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merchandising review sweet onions
Sweet Deal: Flavor-packed Onions
Offer Big Potential Year-Round
Positioning these popular root staples properly can be crucial in boosting sales.
SBY DOUG OHLEMEIER
pring marks the start of sweet onions. Because of their sweeter and milder taste, these popular onions offer a variety of flavors and uses. Once considered a
seasonal offering, multiple North American and South American growing regions allow retail stores to merchandise sweet onions throughout the year.
During the summer months and around holidays, sweet onions show their value. When Vidalias begin hitting the market and consumers clamor for them, merchandisers can get creative with ads, promotions and in-store displays.
“Sweet Onions are king across the cate- gory,” says Kelby Werner, operations manager with G&R Farms in Glennville, GA. “They anchor sales for the third-largest vegetable category in the United States. Consumers are utilizing their versatility in the kitchen 12 months out of the year. Sweet onions are a centerpiece in many holiday dishes, cookouts and at the family dinner table.”
Sweet onions are fast exceeding other traditional onions in the eyes of shoppers, says Sal Selletto, produce manager at the Super Foodtown of Sea Girt, NJ, a part of the Middletown, NJ-based Food Circus/Food- town. “They are kind of dwarfing the Spanish onions in sales,” he says. “The Spanish onions have been lost in the sauce. We still sell them, but people get so used to sweet onions they tend to buy them all year long.”
Throughout the year, sweet onions ship from Peru, Mexico, Texas, Georgia, Cali- fornia, Washington, Nevada and other regions, providing retailers multiple merchan- dising opportunities. Spring is a great time to highlight onions in salads and grilling during holidays such as Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and graduation celebrations. To provide shop- pers sweet onions they can use to enhance
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any dish, retailers should properly prepare and construct displays and promotions that encourage shoppers to place sweet onions in their shopping carts.
SPRINGTIME BONANZA
The beginning of Vidalia shipments come at an important time, when people return to outdoor activities. “The Vidalia season starts in late April, just in time for grilling season,” says John Shuman, president of Shuman Farms, Inc., Reidsville, GA. “Vidalia onions pair perfectly with grilling meats and vege- tables, including peppers, mushrooms, fresh beef and more.”
Sweet onions are critical to a successful produce department, says Lloyd Richter, partner with Richter and Co., Inc., based in Charlotte, NC. “It’s one of those things you
PHOTO COURTESY OF PERI & SONS
cannot not have. It’s a must-carry item for the chains. Consumers would be disappointed if they’re not available. ”
Retailers contend the sweet onion cate- gory is important. “It’s a big category,” says Filipe Silva, general manager of Seabra Foods Supermarket, a Newark, NJ-based East Coast chain of ethnic-based supermarkets. “We sell many sweet onions. We sell a lot of salads, and people love onions on the top of the salads.”
In the United States, sweet onions begin in March with Texas growers shipping through May. In mid-April, Georgia’s Vida- lias begin, shipping through Labor Day. The summertime brings a variety of other sweet onions, including Walla Wallas, California Sweets and Red Italian Sweets. In August, Northwest Sweets begin in Washington and harvest through March. In September, Peru begins shipping, supplying retailers with sweet onions through the fall and winter.
“The Vidalia created the sweet onion category,” says Steve Roberson, president of Roberson Onion Corp., based in Hazlehurst, GA. “Now the sweet onion category is a year- round category.”
GROWING CATEGORY
“Sweet onion demand continues to grow,” says Mark Breimeister, sweet onion specialist