Greg Heinz of Ippolito International Discusses Broccoli Supplies and Quality as the New Year Kicks Off
SALINAS, CA - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year! As consumers kick off 2022 with healthy eating plans and resolutions, give them a product that is easy to incorporate into their meals that also delivers on flavor—Ippolito International broccoli. With its southern season already in full swing, the grower has strong supplies and aggressive promotional pricing to keep shopper dollars flowing.
“Broccoli quality has been fantastic, with good dense heads and vibrant green color, signifying minimal quality issues,” Greg Heinz, Director of Sales and Broccoli Commodity Management, describes. “We are also seeing good weights, allowing us to produce both crown material and bunch material with ease.”
As of now, Ippolito has been harvesting in its Yuma, Arizona, growing region for two months. Additionally, the supplier is producing broccoli out of San Luis, Mexico, and is on time to offer the best possible quality for its customers.
Noted in a recent cauliflower update from Ippolito, the Yuma region has experienced very warm weather for the start of the season, with temperatures hitting 5–10 degrees higher than normal compared to past seasons. Overall, this has brought some products forward, alleviating supply gaps that Ippolito originally projected.
“We had been trending 7–10 days ahead of schedule, but the cooler weather last week and predicted for this week will slow supplies down to allow us to stay right on top of supplies and ideal quality,” Greg explains. “We’ve had above-budgeted volumes in our southern growing region, but the cooler weather is helping to keep supplies a bit lighter during a time in which you want lighter production anyways.”
As production slows due to the weather and the need to actively push supplies has lessened, Ippolito has seen a slight uptick in category pricing over the last week or so.
Despite this slow down, Ippolito is experiencing an overall volume for its Yuma and San Luis regions that is similar to last year’s, Greg imparts. The company has seen strong demand from retailers and wholesalers as well as moderate demand from foodservice operators following the Thanksgiving holiday, especially for its value-added broccoli offerings. That being said, the grower has excellent supplies to support customer needs and to offer promotions on broccoli into mid-January.
With healthy eating taking a front seat for your shoppers as they get into the spirit of New Year’s transformation, stay stocked up on Ippolito’s broccoli to keep registers ringing.
