Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | September 2017

Council Update

Council Meeting: The next Council meeting will take place on September 7-8 in Kennett Square, PA. If you would like to attend, please let us know so we can make sure you are accommodated.

Nominations: Background forms of eligible nominees have been sent to the Secretary of Agriculture for possible appointment.

Join us for the annual Mushroom Council Regional Roundtables!
As the March PA regional had to be cancelled because of weather, there will be a Regional meeting at the Italian American Club located at 30 Ways Lane in Kennett Square, PA from 4:30pm – 6:30pm on Wednesday, September 6.During the meeting, the latest in Council marketing initiatives, a retail program spotlight and an overview of the Blend marketing strategy and what that means for your business will be presented. The value of the Council to the industry is strengthened by industry input and support; please attend and offer your point of view.

Agenda:
- 4:30pm – 5:00pm – Light Reception featuring The Blend
- 5:00pm – 6:30pm
  - Mushroom Council Strategic Marketing Review and Results
  - Chef to Shelf Shift
  - Sonic BOOM!
  - Council Program Q&A

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

DIGITAL

In honor of Mushroom Month, we are spotlighting the unique mushroom production process through a 24/7 live-stream video of mushroom beds at Bella Farms. Follow along on social media and ShroomCam.com (launches Sept. 1!) as we educate consumers on mushroom production, sustainability and nutrition.

SCHOOL FOODSERVICE

For the busy back to school time Mushrooms In Schools will be ramping up their social media content featuring Blend the Rules entries in a “Steal This Idea” campaign. Follow @mushroomsk12 on Twitter to participate.

RETAIL/RD

Martin’s Potato Rolls and The Council are teaming up with a food blogger to feature a new blended recipe that is perfect for fall tailgating in support of Mushroom Month. The new recipe and link to the blogger site will be shared once it becomes available. Follow Martins Potato Rolls on social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest) for watch for the announcement. In the mean time, visit their Blog and share some of their great recipes featuring mushrooms.
Baesler’s Market, a higher end grocery retailer in Indiana, is offering Blended Turkey patties in the meat department, along with a variety of blend recipes to promote The Blend during their test launch. Other promotional materials on The Blend are being distributed to their customers. Shippers that ship fresh mushrooms to Baesler’s Market are encouraged to visit the store and amplify distribution by talking to the produce and deli managers. Also, visit their website and share their great recipes featuring mushrooms.

UPCOMING EVENTS

DIGITAL

We are working with three of this year’s Blended Burger Project™ participants to serve their blended burgers at the Mushroom Festival, in Kennett Square, on September 9 from 1-3 p.m. Please join us at the kitchen stage to watch the chefs and sample their burgers. Hope to see you all at the Festival!

SCHOOL FOODSERVICE

Plan ahead: October 9 -13 is National School Lunch Week. Start planing your promotion strategy and help celebrate your local school districts and school customers with promotions on social media. Follow @MushroomsK12 for inspiration.

Highlights from August

DIGITAL

We sponsored a Blenditarian booth at the Denver Burger Battle and introduced The Blend to nearly 1,000 attendees. Read the full event recap here. We launched our “One Blend, Four Dinners” back-to-school video and it has more than 52k+ views on Facebook. You can watch the video here and share on your own social channels!

RETAIL/RD

The Council had a meeting with Meijer, on August 9, to discuss promotional ideas and planning for a February 2018 execution. Additional meetings are being scheduled with the merchandising buyer and the registered dietitian to build a cross-promotion with the pharmacy department – promoting the use of Vitamin D. Shippers can begin thinking about how they can amplify the support of The Blend for those that ship to Meijer.

Digital Metrics

Mushroominfo.com

Blenditarian.com

Tracker Highlights from 07/09/2017*

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy: Click here for the full report.

In the 4‐weeks – Mushroom category growth speeding up; outpaces total produce.
In the 52‐weeks – White mushrooms drive category dollar growth

* IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing