Final CFFA Merchandiser Report

 Season recap Final CFFA Merchandiser Report Southeast Ken Meyer Executive Summary This was my first season with CFFA and it was full of ups and downs. Weather problems, shipping problems, dock strikes; all made retailers on edge during the season. Some retailers reported to me that it was one of the worst years in recent memory. Many complained that they could not get to the price point that they needed to have to move good volumes of fruit. This resulted in a number of cancelled promotions. Kroger Memphis, Kroger Atlanta, Harris Teeter, Winn-­‐
Dixie/BI-­‐LO, Merchants Distributing, Ingles, and Belle Foods all decided not to run promotions that they had previously committed to. The reasons given were inconsistent supplies and quality. On the other hand Hitchcock’s of Florida, Houchen’s of Kentucky, Piggly Wiggly of South Carolina, and the Defense Commissary Agency ran display contests…some of them for the first time ever. And results were very positive. Retail tags for our TV ads went out to Tampa and Jacksonville Florida, Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. We separated timing of the commercials in Jacksonville and Tampa markets. Publix asked us for a separate commercial from the normal TV ad and so both Tampa and Jacksonville got one ad for Publix and Winn Dixie got the other ad. Harris Teeter got the tag line in Charlotte, with Food Lion turning it down. Thousands of points of sales materials were sent to retailers throughout the Southwest. Many of retailers commented that they had never seen this material before and really liked the colorful displays they could make from our POS. Promotions Hitchcock’s of Northern Florida is a small chain of 10 stores. They ran a display contest in March and had two ads on Chilean fruit with our logo in the ads. The first ad generated sales increases of 3 percent and the second ad increased sales by 3.5 percent. Houchen’s Food Stores are located in Kentucky and Indiana. Their northern division of 30 stores ran a display contest. Photos and results to arrive by early May. Piggly Wiggly of South Carolina is an independent wholesale distributor based in Charleston, South Carolina. They service about 100 stores using the Piggly Wiggly label. They were very happy to be running a contest with Chilean fruit for the first time ever. This contest ran late in the season, so results are still not available. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) based in Virginia covers 140 commissaries in the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska. This was their first-­‐ever contest done with Chilean fruit. DeCA made the decision to use Chilean Fruit for their displays, but left the buying to wholesalers who have won the right by government bidding to service the commissaries. Wholesalers such as Hardie’s in Dallas, Military Produce Group in Virginia, Coast Produce in Califormia, and Castellini in Cincinnati are some of the wholesalers that have the right to sell DeCA, so the promotion required extensive coordination on behalf of the CFFA. Each commissary had to use at least 4 varieties of Chilean Fruit, as well as POS material supplied by the CFFA. Photos to be submitted by end of April, with judging by the CFFA. A more extensive report will be available in May, but here is some feedback from select commissaries. Davis Monthom Commissary Carried red and green grapes, nectarines, peaches, red and black plums for a 2 week time frame from March 3rd to March 17th. Produce sales with all items included jumped 11.87% vs. same time last year. Fort Benning Commissary Fort Benning Commissary was very successful in bringing a taste of summer to winter-­‐weary customers. Their main Chilean display included Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Blueberries, and Red, Green and Black Grapes. They had a total sales increase of 32% from 11-­‐24 March 2012 in comparison to 11-­‐24 March 2013. They believe their customers will look for these items the next winter season. 37% increase on Peaches; 7% increase on Nectarines; 48% increase on Plums; 85% increase on Black Grapes; 28% increase on Green Grapes; 24% increase on Red Grapes TV Campaign The Southeast region had television ads in four markets: Jacksonville and Tampa Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee. Three of these markets (Jacksonville, Tampa and Nashville) had Publix stores in them. Every week during the Chilean fruit season, Publix had at least one ad showing Chilean Fruit, with up to three ads for different commodities. Winn Dixie-­‐Bi-­‐Lo was in two of the ad markets and they also supported with weekly ads. Finally, in Charlotte, we tagged Harris Teeter, who responded with strong promotion support and weekly Chilean fruit ads. In Nashville we had Kroger and Publix using the tag. Publix Ads Customers who attended Retail Tour to Chile Joe Watson’s from Rouses attended the January customer tour to Chile. Rouses has 37 stores in the New Orleans area. Joe ran 14 Chilean ads throughout the season, and wrote a one-­‐page article on his trip to Chile for Rouse’s in-­‐store magazine. He also flew in figs for the first time ever and will be a strong Chilean supporter as we move ahead. Publix CFFA designed a retail tour specifically for Publix, with the produce director, category manager and two buyers traveling to Chile for a week and meeting with an extensive network of growers. Publix reported that they were very encouraged by the results of the trip and view it as a positive step in establishing strong relationships with growers and communicating what their stores require. They expect to make this a regular visit every few years. As noted above, Publix gave extensive ad support throughout the season and promoted their Jet Fresh stone fruit program with POSM designed specifically for them. Retail Ads and Point of Sale Support After joining the CFFA in November of 2012, I made it my goal to see as many customers as I could with a personal visit. I had worked in the Southeastern United States for 27 years with another commodity and I knew a lot of people but in many cases the buyer or the merchandisers were different people so a lot of the calls were first time meetings. The following is a list of retailers and some wholesalers who I personally called on and what we talked about. • DeCA, Bridget Bennett, Started first ever Chilean Fruit contest, over 140 commissaries. • Military Produce Group, Randy Brittain buyer, and Al Oliver director of sales, supplier to 100 commissaries on the east coast. • Kroger Roanoke, 100 stores, Susan Terry, assistant merchandiser, sent out POS material. • KVAT Food Stores, (Food City), Keith Cox, category manager, ordered POS material. • Kroger Atlanta, Duane Myers, assistant merchandiser, said yes to a sales contest, but then turned it down when quality, quantity and pricing became an issue • General Produce, Georgia, serves about 400 stores, Andrew Scott and Geo. Wiley, Purchasing and merchandising, ordered POS material and helped start a display contest for Hitchcock’s. • Freshpoint of Georgia, Tom Kellogg, mostly foodservice wholesaler, interested in POS material because they feel they can do a better job with Chilean Fruit. • Ingles Supermarkets, 240 stores, North Carolina, Jim Ray, Produce director. Ordered POS material, talked about a contest but later on did not want to do it. • Merchants Distributing Co., North Carolina, Carl Moore, merchandiser, 250 stores, Sent out POS material for all his stores. They do not participate in display contests. • Harris Teeter, North Carolina, 125 stores, Robert Tubbs, category manager. Gave us ads almost every week, a good supporter of Chilean Fruit, only way to promote here is electronically. •
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Whole Foods, Georgia, 40 stores, Brent Demarest, Purchasing. Sent some POS material out to him, thought he would do a contest but turned it down as season went on. Kroger Louisville, 180 stores, Kentucky, Steve McSorley, assistant merchandiser. Gave the OK to have a sales contest but like Atlanta they turned it down later on. Laurel Grocery Co. Kentucky, Alan Cattell, category manager, serviced by Caito Foods, 125 stores. They displayed POS material, but they don’t run contests. Kroger Memphis, 180 stores, Tennessee, Jill Bennington, assistant merchandiser, basically the same deal as Atlanta and Louisville Kroger’s. Talked about a sales contest, looked good but then it was turned down. Easy Way Foods, Tennessee, 10 farmers market type stores, Barry Carter Jr, owner. Displayed POS material. Piggly Wiggly of Alabama, 200 stores, Steve Lambert, director, displayed POS material. Mitchell Grocery, 150 stores, Alabama, Eddie Kirkpatrick, director. Displayed POS material. Don’t like contests. Belle Foods, Alabama, 65 stores, Lou Malaponti, ordered POS material and wanted to do a display contest but cancelled when pricing of fruit went to high. Houchen’s Industries, 85 stores, Daniel Mudd, director, Kentucky, has a north and south division, south division does not like display contests, northern division does and did a display contest for about 40 stores, ordered POS material for both divisions. Food Giant, 40 stores, Alabama, Larry Kelley, director, ordered POS material, but could not put a display contest together. Associated Grocers of Louisiana, 100 stores, Rhonda Grashot, buyer, saw late in season and will try to do more things next year. Rouses Supermarkets, Louisiana, Joe Watson, 35 stores, director, promoted heavy all year, used POS material, went on Chilean trip, and gave us a nice write up in company magazine. American Fruit and Produce, Andrew Neadle, Florida, exporter to Caribbean Islands. Presented our POS material which he liked but never ordered. Beaver Street Fisheries, Florida, Randy Milton, exporter to the Caribbean, Has one good chain in the Bahamas that they service, thought they would use our POS material but did not use it. Sun City Produce, Florida, Mitch Byalick , buyer, Selling domestic and to the Caribbean, liked our material but never ordered the POS material. Whole Foods, Florida division, Mark Klueber, manager, about 25 stores, buying mostly from the California office, not interested in anything else. Mayrsohn Trading, Stuart Reisman, General manager, Florida, exporter to Caribbean, South America, and Central America, I thought they would use our POS but it never worked out. Hitchcock’s Foods, Derek Christian, director, Florida, 10 store chain, did a display contest for us, used our POS material, Winn Dixie/Bi-­‐Lo , Mike Carter, Florida, 400-­‐500 stores, merger is complete, all buying is now done in Jacksonville, Gave some thought to doing a promotion but turned it down when pricing and quality problems became an issue. Super Valu buying office, Tom Page, Florida, buys for all Super Valu divisions, probably over a 1000 stores, gave him a rundown on what was available, he does not set promotions. Publix Supermarkets, Florida, Albert Gottuso, category manager, and Carlos Martinez, buyer, gave us a lot of ads this year, went on Chilean trip, used some POS material, and also used special signage. The above list is people I personally called on and talked exclusively about Chilean Fruit. Besides the list above there were accounts that I never could see personally but I arranged phone appointments with them. A great majority of them ordered some POS material from me. Here is a list of those retailers and wholesalers that were contacted. Fresh Point of Orlando (wholesaler), Sedanos of FL (30 stores), Associated Grocers of FL (150 stores), Rey Trading of Panama (70 stores), Southern Specialties (wholesaler), Associated Grocers of AL (200 stores), JH Harvey of GA (90 stores), JTM Corporation (60 stores), Associated Wholesale Grocers of TN (400 stores), GW Palmer Company (broker), Super Valu of WV (150 stores), Cox Food Group of KY (14 stores), Food Depot of GA (35 stores), Fresh Market of NC (130 stores), W Lee Flowers Company of SC (75 stores), Uni/pro of Atlanta (food service), Nash Finch Company of NC (125 stores), Earth Fare NC (25 stores), Aldi Company of GA (100 stores), Lowes Food of NC (150 stores), Dekalb Farmers Market (farm market), Fresh Point of GA (wholesaler), Ingles Markets of NC (225 stores), Super Valu East of VA (350 stores), Camellia Foods of VA (12 stores), Here are some retail pictures I took during the course of the year. •
Two pictures of Chilean Grapes from a Meijer stores in Louisville, Kentucky Store display of Chilean Fruit at a Fresh Market store in Alabama