Research Reports

Not many shoppers visit your produce department with the intention of buying a potato peeler, apple corer or vegetable saver, yet manufacturers point out that it’s a natural place to merchandise the tools and gadgets that make it easy to handle or preserve fresh fruits and vegetables.

Having the right utensils to properly prepare produce might actually encourage produce sales, they say.

And there’s an extensive selection of these implements to choose from.

Wide variety

The Good Cook line of ProFreshionals brand produce tools from Bradshaw International Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was designed specifically for cross-merchandising in the produce department, says Tom Barber, vice president of marketing and product development.

The 55-item ProFreshionals collection includes a julienne peeler, swivel peeler, lettuce knife, citrus zester, herb mincer, vegetable brush, tomato corer, apple wedger, melon slicer, strawberry huller and even a device to pit and core avocados. They’re priced from $3.99 to $9.99.

Their design combines ABS plastic heads with soft-touch Santoprene handles, which are color-coordinated to a corresponding produce item, he says.

The plastic packaging includes a customized "Fresh Hint" that provides suggestions for preparing and storing and is designed specifically for the wet environment of the produce section, Barber says.

“Cardboard (packaging) looks junky real fast,” he says.

Each item comes in a master plastic tray pack for easy merchandising in produce bins, he says. A free-standing rack also is available.

Cooking at home

More people than in the recent past are cooking at home today, says Aaron Jones, sales executive for Seattle-based ICI USA LLC-Tovolo, and they’re looking for durable, ergonomic devices that are fun to use in the kitchen and have a favorable price point.

The company’s Standz line – so named because the utensils stand upright to avoid cross-contamination – meets those criteria.

Products include a garlic press, julienne peeler, swivel peeler, citrus reamer, citrus zester, apple corer and avocado slicer, but one of the company’s hottest items is its silicon vegetable steamer.

The device, which was featured on “The Today Show,” has a long handle that allows consumers to lift the steamer from the pot without burning themselves. Its elevated base stays close to the heat but above the water.

Standz products have “stimulating” colors that go well with the fruits and vegetables they’re designed for, and they typically sell for $4.95 to $9, Jones says.

“You have a nice price point and some creative designs going into the product,” he says.
Produce savers also are turning up in the produce department.

Canaan, Conn.-based Hutzler Manufacturing Co. Inc. offers a variety of savers to make produce last longer, says Monique Haas, marketing director.

The onion saver, berry bowl and herb saver are its current bestsellers, but all of the company’s savers have been doing well, she says.

From the grocery side

As is the case at most supermarkets, it’s the grocery side that actually buys the produce savers and gadgets for the 106 stores under the Food City and Super Dollar banners of KVAT Food Stores Inc., Abingdon, Va., says Mike Tipton, director of produce and floral.

Stores generally merchandise a dozen or so items, such as banana, onion and tomato savers, apple slicer/corers and corn holders, in produce.

The grocery department – not produce – gets the ring, but, as Tipton says, “We’re all one (company) in the end.”

Having the produce tools in the department helps sell more tools but doesn’t have much of an effect on produce sales, he says.

“The produce sells itself,” Tipton says.

The stores merchandise most of the tools on top of bag racks near the commodity they’re used with, he says.

Shoppers don’t come into the department looking for produces savers and gadgets, Tipton says.

“It’s an impulse sale,” he says.

Displayed in produce

Occasionally Jim Prim, produce manager at the Seattle Promenade location of Seattle-based Red Apple Markets, a chain of about 25 stores, will take items such as peelers, corn holders or nutcrackers from the general merchandise section and display them near the appropriate produce item, he says.

They’re not big sellers, but Prim offers them as a convenience to shoppers when he features items such as corn, potatoes or nuts.

Although he hasn’t featured them on ad in the past, he says he may do so in the future.
“It’s a thought – it would be kind of cool,” he says.

Vons, part of the 1,700-store Safeway Inc. chain based in Pleasanton, Calif., offers a wide selection of produce gadgets.

Late last year, the company’s store in Los Alamitos, Calif., had three boxes about 18 inches square and two pole display racks about 4 feet tall placed throughout the produce department that displayed items such as lime and lemon squeezers, citrus zesters, apple corers and a ProFreshionals Fridge Mat.

One pole rack displayed corn holders, avocado slicers, a Corn CobbR from Evriholder Products LLC, Anaheim, Calif., and a Hutzler onion saver.

A second pole rack featured a mango splitter from Oxo International Ltd., El Paso, Texas, and a Vacu Vin pineapple slicer from International Innovation Co., which has offices in the Netherlands, the United States and other countries.

There’s even a “candle carver” from Hong Kong-based Urban Trend that allows consumers to make candles out of apples, peaches, small squashes or miniature pumpkins.

Containers save the day With the onset of economic hard times, Canaan, Conn.-based Hutzler Manufacturing Co. Inc. has seen a boost in demand for its food savers, says Monique Haas, marketing director. The onion saver, berry bowl and herb saver are its current bestsellers, but all of the company’s savers have been doing well, she says. The berry bowl is actually a three-piece set that includes a bowl, a colander that fits into the bowl, and a cover. Consumers can wash and store berries so they aren’t sitting in water, she says. Berries can be served right from the bowl. The herb savers look like terra cotta pots with covers and are used for storing fresh herbs such as basil, cilantro, parsley, asparagus – anything that typically should be stored in water, she says. They maintain the proper vapor pressure and allow the stems to be in water so they last longer. The company also makes bright, colorful savers for grapefruit, tomatoes, lemons, peppers and garlic. Most of the containers are made to resemble the produce item they’re used with. “It’s something (consumers) can afford, and it’s a little treat for themselves,” she says. Hutzler offers floor displays, but some upscale stores merchandise the savers in bushel baskets, where they resemble real produce items. “They’re the perfect complement to the produce that (consumers) are buying because, if they only use a portion of it, these provide the proper way to store it – and they’re cute.” “They’re very affordable,” she says, “and they do allow the supermarket to make a nice margin.”

Impulse items

Tools, gadgets and produce savers are strong impulse items in produce, manufacturers say, and they’re high-profit items for the store.

“No one goes to the store to buy the lemon zester, but everyone goes to the store to buy the lemon,” Barber points out.

“The lemons are low-margin traffic generators, but these items will help the profitability of the supermarket because they’re high margin,” he says. “Together, they make a beautiful business solution.”

They’re also a benefit for shoppers, he says, because so many fruits and vegetables require special tools for optimum enjoyment.

Placing the items next to the appropriate produce item is key.

When corn is in season, for example, if you put corn holders next to it, sales of the holders will be 10 to 20 times greater than if they weren’t next to the corn, Barber says.

“You want to shoot for a target audience,” adds Jones of ICI-Tovolo, and having them close by the appropriate produce item helps achieve that goal.