Excerpts from an article in the 4/18/12 The Packer written by Jim Offner

The summer fruit marketplace is crowded, but there is still room for tropical fruit if it’s showcased and priced correctly, according to marketing agents.

Appeal to traditional markets also is crucial to the tropical category’s summer success, said Mary Ostlund, marketing director of Homestead, Fla.-based Brooks Tropicals Inc.

“For many Latinos and Asians, tropicals may not be locally grown but they’re considered homegrown fare,” Ostlund said.

Tropical fruits are ideal ingredients for summertime salads, and they have other attributes that enhance their seasonal value, Ostlund said.

“Tropicals have found ready acceptance as key ingredients for meat topping or chip-dipping salsas, and papayas have a digestive enzyme that can be used in a marinade to tenderize meat,” she said.

From an article in the 04/18/2012 The Packer written by Jim Offner

Chefs credit tropical fruit for providing multiple sensory benefits to their menus.

It’s a seasonal asset, said Chef Sydney Meers, owner and chef of the Stove Restaurant, Portsmouth, Va.

“I usually use tropical in the wintertime because it comes in during their summer season and our area is not producing,” Meers said.

Tropical fruit brings value to his menu, Meers said.

“They ship everything overnight now, so it doesn’t take weeks on a cargo truck, and we do a lot of creative things with them.”

Star fruit is an occasional feature, Meers said.

“I use that a lot in decorative ways,” he said.

Star fruit can take “a little bit of work,” but it’s a worthwhile addition to the menu, Meers said.

“I do a Sunday brunch once a month and I leave it whole and slice it and toss it in with other fruits,” he said.

The product has practical as well as sensory value, Meers said.

“When you do a lot of egg and pork, which is fat, mostly, you need some fruit to balance that out, so you need to think about that,” he said.

Diners like the novelty of the tropical fruit category, Meers said.

“They get pretty excited about it because they don’t see it around here too much,” he said.

When they do, it has to be top-tier product, said Meers, who has been a restaurateur in the Norfolk-Portsmouth area for nearly 30 years.

“They know what to expect,” he said.

Andre Natera, executive chef of the Pyramid Restaurant & Bar in Dallas, said he uses a variety of tropical fruits in his culinary creations.

“We use pineapple in a pineapple upside-down cake, and we have a passion fruit in a chocolate panna cotta and use the seeds in a puree,” he said.

“We also have a dessert which calls for coconut and make a powder out of the coconut.”

The restaurant also uses fresh lychee with a number of seafood entrees, Natera said.

Seasonality also affects the Pyramid’s menu and its use of tropical fruit, Natera said.

“Certain times of the year, they’re just not good, so we try to make sure we’re using the product when it’s supposed to be used,” he said.

Cost is not a major factor, Natera said.

“As long as you stay within the season, the cost stays in line,” he said.

Chef Frank Randazzo, co-owner of Creative Tastes Catering & Event Production in Miami, said tropical fruit often is part of events he directs.

“They fit in well here in Florida. We use them quite often,” he said.

“I’ll put them on fruit platters, cook with them, put them in salsa and relishes, in sandwiches as toppings. We go nuts with them,” he said.

Among the lineup of tropical items offered by Brooks Tropicals LLC is a Persian lime program that runs 52 weeks a year from its grower in Mexico with product coming through McAllen, TX.

“We are experiencing steady production this winter,” said Mary Ostlund, director of marketing for the Homestead, FL-based company. “We continue to experience excellent sales with our PlacPak number 10 pony box with PLU stickers. This year we’ve seen major promotions for the Super Bowl, and we expect the same to happen with Easter and Cinco de Mayo.”

Brooks Tropicals’ bright green Mexican Persian limes are the popular market variety. Round to oval in shape, the limes are large in size and have thin, rich-green skin that emits a distinctive aroma. Inside, the light-green flesh is juicy and generally seedless. Persian limes enhance the flavor and visual appeal of beverages and dishes of almost any kind.

Brooks Tropicals, which was founded by J.R. Brooks in 1928, is currently headed by his son, Neal Palmer (Pal) Brooks, along with Chief Executive Officer Greg Smith.

Over the years, the company has built a strong reputation in the U.S. as a premier supplier of tropical fruits and vegetables that are shipped nationwide. One key to its success is that it harvests over 70 percent of what it sells. Besides Persian limes, the company specializes in Caribbean Red and Caribbean Sunrise papayas, “SlimCado” avocados, starfruit and Uniq Fruit.

The company manages over 3,000 acres, and it grows its proprietary brand of “SlimCado” avocados and starfruit in south Florida. In Belize, it grows its Caribbean Red and Caribbean Sunrise papayas.

In both Belize and in Florida, Brooks Tropicals’ packing and cold-storage facilities have consistently received outstanding marks in food safety from a leading third-party auditor.

Ms. Ostlund is fully aware of the growing demand of tropical fruits and vegetables by American consumers, particularly given the rising population of Latinos and Asians, who are no strangers to the category.

“The larger displays in more mainstream supermarkets are welcomed by these consumers,” said Ms. Ostlund. “These displays make Hispanic shoppers more welcome in the stores, and that is opening the way for more sales to this growing market.”

Consumers, she agrees, are being bombarded with “eat more fruits and vegetable” messages.

“That’s great for tropicals is that mainstream consumers aren’t only eating more of what they’ve eaten in the past, they are also willing to try new fruits and vegetables that might increase their appetite for produce,” said Ms. Ostlund. “To a lot of consumers, tropicals are new and they are also exciting.”

Mary Ostlund, marketing director for Homestead, FL-based Brooks Tropicals LLC, said in mid-March that Florida crops seem to be in a rush to get here and are coming on strong.

“The flowers on the ‘SlimCado’ and starfruit trees have been gorgeous,” Ms. Ostlund said. “We expect the summer starfruit crop to start rolling in at significant volumes in June. And the ‘SlimCado’ crop looks like the fruit will be coming on strong in June.”

Brooks Tropicals markets its avocados through an innovative concept. It grows and packs a range of avocados under its proprietary “SlimCado” brand, but they all share one common characteristic – they have half the fat and a third fewer calories than the leading California avocado. Generally pear-shaped with smooth or bumpy green skin, the “SlimCado” varies in shape and in size from 3 to thirteen inches long and up to five inches wide.

Peter Leifermann, Brooks Tropicals’ director of sales and fruit procurement, said that south Florida supplies numerous tropical items to North America during the spring, including mammy sapote, passion fruit, boniato, starfruit, water coconuts. Thai guava and lychee.

“Crop progression leads us to believe the 2012 spring will be a bountiful season,” Mr. Leifermann said.”The almost-perfect weather has jump-started production of most tropical items such as mammy sapote and passion fruit. We’re packing mammy sapote in March, and that says a lot. Currently we’re packing the Magana variety, which is the larger of the two commercial varieties. We’ll probably start packing the Pantin or Key West variety in July.”

Mr. Leifermann added that passion fruit helped to make Valentine’s Day a successful promotion for the company this year.

“We hope to do the same with Mother’s Day, as promotable volumes are expected,” he said. “We’ll have light volumes of passion fruit in early spring with some tapering off with the crop, which should return in late April. Normally we’ll stop production in late June, but we might be packing later into the summer. The quality of the fruit has been excellent.”

Spring, he added, is a dry season for Florida, and so boniato and water coconut product declines. Both items are, however, still produced in steady volumes and will return to promotable levels in June once the rainy season has started.

Ms. Ostlund said that the Florida guava season started early. In mid-March, the company was picking the Thai variety, which is a perfect item for the spring holidays.

“The perfect fruit for an easy-to-make desert, mammy sapote is making an early appearance,” she said. “Volumes look higher than last year. With no freezes to knock fruit off the tree, we’re seeing some visually beautiful fruit. It is a magnificent combination for the eyes as one cuts through the brown skin to find that luscious reddish orange flesh. For Brooks Tropicals, early crop appearances in the spring give us time to rev up sales efforts before we turn our main focus to our “SlimCado’ and starfruit seasons.”

She added that lychees generally don’ reap the rewards of a warm winter.

“Lychees actually respond quite well to some cold,” she said. “We expect the crop to be somewhat lower in volumes, and the fruit will probably come in later than normal.”

Ms. Ostlund said the high cost of fuel this year will have an effect on the entire industry.

“We are a transportation-driven industry, and that applies particularly to topical produce because it is grown in place stat necessitate transportation,” she said. “But there is no doubt that everyone will be impacted.”

Bill Brindle, vice president of sales for Brooks Tropicals predicts that the 2012 “SlimCado” season should be a productive as the company’s 2011 crop.

“The flowers on the trees have come fast and plentiful, indication a great crop ahead,” Mr. Brindle said.

Growing Latino population can mean big business for your produce department

With their burgeoning numbers in the U.S and their propensity for fresh fruits and vegetables, members of the Hispanic comment make ideal produce department customers.

The U.S. Hispanic population has skyrocketed to 47 million consumers or 16% of the nation’s population according to Hispanic Marketing Insights. Their numbers have expanded well beyond the Southwest and Florida. Hispanic consumers have settled in many major metropolitan areas including: Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas and Charlotte, N.C. There are even pockets of Hispanics in “secondary cities,” such as Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

Hispanics hail from many countries and each have their own produce preferences. But keep in mind that 65% of Hispanics in the U.S. are from Mexico or of Mexican descent.

Hispanics tend to prefer specific foods, says Rafael Hernandez of Hispanic marketing Insights.

“That includes lots of tropical produce,” says Mary Ostlund marketing director for Brooks Tropicals LLC, Homestead, Fla. “It’s the fruit and vegetables native to Latin cuisines.”

“Yucca, yams, malanga, boniatos, edoos are vital entries in the produce department that want Hispanic trade”, she says. “Hispanic shoppers will patronize stores that offer good quality and price.”

“Studies have shown your Hispanic consumer shops frequently and shops a variety of stores from bodegas to drug stores for groceries,” Ostlund of Brooks says. “Play up how you sell best, and the Hispanic consumer may frequent your establishment more.”

“Venture beyond papayas, mangoes, avocados and pineapples and merchandise starfruit, Uniq Fruit, passion fruit, ginger and other tropicals as well,” she suggests.

Brooks' IACP booth - totally different look from PMA's

The IACP held their annual conference this last weekend in New York City. Brooks Tropicals exhibited at the expo. The theme of the booth was ‘Story Ideas’.  I wanted attendees to see that Brooks provides story ideas, recipes, photos, etc. that they can use in their work.

In setting up the booth, I tried to build a pyramid of story ideas and information from the website’s nutritional corner. The objective was to sign these folks up to a monthly e-newsletter that will highlight a different tropical fruit or vegetable every month. There was a lot of interest.

Lucky to have a booth with a side, allowing us extra display

Story ideas provided the base for the pyramid.

Excerpts from an article in The Packer 4/4/12 online edition posted at 8:31 AM written by Jody Shee

Produce companies exhibiting at the International Association of Culinary Professionals expo, book and blogger expo on April 1 in New York had little competition, with only five on hand.

Many chefs, bloggers, recipe writers and food editors look for exotic products, and that was what Brooks Tropicals, Homestead, Fla., and Melissa’s World Variety Produce Inc., Los Angeles, were pushing at the expo.

“(Attendees) are taking our recipes and ideas and presenting them to their own audiences,” said Mary Ostlund, director of marketing for Brooks Tropicals. Visitors at the booth signed up for her monthly newsletter for a steady stream of recipes and ideas.

A mouth-watering display of tropical fruits including starfruit, papaya, pineapple and jackfruit.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 9.6 million Hispanics called the United States home in 1970. Since then, the Hispanic population has grown tremendously every decade.

In 2010, when the last census report was issued, 47.8 million Hispanics lived in the United States.

Even more amazing is that the Census Bureau projects that by 2050, over 100 million Hispanics will reside in the United States.

Among the states with the largest reported Hispanic population are California, New York, Texas and Illinois.

Just like the Italian, Irish, Greek, German and immigrants from other countries in the early half of the last century, Hispanics have brought their cultures along with them, including foods that have been a part of their lifestyle for hundreds of years.

Many Hispanics were raised on root vegetables like yucca, malanga and boniato, and a fruit cornucopia that includes plantains, bananas and mangos.

“To Latinos and Asians, who are no strangers to tropicals, the larger displays in more mainstream supermarkets are welcome,” said Mary Ostlund, director of marketing for Brooks Tropicals in Homestead, FL. “These displays make Hispanic shoppers feel more welcome in the stores, and that is opening the way for more sales to this growing market.”

She pointed out that the great publicity that tropical fruits and vegetables have received recently is an added boost.

“The consumer is being bombarded with ‘eat more fruits and vegetables’ messages,” Ms. Ostlund said. “What’s great for tropicals is that mainstream consumers aren’t only eating more of what they’ve eaten in the past, they’re [also] willing to try new fruits and vegetables that might increase their appetite for produce. To a lot of consumers, tropicals are new and they’re also exciting.”