Sweet potatoes: Unsung hero of the holidays … but wait, there’s more!
When people think sweet potatoes, they often think sweet dishes – not surprising, given the name and all. As the holiday season moves into the new year, however, retailers can inspire shoppers to think beyond brown sugar and marshmallows.
There are innumerable recipes online that can be tweaked and reproduced for point-of-sale material – and they have cross-merchandising potential to boot!
If you and your family are up for experimenting with your recipe repertoire in this less-than-normal season, try this process to kickstart some innovative sweet potato merchandising ideas for 2021.
- Do some quick Google research and find the most appetizing sweet potato recipes you can.
- Check out the ingredients list of one or two favorites – can you get the list to 5-6 items, maybe by using a premade seasoning blend rather than a bunch of individual dried herbs or spices?
- Test out the recipe(s) – and have your team members do likewise if they’re so inclined – to make sure it’s as delicious as advertised.
- Take pictures! If you’ve got a phone four years old or newer, it will work.
- When you have a real winner of a recipe identified, work with your marketing department to create point-of-sale material with a tear pad that has a vibrant photo of the recipe and a list of ingredients.
For best results, keep the recipe short – and include which aisle in the store the other ingredients can be found. If you can cross-merchandise seasoning or other vegetables (whatever is called for in the recipe) all the better.
Happy selling!
