Protective layers seem to be in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that applies to produce, marketers say.
“That’s what I saw early on,” said Greg Yielding, chief executive with the Greeley, Colo.-based National Onion Association.
“People like the package because nobody else is touching them, even though there’s no evidence you’re going to get anything from people touching them.”
Anecdotally speaking, packages seem to be selling briskly, Yielding said.
“The packages in the store would be gone first and there would be some loose left, but the 5-pound onions, people like to buy them like that,” he said.
Yielding said he couldn’t predict whether the trend would continue beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t know; some people want just one onion,” he said.
It’s likely nobody knows whether packaged onions benefit from the fallout of the pandemic, Yielding said.
“When people try to project what’s going to happen moving forward, they just don’t know what will happen; they’re just guessing, just like they said millions of people would die from this,” he said.
“I think we need to be safe and look at it, but we’ve got to get back to normal.”
COVID-19 has fueled interest in bags for onions and other produce items, said Jeff Watkin, marketing director with Collinsville, Ill.-based packaging manufacturer Sev-Rend Corp.
“We are seeing a surge in business due to the retailer/consumer need for consumer packs of produce,” he said.
“This extends to all types of products Sev-Rend manufactures for the produce industry. Many consumers are hesitant on touching individual produce due to the COVID-19 issue we have going right now.”
On top of that, consumers are eating at home more and trying to limit their public exposure, which leads to more consumer-pack purchases, Watkin said.
Consumers are being cautious, so they’re reaching for packaged produce, said Tony Huizenga, national sales manager/onion buyer with Friesland, Wis.-based Alsum Farms & Produce.
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“With COVID-19 and the large majority of onions moving through the retail channel at grocery stores, most consumers prefer 2-pound and 3-pound onion SKUs (stock-keeping units) versus hand picking bulk onions,” he said.
“Plus, consumers in these times do not want others touching their food and are being encouraged to limit their grocery shopping trips to once a week.”
It’s important to remember that even loose onions typically have a protective skin, said Rachel Atkinson-Leach, brand and category manager with the Bancroft, Wis.-based Russet Potato Exchange Inc.
“Too soon to tell how the pandemic will affect onions in the long term,” she said.
“Even though bulk onions, which are the majority of onion sales, require ‘hands-on’ shopping, they still need to be peeled prior to eating so even in-store contact can be minimized prior to consumption.”
However the pandemic plays out, onion sales could benefit, Atkinson-Leach said.
“The increased trend towards more in-home cooking across generations may lead to onions staying on the shopping list as these habits begin to change how people eat in the future,” she said.
