Shipping Reports

Monthly Shipping Report | May 2013

May 23, 2013

COUNCIL UPDATE

  • Nominations for 3-year terms beginning January 1, 2014 closed on May 1st. The regions with a position opening up are Region 1 (one position); Region 2 (one position) and Region 3 (one position). We are in the process of verifying the nominees and ballots will be mailed on June 3, 2013 to those eligible to vote. If you do not receive a ballot and believe you should have, please contact Cheryl at the Council office. Completed ballots are due no later than July 1.
    • USDA and the Mushroom Council encourage all eligible producers, including women, minorities and individuals with disabilities to participate in the nominations and seek nomination to serve on the Council.
  • The next Council meeting is being held on Saturday, June 22, 2013 in conjunction with the NAMC in Vancouver. If you would like to attend this meeting please contact Cheryl so we can make sure you are accommodated.
  • Upcoming Webinars are listed below; more information will be sent at a later date.
    • Thursday, July 11 – Digital/Social Media
    • Thursday, August 1 – Retail/Foodservice
    • Thursday, September 26 – Retail/Foodservice

 

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

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 To see current charts through February 2013 click here.

 

MARKETING SUMMARY

Mushroom Council Marketing Summary – April 2013

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  • The Mushroom Channel blog published 10 posts in April, including new recipes by blogger contributors.
  • Facebook impressions increased 15 percent from March, comprised of nearly 10 million impressions. The platform drove more than 6,000 total visits to Mushroominfo.com and drove 2,500 visits from return visitors in April (the second largest source of return visitors following Google).

May Recipes

  • Monthly fan growth on Twitter increased three percent since March, resulting in more than five million impressions.
    • The Council participated in a Twitter chat hosted by Whole Foods with the hashtag #MWFearthling to celebrate Earth Day. The Mushroom Channel engaged the @WholeFoods handle (+3 million followers) and participants who shared their favorite mushroom pairings.
  • Pinterest followers increased by 14 percent since March and saw a 24 percent increase in monthly follower growth. The platform also drove 37 percent of all visits to Mushroominfo.com directed from social media sites with nearly 3,000 visits.
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On the Horizon

  • The Council will conduct traditional and social media outreach for summer grilling highlighting Blendability leading into the promotion of the Swap It or Top It summer recipe contest.
  • The Eat, Write, Retreat social media conference will take place in late May in Philadelphia, PA where the Council will engage prominent food bloggers through a mushroom-centric session and introduce the Swap It or Top It contest.

 

FOOD SERVICE SUMMARY

Industry Tools

Last month several PowerPoint tools and updated sell sheets were uploaded to www.mushroomcouncil.org. This month more new materials are available including, the most important, a cost comparison excel form that lets you work with distributors and operators to determine how much money they can save by cutting the portion size of ground meat and adding chopped mushrooms.  The form calculates the savings….all you have to do in co-authorship with your customer,  is fill in the cost per lb. of ground meat, the cost of mushrooms and the number of servings per week. Then you can demonstrate the food cost saving,  along with the nutritional benefits of reducing meat and adding mushrooms.

Feel free to position this concept anyway you would like.  As we move forward, The Council will be referring to substituting mushrooms for meat as Swapability or Swapportunity.  When mushrooms are added to meat…which is happening in a number of colleges and with operators around the country…we will be referring to that as Blendability.

 

Foodservice April 2013Marketing Summary

More chains introduced mushrooms on their menus as LTOs. McCormick and Schmick’s introduced their Simply Spring promotion with a Grilled Salmon with Vegetable Ragout including a hearty serving of mushrooms

Corner Bakery also featured mushrooms in their Spring Garden-Inspired Breakfast Menu.  A new line extension to their famous Farmer’s Scramble, is their Garden Gate Scrambler featuring chicken-apple sausage, spinach, peppers, Cheddar, and, of course, mushrooms.

FLIK, a division of Compass,  and The Council completed its Mushroom Recipe Contest. Judges included the President of FLIK, the chief culinary officer of FLIK, the President of Meatless Mondays and an Associate Editor of Food Management magazine.

From the 12 finalists, winners were selected in a number of categories.  Todd Chasteen, from Eastern Maine Community College won the breakfast category for his Grilled Portobello with Sausage, Sunny Side Egg and Hollandaise.  The Salad category was won by Darrel Robinson (Gilman School) for his Shiitake and Button Mushroom Whole Grain Salad with Portobello Vinaigrette.  Mushroom Stroganoff with Crème Fraiche in Phyllo Cups won Michale King the top place in the Swapability category, while Scott Iwanicki from Ethel Walker School won the Entrée category with his Mushroom Strudel with Gorgonzola and Mushroom Demi Glaze.  Grand Prize winner was Douglas Gauthier from Middlesex School with his Baked Maitake Oyster New Orleans Style.  Please see article that ran soon after the contest in Food Management through the following link:  http://food-management.com/k-12-schools/k-12-chefs-dazzle-mushroom-recipe-contest

On The Horizon

Presentations to chains will continue with the Council’s participation in a number of events where chain marketing and culinary directors congregate.  MEG, ICCA, and CIA all have events with new chain leaders and colleges and universities where we will feature Blendability.  This summer, we will be working on demos and promotions for Washington University in St. Louis, more Blendability at Yale and Blendability at a major commercial operator.

 

SCHOOL NUTRITION SUMMARY

  • A memo outlining the approved vendor process for selling mushrooms to the U.S Department of Agriculture for a potential pilot purchase of bulk frozen mushrooms was shared with the Industry on April 25, please contact Marketing Coordinator, Katie Preis for more information.
  • A memo outlining the Mushroom Council’s School Nutrition available sales materials and ‘avenues to sell to schools’ kit was shared with the industry on April 25.
  • Council representatives successfully launched scratch mushroom blended pilot programs in Maplewood Richmond Heights, MO School District and Hickman Mills, KS School District. Look out for complete case studies from the successful pilot programs shortly.
  • The Council has requested a pilot program from the USDA. The pilot program will test a mushroom beef burger in select state school districts. They will test for acceptability among students and kitchen staff. The burger spec is currently being finalized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Council will be meeting with representatives from Agriculture Marketing Service and Food and Nutrition Service in the coming weeks to further the process.
  • The Council prepared to attend the Culinary Institutes of America’s Healthy Flavors, Healthy Kids Leadership Summit in early May. The Council plans to showcase mushroom blendability to a variety of school nutrition leaders and influencers.
  • Progress on the Mushroom Council’s School Nutrition Program will be reported at the Council’s Regional Meetings May 16th, 17th and 21st.
  • Council School Nutrition resources can be found here.

 

RETAIL SUMMARY

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The Topline report week ending 03/24/13 was sent to the industry on 05/08/2013; click here to access the report online.

Total Mushrooms – 4 Weeks

  • The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +6.4% lags Total Produce’s growth trend (+10.8%) by -4.4 points
  • On a Regional basis, all Regions posted positive dollar sales trends with Southeast leading at +12.8% followed by Great Lakes at +8.1%
  • On a Market basis, Salt Lake City delivered the top dollar sales trend at +21.7% (a large gain on a smaller base). Only four Markets showed slight declines, Portland (-3.6%), San Diego (-2.1%), Harrisburg/Scranton (-1.7%) and Philadelphia (-1.1%)
  • Volume in pounds for the Total U.S. increased by +8.4%. All Regions grew in this period with Great Lakes posting the strongest percentage volume increase at +14.8%
  • At the Market level, 18 Markets delivered double-digit increases in volume, led by Grand Rapids (+31.5%), Detroit (+26.6%) and Cincinnati/Dayton (+21.6%). Cleveland posted the steepest decline at -5.8%

 Segment/Variety – 4 Weeks

  • Total U.S. dollar sales of the White segment grew slightly (+0.6%), while Brown mushrooms grew +17.0% overall. Both Creminis and Portabellas showed strong growth, up +8.5% and +46.0%, respectively
  • On a Regional basis, the dollar sales trend for the White segment was mixed. Southeast delivered the top dollar sales trend (+6.5%), while Northeast fell -4.0%
  • The Brown segment saw impressive dollar sales increases across all Regions including double-digit growth in six of eight Regions. South Central led with dollar gains of +33.0%
  • At the Market level, White segment trends ranged from +17.0% in Salt Lake City to a drop of -15.0% in Philadelphia. Twenty Markets declined in White mushroom dollar sales. Conversely, 44 of 48 Markets turned in strong gains in the Brown segment, including Salt Lake City (+57.8%) and Louisville (+56.8%)
  • Total U.S. volume in pounds for the White segment increased slightly at +2.9% while the Brown segment saw overall volume growth of +22.4%, led by Portabella mushrooms at +67.1% and Creminis at +11.6%
  • On a volume in pounds basis, South Central (-3.0%) and Northeast (-2.0%) turned in losses this period for Whites. In contrast, volume of Browns grew solidly, with Great Lakes leading the Regions at +51.7%

 Total Mushrooms – 52 Weeks

  • The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +3.4% lags the Total Produce growth trend of +5.5% by -2.1 points
  • On a Regional basis, all Regions were flat to up over the current 52-week period.  Northeast holds the largest dollar share (21.2%) and grew +3.3% while Southeast (13.2% share) leads the Regions with the top dollar sales trend of +6.1%
  •  At the Market level, most Markets experienced growth, notably Cleveland (+14.5%), Columbus (+12.2%) and New Orleans/Mobile (+11.2%)
  • Total U.S. mushroom volume in pounds grew +3.3%.
  • All Regions witnessed volume growth, led by West at +7.0% and Plains at+6.9%
  • Only seven of 48 Markets saw downward volume trends including New York (-5.1%), Houston (-1.9%) and Chicago (-1.5%)

 Segment/Variety – 52 Weeks

  • Total U.S. dollar sales for the White segment decreased by -1.3% with most Regions posting losses.  In the Brown segment, dollar sales were up +13.8%. All Regions showed positive trends with seven Regions in the double digits
    • Brown segment trends were driven by Cremini mushrooms, which hold a  73.8% dollar share of Browns and delivered sales growth of +12.0%
  • At the Market level, dollar sales trends in the White segment varied greatly, ranging from an increase of +15.0% in Cleveland to a -16.1% decline in Milwaukee
  • The Brown segment saw very strong dollar sales gains across nearly every Market, except San Francisco which declined -2.4%
  • Total U.S volume in pounds of White mushrooms was also down -1.3%, but gains were seen in California (+3.2%), Plains (+1.9%) and West (+0.4%). Total U.S. volume in pounds of Brown mushrooms grew +16.2%, led by the West, which grew volume +34.9%
    • Brown segment volume growth trends were driven by  Cremini mushrooms which have a 76.3% volume share of Browns and delivered volume growth of +14.1%
  • As with dollars, the Market level volume trends for the White segment were mixed, with 23 Markets trending downward including New York (-12.1%) and Milwaukee (-10.9%)
  • The volume trend of Brown mushrooms fared significantly better, with only San Francisco (-8.8%) and Grand Rapids (-1.5%) posting downward trends
    • Strong volume increases in the Brown segment occurred in these Markets: Phoenix/Tucson (+57.6%), New Orleans/Mobile (+48.2%) and Denver (+43.6%)

 

Industry Tools

Mushroom Council- Label Optimization Study

Discrete choice experiments are currently being employed to determine which attributes can be displayed on mushroom labels that would have the greatest impact on consumer desirability and likelihood to buy.

Results will be presented in two ways.  The first will present the results for the most effective label. The second result will display how much each attribute/level impacts the desirability or likelihood to buy.

Look out for results in summer 2013

 

Marketing Summary

Communications surrounding the Council’s presence at the Experimental Biology Conference in Boston, MA in early April were shared with the trade press.

Mushroom Council Swap It or Top It Summer Promotion in Full Gear – Produce News 04/20/2013

Mushroom Benefits Highlighted at Academic Conference– The Packer 04/26/2013

Mushrooms Can Provide as Much Vit D as Supplements -The Perishable News 04/26/2013

March of the Mushroom – Produce Business April, 2013

Mushrooms Highlighted Produce Item – AndKnowUKnow Produce – 04/26/2013

Specialty Mushrooms – The Packer – 04/30/2013

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