Featured, News

What the heck is Crespo Organic Summer Mango Mania?

June 13, 2022

Quick answer: #MangoJoy by way of #MuchosMangoes PRICED RIGHT

Summer: the warmest season of the year, in the northern hemisphere from June to August
Mango: a tropical oval or oblong fruit with succulent and juicy aromatic pulp and firm varying color blush toned skin and a hard central pit
Mania: an excessive enthusiasm or desire; an obsession

The mango’s popularity is soaring to new heights amongst Americans as they learn what the rest of the world already knew about the most widely consumed fruit globally. It is versatile and delicious and, thanks to the proximity of Mexico and Crespo Organic, priced perfectly at the peak of summertime.

Food inflation, labor shortages, and rising production costs are creating one of the most complex years we’ve seen. Shoppers are concerned about food prices and all data shows they are changing their shopping habits. But the data also shows they are still eating significantly more fresh produce. Fruit sales have skyrocketed (mango sales thrive all summer long), and more folks are eating meals at home. All of this is keeping the grocery channels in a powerful position despite the serious challenges; all the pivots to home delivery, grab-and-go and a slew of other creative ideas have kept retailers alive throughout the pandemic. Enter the value of a Crespo Organic Mango and a Summer Mango Mania promotion.

Value and price is leading all consumer choices currently and, as we enter into Mexico’s most prolific production regions (Nayarit and Sinaloa), that buzz word – VALUE – becomes an opportunity for what we call Crespo Organic Summer Mango Mania #MuchosMangoes. Additionally, we get to check off all other drivers leading consumer choices: health & nutrition benefits, quality, supply chain transparency, “feel-good story” and, let’s not forget, organics – a perpetually growing category that consumers continue to support despite inflation.

In its most basic form, Summer Mango Mania is the collision point between our peak production in Nayarit & Sinaloa (about 2 months long) with peak consumer mango demand, aka SUMMERTIME. The goal of Summer Mango Mania is a win for all. We get to move our increased volumes while retailers and distributors get 2 months of fixed pricing, consistent quality, and a summer sale that excites consumers. Consumers get one of their favorite fruits for an exceptional price at the time they love to eat it most. The bonus of the mania is that it’s accompanied by resources, both in-store and virtual, designed to educate, stimulate, and excite consumers even more. It’s a bit of an autopilot program for all, prices are set, buzz is in the air and shoppers just buy mangoes and feel mango joy, displays are easily replenished with quality and variety by the Crespo consistent supply.

Summer Mango Mania delivers profits to retailers and mango joy to consumers while moving a significant volume of fruit at a good price to the Crespo family.

Originally when we created Crespo Organic Summer Mango Mania we included a serious amount of in-store culinary activity and general mango commodity education in addition to all of the various buzz that took place on social media channels. Not only were the bigger displays of #MuchosMangoes wrapped in posters and recipe cards that taught mango shoppers how to choose, store, cut, and use mangoes, but we did live mango tastings, cutting demos, and culinary classes all over the country. It was spectacular for sure.

But then COVID came and changed things. The challenges we all faced to get a piece of fruit from orchard to table were significant and costly. Summer Mango Mania may have changed because of COVID but I’d argue maybe for the better in this case.

We struggled getting bigger displays built in the height of the pandemic but there was still a serious need for both mango joy and mango education – maybe even more than before. We moved as much as we could online and started mango-centric ZOOM classes, live demos, Q&A’s and whatever other creative ideas the Crespo Organic Kitchen could come up with to keep people learning about mangoes and occupied through those tough times.

The mangoes at the retail level were still priced well for consumers, in-store POP educational tools still existed and consumers bought more mangoes than they had in years prior. Summer Mango Mania found its real footing in the pandemic; it’s more powerful and less work.

Summer Mango Mania is nimble and offers something for every sized retailer, home delivery seller and even processors. The goal is simple: we sell our #MuchosMangoes, consumers get a sweet deal, and we all feel #MangoJoy while learning more about mangoes and creating more mango lovers. Doesn’t matter how much labor you have as long as we can negotiate to get increased sales by perfecting store price points.

Whether retailers choose to build larger front and center displays, end caps, free standing satellite displays, cross merchandise with a little bin on the meat counter (Mango BBQ Recipe Cards!) or a few Net Bags next to the tequila (Mango Margarita Recipe Cards). No matter how big or small, mangoes that are priced right create significant buzz and positive feelings among shoppers, according to Mango Board data, who say that mango shoppers spend more dollars on produce than non-mango shoppers.

Contrary to some beliefs, the bigger displays are super easy to build, can be built anywhere in the store, they offer nice color and can create a SUPER impactful display and destination for shoppers. The self-building displays using the Crespo mango box are sturdy and beautiful, creating show-stopping displays. (Many of our distributors even have display contests as a part of their Summer Mango Mania.)

Check out some of the creative and vibrant displays we have seen over the over the years.

This year’s Summer Mango Mania dates are June 19^th – July 31^st, coinciding with our peak production. The virtual calendar will be released on June 17^th (you can take a peek at last year’s).

The “bells and whistles” are (some links will show past examples, as the 2022 calendar is not yet live!)