Blueberries are incredibly popular in restaurants around the country, but there's still room for growth.
According to the United Fresh Produce Association's latest Fresh Insights for Foodservice report, 26% of restaurants in the West serve blueberries, as do 28% of restaurants in the South, 29% of restaurants in the Midwest and 31% of restaurants in the Northeast. Blueberries have become much more commonplace on menus in the West and the South in particular, with both regions seeing a 10% increase in menu penetration in the last four years.
According to United, the usage opportunities for blueberries are many: “consume them fresh by the handful; feature them in baked goods like pancakes or muffins; integrate them into smoothies and on-trend breakfast bowls; showcase them as a dessert pizza topping; or leverage them as an ingredient in sauces and glazes for meat and veggies.”
Calling out the health benefits of blueberries is an especially important marketing tool now as more consumers than ever are being proactive about their health.
Check out more berry resources from PMG at the following links:
Blueberry fun facts for point-of-sale material — Looking for ways to draw shopper eyeballs to blueberries for a few extra seconds? We recently spoke with berry grower-shippers for a PMG magazine article on the growth of blueberry sales, and these are a few of their suggestions for fun facts to sweeten your point-of-sale materials.
Singing the blues — Blueberry sales growth and what's driving it — Retail sales data for the last five years demonstrate that consumers cannot get enough of blueberries. As shopper interest has continued to rise, the industry has expanded production in an effort to keep up.
Get the berry most out of your berry category — There's so much to be gleaned from examining a retail display photo: assortment in a given category, merchandising techniques and styles, fixtures, placement in relation to other items, cross-merchandising and more.
Strawberries — They're kind of a big deal — “A good strawberry season can increase sales and profits, and a bad strawberry season can really kind of leave you scrambling to find other opportunities for sales."