An ode to December — and produce merchandising preparation
Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, may have said it best in the tune, “My Way”: “And now, the end is here …” It’s fitting as we fade into December — the month that transitions into winter, into Christmas season and finally into yet another new year.
When marketing fresh produce, it seems we’ve barely caught our breath from a busy Thanksgiving period before the Christmas holiday week hits and it’s déjà vu, all over again, as Yogi Berra once quipped. December holiday festivities are more centered around gifts, office parties and so much more, before finally being crowned at the end by — what else — another round of holiday food, much of which originates in the produce aisle.
You have less time to prepare than you think. Are you ready?
The good news is that how a produce department must prepare is already set, merchandising-wise. You can pretty much leave the Thanksgiving merchandising blueprint intact for the next few weeks: endcaps of Idaho potatoes, sweet potatoes, oranges, apples and more. Relish vegetables such as celery, parsley, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, green onions, mushrooms and more will all still sell at a steady and, oftentimes, aggressive clip.
As Dec. 25 draws closer, you’ll see the customer traffic increase. It changes slowly at first, but the business generally will peak at some point between the last weekend prior to the holiday and when it all culminates on Christmas Eve. That’s when all your merchandising, good as it is, will benefit from a systemic application of spillovers on all your power items; perhaps, add some overnight prep shifts. In short, you’ll need to be stocked and loaded for bear.
Related: Read more insight from Armand Lobato
Or at least for jolly ol’ Santa, New Year’s revelers and for all the Whos for the Who-feast.
Of course, produce departments offer their own natural set of gifts within. Never out of style, fruit baskets still make a thoughtful gift and are particularly timely for the last-minute shoppers. These coincide with other food purchases as the holiday draws closer. Fruit baskets are a great gift for teachers, for neighbors, for the party host, the mail carrier; the smaller to medium-sized ones especially being an attractive yet practical, affordable gift, while larger or custom baskets can be enhanced with finer meats, cheeses and even wine — all goodies that pair well with seasonal, fresh produce. Large or small, if you make the effort to stock an assortment of fruit baskets fresh every day, they will sell.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is typically on the slower side. This is a great time for a produce manager to withdraw each morning for an hour or so while the phones are quiet to help catch up on year-end employee evaluations, do long-term merchandising planning, tackle the period-end inventory chore, clean or just clean up files.
Bookend all this with some lyrics about a December day by Willie Nelson from a song with the same name: “This looks like a December day. It looks like we’ve come to the end of the way ...”
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
