Market Minute: Raspberries are ideal to promote right now
Market Minute: Raspberries are ideal to promote right now
In those early years of long-distance produce shipping, freshness was almost unattainable. Without refrigerated trucks or rail cars, fragile fruits and vegetables simply couldn’t survive the trip from growing regions like California to markets in the East. As a result, many delicate produce items never appeared in regional grocery stores because they broke down long before they could reach the shelf. Fresh raspberries were one of those items.
Grocers could only rely on seasonal items from local farms during harvest times. Refrigerated vehicles didn't exist until the 1930s. This made it a regular out-of-stock on certain produce such as winter citrus, avocados, bananas and berries — especially raspberries.
Raspberries were once a rarity for everyday shoppers. For years, berries of all kinds were sold almost entirely at local farms or by street peddlers, which kept raspberries out of mainstream retail. That began to shift in the late 1970s, when new plant-breeding programs produced varieties better suited for commercial production and supermarket handling.
The real momentum came in the 1980s and 1990s with the move from flimsy cardboard cartons to clear plastic clamshells. That packaging change dramatically improved protection, shelf life and merchandising appeal, opening the door to true volume sales.
Today, raspberries are a fully global commodity, shipped across oceans and supplied year-round to supermarkets everywhere, a far cry from their humble, hyper-local beginnings.
The current Mexican raspberry demand is good and about steady. So get your share of fresh raspberries into promotional advertising flyers now to boost your berry sales category.
Berry suppliers are ready with product to assist your needs and support ad promos.
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