A stronger box in the midst of chaos to ease the burden in building bigger displays of #MuchosMangoes
A few weeks ago I thought things were tough in our industry. With the Corona virus spreading through the USA at an alarming rate, mango sales and specifically the size of mango displays were not getting bigger, despite the wall of mangoes coming from the orchards.
The big, bold displays of #MuchosMangoes celebrating what we call Summer Mango Mania – or the collision point between peak production time in Nayarit & Sinaloa and the height of consumer demand, better known as; SUMMER TIME– have not begun to appear as they usually do by this time. This season, and this week in particular, everything looks different in our world and yet the mangoes still grow and people still eat.
As the Corona virus continues to wreak havoc on most major cities in the USA, it has drastically changed the way consumers shop and buy produce; as well as how retailers operate. The virus is also currently displaying its power at the US/Mexican border with a wave of new cases taking shape and slowing down many systems (at a time when they are already slowed by grape season and prior corona woes). Problems are mounting and the virus is still moving. Currently it’s moving deeper into Mexico. We watch with caution in hopes that it spares our home town of El Rosario where Empaque Don Jorge is currently packing up our mangoes with a bevy of extra health and safety protocols slowing down the process. The mayor of El Rosario I hear is one of those extra cautious people and there is a lot of effort to maintain the WHO’s recommendations in general, the town is used to banning together for a greater purpose.
We (Crespo Organic) would be remiss to not mention and pay full attention to the protesting of police brutality and racial inequality happening throughout all of our major outlets across the USA. For the record Crespo Organic stands in solidarity with the those working for equality and against racism. (Read the official statement from the Crespo Organic brand and El Grupo Crespo). Many of our customers and retailers, who are equally and unequivocally in support of equality, are in the epicenters of these protests further complicating the movement and sales of produce. These ultra-serious complications are the reality before us, as is the timing– we are about to enter the height of our Mexican mango season. A lot of workers north and south of the border are counting on our season to continue as long as we have mangoes and mango eaters. So we work, as we must. Our nimbleness and perseverance will help guide us, as will staying true to our Mission & Values.
At first we thought the timing was all wrong to introduce a new product, and then we realized that our new box and retail packaged mangoes, will help our customers, retailers and consumers move through the challenging times. We thought since our products offer solutions to problems that exist right now, why wait?
The Crespo Big Box
Our new big box, which we are calling The Crespo Big Box – not only utilizes a new box pattern that gives stronger/sturdier walls and corners but the boxes are designed to stack stronger, despite the fact that final palletized pallets are a tad bit higher- at least for Crespo Organic. Our palletization for the BIG BOX is 85 cases per pallet- most packers are stacking 80. These pallets are essentially un-tippable- truckers will love them!
We will offer both loose and packaged fruit in this new box and eventually all sizing options. Currently we will be offering standard (and coveted) 9/10 count sizing. The Big Box will be available this season by pre-order only and is available immediately.
Loose Mangoes
The net weight The Big Box- Loose is 22 pounds, but most of the loose fruit has a total weight of about 23-24 pounds – which offers a bit more poundage per pallet, compared to the standard 4KG boxes we use now.
The loose fruit can be packed in any of the standard sizing 7-12cnt. Check out our one-sheet on The Big Box for the specifics.
Packaged Fruit
The timing to introduce our new NetBag equally works well, as we have been receiving many more requests in the past months for packaged fruit, due to COVID-19. We have been resisting packaging up organic fruit due to the lack of eco-friendly durable packaging options available. We settled on a recyclable net bag as opposed to a compostable one, as the compostable options are all too weak to hold mangoes and most of them are not compostable to the degree in which we felt to be beneficial in terms of years to compost.
Our Retail Ready NetBags will be offered in three options: Round Mangoes, Ataulfo Mangoes and The Mixed Bag (For when you can’t decide.) Each retail bag weights 3 lbs. They are packed up The Crespo Big Box (7 bags per master case).
Build Strong and with Ease
These new boxes are the perfect solution for building strong self-standing displays anywhere in the store. With store hours still less than normal and less labor on the floor at once, these self-standing and self-storing displays are perfect for increasing volume of the displays; quickly, easily and cost effectively and most important safely.
Download our MANGO DISPLAY TIPS & General MANGO DISPLAY advice. Some of it seems out of sorts with COVID, but we are hopeful that eventually produce workers will be back on the floor in future seasons.
Grab and go UPC labeled Retail Read NetBags can be placed anywhere in the store in smaller displays or tossed into the loose mango display. The choices are yours, and the options endless.
Everything is Complicated
The bigger box does come with some complications, some of which might have been better solved with delaying making them available to our customers this season, but we know these two new products will yield immediate solutions to current and serious problems that hinder mango sales from jumping up as they natural do this time of year and as countless people depend on them to do.
The boxes come with added costs to the final per pound charges and there is currently no machine to put them together, which means they are all made by hand in the pack house, which requires more labor- thus requiring more health and safety measures due to COVID-19, which equals higher costs and other challenges. We are expecting a box machine for next season and move through the labor challenges, as we must through this pandemic.
Inventory challenges and a hesitancy for customers to flip to the new box all at once add extra pressures on our border warehousing through space and labor costs, and of course quality is always a direct result of inventory smoothness. We have been very lucky all season thus far.
Normally we would be excited to introduce a new item but under the current circumstances we know this new box and the new bags are more UTILITARIAN and hopefully a direct means to increasing summer mango sales as we must!
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