian

Tracker Highlights from Period Ending 05-20-18*

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy

In the 4-weeks – Mushroom category dollar growth rate outpaced total produce by +4.1 points
In the 52-weeks – Dollar growth shown in all regions across the U.S.

* IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing