Michigan apple suppliers say they are adjusting readily to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our retail account managers have continued to work with our retail customers, with many meetings online, and shows going virtual,” said Diane Smith, executive director of the Lansing-based Michigan Apple Committee.
“We’ll continue to work with our retail customers to build programs that work best for their marketing plans, and hopefully, make their jobs easier.”
Grower-shippers say they have had to adjust.
“Our foodservice business has been heavily impacted by COVID but the retail side of the business has been brisk, although challenging, in that it has changed to a greater emphasis to consumer packs,” said Don Armock, president of Sparta, Mich.-based Riveridge Produce Marketing Inc.
“It seems this is driven by concerns with hygiene, online ordering and convenience.”
The coronavirus crisis seemed to tilt purchases in favor of familiar apple varieties, at least in the early going, Armock said.
“Early days of the pandemic, we experienced a stronger demand for the core varieties, to the detriment of some of our developing varieties; it remains to be seen how this will manifest itself going forward,” he said.
The pandemic also has forced changes in communications between suppliers and customers, said Brian Coates, vice president of sales and business development at Sparta, Mich.-based Applewood Fresh Growers LLC.
Coates noted that it had become a “little harder communicating with customers, with so many working from home, (and it) seems harder to connect with them.”
He also said it’s a bit slower “getting things through their organizations with all the working from home.”
Meanwhile, Applewood Fresh has made other adjustments to meet consumer needs in response to the pandemic, Coates said.
“We have done a great job during the panic shopping in the spring to cover customer needs,” he said.
“In the packing facilities they have followed the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, and we have not had any issues that have caused any interruption of production.”
Suppliers have tightened protocols, limited access to facilities and instituted regular wellness checks for workers, said Chuck Yow, director of U.S. sales and business development with Comstock Park, Mich.-based Michigan Fresh Marketing LLC.
“We’re taking every precaution, like a lot of produce companies at this point,” he said.
“We do temperature checks and (workers) have to have a quick evaluation of how they look before they can come in the building. And they have to have masks. We’re going to be fogging all the equipment after hours, fogging buses when not in use, fogging cabins when not in use, in order to eliminate any virus hanging around.”
Michigan Fresh has felt the effects of restaurant closures during the pandemic, Yow said.
“We have done quite a bit of foodservice, and some of that business is definitely off — probably 40% of what it was when the year went out,” he said.
School foodservice business still remained a mystery by mid-August, Yow said.
“Whether schools go back in or not will determine some of that business,” he said. “Some of those apples are smaller ones that go on trays.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program has helped picked up the slack left by the summer school closures, Yow said.
“You were able to use those bagging-sized apples and that pulled a lot of fruit — not just for us but for everybody,” he said.
The key to getting through the COVID-19 crisis is flexibility, said Ken Korson, apple and asparagus category manager at Traverse City, Mich.-based grower-shipper North Bay Produce Inc.
“I think, as far as sales, we’re just shifting to what people are looking for, and most of that is going to be more of a packaged product than a bulk,” he said.
“We’re not really sure how the school business goes; we’re just going to have to shift as it comes. We don’t know state to state who’s gonna be back.”
Labor might be the biggest coronavirus-related issue, Korson said.
“For produce, it will be picking, packing, keeping enough labor in the sheds with trying to keep people safe and social distancing. So that’s a big concern, for sure, and we’re gonna have to be on our toes to keep things rolling, because we’re considered an essential business to provide food for the country. We have to make sure we’re doing everything we can. It’s going to be a challenging fall.”
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