With a berry boom continuing in May after starting in April, Watsonville, Calif.-based Well-Pict will showcase its premium, proprietary conventional and organic strawberries and conventional raspberries.
After months of strong California storms, Well-Pict Berries expects promotable volumes extending through May and beyond, company officials said in an April news release.
“The berry deal for Well-Pict has officially started in a big way,” said Jim Grabowski, director of marketing at Well-Pict. He said in late April that Oxnard is carrying the majority of the marketer’s production and will be running strong through May.
“Santa Maria has come into good production a few weeks earlier than expected and will be supplying berries from now through July,” Grabowski said. “Watsonville has also started production in a small way but should be up to decent volume within the next two to three weeks. With all three districts involved, it should make for a very promotable time for strawberries at retail.”
Despite the weather challenges earlier in the year, Grabowski said Well-Pict’s berry supply should be comparable to last season’s production.
“All three of our growing districts grow conventionally grown strawberries with Oxnard and Watsonville also supplying our organically grown berries,” he said.
Berry sales are growing because of several reasons, Grabowski said.
“One reason is that the industry has been able to be successful in getting the [2-pound] clamshell to be an everyday shelf item in a larger number of retail outlets rather than having the [1-pound] unit carry the workload,” he said. “Another reason is the consumer themselves. There has been a big push to healthy eating and healthy lifestyle, and berries are a natural fit.”
Center of retail attention
Retail demand for berries has been strong thus far this year with limited quantities available, Grabowski said.
“Stores are always looking for promotable items coming out of winter and nothing says, ‘Spring is here and summer is around the corner’ more than a big display of berries,” he said. “Big ‘Berry Patch’ displays of all the various types of berries are always a surefire way to promote berries at retail since a good amount of berry sales are impulse buys based on sight and aroma.”
Beyond retail demand, Grabowski said foodservice demand is also up with many restaurants now up to pre-pandemic levels.
Retailers can take advantage of the free merchandising resources for the upcoming summer season by visiting Well-Pict’s digital retail POS kit.
