West Pak Avocado's Doug Meyer and Freska Produce's Dave Patterson Discuss Strong Start for California Avocados
CALIFORNIA - The California avocado season is really ramping up, with growers reporting lots of quality pickings to meet the season’s demand.
Dave Patterson, Sales for Freska Produce, is confident in the continued selection of California avocados and shares that Freska is focusing immediately on its harvest before moving on to avocado retail. “We’re really looking forward to our first season,” he says. “There’s lots of supply, though movement is a little slow because more Mexican fruit came in within the past two weeks. But the California market will catch up soon.”
Dave emphasizes that the avocado market is stable now on larger fruit, with California avocados coming in a few dollars more than what might still overlap from Mexico. “Quality is very good, in both Mexico and California,” details Dave. “No issues or spotting issues have been seen yet.”
West Pak Avocado is also seeing strong supply from their grower base, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Doug Meyer tells me, with good demand to meet the supply.
“The California season is definitely under way, and while many may still think of Cinco de Mayo as the traditional kick off for fresh California avocados, we have many of our core customers engaged already, and are encouraging more to ramp up in April leading into Cinco,” Doug says, adding that great quality is pushing even more desire from consumers.
“What is really helping with the early season push for California avocados is consumers are getting great quality avocados that are eating well and giving them a good experience.”
West Pak is seeing good results with ripening their California fruit, which Doug added is helping to increase sales velocity and contributing to positive consumer experiences.
To help promote their California Avocado Season campaign, says Doug, “We launched a digital campaign, The Grove Rush 2016 (#CAAvoGold), which celebrates the California season by engaging with our customers and audience with all things California Avocado-related from industry news to heritage and behind the scenes. We are also connecting very well with our valued customers through LinkedIn, so make sure to find us there."
With more clearly in store for the state’s season as we head into Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, and beyond, keep checking in with AndNowUKnow.
