THE MUSHROOM RUSH

COELI CARR

Produce departments are using a greater availability of mushrooms to showcase their dedication to customer demand, retailers told SN.

The common white mushroom is still the runaway best seller, capturing a vast majority of the market. But the abundance of other varieties -- portabella, crimini, shiitake and oyster, among them -- is meeting consumers' growing demand for 'shrooms' earthy, exotic flavors, they said.

As part of its "5 a Day for Better Health" campaign encouraging consumer produce purchases, Roundy's, Pewaukee, Wis., has, for the past two years, featured mushrooms as one of three vegetables highlighted for variety, according to Frank Gillespie, corporate director of produce.

"We wanted to make a statement at retail level," Gillespie said. "Mushroom sales have grown in double digits for the past seven years, and they're a leading category for us."

Dave Grunow, produce buyer for Pick 'n Save, an 84-store, company-owned banner, said the chain places a high value on presenting a large mushroom selection at competitive prices.

"Variety sells," Grunow said. "Even if consumers don't buy every kind, a large choice helps increase sales. We try to get all the stores to carry a full line and make a big enough section in the produce area so the mushrooms will visually jump out at you when you face the section."

And one variety -- portabella -- has already jumped out, across the board, way ahead of the others.

Many retailers have observed the variety's meteoric rise in popularity and sales. It's a species linked to the white but with less water content, a deep, meat-like texture and flavor, and a much larger cap. Baby portabellas, better known as criminis, have also ridden on the coattails of their sibling's success.

Larry Jones, produce manager at Houston-based Fiesta Mart, has experienced the frenzy first hand at several of the chain's 43 stores.

"When we put portabellas on special, our 50-case display is gone in the first day," Jones told SN, noting that each case holds 20 pounds of product -- a total of a thousand pounds of mushrooms. Jones described shoppers usually buying from six to eight large portabellas at one of these specials, where he said the price is about a dollar cheaper than at competitors' stores.

"They know something," he said, referring to customers who are "more and more educated" about mushrooms.

Jones added that because of the item's three-day, in-store shelf life, he wants to move product quickly. It's also a testimony to the item's "new darling" status that his inventory is decimated solely through local traffic and word of mouth alone: The unpredictability of product availability makes it impossible for him to advertise these quick-to-disappear specials in store circulars. Other vendors have better luck.

About twice a month, Pick 'n Save regularly features mushrooms -- including sliced whites, portabella caps or sliced, or baby 'bellas -- in its circulars, either within or on a flap page, or both. The chain also features mushrooms in television and radio spots. According to Grunow, Pick 'n Save is also planning to promote fresh, prepackaged exotic items, such as oysters, enokis and a gourmet blend, in the circular's variety section.

Safeway's Denver division has also advertised portabella specials in their fliers. A recent special included a 6-ounce, overwrapped package of sliced portabellas for the Safeway Club price of $1.99. At the Cherry Creek Shopping Center unit, a produce associate said that the portabellas on special go quickly, "better than when whites are on sale." Although whites still outsell other varieties 2 to 1, portabellas are quickly catching up, he said.

Occupying a total shelf space of 24 feet, the mushrooms in this Safeway's display range from fresh, whole, larger-sized whites and portabellas, as well as overwrapped, whole and sliced whites; portabella caps and silhouette-sliced portabellas; whole, tiny cap portabellinis; and a selection of shiitakes, oysters, wood ears and enokis.

The store features "tons of different dried mushrooms" sold next to the fresh. A lot of the mushrooms are sold with signage describing the particular variety, the associate said, but "quite a few customers still ask" how to cook them.

A produce department source at Safeway's Mayfair store also responds to customers' cooking queries by giving his own favorite recipe -- broiling a portabella cap along with meat and sitting the mushroom right atop the burger. The associate said as supplies become more available, he predicts prices could propel even stronger sales.

Cross merchandising plays an important roll in mushroom sales, the Safeway associate said, noting that customers will buy a higher-priced mushroom, such as portabellas, when the mushroom and a grilling meat are on special at the same time. Roundy's Gillespie is also a fan of crossovers, as when Pick 'n Save produce departments supply portabellas for the delis' portabella pizza.

Gillespie also noted that during sauteed portabella sampling, the demo includes a salad from the produce department as part of the tasting.

It's hard to believe, but not so long ago most supermarkets declined the opportunity to sell portabellas, according to Kevin Donovan, national sales manager, Phillips Mushroom Farms, Kennett Square, Pa., which sells up to 80% of its stock directly to supermarkets such as Publix, Wegmans, Dominick's and Schnuck Markets.

"Portabellas were perceived as big, ugly and brown," he said. "Not glamorous. Even intimidating."

But by the early '90s, consumers had been exposed to the woodsy-tasting fungus at restaurants and were eager to seek out these items to prepare at home. Phillips started with overwrapped silhouette-sliced portabellas and portabella caps, and later, fresh, whole specimens as well. The surge in retail demand was so great that Phillips stopped growing whites and devoted all its energy to producing portabellas.

On a recent visit to Publix's Palmer Ranch store in Sarasota, Fla., SN found a selection of mushrooms, typical of many large supermarkets, that occupied almost half of a multideck, 10-foot long segment of a reach-in cooler whose total space also housed prepacked fresh salad mixes and refrigerated salad dressings.

As overwrapped items, white mushrooms were available whole in both one-pound and eight-ounce sizes, sliced, and as jumbo stuffers. Portabellas were available silhouette sliced, and as caps in both medium and large sizes. Baby 'bellas were also available whole and as caps, as was a gourmet blend consisting of criminis, shiitakes and oysters. SN noted almost an entire shelf contained organically grown whites and portabellas. Available as bulk items were portabellas and shiitakes; however, some of these portabellas appeared torn and were not as visually appealing as the overwrapped ones.

An ample assortment of packaged, dried mushrooms like porcinis, chanterelles, shiitakes, boletas, oysters and wood ears, and a stir-fry blend were hanging from pegs in the reach-in case. SN saw no literature, signage or recipes.

Recipes, however, play a key merchandising component at St. Paul, Minn.-based Kowalski's Markets, which rotates three different portabella recipes, especially during summer grilling time, for customers to take home. One of the chain's stores also does sampling of those recipes.

Larry Mauren, Kowalski's produce director, says mushrooms have become "a very major commodity." He attributes his overall increase in mushroom revenue in general to customers' wanting to eat more healthy foods.

"We're selling a lot more produce because of people's health concerns, and selling more mushrooms is part of that."

But, like most retailers whose biggest sellers are white mushrooms, Mauren sees the real growth spurt in the portabella category.

"Over the past several years, our portabella sales have quadrupled," he said, noting that part of the reason is their versatility -- caps, sliced, fresh and prepackaged. Even his giveaway recipes allow the consumer the option of using whatever format they wish.

Exotic mushroom sales are increasing as well, Mauren noted.

"Enoki, wood ear -- we move 'em," he said. "People even ask for morel, a high-end mushroom."

Roundy's Gillespie has also seen movement in fresh exotics, especially shiitakes, oysters and morels, which he believes has been influenced by restaurants using more of these types of mushrooms. Customers experience new varieties at the food-service level, enjoy them and then go looking to buy them, he said.

Questions regarding food safety also occasionally come up at the retail level, when customers ask the best way to store mushrooms.

At Schnuck Markets, St. Louis, a produce associate at the chain's Frontenac store tells consumers a mushroom's greatest enemies are air, moisture and light.

"Moisture will cause a mushroom to break down," the associate said, using this information to advise customers to store these items in paper bags to help keep out condensation.

Frank Scigliano, director of sales and marketing for Highline Produce, a Leamington, Ontario, grower that, according to Scigliano, sells a "significant" amount of its annual production to independently owned Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich., believes increased revenue may be linked to how people perceive the category -- not just as a flavor enhancer, but as the main course. The popularity may also have a lot to do with a special type of customer.

"By and large, a mushroom consumer looks for something exotic," he said. "They're the kind of people retailers want in the store, the type that buys olive oil and higher-margin items. They have larger pantries and will go through the trouble of cooking."

While portabellas don't look as though they'll be dethroned as the star fungi any time soon, there's movement afoot.

"Portabella came along at the right time, just when people were using their grills more and looking for meat substitutes," Phillips' Donovan said. "We're already looking for the next portabella, maybe in the form of a cultivated wild mushroom."

But retailers eager to tap into the mushroom boom shouldn't only be concentrating on portabellas because of the higher average price, according to Steve Lutz, executive vice president of consulting firm Perishables Group, East Wenatchee, Wash.

"If you neglect white mushrooms, which generally bring in about 85% or 90% of the business, what have you gained?" he asked. "A retailer needs to drive business incrementally by doing a good job on the best-selling item, and generate trial and usage in other niche items -- in this case, specialty and exotic mushrooms -- by having good variety and choosing the right promotions."

Even though mushroom sales might only comprise 1% to 2% of total produce department revenue, a retailer who focuses on driving performance in mushrooms can create a substantial impact on the category, he said.