There’s no doubt in Matt Dee’s mind when it’s time to kick off strawberry season at the four Donelan’s Supermarkets Inc. locations. It’s the weekend of the annual Strawberry ‘N’ Arts Festival, set for June 18 in Westford, Mass., not far from Donelan’s headquarters in Littleton.
During the two- to four-week local season, which usually begins around Father’s Day, June 19, Dee, Donelan’s director of produce and floral, procures local strawberries, primarily from Ward’s Berry Farm in nearby Shannon, and doubles the size of his berry display to 12 feet.
The store’s bakery department makes buttermilk biscuits from scratch and donates them to the festival, where they’re used to make strawberry shortcake desserts and sold as part of the community fundraising effort.
Donelan’s also donates Ward’s Farm strawberries to the festival.
Related: It’s berry time: Strawberry, blueberry, bushberry outlook strong
Inside the stores, Dee merchandises open pints and quarts of the local strawberries along with six-count cello containers of the biscuits, store-made angel food cakes, premade shells and ladyfingers, whipped cream, chocolate dip mixes and “anything that cross merchandises with the berry category.”
The display is supplemented by blackberries, East Coast blueberries and California strawberries.
Dee recently added the Driscoll’s Rainbow Pack of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries in single containers to his berry offerings.
“That seems to be doing very well,” he said.
Shoppers get a good deal on 1-pound clamshells of California strawberries during the festival — $2.99 apiece last year, but they likely will sell for 3 for $10 this year.
During a typical week, the Littleton store sells about 50 cases of 1-pound strawberries, Dee said. But during the festival weekend, sales jump to about 75 cases in addition to the local strawberries that sell for $9.99 a quart and $6.99 per pint.
After the local season, Dee sources from Quebec for a semi-local strawberry offering that sells for $10 a quart.
“We keep a local strawberry on the stand throughout the summer,” he said.
The stores also promote pint-size containers of blueberries from New Jersey on a separate 4-foot orchard bin near the front door that’s also loaded with berries, blueberry muffin mix and blueberry cobbler powder mix.
Produce department sales increase about 3% during May, June and July thanks to a nudge from berries and, to a lesser extent, grapes and cherries, Dee said.
Strawberry sales actually start to pick up around Valentine’s Day, when the Florida deal kicks off, and they continue strong as picking begins in California, he said.
Last year, Dee featured blueberries in his Mother’s Day ad. This year strawberries will be featured along with watermelon.
The 1-pound clamshell is the stores’ standard strawberry package, but Donelan’s brings in 2-pounders on ad twice a year.
The stores have been doing well with larger size raspberry packages, such a 12-ounce pack. But Dee typically avoids larger blueberry pack sizes, preferring to feature multiples of pints, typically at 2 for $5 or 2 for $4, rather than larger clamshells.
“Customers are used to the pints,” he said.
