Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | October 2018

Council Update

Open Positions on the Council: Ballots have been tallied and background forms have been completed by the nominees and the nomination package has been submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture for appointments.

Council Meeting:The next Council meeting will be held on February 14, 2019 in Orlando, FL. 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

• October marks the tenth Blenditarian Challenge™, and the theme is “Game Day.”  Make one of the featured recipes (or your own favorite recipe) and post a picture to Twitter or Instagram with #BlenditarianChallenge. Learn more here.
• The 2018 Blended Burger Project Winners’ event is on Thursday, October 18 at 6:30 at the James Beard House in NYC. Tickets for the Blended Burger ‘Bun’anza are open to the public and can be purchased here.

FOODSERVICE

• StarChef Congress will be held At the Brooklyn Expo Center, in NYC, on October 21-23, 2018. While open only to sponsors and chefs, there will be a Blended Burger Battle between several “Burger Masters” for attendees to watch and learn. The Council will take photos and develop a case history that you can use to support your business.

SCHOOL FOODSERVICE

• A Council representative will be attending the SNA Industry Boot Camp, October 31-November 1, 2018, in Alexandria, Va. This intense educational seminar is designed to help industry members new to school nutrition and seasoned veterans, who want to brush up, or understand the ins and outs of the school nutrition segment. If you’re interested in learning about the School Nutrition REGISTER HERE.
• SNA Webinar Wednesday is presentation ‘Mushrooms in Schools: Creating On-Trend Meals with More Flavor and Less Sodium.’ Register for the webinar as an indsutry member and gain insights into how large and small districts are utilizing blended commercial products as well as local mushrooms and new IQF options on breakfast menus, lunch trays and salad bars. Click here for more information.

Highlights from September

DIGITAL

• September was Mushroom Month and we celebrated with a series of “Bowl Polls,” asking fans to vote for their favorite mushroom bowls throughout the month. The Blended Taco Bowl took home the prize and Melissa d’Arabian demonstrated the recipe in a Facebook Live.
• The September Blenditarian Challenge™ resulted in 38 original “Better Bowls” entries, including Smokey Chili, Zoodles with Blended Pasta Sauce, and a Mushroom and Turkey Bowl. A few of our favorite reasons for blending include:
  • “Was a delicious adventure in #cooking a new dish for the #blenditarianchallenge.”
  • “I am trying to get in healthy veggies, grains and protein. It was perfect mid-week Dinner to keep me focused and on a health track.”

FOODSERVICE

• SONIC Drive-In relaunched their LTO Signature Slinger Burgers made with 25% mushrooms. You can spread the word on your own social channels by:
  • Retweeting this tweet on twitter
  • Like or comment on this Instagram post
  • Share  and like this Facebook post
  • also, take your staff, your customers and your families to SONIC to ensure success.

SCHOOL FOODSERVICE

• Mushrooms in Schools shared a webinar August 29th with over 800 members of SNA with many follow up requests for more recipes.
• Cypress-Fairbanks, Texas, rolled out their back of the house blended taco meat to great success, view and share their Facebook post here.
• San Diego has been working on four new recipes all featuring the USDA IQF Mushrooms. View and share their Facebook post here.
• Several districts in Georgia have already featured Fresh Georgia Oyster Mushrooms for tastes tests and Farm 2 School features.

Digital Metrics

Click images to enlarge

Mushroom Council

Blenditarian

Digital Metrics

Tracker Highlights

• Download FULL Report here: Period Ending 08/12/2018
• Download the Graphic Highlights Report here: Period ending 08/12/2018

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy

• In the 4-weeks –Organic mushroom dollars and volume both continue to show growth
• In the 52-weeks–Value added mushrooms grew by double-digits, with a triple-digit increase in Southeast

* IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing