ANAHEIM, Calif. – The National Mango Board has named Mary Zink, product category manager for Wegmans, its 2019 Mango Retailer of the Year.
Zink, the first woman to win the award, has been at Wegmans for 18 years and in produce for the last three years. This year is her first on the fruit side of the business, and she quickly became interested in increasing mango sales when she learned that mangoes are the top-selling fruit worldwide.
She challenged stores to be creative, and they delivered, including during an eight-week selling contest.
“It just was incredible week after week seeing the results and the displays,” Zink said before the award presentation at Fresh Summit. “They had fun with it, and you have to have fun with what you do.
“The contest winners were able to join me along with a ripener to the (Miami Mango Festival Summit at Fairchild Gardens) this past July to experience so many mangoes from around the world and then just bring that back to the store teams, just continue to educate (about) the number one fruit in the world,” Zink said.
Valda Coryat, director of marketing for the National Mango Board, described during the award presentation some of the steps Wegmans took to create a comprehensive, high-quality mango program.
The company started ripening mangoes in all its warehouses two years ago, and Wegmans also makes fresh-cut mango products in-house, from sliced fruit to mango salsa to mango pico de gallo.
“The versatility of mangoes really comes to life when you walk into a Wegmans,” Coryat said.