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D’Arrigo will be front-and-center at the New York Produce Show

The New York Produce Show is like old home week to officials at D’Arrigo New York. Roll out the red carpet, set up the booth, invite everyone over and let the good times roll. “This is our backyard, and we want to create an environment where everyone is happy to visit our booth and learn all about our company, what we do, how we do it and where we do it,” said Gabriela D’Arrigo, the Hunts Point-based wholesaler’s vice president of marketing and communications. “We want to invite everyone over to our booth and it is like we host them for our own Super Bowl party, where they learn how we do

Market Minute: Storms, Thanksgiving challenge promotions

Strawberries, grapes, lettuce, celery and some other produce items are experiencing limited supplies and higher costs. Recent heavy West Coast rainstorms have affected much of harvesting, which has created some lighter supplies. This also caused some product conditions and lower quality. This can challenge produce directors with some short- or long-range ad development. But wait — not all has gone amiss. There are still items to merchandise and promote on those produce department displays. Check with your suppliers for those items in order to keep the produce moving through your company retail

Strong crop predicted for Chilean cherry imports

Honeybear Brands is shipping cherries from Chile to meet the holiday and winter shopping demand for the popular fruit. “Honeybear is a leading importer of cherries into USA and has been for more than eight years. We’ve had a near perfect growing season in Chile, which will pay off in a record cherry crop. This means retailers will be able to offer high quality, fresh cherries throughout the winter months,” said Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing for Honeybear Brands. “A strong import program means shoppers will continue to shop cherries during the domestic cherry season.” Harvest

Trendspotting: Thanksgiving favorite, sweet potatoes, cost more this year

The best part of the holiday season is the food — at least it used to be. As grocery prices skyrocket, many Americans are concerned about serving a Thanksgiving-worthy dinner in two days. Those worries were assuaged a little when the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey revealed that the cost of cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner has gone down about 5 percent compared to last year. However, while the prices of the turkey, stuffing, dinner rolls and frozen pie crust are down Thanksgiving, produce favorites have increased. Perhaps the biggest produce staple, the cost of sweet

Oppy accelerates sustainability momentum

Oppy has released the third edition of its annual sustainability report showcasing continued progress and new initiatives across its five key focus areas: greenhouse gas emissions, water use, food waste, sustainable packaging, and the people and communities where it operates. Building on the achievements outlined in last year’s report, the 2025 edition reflects significant advances in renewable energy adoption, waste diversion, responsible sourcing and packaging innovation. The report also reinforces Oppy’s science-based targets, outlining the company’s ongoing pathway toward significant

Shuman Farms targeting Millennial and Gen Z consumers with sweet onions

As the industry heads into the final stretch of the year, Shuman Farms is gearing up for the New York Produce Show with the message that sweet onions remain one of the most versatile, valuable and shopper-friendly items in the department.
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sefThe tomato category is one of the top sales volume contributors in the produce department. Tomato sales for a 52-week period were a whopping $4.8 billion. That’s a whole lot of sales the category provided for retailers. Conventional tomatoes generated $4.5 billion with organic tomatoes at $325 million.

The round tomato market is steady out of Mexico. Florida is starting to increase production. A steady supply of on-the-vine tomatoes is available out of Canada. Quality of all tomatoes is excellent.

Snacking tomatoes have increased in consumer popularity and have become top sellers in the category.

Plan to promote a different tomato variety in your flyer ad each week to boost high sales volume. Make sure to build up your tomato section with all varieties of loose and packaged choices for your customers.

Get more tomato information from your supplier and plan weekly ads together on a steady basis.  

Ron Pelger is a produce industry adviser and industry writer. He can be contacted at 775/843-2394 or by e-mail at ronprocon@gmail.com.

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