Mushroom Toolkit
Mushrooms are having a moment. For the last few years, shoppers have had a growing awareness of how mushrooms can help them work towards their overall health and wellness goals. They’re packed with nutrition, and are versatile, tasty and satisfying. Plus, fungi are fascinating!
Harvesting Wisdom: Setting the Stage for Fall
As the days grow shorter and the summer heat gives way to crisp fall air, your produce department is ready for its seasonal transformation.
Radicchio & Chicory Toolkit
With shoppers searching your department for the new and novel, the time is right to bring in a rainbow of organic radicchios and chicories. Ubiquitous in Italy, these vibrant, bitter greens have been becoming a popular addition to salad bowls in North America too. The Northwest crop kicks off in October and extends into winter for the perfect opportunity to bring shoppers an exciting alternative to lettuce during cooler months—though these leaves are also at home on the stove.
Pear Toolkit
The Northwest pear season has arrived with plenty of showstoppers, from crisp and juicy Asian pears to well-loved varieties like Bartlett and with lesser-known varieties like Forelle soon to come.
Apple Toolkit
A crisp feeling in the air and the crunch of leaves underfoot are classic fall feelings, but autumn needs a quintessential crisp and crunchy fruit to go with it. To make sure your department matches the season, OGC has a steady stream of delicious and unique apple varieties all fall long. With over 60 varieties throughout the season, celebrate the harvest by promoting fan favorites and bring in special heirloom varieties to help your department or menu stand out.
A Bunch Beyond the Basics
September hits the sweet spot for organic grapes. California fruit is still rolling in while Northwest vineyards are hitting their stride, bringing some of the most flavorful and interesting varieties of the year. It’s a great time to go beyond red and green and build a grape display that invites shoppers to discover something new.
Go Bananas for GROW Month
GROW stands for Giving Resources and Opportunities to Workers, a program created by Organics Unlimited to support the communities where its fruit is grown. Every case of GROW bananas contributes $0.60 to the program.
A Northwest Tomato For Every Summer Meal
Northwest tomato season is firing on all cylinders. Whether shoppers are after a thick slice for a BLT, handfuls of sweet cherry tomatoes or colorful heirlooms for summer entertaining, nearly every tomato category is tasting great and available in promotable volume. This is the moment to build brimming displays that celebrate the incredible variety of tomato season.
NW Melon Season is Off to a Tasty Start
Melons have been on since May from Mexico and California and as the Northwest season kicks off, OGC’s melon buyer Rachel Pienovi is sourcing delicious melon from growers in Hermiston, Oregon and Eltopia, Washington.
Harvesting Wisdom: Crush Summer Sales with Great Grapes
Organic grapes are a staple for retailers nearly year-round, and an item shoppers look for on their weekly visits. Understanding seasonality in this important commodity is key to maximizing sales.
Berry Smart: Balancing Margins & Seasonal Insight to Grow Sales
Berries can and should be the number one category in driving sales, but they can also jeopardize margin performance if you’re not strategic with merchandising, inventory management, and promotions.
Grape Toolkit
From organic seedless table grapes and candy seedless specialty varieties to Northwest-grown options and Ladybug Brand recyclable grape totes, there’s a lot to know and love about this tasty category.
Harvesting Wisdom: Jeff Fairchild’s Summer Produce Playbook
With 40 years in produce sourcing and merchandising, and a key influencer of the retail farm-to-table movement in the Northwest, OGC’s Jeff Fairchild is a true expert. His trusted connections with farmers and deep understanding of the supply chain, shopper behavior and effective display, pricing and promotional strategies are invaluable.
Harvesting Wisdom: Unlock the Magic of Melons
Organic melons kick off their season in April/May from Mexico with a limited selection. As harvest moves north to California, two primary regions contribute: the desert offers fruit in June/July, while the Central Valley starts in early June and extends through the fall. The Northwest season begins in mid-July, peaks in early August, and concludes as the weather cools in early September. OGC wraps up the season with a limited offering from Mexico in October and November.
Juicy Rewards: Cultivate Loyalty with Stone Fruit
The stone fruit category presents exciting opportunities for your department to stand out by delivering amazing quality and flavor. Sweet success is as simple as selecting the best-eating fruit, understanding seasonality, merchandising appropriately and leveraging the expertise of OGC and our organic grower partners.
Melon Toolkit
Use this collection of resources to educate, entice and delight staff and shoppers, keeping melon sales strong past Labor Day!
Stone Fruit Toolkit
Ring the bell and sound the alarm – stone fruit harvest is starting in California with the first organic apricots hitting OGC’s docks this week and red cherries following closely behind. By June, the first nectarines and peaches will arrive and finally plums and pluots.
To help guide you through this delicious season, we’ve put together a Stone Fruit Toolkit full of resources.
Melon Minute Video Series
With grower partners from Mexico, up through California and the Northwest, OGC will keep your shoppers in a melon state of mind all season.
Gem Avocado Toolkit
There’s a lot to love about this “gem” of an avocado. California born and bred, it's large, nutty and delicious. Plus, it's great for growers and the planet too—since the trees are smaller, they require less labor, land and water to grow.
Rhubarb Toolkit
Organic rhubarb thrives in the cool, wet conditions of the Pacific Northwest, which makes this region a natural home for some of the best-looking (and best-tasting) rhubarb around. These bright pink stems develop their signature tang in rich floodplain soils shaped by the Missoula floods thousands of years ago.