Shipping Reports
Monthly Shipping Report | August 2016
Council Update
- The next Council meeting is September 8-9, 2016 in Kennett Square, PA. If you plan on attending, please email [email protected] so we can make sure you are accommodated.
- Completed ballots have been tallied. The possible nominees have been sent to the Secretary of Agriculture for possible appointment.
Shipment Summary
Marketing Summary
Mushrooms appeared in a variety of regional and national lifestyle, business and foodservice trade outlets with articles highlighting recipes, nutrition benefits, The Blend and the Blended Burger Project (BBP). A blended burger recipe was featured in the July issue of Oprah Magazine, calling it a “genius idea.” Moreover, Associated Press contributor, Katie Workman’s blended Asian burger recipe was subsequently posted in several syndicated outlets. As the Blended Burger Project came to a close this month, local outlets continued to tout their participating restaurants such as The News & Observer in Raleigh and a CBS WCCO broadcast segment in Minneapolis promoting Red Cow’s blended burger. Of note, the Seattle Times article ‘How to make a better burger’ from June, continued to be rposted this month in several print and online outlets.
| 7/6/2016 | Flagpole | Doughnuts Downtown, Ice Cream at the mall and Changes at Five & Ten |
| 7/6/2016 | Daily Reporter-Herald | Mushrooms, salmon used to build a better burger |
| 7/6/2016 | The Gainsville Sun | How to make a better burger |
| 7/6/2016 | OCALA Star Banner | How to make a better burger |
| 7/6/2016 | Tyler Morning Telegraph | Enlightened ways: How to make a better burger |
| 7/6/2016 | York Dispatch | Blended Burgers take off |
| 7/6/2016 | The Dominion Post | Make a burger healthier: Blend it |
| 7/6/2016 | The Eagle | Building a better burger |
| 7/8/2016 | The News & Observer | Try a blended burger at Raliegh’s Cameron Bar and Grill |
| 7/12/2016 | The Columbian | Blending makes a better burger |
Print Coverage |
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| Date | Headline | Publication | URL | |
| 7/1/2016 | Meet your new favorite STEAK | FINE COOKING | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | TREAT YOUR VEG LIKE MEAT | BON APPETIT | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | Supplemental Reading Vitamin D | LADIES’ HOME JOURNAL | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | Spinach-Stuffed Mushrooms | ALLRECIPES | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | NO-COOK Summer Salads | BETTER NUTRITION | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | 3 WAYS WITH… Spinach | FINE COOKING | Link | |
| 7/1/2016 | Mixing Bowl | O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE | Link | |
| 7/10/2016 | Less is more with Blended Burgers | STANDARD-SPEAKER | Link | |
| 7/11/2016 | Good-for-you dinners the whole family will love! | WOMAN’S WORLD | Link | |
| 7/12/2016 | Blending makes a better burger | COLUMBIAN | Link | |
| 7/13/2016 | How to make a better burger | DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE | Link | |
| 7/13/2016 | HOWTO BUILD BETTER BURGER | BUFFALO NEWS | Link | |
| 7/13/2016 | How to make a better burger | WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL | Link | |
| 7/14/2016 | ‘Blended burger’ is mouthwatering | SUN MESSENGER | Link | |
| 7/14/2016 | Join the trend of adding mushrooms to meats for body, taste | FLORIDA TIMES-UNION | Link | |
| 7/14/2016 | Join the trend of adding mushrooms to meats for body, taste | GEORGIA TIMES-UNION | Link | |
| 7/20/2016 | How to make a better burger | MAIL TRIBUNE | Link | |
| 7/20/2016 | How to make a better burger | DAILY CAMERA | Link | |
| 7/21/2016 | Cut the fat and increase flavor with mushrooms | DETROIT NEWS | Link | |
| 7/27/2016 | BURGER HEALTH MUSHROOMS | SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE | Link | |
| 7/31/2016 | POWDER POWER | BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK | Link | |
Social & Digital
Videos
The Mushroom Channel and blogger ambassadors created and promoted four new recipe videos in July, resulting in 108,517 views.
- Billy Parisi’s Shiitake Pork Burger with Banh Mi Slaw (49,057 views)
- Portabella Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce (31,025 views)
- Chez Us’ Asian Mushroom Chicken Patties (21,604)
- Veal & Mushroom Blended Meatballs (6,831)
Blogs
The Mushroom Channel published five blog posts that garnered 193 page views and accounted for 0.16% of all page views in July.
- Get Out the Grill
- WATCH: Get Your Grill on with Billy Parisi’s Shiitake Pork Burger
- WATCH: Portabella Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce
- WATCH: Celebrate National Grilling Month with Asian Mushroom Chicken Patties
- Guest Blogger: Dr. BBQ’s Marinated Grilled Portabellas
Blended Burger Project
The most influential/top posts from July included posts from Official Food Group (Baltimore), A Chef’s Life (PBS TV Series), and Bay Area Buzz (SF Bay Tourism).
Digital Metrics
FOODSERVICE
The Blended Burger Project
This month we wrapped up the competitive portion of the James Beard Foundation Blended Burger Project. With 349 or the most adventurous and creative chefs in the country from 38 states and from every type of restaurant and concept, the program grew considerably over the first year. With hundreds of thousands of votes, the five winners include:
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- , New York City (LaGuardia Place location) – topping its wild boar and sweet tamari mushroom blended burger with picked red onion, crispy mustard greens and a Sriracha vinaigrette.
- The Wood’s Kitchen, Bloomingdale, Ga. – serving up a Worcestershire-glazed double mushroom burger with charred Vidalia onion on a mushroom-salted brioche bun.
- Logan’s Underground Supper Club, Memphis, Tenn. – presenting “The Mushroom Monster”: equal parts portabella mushrooms and ground beef, then seasoned with its own Legends seasoning blend. The burger is topped with fontina cheese, lettuce, tomato and bacon.
- Melbourne, Fla. – featuring ground beef blended with portabella, shiitake and cremini mushrooms, topped with pomegranate ketchup, banana pepper curry mustard, tahini remoulade, balsamic onion, goat cheese, bacon, spinach and avocado.
- The Orchard Lounge, McAllen, Texas – creating a shiitake, chorizo and beef blend patty, topped with homemade strawberry fig jam, chipotle Aioli, pickled cucumber, b utter lettuce, a fried egg, bacon, tomato and string mushrooms.
Many of our partners, like Chefs Collaborative and Plate Magazine, publicized the promotion and sent final “get out the vote” communiques. The next step for these winners will be to cook their winning mushroom-blended burgers at the historic James Beard House in October.
Culinary Institute of America
Coming off the first annual CIA Blended Burger Bash, the Council is now working with CIA to roll out this Blended Burger Bash concept to other campuses including Napa and San Antonio. It’s all about showcasing to the CIA community of teachers and students how the iconic burger can be made even better with mushrooms.
Colleges and Universities
The Council conducted a training amongst the culinary staff at the University of Illinois. While their chefs learned new ways for them to use the Blend, a good part of the training was spent working with their on-campus butcher and their meat suppliers to ensure that the only burger served on campus is Blended burger. The campus will feature a Mushroom Mania during the first semester.
Training is also set for Michigan State University which has adopted the Blend on some parts of campus, but wants to extend it to all venues with all their culinarians. At the same time, we are working with San Jose State (training) and the University of Montana (Mushroom Mania), which has already converted all its burgers to The Blend.
Chains
Chains continue to be a focus of our program. The Council is showing Blended concepts to a regional fast casual chain and is working with several others including their meat companies to commercialize. We have in fact been consulting with 4 new meat companies, all of which have customers who have asked for The Blend.
Other
The Council was on the agenda at the recent SNEB nutrition conference and continues to work with major FSMs to drive penetration of The Blend. Plus, one of the manufacturers of The Blend, Big Fork Brands, just received an award for their Bacon Portabella Sausage.
SCHOOL FOODSERVICE
- The Council sponsored a Blended Burger Bash at the Fuel Up To Play 60 leadership summit in in Indianapolis, IN. Over 150 students from across the country enjoyed Blended Burgers and were encouraged to share the Blend with their foodservice program in order to serve a healthier, juicer burger. The Council received dozens of new burger builds and photos to promote in our resources and media relations.
- The Council began production on four new Blend training videos for school foodservice directors and managers. Filming took place at Wyndam Raymond School District with Chef Samantha Gasborro.
- Council is developing plans for the 2017/2018 school year to incorporate the Blended Burger Project and Blenditarians Across America campaigns.
- The Council plans to launch its Blend the Rules campaign this summer throughout the conferences and expos. The campaign encourages district directors to show us how they are using different tricks to serve healthier meals to students. The campaign will last throughout the 2016/2017 school year cumulating in an Earth Day announcement.
- Dallas Public Schools and San Diego Public Schools have switched to serving Blended Burgers in their districts.
- Farm to School campaigns promoting fresh mushrooms are planned to take place in Georgia, Florida and Washington D.C
- Plans are being developed to create a Blended Burger Bash in Nashville Public Schools
- The Council has developed digital ads to appear in the School Nutrition Association e-blast as well as a direct send via School Nutrition smart brief in order to promote the availability of mushrooms as well as Council developed resources.
- All recipes on mushroomsinschools.com are currently being updated to meet changing meal pattern requirements. You can view the updated recipes and resources here.
NUTRITION
The Q3 Nutrition News About Mushrooms e-newsletter is under content development and will include a summary of our National Mushroom Month campaign, media pitches, talking points and social media posts for National Mushroom Month, update on the winners of the Blended Burger Project and a nutrition research update on mushroom intake and memory and balance.
Supermarket RD
The Council will be a sponsor at Retail Dietitians Business Alliance’s (RDBA) Supermarket Dietitian networking event on Saturday, October 15 and will host a cocktail reception for supermarket, media and blogger dietitians on Monday, October 17. Save the dates for the cocktail reception were delivered and official invitations for RSVPs will go out in September.
As a result of our ongoing efforts and outreach with retail dietitians:
- The RDs at Festival Foods showed viewers how to make Blend burgers on their local broadcast station, reaching 11,000 viewers.
- The RD team at Harmon’s presented selling a Blend burger to their meat department director and plan to bring samples of the Blend to their next meeting with the meat department.
- The RD at Mackenthun’s Fine Foods is experimenting with a prepared Blend burger to sell in their meat department.
- The current issue of Big Y’s Living Well Eating Smart newsletter (July-September) features a one-page spread on The Blend as part of the dietitian’s corner section. The newsletter has a print circulation of 55,000 and is also available to shoppers online.
Mushrooms and Health Global Initiative
Please see the attached August issue of the Mushrooms and Health Global Initiative Bulletin. The project ends August 31 and the Initiative Team appreciates your readership and support over almost a decade of activities. We hope the Initiative has provided you with resources and examples of how to communicate the health and nutrient benefits of mushrooms and encourage you to keep up this important work.
In this the last issue of the Bulletin, read how:
- South Africa implemented an in-store promotion focusing on men’s health
- Spain participated in the first World Conference on the Mediterranean Diet
- Australia continued supporting health professional conferences and farm tours
- The United States hosted a webinar on the trend toward plant based eating that focused on the Blend.
RETAIL
Please contact Fusion Marketing if you would like sales and marketing assistance with your Blend or mushroom programs. If you or your staff need assistance, please contact us. Contact information can be found at MushroomsAtRetail.com.
The Council sent Geissler’s the Blend recipe for meatballs, chili, chili and macaroni, and turkey meatloaf for their deli department. Discussing possible promotional ideas and materials for a potential Blend launch.
The Council sent Riverside Market Turkey Taco Blend recipe cards. The cards were used in the produce / mushroom area to promote The Blend.
The Council sent Turkey Taco recipe cards to HyVee’s registered dietitians for a Blend sampling promotion.
Mackenthun’s is an upscale retailer in Minnesota. Their mission is to provide customers with an exceptional food experience. Their in-store retail dietitian is promoting The Blend. The Council sent Turkey Taco Blend recipe cards to them for the promotion. They are developing different Blend recipes and hope to select a Blend recipe as an ongoing item.
Updated Retailer Information
Doc’s Foods Stores (Country Mart, J&B Food, Apple Market) had a successful Blend pilot launch with their promotion in the meat, deli and produce departments in June. The produce department had a 60% increase of mushroom sales; an 11.6% increase in hamburger patty sales; and a 10% increase in sales on dinner meal sales (meatloaf). The meat department continues to sell Blend patties. The Deli department continues to run promotions on The Blend. The produce department continues promoting The Blend through POS material.
Doc’s was excited to work with the Mushroom Council to promote The Blend. They would be happy to participate with the Council in future promotions.
The sales information will be used for the case study.
Co-Marketing
The Council is implementing opportunities for 2016 retail co-marketing promotions.
The Mushroom Council is featuring Cabot’s Portobello Alpine Beef Burger. A Grilled Cheesy Portobello Caps with Turkey Sage recipe will also be featured. Both recipes will link back to Cabot’s Website. Cabot Creamery will include the Council’s Blended Lasagna Roll Ups recipe using Cabot Alpine Cheddar and a Cheeseburger Pizza using Cabot Vermont Sharp cheese. Both recipes will link back to the Council’s website.
A press release was sent to the trade publications to promote The Blend. The press release generated over 78,875 impressions with pick-up in The Packer, Fresh Plaza and Fresh Fruit Portal.
Updated Information
The Council is in discussion with Kenwood Wines and Weber Grills for a potential promotion at retail. The promotion includes sampling opportunites, working with other partners including Weber Grills. The promotion would take place May-June 2017. Approximately 200,000 necker booklets are printed with coupons and a featured recipe. The Council is reviewing all aspects of the promotion to determine awareness-building opportunities, sampling/trial and return on investments.
The Mushroom Council and Beef Checkoff Veal Mushroom Summer Grilling has 156,899 entries to date. The promotion runs from June 3 – September 7, 2016. The Mushroom + Veal Pinterest Board has over 6,000 followers and 34,000+ impressions.
A Facebook component is in development. Consumers can enter to win a food processor. The contest will launch August 22nd as an amplification of the main promotion. This offers consumers a reminder of the promotion with another chance to win. The contest winner will be selected on August 29th. The Council ran a similar promotion last year, which generated more entries into the contest, which will provide additional names to opt-in to receive content directly from the Mushroom Council.
Topline Report
Tracker Highlights from 7/10/2016
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