Monthly Shipping Report | September 2013

COUNCIL UPDATE

As a courtesy, Exemption Applications for 2014 will be mailed on or about November 1, 2013 to those who currently hold an exemption number. Exempt producer must apply each year for exemption, 2013 exemption numbers expire on December 31, 2013 and a new number is needed for 2014.

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

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To see current charts through June 2013 click here.

MARKETING SUMMARY

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August consumer media highlights feature mushrooms in articles about Blendability, meat replacement, vitamin D and versatility. Click on the links below to view the full stories.
- ‘We eat too much meat!’, All You, September 2013
- Plant-Based Foods and Osteoporosis, Today’s Dietitian, August 2013
- Mushrooms a Surprising Source of Vitamin D, Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, August 2013
- Magical Veggie Alert, Hungry Girl e-Newsletter, 8/30
- 5 Healthy Comfort Foods From the Experts, US News & World Report Eat + Run, 8/28
- Healthy Vegetarian Sandwich Ideas, Fit Sugar, 8/26
- 31 Days of Cancer Fighting Foods at Jason’s Deli, Jason’s Deli, 8/20
- Umami & Me,Tasting Table, 8/21
- The 7 Best Burgers, Men’s Health, 8/21
- The Benefits of Mushrooms: 10 Ways to Use the ‘Super Fungus,’ Organic Authority, 8/16
- Colors That Prevent Cancer: Foods of the Rainbow, Doctor Oz, 8/15
- Mushroom kit was created by Berkeley students, Mercury News (San Jose, CA), 8/8
- Chefology: Nature’s Three Ways to Make a Delicious Mushroom, Boston Magazine, 8/8
- 50 tasty foods under 50 calories, Shape, 8/5
- Ultraviolet flashes can create vitamin D-enriched mushrooms, Penn State News, 8/5

The Council hosted the Mushrooms and Health Summit at the Mayflower Renaissance in Washington, D.C. on September 9-10. The Summit explored the intersection of mushrooms’ nutrient profile, culinary appeal and agricultural impact and helped identify future research needs. The Summit addressed several key areas in which mushroom consumption yields promising health outcomes, including: weight management, immunity, vitamin D and more. Highlights include:
- Attendance by over 150 individuals representing 90 organizations
- Presentations from 25 international mushroom, economic, botanic, culinary, dietary and health experts
- Summit attendee input for future mushroom scientific research topic areas
- MushROOM Growing Room showcased a variety of fresh mushrooms and shared details about the unique growing process

@USDA #research includes #MushroomHealth impact on immunity, brain function, and oppty to increase vitamin D in cultivated varieties #RDchat

— Rebecca Scritchfield (@ScritchfieldRD) September 9, 2013

Gorgeous display of mushrooms at #mushroomhealth in DC. I’ll take it over flowers! http://t.co/4WxO6YIycb

— Carlene Thomas RD (@CarleneRD) September 9, 2013

Live-tweeting by registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield sparked online engagement and contributed to the more 146,000 social media impressions surrounding the event
- The #MushroomHealth hashtag was part of 208 conversations from a mix of 60 unique participants including conference attendees and others off-site/online
- Scritchfield captured Summit highlights in a two-part recap on her blog that will be amplified through future Council nutrition influencer communications

Check out www.mushroomhealthsummit.com for the program agenda, speakers’ presentations and bios and videos from the event.
The Council’s partnership with Chef Richard Blais had numerous online and social media extensions.
- The Council engaged influential Atlanta-area bloggers to visit FLIP burger boutique and try the Earth & Turf Burger: Waiting on Martha and The Divine Miss Mommy.
- Social engagement surrounding the partnership included Instagram images, Tweets, Facebook posts and blog page views resulting in nearly 500,000 impressions.

Heading back to @flipburger tonight. The Mr. is in need of 1 more earth n’turf before they’re gone! @MushroomChannel #ad #trendtoblend #atl

— Waiting on Martha (@WaitingonMartha) July 31, 2013

On August, 30, 2013, the Council’s Facebook page surpassed 100,000 likes – more than doubling the number of likes year over year, representing a growth of 217%.
Throughout August, Facebook users cast 2,538 votes for their favorite recipe in the Council’s Swap it or Top it Facebook recipe contest. The winning recipe will be announced in September.
Search Engine Marketing drove approximately 24% of total visits to MushroomInfo.com.
- Top performing keywords included “mushroom recipe,” “stuffed mushrooms,” “vitamin d foods” and “edible mushrooms.”
The Mushroom Channel published nine blog posts in August, including new recipes by blogger contributors. The most visited posts include: Mushrooms Meet Microwave, Mushroom Masters Lunch and A Final Call for Summer Favorites. Click here to read all posts.

The Mushroom Channel participated in a Fruits and Veggies – More Matters Twitter chat focusing on creative ways to use the veggies from your garden. The #GardenGoodies hashtag generated 1,016 tweets from 175 participants, resulting in 376,611 impressions.

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On The Horizon

The Council is attending and exhibiting at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Houston, TX, October 19-20.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, the Council is conducting social media promotions to drive conversations about the mushrooms industry “going pink” in support of research linking mushrooms and breast cancer.

FOODSERVICE SUMMARY

Industry Tools

The Mushroom Council is updating its annual menu research which will be distributed to the industry, as well as serve as content for new Infographics. Success stories with Epic Burger, PMA and Washington University will be developed once these promotions are complete. Epic continues to promote Mushroom Mondays and their portabella sandwich. The Council is working with them to introduce a new menu item by the end of the year.

Marketing Summary

The Council continues to work with major colleges that want to take advantage of Blendability. Kansas State is the latest to request our assistance to determine how they can best bring the concept to their campus. It’s not just Blendability that appeals to colleges. Many are also interested in developing and refreshing their Swapable (meatless) options as the number of students who are vegetarian or who are reducing their consumption of meat continues to increase at a rapid pace. University of California at Riverside recently introduced a turkey burger with mushrooms to take advantage of the flavor and juiciness that mushrooms add to lean protein.

Maggiano’s, a chain that is very mushroom friendly, promoted several of their mushroom dishes for Mushroom Month. For their promotion, they highlighted their Ravioli al Forno, Rigatoni “D” and Tuscan Herb Medallions, all with mushrooms. They also linked to our website to promote more mushroom recipes.

Denny’s launched their newest Build Your Own Omelette promotion which prominently features mushrooms. Besides putting mushrooms in their primary graphics, they introduced two new omelettes, a Fit Fare Loaded Veggie and a Philly Omelette. TV spots that support the promotion are currently running and again a good part of the focus is on mushrooms. To see the full spot click here.

The Council recently worked with Disney chefs to showcase the versatility of mushrooms. As one of the leading chefs said, “The whole resort is still talking about it. We definitely have a greater awareness of what Mushrooms can do for Flavor and Nutrition.”

The Council presented Blendability at a recent CIA Flavor Quality on the American Menu conference and came away with several new opportunities. This week, members of International Corporate Chefs will be cooking up new ideas around Blendability and the American Culinary Federation is completing its recipe contest around Blendability. Finally, the Council is working with a number of other chains that will be featuring mushrooms in LTOs for the fall and winter season.

On The Horizon

A number of opportunities and LTOs that the Council is supporting will be launching in the next several months. The Council will meet with more chains at the Latin Flavors Conference, and we are looking at hosting several tours with chains that are interested in learning more about how mushrooms are grown.

SCHOOL NUTRITION SUMMARY

Mushroomsinschools.com has been sent to USDA for final approval. Look out for the launch of the brand new school foodservice director website this September

Mushroom Council representatives met with a school foodservice meat processor to develop a co-promotion plan to further build demand for the mushroom blended products in school foodservice

Direct communications were sent to the several school foodservice directors to set up Fall promotions

Johns Hopkins University and the Mushroom Council will be preforming a study on mushroom blended burger acceptability and calorie savings to take place in Baltimore Public Schools

Mushroom Council is developing 10 new recipes for school foodservice to include both blended and scratch cooked recipes.

The Council plans on hosting 10 promotion/pilots in the 2014 school year.

Council School Nutrition resources can be found here.

RETAIL SUMMARY

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The Topline report week ending 08/11/13 was sent to the industry on 9/18/13; click here to access the report online.

Total Mushrooms – 4 Weeks

The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +3.6% lagged Total Produce’s growth trend (+7.0%) by -3.4 points
The Plains Region led the dollar sales trends at +9.4%, with Great Lakes coming in second at +6.4%. The only Region showing a decline was Midsouth at -1.7%
On a Market basis, Kansas City posted very strong dollar growth at +18.7% (a large gain on a smaller base). Raleigh/Greensboro exhibited the largest decline at -4.0%
Volume in pounds for the Total U.S. increased by +2.7%. Plains led with the largest increase in volume at +5.7%, with Midsouth and South Central declining -2.4% and -1.2%, respectively
At the Market level, Kansas City increased in volume +17.8%. Toledo exhibited the largest decrease at -8.3%

Segment/Variety – 4 Weeks

Total U.S. dollar sales of the White segment grew +1.0%, while Brown mushrooms grew +8.9% overall. Creminis were flat at +0.5% and Portabellas showed strong growth, up +31.1%
On a Regional basis, the dollar sales trends for the White segment were mixed. California delivered the top dollar sales trend (+5.5%), while Midsouth fell -6.9%
The Brown segment saw double-digit growth in four of eight Regions while the Northeast fell -1.6%. Great Lakes led with dollar gains of +20.8%
At the Market level, White segment dollar trends were mixed, ranging from +14.7% in Kansas City to a decline of -11.1% in Raleigh/Greensboro. Only eleven markets declined in White mushroom dollar sales. 44 of 50 Markets posted strong gains in the Brown segment, including Omaha (+48.5%) and Cincinnati/Dayton (+44.2%)
Total U.S. volume in pounds for the White segment was flat at +0.8% while the Brown segment saw overall volume growth of +7.8%, led by Portabella mushrooms at +27.4%
On a Regional basis, five of eight Regions in the White segment increased in volume, with California leading (+4.7%), while Midsouth and South Central both had declines of -5.7% and -6.6%, respectively. Similarly, seven of eight Regions in the Brown segment increased, with South Central leading the Regions at +22.6%. California showed the only decrease at -3.0%

Total Mushrooms – 52 Weeks

The Total U.S. dollar sales trend of +3.4% lagged Total Produce’s growth trend of +7.5% by -4.1 points
On a Regional basis, all Regions were up vs. the prior 52-week period. Northeast holds the largest dollar share (20.9%) and grew +1.4% while Plains (6.9% share) leads the Regions with the top dollar sales trend of +7.6%
At the Market level, most Markets experienced dollar growth, notably Milwaukee (+18.5%), Cleveland (+10.9%), New Orleans/Mobile (+9.9%), and Kansas City (+8.4%)
Total U.S. mushroom volume in pounds grew +3.8%
All Regions witnessed volume growth, led by Plains at +7.2 % and West at +7.0%
Only 2 of 50 Markets saw downward volume trends including Harrisburg/Scranton (-2.9%), and Houston (-1.7%)

Segment/Variety – 52 Weeks

Total U.S. dollar sales for the White segment were flat with Midsouth (-3.8%) and South Central (-3.5%) posting losses. In the Brown segment, dollar sales were up +12.2%. All Regions posted positive trends with six Regions in the double digits
- Brown segment trends were driven by Portabella mushrooms, which hold a 28.3% dollar share of Browns and delivered sales growth of +27.2%
At the Market level, dollar sales trends in the White segment varied greatly, ranging from an increase of +14.3% in Milwaukee to a -7.5% decline in Charlotte
The Brown segment saw very strong dollar sales gains across 47 of 50 Markets, with Salt Lake City leading at +34.2%. San Francisco showed a decline of -3.7%
Total U.S. volume in pounds of White mushrooms was flat, while gains were seen in California (+5.6%), Plains (+3.1%) and West (+1.8%). Total U.S. volume in pounds of Brown mushrooms grew +14.1%, led by the West, which grew volume +28.5%
- Brown segment volume growth trends were driven by Portabella mushrooms which have a 25.5% volume share of Browns and delivered volume growth of +31.9%
As with dollars, the Market level volume trends for the White segment were mixed, with 24 Markets trending downward including West Tex/New Mexico (-10.2%) and Dallas/Ft. Worth (-8.3%)
The volume trend of Brown mushrooms fared significantly better, with only San Francisco (-12.9%), Hartford/Springfield (-4.0%) and Grand Rapids (-2.9%) posting downward trends
- Strong volume increases in the Brown segment occurred in these Markets: West Tex/New Mexico (+68.0%), New Orleans/Mobile (+42.8%) and Salt Lake City (+39.7%)