OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Grande Produce is seeing increasing interest for its criollo mango, says Jesse Garcia, senior sales manager for the San Juan, Texas-based distributor.
Grande Produce exhibited at the March 25-26 Associated Wholesale Grocers’ seventh annual Innovation Showcase.
The green, smaller-shaped mango started finding increased demand about two to three years ago in U.S. Hispanic stores, but now sales have grown with both vendors and retail customers, Garcia said. Market conditions were fairly tight in late March for the mango variety, packed in 20-pound cartons, he said.
Garcia said prices for many tropical items have been more volatile since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 than they were before, partly because of inflation for some input items.
