Consumers are craving healthy comfort foods, substance and something for dinner that will warm their families' appetites on a cold winter's evening. There is one category that stands out more than any other to do just that: the root category. Soups, stews and warm side dishes are just a few uses for root vegetables to satisfy hearty, healthy meals that consumers will feel great about eating.
Root vegetables are so diverse in both uses and as commodities, and the category does indeed have some high tonnage items within it. For example, potatoes, onions and carrots all fall within the root vegetable category, so you have three heavy hitters right there for potential excellent sales and case movement. And while roots are sometimes not seen as a flashy or visually appealing category for merchandising, there are many ways to create awesome displays that will capture the eyes of consumers. I think this category helps make areas such as wet racks really come alive with color.
Learn more: Potatoes
So, let's “get to the root” of maximizing your root vegetable sales at retail.
Range of roots
Having a great variety of root vegetables available for your customers is critical to growth. Fill up the potato tables, not only with staples like red, Yukon Gold and russet potatoes, but include baby creamers, fingerlings and mixed sweet potatoes. Add to your wet racks a full run of color with carrots (orange and mixed colors), red and gold beets, parsnips, celery root (celeriac), bunched radishes, rutabagas, daikon and turnips.
Learn more: Golden beets
A few other cool varieties to include when available are horseradish, burdock root, Chioggia beets (candy cane beets), watermelon radishes and black radishes. Let's not forget to include South and Central American roots, such as yucca, malanga, taro root and the increasingly popular jicama. And, although ginger and turmeric root are not botanically roots, (they are rhizomes or stems), consumers will look at these two as roots. Their thirst for these two is at an all-time high, as they are a juicing staple and nutritional powerhouses. These are must-haves for any produce department.
Like I mentioned, there is a root for everyone.
Radiant roots
With all this variety and color, who says you can't paint a picture or be super creative? Like I mentioned above, root vegetables really do help make a wet rack become a work of art. Bright colored radishes and mixed carrots add that zing of color in between the sea of green, and bulk bins or baskets filled with roots add splashes of excitement in your cases. Also, never be afraid to carry bunched or bulk roots of the same variety, such as bunched beets and bunched carrots. Not only do they add color within the wet rack sets, but consumers will also actually use the tops and greens for salads, juicing or side dishes. Be sure to keep roots misted and watered frequently as being in air without mist and on refrigeration will draw moisture out of them.
Sack it up
Bagged potatoes and onions, of course, are a produce department staple. Try to offer various sizes of bags and varieties to capture every customer. The surge in recent years of using fingerlings and baby creamer type potatoes in recipes has pushed these once back-of-the-case type of stock-keeping units to front-and-center in sets.
For better sales and consumer convenience, create packs of various roots designed for different uses.
- Place three different varieties of beets in a bag for consumers who like or want to try to make homemade beet chips (a personal favorite of mine);
- Combine carrots, celeriac, turnips and parsnips to offer consumers a prepacked mix for an awesome roasted root vegetable side dish; and
- Put together a juicing pack complete with carrots, beets and other ingredients to make a tasty, refreshing juice.
These premade packs are great for cross-merchandising opportunities both in and out of the produce department. Root vegetables are incredibly versatile and offer a myriad of uses, so it is a great idea to have recipe suggestions printed out at point of sale, posted on social media or even printed on flyers and sale sheets. Offer suggestions to your customers of mashed parsnips as a substitute to mashed potatoes, make carrot fries instead of french fries, or just cube up some kohlrabi and toss it in a salad.
Promote the whole gang
Let's not forget the age-old, surefire way to sell produce, and that's with promotion. Whether it's in store, on social media or in your print ads, calling out specific root vegetables in your ad is a great way to get exposure and create excitement for this awesome category. Let's face it, potatoes, onions and carrots really drive this category, but promoting some varietal roots could encourage your customers to try something new.
So, time to turnip the beet on your root vegetable sales. Volume up to 10!