Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | August 2020

Council Update

Open Positions on the Council (2021-2023 term):
Ballots have been tabulated and background forms have been completed by those with the highest votes and pounds. The nomination package has been sent to USDA to have their names sent to the Secretary of Agriculture for possible appointment to the Council.

Region 1 (All states except CA & PA) – one open position
Region 2 (PA) – one open position
Region 4 (Importers) – one open position

Council Meeting:

The next Council meeting will take place on September 10-11, 2020 via ZOOM. If you would like to attend, please reach out to [email protected].

Stay Up-To-Date with Industry News

As part of our mandate to provide the industry with the most up to date information Bart Minor, Mushroom Council President, will be providing timely updates on events and news as it affects the mushroom industry. View past newsletters here.

If you would like to receive this newsletter, please subscribe via this link: http://eepurl.com/gWWjHj

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

PUBLIC RELATIONS

A recipe for Blended Burgers with Quick Pickles will be featured in the August print edition of EatingWell Magazine. View a scan of the recipe here.
Press release distribution announcing a newly published mushroom research review out of Australia. The review looks at the health effects and bioactive components in Agaricus bisporus mushrooms and was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Highlights from July

DIGITAL

The Blended Burger Project competition wrapped up at the end of June with a total of 490 entries, exceeding the 2019 competition by 25 percent. Bon Appetit and the Council are working on wrapping up the campaign and coordinating final assets with the winners.
Food blogger and cookbook author Jennifer Pallian’s recipe for blended Mushroom Burgers with Swiss Cheese was featured in the July issue of Costco Connection. Costco Connection has 14.3 million print subscribers, making it one of the nation’s largest print publications. View the placement here.

NUTRITION

Sponsored the Culinary Nutrition Conference, a virtual day-long event targeting registered dietitians. There were 93 attendees. Mushrooms were included in two sessions – one featuring The Blend and the second with an umami focus
- “Let’s Get Wild! Game Meat 101” with Chef Ben Del Coro highlighting The Blend.
- “The 5^th Taste: Using Umami to Boost Flavor in Plant-Based Recipes” in partnership with the Institute of Culinary Education.

FOODSERVICE

In early 2020 we created new collateral on the performance of The Blend in taste tests. In addition to highlighting the benefits of nutrition and sustainability, this factsheet showcases the results of the taste these: The Blend outperformed traditional burgers and a popular branded plant-based burger in a number of sensory categories. As you are promoting The Blend, be sure to use this information as flavor is one of the most important attributes.
Even though we are just over halfway through the year, we have seen tremendous amounts of articles written about The Blend. We have developed several materials, including a factsheet and presentation, that summarize what is being said about mushrooms and The Blend. Use these to showcase how The Blend and mushrooms are on-trend at retail and away from home. These will help position mushrooms to your audiences as a popular, nutritious, sustainable, versatile and “power” food.

Metrics

Mushroom Channel

Blenditarian

Hashtags

Special Campaigns

Monthly Topline Report

Tracker Highlights – Period ending 05/17/2020

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy

In the 4-weeks – Mushrooms capture volume growth across the U.S.
In the 52-weeks – 4-week trends elevated dollar sales for 52-week period

Fresh Produce continues to show elevated sales during the Corona Virus pandemic and mushroom sales are particularly strong. Category dollars increased +35.0% in the current 4-week period, +25 points ahead of Total Produce.
This dollar growth was driven by an increase in volume (+30.3%) and average price/lb. (+3.6%)
All regions across the U.S. showed double-digit increases in dollar sales, led by Plains (+41.5%)
- Nearly all markets also showed double-digit dollar growth, led by Portland at +56.6%
Conventional and Organic mushroom sales increased this period. Conventional dollar sales increased +34.0% (+$27.9M) and contributed 84% of dollar growth, while Organic dollar sales increased +41.4% (+$5.1M)

*IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing

Click Here for the Full Topline Report