Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a five-part series examining the growth of Oasis Dates. Together, the series is intended to offer an insider’s blueprint for building an iconic produce brand from the ground up.
Before setting the ambitious goal to double category sales in five years, Oasis Dates knew it needed to spark a true step-change in consumer demand across generations. Ahead of its official brand launch this fall, CEO Adam Cooper is drawing on proven produce playbooks and comprehensive consumer research to lay the groundwork for category expansion.
Central to this strategy is the company’s “Foundation of Insights” — an extensive research initiative that informs Oasis Dates’ marketing and sales approach. This data-driven framework is designed to transform consumer perceptions and fuel its ambitious “2X in 5” sales growth vision.
“I find that a great brand is built on a strong, unique selling proposition that matters to people, and this ‘USP’ as we call it, needs to be factual, simple, and answer the question: Does its unique quality answer a need in the marketplace?” says Cooper, former head of marketing for The Wonderful Company.
To gain a deeper understanding of this unique selling proposition and how consumers interact with dates, Oasis Dates’ Foundation of Insights launched a comprehensive research campaign combining nationwide quantitative surveys with immersive qualitative field research.
The brand went beyond basic questionnaires by entering dozens of homes and shadowing consumers on store trips. By engaging both loyal date buyers and prospective customers, the team was able to observe real-world habits — from where dates are stored in the pantry to how shoppers navigate grocery aisles trying to find them.
This hands-on approach uncovered a wide range of practical, everyday uses that quantitative data alone could never capture. Cooper says these direct interactions revealed unexpected inspiration, highlighting how versatile the fruit is throughout the day.
Date consumers shared diverse habits, such as stashing a few dates in a bag for convenient, non-perishable energy while running errands; using them as pre-workout fuel and post-workout muscle recovery aid; or eating them at night as a healthier way to satisfy a dessert craving.
Ultimately, combining broad survey data with intimate, in-home observations provided Oasis Dates with a complete picture of consumer behavior, helping to inform the brand’s commercial strategy.
“This really served to be the foundation of everything that we were going to do from a marketing and sales perspective,” says Cooper of the consumer behavior deep dive. “You never know where an idea is going to be sparked from... [the qualitative research] backed up all the insights we were seeing in the quantitative study, but brought it to life in a different way, which was really helpful.”
The study also uncovered a significant growth opportunity among potential date buyers — defined as consumers who shop adjacent categories like premium snack nuts, dried fruit and produce beverages, but haven’t yet purchased dates.
“The exciting news here is that the potential date group is more than double the population of the current date group, and spans all generations,” says Cooper.
While the primary barrier preventing them from buying is simply a lack of awareness as to how to integrate dates into their routines, the research showed these potential users value both wellness and taste. To bridge this gap and meet their dual desire for health and enjoyment, Oasis Dates partnered with a health expert to review hundreds of global studies on date consumption, focusing on key consumer trends like gut health, athletic performance, diabetes management, and pregnancy.
“When we ask this group... ‘Why haven’t you tried dates yet?’ It’s really a lack of education and awareness,” Cooper explains. “Health mattered to them, but so did enjoyment... Everybody wants both, and so our positioning is meant to then meet this consumer need.”
A Category on the Move
The Foundation of Insights also worked with Circana to better understand the category trends.
“We found that dates had very strong growth heading into the year and actually dates became the largest selling dried fruit segment for the first time ever,” says Cooper. “What I found most interesting and powerful about this story was that this growth was consistent across all demographic segments.”
Dates had over 20% sales growth with millennials and Gen Z, Gen X and boomers. They had strong sales growth with upper income households, middle income, and lower income, and consistent growth across all races.
“This was, to me, the healthiest growth story I’ve ever seen,” says Cooper. “The fact that dates’ U.S. household penetration is only at 12% means there’s big white space here for Oasis Dates to grow this category nationwide.”
To build its framework, Oasis Dates collaborated with key data and health experts — including Circana and trusted partners from Cooper’s time at The Wonderful Company. Grounding their approach in rigorous market research ensures the brand’s ambitious growth strategy is backed by solid data.
“When we develop a big strategy like ‘2X in 5' — doubling the date category in five years — it’s founded in insights,” says Cooper. “Altogether, the Foundation of Insights inspired our branding, our innovation pipeline, our advertising, our health communications, our scientific research, and our sales vision.”
The Multi-Occasion Powerhouse
If there was one central theme that emerged from both the study and the consumer love letter, it was the surprising versatility of dates. While non-users often hesitate because they don’t know what to do with the fruit, established consumers treat dates as a multi-purpose kitchen staple.
“Many fruits are for snacking and maybe they have one or two other ways of using it,” says Cooper. “But what we found was that, on average, a date user was finding three to four different ways of using dates at home, and half the group was finding four or more ways.”
These habits span far beyond straightforward snacking — consumers integrate dates into smoothies, drop them into yogurt or salads, make savory appetizers like bacon-wrapped dates, and use them as natural sweeteners in baked goods. This wide range of applications offers Oasis Dates a roadmap for educating hesitant new buyers and capitalizing on current culinary trends.
“It’s no wonder why we’re seeing on social media all these viral recipes using dates as a natural sweetener,” Cooper says. “We’re really excited about this because we now know we have lots of different ways of inspiring these potential users to go find dates and try them... There’s a lot of different ways that we can bring that to life.”
Year-Round Demand
The study also shattered several long-held industry myths, starting with the assumption that date consumption is limited to affluent demographics. Instead, findings revealed consistent demand and growth across all demographic groups, which Cooper says proves the product’s universal appeal.
The research also highlighted major opportunities to expand beyond traditional sales spikes. While dates remain deeply tied to cultural moments like Ramadan, Thanksgiving and Christmas, the data demonstrates strong, year-round demand.
Rather than relying solely on these established peaks, Oasis Dates is partnering with retailers to unlock new merchandising opportunities throughout the calendar.
“I love being part of cultural norms... dates have certainly found a way to be culturally relevant,” says Cooper. “[But] dates have become a year-round category without a doubt.”
Ultimately, these insights signal a broader evolution for the entire category. As retailers recognize the revenue potential, they are joining Oasis Dates in making long-term investments to grow awareness and reach the next generation of consumers.
“This is all part of developing a category,” says Cooper. “It takes time. “Dates have been around obviously for a long time, but I think there’s more awareness, and retailers now appreciate the dollar growth dates can deliver, and they’re willing to invest behind it, and we’re willing to invest with them.”
Doubling the Date Category in 5 Years
To power its ambitious goal of doubling the date category in five years, Oasis Dates’ commercial team has modeled growth drivers ranging from attracting new consumers and introducing new usage occasions to driving product innovation and “premiumizing” the aisle by encouraging shoppers to trade up to organic or pitted varieties.
“With only 12% of U.S. households buying dates today, we believe there’s a path to achieving closer to 20% penetration within the next five years,” says Cooper. “As I experienced with Wonderful Pistachios, this level of growth can only be achieved with strong category leadership from the supply leader, willingness to invest in the category, and entrepreneurial retail partners.”
Cooper says the “2X in 5" strategy is already gaining serious traction with retail partners, with some looking to compress the timeline and double their date business in just two to three years.
Drawing direct parallels to the explosive rise of Wonderful Pistachios, Cooper is confident that deep supply-retailer alignment can transform dates into the produce section’s next breakout success story.
To make that breakout growth a reality, Oasis Dates is anchoring every level of its operations in data—using these deep consumer insights to shape everything from precision marketing and product innovation to new retail merchandising tools.
“Better insights inform better intuition that then informs better decisions. We feel like these insights will allow us to break through and achieve this doubling the category in five years,” says Cooper. “These insights will inform our new products. They will inform our merchandising tools... and I think they’ll help separate our brand and really drive the category going forward.”
Your next read:
Blueprint for Building an Iconic Produce Brand: How Oasis Dates CEO Plans to Disrupt the Category
Inside Oasis Dates’ Field-to-Shelf Innovation and Sustainability Strategy
