Retail and consumer requests for bagged avocados have been inching upward for the past several years, but the onset of the coronavirus seems to have intensified that demand, grower-shippers say.
Santa Paula, Calif.-based Calavo Growers Inc. now bags nearly 25% of its avocados, “which is pretty amazing,” said Rob Wedin, executive vice president of fresh sales.
Not too long ago, that volume was in the 15% range.
“One positive of the coronavirus is the popularity of the bags,” he said.
At first, the company did not bag any of its avocados in Mexico, he said. They were all packaged in the U.S.
But as bagged avocados became more of a staple and the company was convinced that supplies would not exceed demand, much of the bagging operation stayed in Mexico.
Calavo added bagging capacity two years ago, and now more than half of the crop that is bagged is packed in Mexico.
Wedin believes that during the pandemic, consumers want to spend less time in the supermarket, and they prefer to simply pick up a bag of avocados rather than sort through a display in the produce department.
“It certainly helps the demand side for avocados,” he said.
Increased bag sales should help move the larger crop that is expected to be imported from Mexico this season, he said.
When it comes to what goes into the bags, Calavo offers “every option in the book,” Wedin said.
Whatever combination customers want — fruit size, count per pack or size container the bags will be packed in — is available.
“The options are unending,” he said.
Bags can range from 2-pounders with small size 84s or 96s to three-count jumbo bags of size 36s.
The company recently revamped the labeling to make the bags fully recyclable.
“The first couple of months into (the pandemic), we saw a really large spike in bag demand,” said Donny Lucy, vice president of procurement and East Coast sales for Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc., Fallbrook, Calif.
The demand has dipped a bit, but it’s still around.
“We are still seeing good demand on the bag business,” he said.
Consumers like the convenience of picking up a four- or six-count bag of avocados, he said.
Bagged sales don’t seem to cannibalize bulk movement.
“Our loose business is still solid,” Lucy said.
“There have been some really fantastic price points on the bags,” he added, and those low prices seem to have helped boost sales.
About half the avocados Fallbrook, Calif.-based McDaniel Fruit Co. packs are bagged, and the number has been increasing, said Rankin McDaniel, owner and president.
The avocado category in general has been growing, he said, but the packaged side has been growing faster than the bulk side.
Volumewise, however, bulk product still accounts for the majority of the company’s avocados.
Index Fresh Inc., Riverside, Calif., bags 25% to 30% of its avocados, but Giovanni Cavaletto, vice president of sourcing, said for Index Fresh, bagged volume has become static after increasing for the past few years.
Giovanni has read about an increase in bagging, but he said, “We haven’t seen that.”
Henry Avocado Corp., Escondido, Calif., bags “a fair amount” of its avocados, and that volume continues to rise, said president Phil Henry.
“Bags have been popular with consumers,” he said.
“The numbers have gone up quite a bit on how much we are selling on bags.”
Another theory for the popularity of bagged fruit versus bulk during the pandemic is that shoppers prefer to buy fruit that has not been handled by other consumers in the store.
Henry said he believes the fruit is safe, but he pointed out that trade groups and some supermarkets encourage consumers to wash avocados before cutting into them.
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