Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | October 2021

Council Update

Video Recording of Mushroom Council Annual Mushroom Industry Market Review Meeting Now Available

Although the industry was unable to gather in person this year, the meeting was still held virtually. A recording of the meeting is available for industry members to watch here.

The meeting included the following agenda items:

State of the Industry and Marketing Strategy Review by Mushroom Council Strategic Advisor Dr. Mark Lang
Retail Performance and Outlook by Anne-Marie Roerink, 210 Analytics
Foodservice Performance and Outlook by Marie Molde, Datassential
“Is it Worth It?” – an Econometric Review by Dr. Tim Richards from Arizona State University
2021 Marketing Activity Year in Review Film (This 10-minute film can also be viewed here.)
Q&A Session featuring the Mushroom Council Board Members, Staff, and Consultants

Open Positions on the Council (2022-2024 term):

The nomination package has been sent to the Secretary of Agriculture for appointments.

Region 2 (PA) – two open positions
Region 3 (CA) – one open position

Next Council Meeting:
September 9-10, 2021 – Zoom

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

PUBLIC RELATIONS & DIGITAL

October social/digital content will focus on vegetarian recipes to support World Vegetarian Day (10/1), mushroom variety spotlights in celebration of National Mushroom Day (10/15) and game day hacks & recipes throughout the month.
As part of our retail dietitian program, we’ll be leading a webinar in partnership with Retail Dietitians Business Alliance utilizing recent research findings on voluntary Nutrition Facts labeling.

SCHOOL NUTRITION

On our social media accounts, we will celebrate Farm to School Month. We will celebrate Mushroom Growers through our newsletter. Additionally, Farm to School Resources along with Classroom Curriculums will be provided on how to introduce mushrooms to students. Please encourage your school nutrition community to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be notified of new recipes and resources!

Highlights from September

PUBLIC RELATIONS & DIGITAL

Worked with Elaine Magee, MPH, RD on four new recipes to be featured on her Recipe Doctor blog as well as in

Mushroom Council celebrated National Mushroom Month across social and digital channels with daily mushroom inspiration and facts under the theme of “Explore Mushrooms!”
- Campaign elements included a special landing page, digital banner ads, social media posts and ads, regional recipes shares, RD-created content, regional restaurant spotlights, media outreach, weekly consumer and industry emails, and a sweepstakes.

Mushroom Council presented a 30-minute Feed Your Immune System presentation to 26 nutrition writers and media dietitians on September 27.

SCHOOL NUTRITION

For Mushroom Month we celebrated by highlighting various mushroom facts and resources weekly. Our monthly blog and newsletter highlighted recipes and resources to assist school nutrition professionals procuring mushrooms in schools.

Metrics

Mushroom Channel

Blenditarian

Hashtags

Monthly Topline Report

Tracker Highlights – Period ending 8/8/2021

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy

The Fresh Mushroom category experience d softer sales when compared to the pandemic surge of 2020 . For the 4 week period, the mushroom category brought in retail sales of $91M, which wa s down 11.4% from 2020. Specialty Mushrooms st oo d out this period with dollar and volume growth in 4 of 8 regions, contributing an additional +$75k and +14k lbs. to the category.
When compared to the pre pandemic sales of 2019 , Fresh Mushrooms have experienced strong dollar and volume growth. Nationally, the mushroom category saw increase s of +11.4% in dollars and +7.4% in volume over the 2 year period . The Northeast drove growth for the category contr ibuting an additional +$1.7M and +3 28k lbs. since 2019

Total Mushrooms – 4 Weeks

Fresh Mushroom sales decreased -11.4% in dollars, while Total Produce dollars declined -1.0%
Mushroom category volume was down -12.6%, while the average price/lb. was $4.29/lb. (+1.3%)
Conventional dollar sales saw declines of -11.2%, while Organic dollars decreased by -13.0%

*IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing

Click Here for the Full Topline Report