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Vol.2 ISSUE 1 Winter 2009 |
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DOMESTIC/RETAIL USPB RETAIL PROGRAMS: BEST IN CLASS ENHANCES POTATO SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
Since 2004, the United States Potato Board (USPB) has worked with retailers to implement and refine the Best-In-Class Program (BIC). The goal of this category development program is to enhance the potato shopping experience and to boost sales and profits throughout the supply chain. Successfully implemented, chain-wide, with three retailers, the program has resulted in improved shopping experiences and increased sales. Potatoes are a staple category in the produce department and are purchased year-round by consumers. With consumer trends shifting toward smaller households, and the demand for new convenient products, potatoes have seen historical declines and have been challenged to remain competitive and relevant. The longevity and success of the BIC program has been a significant achievement based on these trends. The Best-In-Class program provides step-by-step recommendations to promote potatoes in a way that is aligned with how consumers shop the potato category. Recommendations are provided on how potatoes should be merchandised, promoted, and priced to improve the shopping experience. In 2007, the USPB developed the Best-in-Class “Fast Track” Program. Fast Track enables retailers to test the program in a subset of stores, over an abbreviated time period. This program also facilitates the USPB rapidly increasing the depth and breadth of their best practices with a larger set of retailers. During the winter of 2007, the program was implemented with five retailers across the United States, impacting over 100 stores. Combined with the Best-In-Class Program, the USPB is now working with the majority of large retailers across the nation. “With category management services a given in the upper echelons of the food business, marketers today have got to be more driven than ever to meet retailers’ needs. These [Progressive Grocer 2008 Category Captains] are among the companies doing their best to stay in lockstep with their customers”. That opening statement kicks off the 2008 “Category Captain Awards” section in the November issue of Progressive Grocer, http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/pg_200811/. For the fifth year running, Progressive Grocer magazine, a nationally acclaimed grocery and supermarket trade publication, has recognized the USPB’s Retail Marketing Program with a 2008 “Category Captain” award in the Perimeter: Fixed/Variable Produce group. Since 2004, the USPB has worked with retailers to implement and refine the Best-In-Class Program. The goal of this category development program is to enhance the potato shopping experience, thereby boosting sales and profits throughout the supply chain. Successfully implemented, chain-wide, with three retailers, the program has resulted in improved shopping experiences and increased sales. Potatoes are a staple category in the produce department and are purchased year-round by consumers. With consumer trends shifting toward smaller households, and the demand for new convenient products, potatoes have seen historical declines and have been challenged to remain competitive and relevant. The longevity and success of the BIC program has been a significant achievement based on these trends. The Best-In-Class program provides step-by-step recommendations to promote potatoes in a way that is aligned with how consumers shop the potato category. Recommendations are provided on how potatoes should be merchandised, promoted, and priced to improve the shopping experience. In 2007, the USPB developed the Best-in-Class “Fast Track” Program. Fast Track enables retailers to test the program in a subset of stores, over an abbreviated time period. This program also facilitates the USPB rapidly increasing the depth and breadth of their best practices with a larger set of retailers. During the winter of 2007, the program was implemented with five retailers across the United States, impacting over 100 stores. Combined with the Best-In-Class Program, the USPB is now working with the majority of large retailers across the nation. At the beginning of each program, a category review was conducted for the retailer to understand the performance of the potato category relative to their competitive market. USPB provided recommendations for the retailer’s merchandising, assortment, pricing, and promotional strategies that will be implemented during the test. Assortment is a critical component of this test. This year, emphasis was placed on new and innovative products that have entered the potato category. These have included smaller package sizes intended for a single meal, as well as value-added, “steamable” products. These products were introduced to retailers with supporting signage, ad calendars and price recommendations.
Merchandising recommendations were provided utilizing demographics and plan-o-grams to align with consumer segments. Educational POS is critical for consumer awareness. The new USPB campaign signature, “Potatoes…Goodness Unearthed™”, was displayed in over 100 stores during the tests to promote the key messages of nutrition and convenience. Further promotional and pricing recommendations gave retailers direction on how to best promote their assortment. Sample ads utilizing convenience recipes tied to the product assortment were also provided. Communication is critical at corporate and store levels. Weekly audits and sales analyses assessed performance across the twelve-week test. The USPB continued its supplier education program with a product development training meeting to encourage and educate suppliers on how to develop their potato categories in the future. An interactive training session instructed suppliers on effective product development strategies and tactics in the perishables space. Using case studies from the industry and outside the potato category, the session provided a toolkit to assist suppliers with key activities, from concept development to store testing and product rollout.
For more information on the USPB Retail Marketing Program, please contact Carroll Graham, USPB Director of Retail Programs at 303-369-7783 or e-mail: carrollg@uspotatoes.com.
FY08 FAST TRACK PARTNER RESULTS In FY08 the USPB sought to reach out to more retailers and prove the core best practices apply to any chain in any region. To that end, the “Best In Class Fast Track Program” was created. The “Best In Class Fast Track Program” is similar to the “Best In Class Program”, with these key differences:
Five partners, one using two markets, entered into the program. While compliance to maintaining recommendations waned in some chains, all but one partner saw growth beyond their rest of market. Winn Dixie realized the largest gains in dollar growth, reaching 17.5% over their rest of market while poor compliance to pricing and promotion recommendations caused Food Lion to fall behind their competitors in the Raleigh market.
A USPB Research Report, Potato Category Promotional Analysis and Best Practice Recommendations, is available for industry use. “This research identifies the best practices, delivering proven results in the potato category,” said Tim O’Connor, USPB President and CEO. “As you consider the need for promotional activities, this research should be used as the playbook by shippers for developing their future plans.” The objectives of Potato Category Promotional Analysis and Best Practice Recommendations is the evaluation of historical potato promotional results to provide recommendations for future promotional strategies, and to specifically identify optimum discount levels, promotional frequencies, promotion price types, number of items, promotional item mix and packaging mix. In 2008, a refresh was requested for the analysis, with the same 16 national retailers, encompassing the latest 104 weeks of data, ending May 31, 2008. To make the analysis more robust, analysis of cost data was performed to understand the impact of promotions on retailer gross profit, in addition to traditional volume and dollar impact. This gross profit analysis used a subset of (six) of the 16 retailers where cost data was available for integration. The recommendations include an understanding of both the retailer case study as well as the summary across the 16 retailers; however, the gross profit information is critical to driving the overarching recommendations. Promotional recommendations are based on fact/data that demonstrated superior results, and which could be applied/adapted to another situation replicating superior results. The goal of these recommendations is to provide a guide or set of parameters, based in fact/data, which can be applied to any retail situation to increase the performance of potato items. A combination of performance measures are used, primarily category volume and dollar impact. Retailer gross profit is included in the retailer case study portion of the analysis and is a key factor in evaluating promotions. The promotional recommendations provide a baseline for illustrating effective promotions that have occurred over the past two years. Shippers should use this promotional recommendations report as a guideline for developing promotional calendars with retailers; yet each promotional calendar should be customized to suit the retailer’s requirements and environment. The following components should be considered when developing a custom promotional calendar for a retailer: retailer strategy, regional variances, the competitive retail environment, potato supply and availability and retailer demographics. A summary of the recommendations from Potato Category Promotional Analysis and Best Practice Recommendations are:
For the complete report, Potato Category Promotional Analysis and Best Practice Recommendations, contact USPB Vice President of Domestic Marketing, Kathleen Triou, at (303) 369-7783 or KTriou@uspotatoes.com. OLE! MARKETING US FRESH POTATOES TO HISPANICS Hispanics are one of the fastest-growing demographics of the US population and are important potato consumers. USPB Domestic Marketing Research shows they buy between seven – 10 pounds of fresh potatoes per week, whether or not they are promoted. Latinos feel potatoes are a staple in their diet. They describe them as fast-cooking, easy to prepare and extremely versatile. Many indicate they consume more potatoes in the United States because they are more affordable here than they are back in their home countries. Price is important, but so is quality. Their potato preference skews to Russet varieties in five or 10 pound bags. Red potatoes are the next most often consumed type. These are typically purchased in bulk with a specific dish in mind. Providing quality potatoes and communicating nutrition messages to them via packaging and point of purchase (POP), in their language, is key to keeping these customers shopping the category. BABY BOOMERS, GEN-XERS NEED CONVENIENCE, EXCITING FRESH POTATO IDEAS Baby Boomers now represent almost 38 percent of the US population—and a disproportionately larger percent of the dollars. Generation X, a term used to describe the generation of people born between the approximate years of 1965 to 1981, represents 19 percent of the population. Members of this demographic are still developing their life-stage habits, including purchasing decisions and diet. Convenience remains the number one food trend. While Americans still love fresh potatoes, the traditional offerings are driving the decline in the category while convenient forms like instant, frozen and refrigerated products continue to grow, as have consumers’ needs for convenience in general. To curtail the decline, fresh growers and shippers need to respond to consumers by offering convenient package sizes, recipes, tips and meal solutions that bring shoppers back to the category. The Baby Boom and Gen-X generations are both characterized as having money to spend dining out, and they like to try new or trendy things. They want high quality and interesting varieties, and they are willing to pay for these. They are also concerned with health and nutrition, looking good and feeling good. Baby boomers know how to cook, but they want meal solutions, recipes and new ideas at the point of sale (POS) or on the package. Gen-Xers generally lack cooking skills, and they want ideas with directions and recipes too.
CONSUMERS MOST CONCERNED WITH GREENING, SPROUTING POTATO EYES Potato greening and the peeping, or sprouting, of eyes are considered by consumers to be the two most disturbing defects on fresh potatoes. Appearance is also very important, and shoppers say they look for potatoes that are uniform in size and shape. They also check for soft spots or wrinkles, and avoid potatoes with cuts, scrapes or skin that has been peeled away. Most consumers buy bulk so they can hand select their own potatoes. In a USPB consumer survey, the response to greening showed shoppers will never purchase a bag they know to contain greening potatoes. Upon discovery of greening, 70 percent of respondents indicated they would select a different type of potato, while 7 percent said they would select a different bag of the same potato type. 23 percent said they simply would not purchase potatoes from the store on that day. With sprouting, only 7 percent said they would purchase potatoes starting to peep. 53 percent would select a different bag of the same potato type, and 38 percent would buy a different type of potato. Only 1 percent indicated they would not purchase potatoes due to sprouting. NUTRITION/PUBLIC RELATIONS “POTATOES…GOODNESS UNEARTHED™” LIGHTS UP TIMES SQUARE! By August 25, 2008—just one week after the release—results tally an impressive 9,043,884 impressions, including a story in the Chicago Sun-Times on-line and print editions where they featured the ad, as well.
“POTATOES….GOODNESS UNEARTHED™” CAMPAIGN DRIVES POTATO PURCHASES AFTER VIEWING THE AD! The new campaign launched with three ads, each one featuring russet, white or red potatoes.
The white potato ad made a powerful debut in the September issue of Southern Living, proven by a reader survey measuring advertising effectiveness. Twenty-one percent of readers reported a more favorable opinion of potatoes after seeing the ad and a record 66% reported purchasing, or planning to purchase, potatoes (13 points higher than the average advertiser for this measurement).
But these white potatoes didn’t have all the fun…ads featuring red and russet potatoes also reached consumers this holiday season with a nutrition message in magazines including Cooking Light, Redbook, Taste of Home, Weight Watchers, Parents, Family Circle and Woman’s Day.
Who is reading these magazines? Meet “Linda,” she represents the sweet spot of our target audience. A typical “Linda” is about 38 and married with children. Linda is mindful of her family’s taste when it comes to eating. She tries to buy healthy foods, but is price conscious, too. Even though she doesn’t have a lot of extra time, making dinner at home is important to her. Haven’t seen the new ads for yourself? Well, we’re giving you a sneak peek, but be sure to catch the real deal on magazine shelves this winter! Look for ads featuring red and russet potatoes this January, February and March in Cooking Light, Redbook, Taste of Home, Weight Watchers, Parents and Woman’s Day. Our media plan will generate 90.3 million impressions and reach 45% of the target audience, or approximately 35.6 million “Linda” adults.
Additionally, Sterling Rice Group, the agency that created the ads and placed our media, negotiated value-added activities for the campaign valued at $333,380! The value-added activities include bonus magazine insertions, sponsorships, cooking school exposure, incremental web exposure and numerous mentions during relevant events such as health walks, BBQ Tour, and sponsored Supper Clubs. DELIVERING THE POSITIVE POTATO NUTRITION STORY The October 16, 2008, EatingWell® FOR HEALTH E-Newsletter featured the article, “Super Spuds 10 Ways.” This short story acknowledged the “bad rap” potatoes got during the low-carb diet trend, but extolled potatoes’ richness in vitamin C and potassium, as well as some fiber. The article ended with three recipe ideas: stuff baked russets with vegetables and cheese, mashed with buttermilk and garlic or turning boiled red-skinned potatoes into a creamy potato salad. USPB PARTICIPATES IN ANNUAL CONVENTION OF AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION The USPB exhibited at the 2008 annual convention of the American Dietetic Association, the world’s largest organization of nutrition professionals. It also sponsored a major seminar at this event. POTATOES IN GREAT COMPANY ON WEB MD—"CHEAP AND HEALTHY FOOD" The USPB works with nutrition professionals to communicate the great benefits of potatoes in a way that is compelling and credible. One of the major successes was an impressive mention on www.WebMd.com (http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cheap-healthy-15-nutritious-foods-about-2-dollars). In the article, “Cheap and Healthy: 15 Nutritious Foods for About $2: A grocery list to help you cut food prices while you boost nutrition,” potatoes are listed at about 23 cents per serving, with 3 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, 20% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C, 10% DV for Iron, and 25% DV for potassium. Key mentions like this in nutrition media opinion sources continue to drive home the message: “potatoes are good for you”. The USPB Public Relations Team continues vigorous efforts to ensure potatoes’ positive nutrition story is told at every opportunity. MOM’S DINNER HELPER GOES VIRAL!
As the USPB’s “Nutrition on a Budget” messaging was distributed to on-line media and “mommy blogs and family forums”, the site went viral. That means sites with large audiences found www.momsdinnerhelper.com relevant to their audiences and shared the web address. Moms were motivated to visit, register, comment and upload their recipes. Since launching the site September 1st:
If you haven’t visited recently, please take a moment and visit our cozy potato space in the blogosphere—www.momsdinnerhelper.com. We look forward to seeing you! FOODSERVICE FOURTH “INNOVATION WITH POTATOES” SEMINAR FOR CHEFS HELD Twelve very enthusiastic chefs participated in the USPB’s fourth potato innovation seminar at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in St. Helena, CA. This brings to 52 the number of chain chefs who have gone through this seminar—which has the goal of increasing the incidence of potatoes on restaurant menus. The USPB continues working to improve these seminars by building on the success and participant evaluations of previous ones. Starting with background information on the potato industry and potato nutrition, the 2008 seminar moved into demonstrations of Mediterranean cooking by well known chef, Joyce Goldstein, and CIA Teaching Chef, Bill Briwa. This duo also led a sampling of 12 Mediterranean flavor profiles, followed by a lively discussion of how they could be used in potato dishes. Then came everyone’s favorite part of the seminar—the chefs broke into cooking teams, each of which was given the assignment of creating three new potato dishes. A few hours later, they presented their creations, which were both beautiful and delicious. LATIN FLAVORS, AMERICAN KITCHENS: POTATOES, POTATOES EVERYWHERE! On October 9, 2008, the CIA launched the first of an annual series of international leadership conferences highlighting Latin America cuisines and the role of Latin flavors in the future of American menu development. This invitation-only conference was attended by 48 chefs from some of America’s leading restaurant chains, hotels, foodservice management firms and retail operations. The USPB was a proud silver sponsor of this conference because of the growing importance of Latin flavors on American menus and the essential role potatoes play in Latin American cuisines. Potatoes were referred to as “the staff of life” by a Peruvian culinary historian. Members learned the ever-popular dish, causa, meant “giver of life” in the Latino culture. The USPB sponsored the Latin-inspired breakfasts during the conference, and potatoes were featured on the buffet with three different salsas, in Flautus de Papa and traditional Empanadas. During the Marketplace Lunch and Sponsor Exchange, Latin Chopped Salad was served to conference attendees at the USPB booth. Overall, potatoes were featured in 17, or about one-third, of the conference recipes. With a population of 40.4 million, Latinos are the largest, fastest growing minority in the United States, and their influence is being felt throughout the culinary world. The Culinary Institute of America calls Latin flavors “the hottest menu growth trend in our industry.” Potatoes will surely be an integral part of that trend. USPB NAMES WINNERS OF 50 STATES OF POTATOES RECIPE CONTEST Potato Poke Salad, a brightly flavored and inspiring new take on the summer potato salad, captured the Grand Prize in the 50 States of Potatoes Recipe Contest. The recipe was created by Ilona O’Brien, Catering/Restaurant Manager of Island Gourmet at the Outrigger Hotel in Hawaii. The USPB awarded Ilona with a trip to the Culinary Institute of America Worlds of Flavors® conference in Napa Valley. Entrants from across the United States reinvented the potato and showcased their state’s regional cuisine. Jason Apfelbaum placed second with his imaginative take on a classic, NY Reuben Baked Potato. Chef and owner of New York’s popular baked potato bar, Totally Baked, Apfelbaum will receive $500 for his spectacular spud. Earning the $250 prize for third place is Ohio’s Chef Justin McArthur of Alluzion Catering. McArthur’s recipe for Ohio’s Favorite Potato Salad found the perfect balance between the richness of Ohio maple syrup, vibrancy of wild ramps, and the cool comfort of potatoes. For further recipe inspiration and the winners of each state, please visit us at www.potatogoodness.com/foodservice. The USPB thanks all the chefs who participated and encourages them to keep exploring innovative uses of potatoes! Potato salads took center stage last year on the home page of www.MarthaStewartLiving.com. These 10 delicious recipes featured mouth-watering photography, further promoting potato salad as an American summer classic and a welcome addition to any barbecue, lunch, or picnic. INNOVATION NEW PRODUCTS’ IN-HOME USE TEST GENERATES EXCITING RESULTS USPB ongoing consumer research continues to tell us one of the key barriers to increased use is the perception fresh potatoes take too much time and effort to prepare. In response, for the past several years, the USPB has pursued an initiative to develop preparation techniques and product presentations aimed at overcoming this barrier and provide the consumer with quick and easy solutions to fresh potato preparation. One tangible result of that effort was the creation of 21 new, quick and easy microwave preparation recipes available for shippers, retailers, and consumers at http://www.uspotatoes.com/downloads/ConvenientizedRecipeCards7_31_07.pdf. Over the past year or so, the USPB has been working with our innovation partners, the Turover Straus Group, to develop and refine products that present fresh potatoes in kit form, like the successful dry grocery pasta and rice kits, which could be relatively easily integrated into most fresh shippers’ operations. (Within the industry, these have been referred to as “consumer packaged goods” or “CPG” products.) The report on the most recent qualitative in-home use test results on three such products is attached: USPB CPG Focus Groups 10-08 Re#7C5FEB Based on the consumer feedback gathered in this research, Turover Straus recommends moving forward to market testing with two of the three ideas researched:
This work was done by the USPB for the benefit of the entire industry. This work and these ideas are available for anyone interested in developing them further (see next story). If, after reviewing the report you are interested in taking any of these ideas forward to market testing, don’t hesitate to contact USPB President & CEO, Tim O’Connor, at 303-369-7783 or toconnor@uspotatoes.com. We’d be happy to help in any way we can. RECONNECTING POTATOES WITH TODAY’S CONSUMER Let’s face it, today’s meal maker is just not cooking the way Mom used to. The old time frame for planning, shopping and preparing a meal has been condensed. As a result, today’s homemaker is seeking “Meal Solutions” for getting her family fed on time (and maybe today, on budget). TOOLS WHAT ARE WE HAVING WITH THAT ENTRÉE? The USPB commissioned a special analysis of the National Eating Trends (NET) study to take a deeper look at how potatoes fit into traditional dinner side dishes and what changes are occurring that the industry should understand. The attached presentation details the findings. Significant highlights are:
MICROWAVEABLE VEGETABLE CATEGORY GROWING FASTER THAN TRADITIONAL VEGETABLE CATEGORY The microwaveable, “steamable,” vegetable category produced retail sales of over $200 million, with a growth rate of 7.8% in the 52 weeks ended June 28, 2008, including potato products sales of $22.5 million, 85% of which were single-wrap microwaveable russets. This analysis clearly demonstrates to the potato industry that a significant microwaveable vegetable category exists, is growing faster than the traditional vegetable category and while some potato products have been successful in the category to date, the potential for growth from more value-added potato products is evident and is being captured successfully by other vegetable products. Microwaveable Potato Review Latest 52 Weeks Ending 6 28 2008 v4 INTERNATIONAL/MEXICO BEST IN CLASS CONCEPTS WORKING FOR US TABLE-STOCK POTATOES IN MEXICO Casa Ley, an important supermarket chain with 125 stores based in Culiacán, and with operations in 12 different states of Mexico – Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Guanajuato and Michoacán— contacted its US potato supplier and asked them for the different presentations that are featured in the USPB’s Buyers Guide. The result was a new type of packaging and the final product they received was packed in bags. Casa Ley had this product in a special sale with a special price, having amazing sales with an increment of 50%. This special sale lasted for two weeks in 11 stores in Mexicali, one in San Luis Río Colorado, one in Tecate, two in Ensenada and 9 in Tijuana. Sales volume was 500 kg per store per week, totaling around 24 MT of US potatoes! SALES OF OTHER VARIETIES OF US TABLE-STOCK POTATOES DOING WELL IN MEXICO Ferbis, a local retail chain in Mexicali, is now carrying Russet, Whites, Reds, and when available, Purples and Fingerlings. The chain was introduced to these alternative varieties through a sampling promotion carried out by the USPB with retailers on the border, see picture below. With average sales of around 100 boxes per week of US Russet and White potatoes, the chain has average sales of 20–30 boxes per week for Reds and sales for the Purple variety are around 10 boxes per week per store. When they can get Fingerlings, Ferbis averages sales of five boxes per week per store. The store is seeking additional suppliers of these varieties.
USPB TABLE-STOCK TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN MEXICO PAYS OFF! Mr. José Luis González, of Mercados González Altavista Company, reported a decrease in the company’s shrinkage figure as a direct consequence of the technical information, manuals and technical assistance, via telephone calls, provided by USPB’s technical engineer. This company is a two store, local retail chain located in Cd. Juárez. More importantly, this company increased its potato sales by 20% when compared to previous months, therefore he is very grateful to the USPB. HEALTHY POTATO PR GETTING GOOD PRESS IN MEXICO During the April – June 2008 quarter, the USPB representative office in Mexico issued four press releases: “Potatoes and diabetes,” “The Potato as an excellent source of potassium,” “Improve your athletic performance by eating complex carbohydrates” and “Carbohydrates in the management and control of weight.” During this quarter, 17 articles were printed by the Mexican media based on these releases, bringing the total of positive potato press for the year to 36 pick-ups. Most of these were in women’s, family and cooking magazines.
USPB HELPS EDUCATE MEXICAN CHILDREN ON POTATOES This is part of a larger offering at the museum on where food comes from and the need to conserve natural resources. The exhibit mainly targets elementary and junior high students and their parents. Kids are sensitized through the educational program they have at school regarding plants and their life cycle, and this was reinforced by the exhibit which ran through December 2008. About 15,000 visitors were anticipated. As part of the exhibit, the USPB developed a potato coloring book and special materials for children to learn about the potato plant’s parts.
FRESH POTATO EXPORTS TO MEXICO CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN FY08 Exports of fresh potatoes to Mexico for the FY08 marketing year grew 23% by volume to reach 56,589 metric tons, valued at nearly $26 million. These increased exports were encouraged by USPB in-store promotions. In December 2007, the USPB carried out 110 days of promotions in 28 outlets of the Gigante supermarket chain located in the three cities of Ensenada, Mexicali and Tijuana. Average sales increases during the in-store promotions were 107%. The promotions covered both russet and white varieties from the United States. INTERNATIONAL/HONG KONG US FRESH POTATO VARIETIES FIND A HOME IN HONG KONG The USPB ran an in-store promotion program with the City Super chain in Hong Kong in early October 2008. Five US potato varieties were featured: Russet, Yellow, Organic Russet, Fingerlings and Purple. The promotion included demonstrators showing cooking methods and providing nutrition information. USPB varietal recipes, the “convenientized” potato recipes and local cuisine recipes were distributed along with nutritional brochures. In follow-up surveys, it was found that not only the City Super but also the Welcome chain is now regularly carrying at least three different US potato varieties.
WIDE VARIETY OF US POTATOES PROMOTED IN HONG KONG From July 25 to August 7, 2008, the USPB worked with Jusco supermarkets in Hong Kong to promote Russet, Yellow, White, Red and Purple US potatoes at their eight stores. The USPB provided in-store demonstrators to show cooking methods for these potatoes and provide nutritional information on US potatoes. Consumer leaflets and potato recipes were distributed to customers, while Jusco produced a flyer for the promotion, featuring US potatoes with the USPB logo.
US POTATOES STAND OUT IN HONG KONG SUPERMARKETS The Jusco supermarket in Hong Kong, with eight outlets, carried out a promotion of five different US potato varieties during the summer of 2008. Initiated by the USPB sponsored American Food Festival, the effort was carried on all summer long with Russets, Reds, Whites, Purples and Fingerlings from the United States. Based on the positive consumer response, the supermarket continues to carry three US potato varieties this fall. INTERNATIONAL/OTHER ASIAN VARIETY OF US TABLE-STOCK POTATOES AVAILABLE IN MALAYSIA EXPANDING As a result of the USPB booth at the Food & Hotel Asia trade show this spring, an importer in Kuching, East Malaysia, brought in Russet, Yukon Gold, Red and Purple potatoes from the United States. The importer sold the potatoes to a number of leading supermarkets in Kuching, including Boulevard Hypermarket, Choice Ria, Choice Premiere, Choice Supermall, Choice Daily, Smart King Centre and Smart Hock Lee Center. ASIAN CHEFS DISCOVER THE BEAUTY OF US POTATOES The USPB worked with the At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy in Singapore to design a two day seminar for professional chefs to learn new techniques for using US potatoes in different cuisine applications. Titled “US Potatoes – Eastern & Western Cuisines, Old World, New Techniques,” the USPB hosted 35 chefs from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Participating chefs were from major restaurant chains including Sizzler, Tony Romas, Subway, Hard Rock Café, Café de Coral, Steak Expert, the Maxim Group and many more. The seminar provided information on the US potato industry, US table-stock potato varieties and their characteristics and a presentation from a US dietician on the nutritional and health benefits of using US potatoes on the menu. Lectures from a US chef on US foodservice trends and how potatoes fit into these trends, as well as a session by the chef instructors from the At-Sunrice Academy on menu applications for using US potatoes in western and eastern style cuisine applications, were also part of the program. During the lectures, participating chefs had hands-on time to make dishes for each of the different types of cuisines. To finish up the seminar, all chefs participated in a “black box” competition where they were divided into teams of three and given an ethnic cuisine, a US potato variety and other ingredients. After the chefs were issued their ingredients, they were then tasked with creating a dish in one hour with the given ingredients to present to the group. Although this was a competition, there were no prizes given for the best dish, but the dishes created were plated and served at the closing dinner at the Academy. All the dishes were very creative, had wonderful flavors and included potatoes as a key item.
The chef seminar gave all the chefs a chance to learn more about US potatoes and to try new menu ideas. The lectures gave these professional chefs new ideas for their own menus. From this seminar, the USPB expects to see many new and creative dishes added to the restaurant chain menus in these countries. POSITIVE POTATO STORIES IN THE PHILIPPINES As the direct result of a press event conducted by the new USPB Representative in the Philippines, an article in the Filipino Reporter was a big hit for potato nutrition. In addition to putting a positive spin on the Glycemic Index (GI) and mentioning the impressive satiety index of potatoes, the article points to all of the USPB’s general nutrition points, while also providing recipes, including one that specifically says US potatoes. Another story, from the Daily Tribune, devoted a ¾, full-color, page of their lifestyle section and even included it on the front page of their newspaper. Other positive potato articles continue to be generated from that press event, just another demonstration of ongoing USPB efforts to take every opportunity to put the positive potato nutrition story in the news.
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Progressive Grocer provided the USPB with a wide array of communications tools to inform the grocery industry of this prestigious honor presented to the USPB Retail Marketing Program. “Category Captain” is not just a Progressive Grocer award, but an industry award based on retailer surveys and financials, demonstrating the outstanding success of the USPB Retail Program to help retailers and their suppliers reconnect potatoes to today’s consumer—just another example of the USPB’s innovative marketing to increase the demand for US potatoes.
As part of the activities of the UN International Year of the Potato (IYP), the General Director of Science at UNAM University, in coordination with the USPB, set up an exhibit at the National Science Museum in Mexico City. The exhibit, titled “Consechando el Sol” (Harvesting the Sun) opened in May, with the main objective to inform people about the potato plant life cycle and how the soil, sun and water bring them food. 
