Page 53 - index

seamless supply of
SPRING GRAPES
Mexico, Coachella Valley keep cycle going year-round
CBY BOB JOHNSON
onsumers have become accus- tomed to table grapes as a year- round treat. The California harvest is followed seamlessly by the counter-seasonal fruit from
Chile, Peru or South Africa, and then by harvest from vineyards in Mexico until the great Central Valley begins the cycle anew.
Summer is still the season when consumers most look for a wide variety of table grapes, most of them from the Central Valley.
“The peak of season for grapes is in late August and early September,” says Maria Brous, director of media and community relations at Publix in Lakeland, FL. “During that time period, we offer 12 to 17 different varieties.”
But spring grapes, some from south of the border, allow for variety in the category year- round.
“We receive grapes from Mexico about
one month prior to the grapes from Cali- fornia, so it is not a significant difference,” says Brous. “We are always looking at flavor profile in order to offer the best, sweetest grapes to our customers. During the spring- time,weofferseveralvarietiesofgrapesto include: red, white, black, Cotton Candy, MidnightBeauty,SweetCelebrationand Jack’s Salute.”
SPRING OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES
Spring volumes coming from Mexico and the Southern California desert are less than the winter or summer crops from Chile and the San Joaquin Valley, respectively, but there is still plenty of fruit to make a statement in Produce.
“The spring program is much smaller compared to the winter and the summer deals,” says Miguel Suarez, president of MAS Melons & Grapes in Rio Rico, AZ. “Mexico and Coachella (Valley in Southern California) are about 26 to 27 million boxes, when the winter and summer deals are above 100 million boxes each.”
Spring production is abundant enough to overlap with product from Chile in the
winter, as well as California in the late spring. “The Mexican season starts in mid or late April,” says Steve Yubeta, vice president of sales and marketing at Farmers’ Best Inter- national in Rio Rico, AZ. “We begin in earlyMay,andtheseasonwillgoalltheway through June. In the early season, there is a significantoverlapwithChile.Californiais going the whole time we are, but it’s Coach-
ella, not the San Joaquin Valley.”
Regardless of the season, table grapes
move best when they are promoted aggres- sively and often.
“For best grape sales results, research shows the greatest volume lifts will happen when grapes are promoted every week, promoted on the [retailer’s] front page, and when multiple grape items are promoted at the same time,” says Jeff Cardinale, vice pres- ident of communications at the California Table Grape Commission in Fresno.
RED RULES
After shipments from Chile wind down, various growing regions in Mexico and the Coachella Valley supply the nation with table grapes until the harvest from the San
PRODUCE BUSINESS / APRIL 2018 / 53