A void in the northeastern mango market is now being filled with organic fruit, thanks to a local Boston firm. Fruit will be available year-round, mostly from Mexico, as well as Peru, and Ecuador.
Building on relationships with existing growers
Morning Kiss Organic has an already established citrus market and they’ve been trying to grow the category to include tropical fruit. According to Nelly Czajkowski there was an opportunity to offer mango year round to customers. “Our sales keep going up, the demand seems to keep increasing,” she says. “We already have a really good relationships with a lot of growers in Mexico so it felt like a natural progression.”
Shipments are starting at a lower level to see what the market actually demands. Czajkowski says it’s important to help customers find innovative ways to have organic product on offer and have the proper turnover so they get the organic sale in a way that works for the organic consumer.
Credit: Jaina Cipriano
Tommy Atkins carried for majority of the year
Focus will be on red mangoes. Kents just finished and now Mexican’s Tommy Atkins are being sourced, then moving to Keitts in the fall. “Summer is one of the best times for mango – the Tommy variety has great flavor. It’s the one people are most familiar with and it’s the one we’ll carry for the majority of the year while we can,” she notes.
Consumers appreciate minimal packaging
Clearly labeling the fruit with an organic band also makes it clear at the retail level that it’s a genuinely organic product. Czajkowski says this will help retailers ensure that it gets rung in properly and it also minimizes packaging. It has received positive response and they have plans to do similar methods on their other items. “It works out well because we’ve found when doing other organic packaging some of the feedback is that the organic consumer doesn’t really want a lot of packaging; it doesn’t fit with their buying philosophy. We want to make the retailer and consumer happy.”
Shipping fruit as needed
Operating “just in time” inventory management means not having to send out full pallets to customers, flooding them all at once. Czajkowski says with inventory constantly coming in they can send out however much product the customer requests. “Customers can place orders whenever they need. We find that works well for them.”
Preliminary discussions with growers have Czajkowski believing it will be a good year for mangoes. “We’re always learning. One year is never the same as the next,” she says. “We’re hoping we’ll see some good volume and we can move a lot of fruit.”
For more information:
Nelly Czajkowski
Morning Kiss Organic
Tel: (+1)-617-884-9033