Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | November 2023

Council Update

Council Meeting: The next Council meeting will be held on February 27 in Las Vegas prior to the North American Mushroom Conference. If you are interested in attending, please let us know so we can be sure you are accommodated.

Exemption Applications: The exemption applications for the 2024 calendar year will be mailed/emailed to those who are currently exempt. If you do not receive an application and would like to apply for an exemption, please email [email protected] or download an application here

Council Webinars: See past webinars here: MushroomCouncil Industry Member Webinars

Shipment Summary

Channel Highlights

CONSUMER

October:

• The Mushroom Council is partnering with renowned chef Derek Sarno for a mushroom cooking series. Debuting in September, the Mushroom Grilling 101 campaign featured 2 grilling recipes highlighting mushrooms. Chef Sarno developed recipes that debuted via e-blasts, social media, reels and YouTube. Please continue to amplify these social posts across your platforms.
  • Follow Derek on Instagram
  • Share the “Grilled Mushroom Skewers” and “Portabella Mushroom Sliders 6 Ways” recipes.
  • Use this swipe copy for your caption and download the high-resolution photos:
    • Copy & images here
  • Engage with the social content (like, comment, share):
    • Grilled Mushroom Skewers
      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • TikTok
      • Pinterest
      • YouTube
    • Portabella Mushroom Sliders 6 Ways
      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • TikTok
      • Pinterest
      • YouTube

November:

• In addition to the above two grilling recipes, Derek will develop two holiday recipes launching in November. Holiday recipes will be featured in the same platforms included above: e-blast, YouTube, social channels, and Mushroom Council recipe pages. Look out for and engage with those posts in November.

MUSHROOMS IN SCHOOLS

October:

• During October, Mushrooms in Schools promoted Farm to School Month and National School Lunch Week by highlighting recipes and resources to engage students. Utilizing our newsletter, blog, and social media platforms, we have reached a wide audience this month. Many school districts are sharing mushroom recipes and tagging our social media platforms on their posts. On our social media platforms, we highlighted the following school districts: Everett Public Schools, Lake Region High School, Florence ISD, Holeman Nutrition Services, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and Valparaiso School District.

November:

• In November, Mushrooms in Schools will be celebrating holiday recipes that of course – include mushrooms! Additionally, we plan to use November to reach more of our audience, such as CACFP and families, and excite them for our upcoming December event, 5 Days of Mushrooms. We will highlight resources and recipes all month long. Our giveaways for schools and CACFP will occur to increase engagement from these stakeholders as well as gathering wonderful mushrooms recipes. We encourage other channels to amplify Mushrooms in Schools by sharing posts on Facebook and  Twitter. 

FOODSERVICE

October:

• The digital version of Flavor and the Menu’s “5 Super ’Shroom Trends to Watch” was well received by 13K Foodservice Industry professionals.
  • Leverage the power of mushrooms with flavor-forward menu ideas by:
    • Posting on linkedin – Use this swipe copy for your caption.
    • Reshare Mushroom Council Linkedin Post
    • Click the emai icon on the webpage to Forward to your customers!
• Leveling up the Modern Pizza: When it comes to pizza, mushrooms are all over it. This trend, highlighed in Flavor & The Menu – 5 Super ’Shroom Trends to Watch, is also clearly evident in the 3rd Quarter LTO report run for the Council by Datassential. With ’Shrooms playing a starring roll in pizza promotions from Blaze Pizza, Seasons 52, Little Caesars, jet’s Pizza Pizza Inn — even Wawa C-Stores.
  • Download and share the Datassentials Q3 report  with your sales and marketing team.
  • Post on linkedin – Use this swipe copy and image.
• Menu Directions, October 8-10, 2023, hosted by The Ohio State University.
  Menu Directions is attended by leading foodservice directors and executive chefs looking to take their menus to the next level. The Mushroom Council’s education session featured “Shroom-ability”: utilizing mushrooms in plant-based and plate forward dishes to make every dish more craveable, more flexible, more forgivable and more sustainable —nutritious and delicious!
  • Download the recipes that were prepared and sampled; share them with your sales team to use as a resource when pitching to foodservice customers.
  • Engage with our Foodservice Strategist, Pam Smith’s, social content (like, comment, share):
    • Instagram
    • Facebook
  • And don’t forgot to try them for yourself.

November:

• The Council’s new campaign for 2024 is #MushroomMonday.
  This collaborative initiative of Foodservice and Consumer promotion will encourage food service operators to add more mushrooms to their menu and consumers to habitually seek out mushrooms both at home and in meals away from home. Leaning into the power of celebrating “Taco Tuesday”, “Mushroom Monday” is poised to establish mushrooms as an essential lifestyle choice, positioning Mushrooms as a positive way to kick off the week.
  Colleges and universities have enthusiastically received the message – and can move quickly to respond. “The C&U Road Tour”, launched at Yale University in August, 2023, goes to North Carolina State University this month. The Good Food Day Culinary Immersion is a collaborative Culinary Immersion with Mushroom Council, Lentils and Alaskan Seafood, providing College and University Chefs and Dining Directors education and hands-on menu development with delicious ingredients that count for student health, wellness and planetary health concerns. This initiative provides reach for The Blend, Extend the Blend, and begins to seed for engagement in #MushroomMonday, with measurable impact on mushroom use and purchase. Every Monday is #MushroomMonday — let it become a celebration!
  • What’s Next?
    • Keep your eyes open for resources and marketing material from the council launching early 2024.
    • Download our Trends Presentations to help your team and customers better understand the C&U student population.

Marketing Summary

Notable Highlights for September

• The Mushroom Month campaign, Real Fast. Real Food., led to massive MOM growth across all metrics, namely +350% for Pinterest impressions and a 237% increase in website impressions.
• Engagements also grew exponentially (+622% YOY), most likely due to an increased investment in digital/social ads.
• Our campaign enewsletter series saw a 921% open increase YOY. We sent a total of 5emails, 1 weekly meal plan (4x) and 1 reminder email at the end of our campaign.
• Display ad impressions increased YOY by 84.76%, clicks increased 1956% from 2022.

*YouTube engagement metrics have changed. Digital metrics are constantly evolving, so we created our own updated Engagement metrics (comments + shares + likes + dislikes + subscribers lost + subscribers gained)

Special Campaign Impressions
Includes paid promotions, partnerships and advertising activities.

Topline Report

Tracker Highlights – Period ending 10/08/2023

Download the latest quad-week retail data providing deep insight into fresh mushroom sales at retail. A few of the highlights:

• September typically brings more home-cooking, and with it, an upswing in mushroom volume sales at retail compared to the prior period.
• These long-term patterns held and mushroom volume in quad-week 10 increased by 2.3% over quad-week 9. Typically, volume increases quad-week-over-quad week until February of the following year.
• However, in comparison to year ago levels, mushroom sales continued to be challenged in both the four- and 52-week periods. Sales were down year-on-year in dollars, units and pounds.
• Fresh mushroom prices are lower than year-ago levels and promotions are gearing up.
• Brown mushrooms declined less in pounds than white mushrooms and specialty mushrooms increased in dollars and pounds. Both are trends seen for many years.
• 8-ounce packages are the biggest seller and outperformed 16-ounce packages, the second-largest seller.
• Organic mushrooms increased pound sales in quad week 10 as did whole (unsliced) mushrooms.