The National Mango Board’s (NMB) strategic foodservice efforts areplaying an important role in moving mangoes from the produce aisles torestaurant tables, with the number of menu items featuring the fruitincreasing by more than 20 per cent since 2007 and mangoes making thelist of the top eight “Fruit Ingredients on the Move,” according to a2009 Mintel Menu Insights report.
The NMB is playing a strong role in the fruit’s success with year-roundefforts to raise awareness and promote education about mangoes at thefoodservice level, the organization said in a press release.
This year already, NMB has partnered with Sodexo on alimited-time-offer promotion earlier this year, sponsored The FlavorExperience this past summer and participated in the InternationalFoodservice Editorial Council Annual Conference in October.
Other programs in 2009 include sponsorship of the 12th Annual World ofFlavor conference this month at the Culinary Institute of America inCalifornia.
“The NMB’s foodservice program works on many different levels,including media outreach, event sponsorship and menu development inorder to maximize exposure for mangoes on a limited budget,” said WendyMcManus, marketing director for the NMB.
“The foodservice industry is the gatekeeper for what many consumers addto their shopping lists each week, so forming these connections infoodservice can have a major impact on the mango industry.”
The NMB engaged in a limited time offer summer promotion with Sodexowhere six mango dishes were featured at 2000 locations and promoted viapoint of sale materials for each dish featuring a recipe description,photography, nutritional information and the NMB logo.
The NMB said its 2009 foodservice program is already surpassingresults from 2008, with more than 3.2m impressions to date for anadvertising equivalency of almost US$125,000.
Continued foodservice efforts in addition to consumer, trade and retailprograms in 2010 will seek to more thoroughly integrate mangoes intothe US market and make them a top fruit of choice in households acrossthe country.
Mango consumption per capita has quadrupled since 1990 to anestimated 2.2 pounds (lbs) per year in 2008, according to the NMB.Mango import volume for 2008 was 656m lbs.
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