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dried fruits & nuts walnuts & Commission (CWB&C). “Retailers like
the fact walnuts are fairly compact but have a higher dollar ring. They don’t take up a lot of space to merchandise adjacent to other items but can be a significant $6-8 kind of added ring with the berries and other items they are merchandised with.”
Walnuts don’t require extensive merchandis- ing and offer many merchandising advantages over other fresh produce items, which can ex- perience high shrink, says Poindexter. Because of little spoilage, walnuts don’t require as much space or expensive refrigeration to merchandise $100 worth of nuts vs. the same amount of let- tuce. “When buyers buy packaged nuts, when they buy 100 pounds, they sell 100 pounds,” he says. “Nuts have a much lower loss ratio and lower operating costs. Stores should be able to pass along those savings with lower margins, which will help them move faster.”
Walnuts can be cross merchandised in a variety of areas. “What we see is how Cali- fornia walnuts are a complement to almost everything in the produce section, whether with a fruit or green salad or a side dish,” says Jennifer Olmstead, the CWB&C’s marketing director for domestic public relations. “We see a lot of opportunities to merchandise walnuts
by placing them close to or adjacent to those complementary produce items.”
The industry must push walnuts in snack- ing, says Richard Sambado, president of Pri- mavera Marketing, headquartered in Linden, CA. “I think the future of walnut sales is snacking,” he says. “It is up to us as an indus- try to help walnut retailers do more in their produce departments.”
A key part of moving walnuts to snacking is promoting freshness. Sambado says he re- cently tasted rancid walnuts on a flight. “We have to do a better job of freshness and dive more into the snack category with a 1.5-ounce pack. We have to reinvent the wheel.”
SNACK ATTACK
Snack use is growing, says Olmstead. For the first time, the Commission’s 2017 Atti- tudes and Usage Survey showed snacking the top walnut use, trading spots with baking. “We are really seeing the growth in the ways consumers are using walnuts, in snacking and in salad use,” she says. “We are seeing a lot of growth in uses to a healthier lifestyle.”
“People who are buying walnuts year- round are buying them because of the health and nutrition benefits,” says Olmstead. “It
goes back to the fact people are looking to include walnuts in more nutritious ways and are eating on a more year-round basis. They’re looking for things besides baking. In today’s world, snacking in general is such a big part of peoples’ lives.”
Truly Good Foods’ Hartman recommends retailers not forget about merchandising black walnuts. “They are a much smaller market,” he says. “Although often not wanted because of their bold taste, they make a great addition as a topper or as a baking ingredient.”
A good way to merchandise black walnuts is by including them in displays including the standard almonds, pecans and walnuts as well as the Brazilian nuts, the hazelnuts and pine nuts, explains Basecke. “Some of the best ad- vice is making sure retailers sell a wide selec- tion of nuts,” he says. “By incorporating new types of nuts and new flavors that people may not be familiar with, it gives shoppers a better variety and selection.”
Based on walnuts’ use as ingredient nuts, pecans and black walnuts have a lot of sim- ilar applications, says Basecke. “In terms of popularity and demographics and uses, we see a lot of cross markets for pecans and black walnuts,” he says. pb
84 / APRIL 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS