Shipping Reports

Monthly Shipping Report | July 2013

July 23, 2013

COUNCIL UPDATE

  • Ballots for positions on the Council beginning January 1, 2014 have been tabulated and the two qualifying candidates in each region have been sent background forms to complete. Once the completed forms are received a nomination package will be forward to USDA for appointment by the Secretary.
  • The next Council meeting is being held on Wednesday, September 11, 2013 in Washington D.C. If you would like to attend this meeting please contact Cheryl so we can make sure you are accommodated.

  • Upcoming Webinars are listed below:
    • Thursday, August 1; 2:00-3:00pm EST – Mushroom Market & Sales Resource Update
      This webinar will provide an interactive forum where the Council will share the latest retail and foodservice; sales resources, opportunities, successes to date, customer benefits and tools to further your business. Topics will include:

      • New Mushroom Council foodservice and school websites
      • Trends affecting fresh produce at retail and foodservice
      • Materials and case histories
      • Progression of blendability
      • Introduction to the new Retail Sales Online Data Tool and refresh
      • Follow this link to register: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/715043686
    • Thursday, September 26 – Retail/Foodservice

 

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

First Handler Report April 2013

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To see current charts through April 2013 click here.

 

MARKETING SUMMARY

Mushroom Council Marketing Summary – June 2013

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  • Partnering with celebrity chef and restaurateur Richard Blais, the Council distributed a press release on June 27th to showcase Blendability and encourage mushroom versatility and usage during the summer months. Blais created an original Earth & Turf Burger recipe using a 50-50 blend of mushrooms and meat. This new burger is featured on the menu of his FLIP burger boutique restaurant in Atlanta.
  • The Council worked with an editor at the Associated Press to weave mushroom retail trends, Blendability and nutrition messaging into a larger story about grow-at-home kits. The article has been picked up by more than 30 outlets across the country, appearing in publications like Newsday, ABC News and Detroit Free Press.
  • The Mushrooms and Health Summit is scheduled for September 9-10 in Washington, D.C.
    • Twenty speakers have been confirmed for the two-day summit. The Council has connected with all speakers and is hosting calls by session to coordinate content and presentations.
    • Working with partners, universities and science organizations, the Council is continuing to promote the summit and encourage registration.
  • Search Engine Marketing drove approximately 20 percent of total visits to MushroomInfo.com during June 2013 – 15,589 total visits – and served as the largest source driving return visitors to the site, with 2,908 visits from this audience.
    • Top performing keywords included “mushroom recipe,” “stuffed mushrooms,” and “portabella mushroom.”
  • Swap-Or-TopThe Council’s Swap it or Top it Facebook recipe contest launched on June 1st. Through July 31st, people can submit their own Blendability or Swapability recipes under the following categories: Swapability, best topped burger and MyPlate burger.
    • Mushroom Channel bloggers and eight Kitchen Play bloggers are also promoting the contest across social channels.
    • Five Mushroom Channel blog posts have linked to the “Swap It or Top It” Facebook tab.
    • The council leveraged Eat,Write,Retreat to announce the start of “Swap It or Top It” with an engaged audience of foodies and culinary experts.

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  • The Mushroom Channel sponsored a “Progressive Dinner Party” hosted by the Kitchen Play community with eight bloggers posting a mushroom-centric course in the dinner party (salad, appetizer, main, etc.) highlighting Blendability messages and promoting the “Swap It or Top it” contest. The progressive dinner culminated in a Council-sponsored Twitter chat on June 25th.
    • The Hashtag #TrendToBlend was used to discuss the “Swap It or Top It” promotion with 115 other participants. The party prompted eight new blog posts featuring unique mushrooms recipes from prominent bloggers and garnered 267,959 total impressions.
  • Facebook fans increased two percent from May, generating more than 7.1 million impressions. The platform drove more than 3,000 total visits to Mushroominfo.com and drove 1,080 visits from return visitors in May (the third largest source of return visitors following Google).
  • Twitter fans increased two percent since May, resulting in more than 8.8 million impressions.

Featured-Bloggers

  • Pinterest fans increased 15 percent since May, resulting in 2 million impressions. The platform also drove 22 percent of all visits to Mushroominfo.com directed from social media sites with 2,713 visits.
  • The Council created a dedicated Father’s Day Pinterest board featuring a variety of hearty mushroom recipes, which was promoted by Pinterest internally to the platform’s users. The 22 featured mushroom pins generated 5,896 repins, 1,077 likes and 4 comments.
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On the Horizon

  • Through the end of July the Council will continue working with Richard Blais to promote Blendability.
  • Heading into the Summit, the Council will enact an integrated media communications plan to promote the conference and engage in stakeholder outreach.

 

FOOD SERVICE SUMMARY

Industry Tools

Mushroom-MondaysThe Mushroom Council will begin adding new Infographics to the two that launched last month. The next two will be on burgers and chicken. The Council will also be developing a case history on our promotion with Epic Burger, see below, which included in store merchandising, server incentives, social media promotions and more.

Marketing Summary

Throughout June and early July, the Council continued to work in a social media partnership with Epic Burger.  In early July they ran a flash sale, where followers and fans could whisper the word “fungtastic” before noon or mention The Mushroom Council’s blog post and receive a free Portabella burger. To see Epic’s Facebook page, click on the link to see the responses.

The Council was at Washington University in St. Louis to hold a recipe contest amongst their chefs on Blendability and Swapability.  12 chefs competed and developed recipes like Mushroom-Chicken Cannoli, Mushroom Chicken Meatballs, Chicken and Mushroom roulade with Faro, Vegetable Confetti and Smoked Shiitake and Zucchini ships, Country Fried Mushrooms, Mushroom Chipotle Torta, Mushroom Teriyaki and Crab-Mushroom Sushi with Pickled Mushrooms.

The Council also met with a variety of chains at several different industry events throughout the month.

On The Horizon

The Council has follow-up presentations with colleges coming from participation at NACUFS as well as International Corporate Chefs Association. Several menu development opportunities are also scheduled within the next two months. On July 24, the Council has been invited to speak to a regional group of RCA menu developers on the opportunities for Blendability.

 

SCHOOL NUTRITION SUMMARY

  • Mushroom Council representatives are preparing to make a splash at the 2013 School Nutrition Association Conference in Kansas City, MO. The Council will showcase mushroom blendability in a culinary demonstration and through booth sampling of Mushroom Taco Salad, Mushroom Turkey Meatloaf and Mushroom Marinara. The Mushroom Council will also be featured in a Culinary Demonstrated where local school foodservice directors will demonstrate how to incorporate fresh mushroom blendability into the meal cycle. Chef’s Barb and Aaron will prepare a mushroom blended taco, mushroom and beef spaghetti and a mushroom Panini.
  • Mushroom Council Board Members, Fletcher Street, Jim Angelucci, Dave Carroll, Pat Jurgensmeyer and Roberto Ramirez along with Council employees met with members of the USDA on Friday, June 14 including Deputy Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, Dr. Janey Thornton and new Administrator to the Agriculture Marketing Service, Anne Alonzo. Council members discussed the pending mushroom purchase for the National School Lunch Program.
  • A frozen mushroom spec submission is currently up for industry comments, please contact Chuck Salazar – [email protected] with any final comments regarding the submitted specification.
  • The Council is finalizing content for the upcoming Mushrooms In Schools Website. Look out for the launch in late July.
  • An pre-conference e-blast highlighting mushroom blendability and the activities at the School Nutrition Association was distributed to the Council’s School Nutrition Database
  • Information on School Nutrition progress will be shared in the August 1st Sales Webinar
  • Council School Nutrition resources can be found here.

 

RETAIL SUMMARY

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The Topline report week ending 05/19/13 was sent to the industry on 07/01/2013; click here to access the report online.

 

Topline Retail Report – Highlights
(4 and 52 Weeks Ending 5/19/2013)

Total Mushrooms – 4 Weeks

  • The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +4.6% lagged Total Produce’s growth trend (+8.0%) by -3.4 points
  • Almost all Regions posted positive dollar sales trends with Plains leading at +18.4% followed by Great Lakes at +10.9%. Midsouth posted flat growth
  • On a Market basis, Minneapolis/St. Paul posted very strong dollar growth at +39.8% (a large gain on a smaller base). San Diego showed the largest decline at -5.4%
  • Volume in pounds for the Total U.S. increased by +6.8%. All Regions showed an increase in volume with Plains leading at +16.5%
  • At the Market level, Minneapolis/St. Paul showed a strong increase in volume at +41.2%. Raleigh/Greensboro showed the largest decrease at -5.3%

Segment/Variety – 4 Weeks

  • Total U.S. dollar sales of the White segment were flat at +0.7%, while Brown mushrooms grew +13.7% overall. Both Creminis and Portabellas showed strong growth, up +4.4% and +39.2%, respectively
  • On a Regional basis, the dollar sales trends for the White segment were mixed. Plains delivered the top dollar sales trend (+12.3%), while Midsouth fell -5.6%
  • The Brown segment saw double-digit growth in six of eight Regions while California fell -1.1%. Great Lakes led with dollar gains of +31.8%
  • At the Market level, White segment dollar trends were mixed, ranging from +41.7% in Minneapolis/St. Paul to a decline of -12.2% in Seattle. Twenty three markets declined in White mushroom dollar sales. Conversely, 43 of 50 Markets posted strong gains in the Brown segment, including Kansas City (+44.5%) and New Orleans/Mobile (+38.7%)
  • Total U.S. volume in pounds for the White segment increased +3.4% while the Brown segment saw overall volume growth of +16.9%, led by Portabella mushrooms at +50.8% and Creminis at +6.5%
  • On a Regional basis, six of eight Regions in the White segment increased in volume, with Plains leading (+13.2%), while Midsouth and South Central both had declines of -4.2%. Similarly, seven of eight Regions in the Brown segment increased, with Great Lakes leading the Regions at +39.1%. California was the only segment to decrease at -5.6%

Total Mushrooms – 52 Weeks

  • The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +3.9% lagged Total Produce’s growth trend of +6.8% by -2.9 points
  • On a Regional basis, all Regions were up vs. the prior 52-week period.  Northeast holds the largest dollar share (21.0%) and grew +2.6% while Southeast (13.3% share) leads the Regions with the top dollar sales trend of +6.6%
  •  At the Market level, most Markets experienced dollar growth, notably Cleveland (+12.8%), New Orleans/Mobile (+11.1%), Columbus (+10.2%), and Jacksonville (+10.2%)
  • Total U.S. mushroom volume in pounds grew +4.0%
  • All Regions witnessed volume growth, led by Plains at +7.9 % and West at +7.7%
  • Only 4 of 50 Markets saw downward volume trends including New York (-3.8%), Harrisburg/Scranton         (-1.4%), Houston (-1.2%), and Chicago (-1.1%)

Segment/Variety – 52 Weeks

  • Total U.S. dollar sales for the White segment were flat with two Regions posting losses.  In the Brown segment, dollar sales were up +13.9%. All Regions posted positive trends with six Regions in the double digits
    • Brown segment trends were driven by Cremini mushrooms, which hold a  72.9% dollar share of Browns and delivered sales growth of +11.0%
  • At the Market level, dollar sales trends in the White segment varied greatly, ranging from an increase of +11.3% in Cleveland to a -6.8% decline in Charlotte
  • The Brown segment saw very strong dollar sales gains across all Markets, with Salt Lake City leading at +34.7%
  • Total U.S. volume in pounds of White mushrooms was flat, while gains were seen in California (+5.4%), Plains (+4.1%) and West (+1.8%). Total U.S. volume in pounds of Brown mushrooms grew +16.1%, led by the West, which grew volume +32.7%
    • Brown segment volume growth trends were driven by  Cremini mushrooms which have a 75.6% volume share of Browns and delivered volume growth of +12.9%
  • As with dollars, the Market level volume trends for the White segment were mixed, with 22 Markets trending downward including West Tex/New Mexico (-11.1%) and Dallas/Ft. Worth (-6.6%)
  • The volume trend of Brown mushrooms fared significantly better, with only San Francisco (-7.7%) and Grand Rapids (-3.0%) posting downward trends
    • Strong volume increases in the Brown segment occurred in these Markets: West Tex/New Mexico (+100.0%), New Orleans/Mobile (+49.5%) and Phoenix/Tucson (+47.8%)

 

Industry Tools

You should have received the Topline report week ending 05/19/2013 from Cheryl on 07/01/2013. The shipping report is also posted online here.

 

Marketing Summary

Communications surrounding the Council’s Swap It or Top It Contest were shared with the trade press.

Mushroom Marketing Summary–Grocery Headquarters– 07/16/2013

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