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Cultivating #MangoJoy for Profit

September 19, 2023

The ROI of Crespo’s Summer Mango Mania promotion

I know I live in a world that doesn’t register ROI in happiness, let alone recognize the monetary value of #MangoJoy. I am, however, acutely aware that #MangoJoy has value and that when we work together to cultivate it, building comprehensive mango programs that encircle it, everyone (including farmers and farming communities) reap more substantial and sustainable profits, a rather difficult thing to achieve within any organic produce commodity; regardless of if you are a retailer, wholesaler or a grower/packer/shipper like El Grupo Crespo. Our summer mango promotion was designed to do just that. And yes, I’ve got empirical data, retailer, wholesaler and processor testimonials along with loads of intuitive data to prove that our Summer Mango Mania promotion works, delivering profits to retailers, excitement to shoppers and sustainability for our growing program.

Culture, Featured, Kitchen, News, People

#CelebrateMexico #CelebrateMangoes

April 5, 2023

The Cinco de Mayo show goes on, despite supply complexities

A single mango goes a long way: in recipes and in creating #MangoJoy for consumers. Mangoes don’t have to be dirt cheap or in heaping abundance for a consumer to feel the sweet tropical satisfaction and joy that comes from eating and using mangoes.

As I previously reported, Easter is the threshold for volume turnaround. For the most part, that is still the case. The main problem is that the Easter packhouse closings intersect with the lowest volume weeks of fruit. This means the low volume weeks we have experienced are bashing up against less fruit and orchard/packhouse shutdowns for a few days. This means next week (the week after Easter) will be the most difficult week for fruit volume fulfillments industry wide.

Oaxaca and Chiapas are a 3-5 day drive to Nogales & McAllen, and fruit has to be picked, packed, and shipped before anyone can get their hands on it. The math is simple and with an already empty(ish) pipeline and unprecedented demand, we anticipate that it will take a few weeks to fill up. This puts us directly into the Cinco De Mayo push, which means we do not expect a “flush” of product until after Cinco De Mayo. But I say that with caution as the timing puts is directly in the beginning of the transition from the southern regions into the Northern ones with the onset of Nayarit Ataulfos. Continue Reading…

Culture, Featured, Kitchen, News, People

My Equipo’s Recipe for Success

March 22, 2023

Those that feast together grow together

Someone recently claimed that recipes have no place in buyer-focused produce marketing. That someone doesn’t know my history with buyers or recipes nor does that person connect the dots between farms and tables, like I do. That someone has probably never witnessed the excitement over the vibrant consumer mango recipes and educational cards boldy worn by the displays of #MuchosMangoes during Crespo Organic Summer Mango Mania, put there by people like Four Seasons Produce’s merchandiser extraordinaire Brian Dey. That someone has likely never tasted the tantalizing Crespo Organic Sinaloa Sauce recipe, the one that I created to pay homage to the Crespo family’s home state of Sinaloa and the habanero and mango connection. No doubt that someone completely underestimates the power of a good recipe and of food in general.

Food is a connector. When we share food, we get deeper insights into one another. Food builds friendships and mends conflicts. It’s a life necessity and one of the few sensory experiences that we get to share with all other human beings on the planet. Food may just be the most powerful connector there is. It is nourishing and, to partake in it together, nourishes the group. As we bring food into our bodies with others, we become the same. That feeling of sameness relaxes us and creates more openness. Trust, cooperation and growth are born out of openness. A mango recipe shared, seen, cooked, shared again (with consumers) binds us all. I know the power of food and a good recipe.

Featured, People

“Our Stories”

March 8, 2023

El Grupo Crespo/RCF’s Unstoppable Women

I shared my thoughts on this International Women’s Day in another post: “Where Is the Spine of International Women’s “Day”? Building Bridges: Diversity & Inclusion.

In that post I call on my fellow industry peers to welcome more diversity and inclusion on their teams, to their marketing streams, and beyond. Women and other underrepresented groups come with differing perspectives, education, skill sets, expertise, and training that should be celebrated. If we are willing to openly and honestly assess where we are at today, we can take the steps necessary to create a fairer world.

I asked those with a vehicle for sharing information in our industry to welcome more diverse voices, role models, and unstoppable leaders. Diversify who you interview, feature, and talk about. Cover topics of diverse value. Increase awareness. If we market underrepresented voices in our industry, we can help accelerate equity. But we have to support them directly, too!

Below is my contribution to the effort, celebrating a few of El Grupo Crespo/RCF’s Unstoppable Women’s voices!

Featured, News, People

It Takes a Village

January 15, 2023

Proper Ataulfo handling practices increase sales and consumer satisfaction

El Grupo Crespo grows exceptional Ataulfo mangoes. They grow the Ataulfos in ideal microclimates that yield their signature flavor – sweet, sugar-caramel with a tinge of spice. If you ask me, it can only be created in Mexico.

The Ataulfo mango, a Mexican cultivar, is puro Mexico, as the saying goes. Just like Indian mangoes and Thai mangoes taste and look a little different when grown in Mexico, the Ataulfo mango is the same grown elsewhere. The Mexican season is THE season for this special mango. Many consumers know this and more are learning. We want to fuel that momentum, educating on best handling practices, and gaining more lovers of Mexico’s Ataulfo.

Featured, Kitchen, People

Instagram Reels Sundays #CrespoPeople

June 14, 2022

Summer Mango Mania Education (The People)

Event Description: Crespo Organic is a Mexican Organic produce brand specializing in the production, distribution and marketing of organic mangoes. The brand is part of El Grupo Crespo, a Mexican family business that began around 1960 with local market chili peppers and which rapidly expanded into production and packing of fresh mangoes. Crespo Organic Mangoes/RCF Produce (El Grupo Crespo’s USA distribution and marketing company) are one of the largest Mexican- direct trade growers, shippers and marketers, as well as direct consumer product educators of organic mangoes in North America.

We grow, ship and pack mangoes all over Mexico. We market all over North America.

Our people are the roots of our brand. We want you to know us/them! Jump onto Instagram every Sunday during Summer Mango Mania and learn who they are. They are also our customers, retailers and shoppers, including the little Crespo niños out there!

Date(s): Every Sunday Between June 19th – July 31st
Time: 1:00 PM CST
Location: VIRTUAL! Watch on Instagram!

Details: @CrespoOrganic Instagram

Culture, Featured, News, People

Empaque don Jorge (El Original)

May 15, 2022

Boasting the most efficient and modern mango pack house around

Disclaimer: This is a boastful and prideful post about a packing house that I truly believe in. I’m one of a few globally well-traveled industry folks with an extremely diverse make up of commodities, markets, cultures and systems. I have seen a lot of packing houses and “sheds” in my travels and none like this one. Boasting this facility and the Crespo’s is the natural outcome of my true beliefs.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

We don’t talk enough about the quality of packing houses in our business and yet this is the one place that can make or break a program, the place that usually solves and/or causes most problems in terms of product quality, food safety and compliances. Most fruits and vegetables are harvested and then brought to a packing house or shed where they are then packed into various bulk or retail packaging. These large and small sorting/packing hubs serve as the distribution outlet for the farm and/or the farmers. These facilities can be modern, elaborate, high tech, clean and simple, dirty and even bare bones covered (shaded) tables where things like fresh herbs are packed right out of the field.

Featured, People

Celebrating Courageous, Confident Women

March 8, 2022

Confident, courageous women #BreaktheBias

I have some OPINIONS about today, if you have interest- these are my opinions, keep that in mind!

International Women’s Day comes up every year and, like those other weird 24-hour holidays like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day whose concepts seem like they should stretch beyond a mere 24-hour day, it barely makes a mark on my world of produce. It hits the social media circuit and then runs off, much like the many promotions and recognition qualified women deserve yet don’t receive.

The day is said to honor women globally, “celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Marking a call to action for accelerating gender parity.” (I highly recommend clicking HERE and reading the definition of parity.) It seems like a particularly awesome concept that one would think our industry would jump on more. Yet, my inbox with the token produce newsletters was void of anything women-centric, let alone a recognition of today, March 8^th, International Women’s Day (with the exception of the Fresh Fruit Portal – kudos!).

Culture, Featured, People

Gratitude for Organic Farmers

November 23, 2021

A pause for appreciation for those that feed us, organically

I learned about gratitude as a little girl. It was not taught to me in school or by my parents or by my country. It was taught to me by Nicaraguans. Poor Nicaraguans to be specific, who had nothing much of physical, monetary, or economic value in their possessions. At the time, mid to later 1980’s these average Nicaraguans were struggling to find food and basic necessities amidst embargoes, wars, political power struggles, corruption, CIA involvement, cocaine trafficking and more. My family, my father and four brothers just happened to be living alongside them, in similar circumstances, the struggling to find necessities part. I paid attention then, as I do now and noticed early on that despite having, what I considered, from my viewpoint as a young girl coming from a poor family in Los Angeles, nothing- they were happy. They were generous and above all they had gratitude. It took me a while to understand this formula, but eventually it’s one that is now etched in my bones and part of my blood. A way of being that I couldn’t stop being attracted to. The attraction, to living around those with immense gratitude is what lead me to farmers, small organic farmers to be exact.

Farm, Featured, News, People

Crespo Organic Mallika Mangoes

June 21, 2021

Indian mangoes, grown in Mexico & where Jorge the Mango Man has been….

It’s been a while since we have had fun with the Where is Jorge the Mango Man videos. Part of that is because the small team of us on the marketing side, the ones that make the videos, have been bogged down all season with other projects; new box designs, new marketing campaigns, new mango packaging, new products (retail dried mangoes- launching later this summer) and a bevy of other big behind the scene projects.

Another aspect of this hiatus from the Where is Jorge fun is that he’s mostly been buried in top-secret projects, many of which have been too early in the process to talk about. I recently got a sneak peek at many of those projects on my Boot on the Ground trip to Mexico. And am happy to report today, we can at least talk about one of those projects.

Older Posts

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People

Cultivating #MangoJoy for Profit

The ROI of Crespo’s Summer Mango Mania promotion

#CelebrateMexico #CelebrateMangoes

The Cinco de Mayo show goes on, despite supply complexities

My Equipo’s Recipe for Success

Those that feast together grow together

“Our Stories”

El Grupo Crespo/RCF’s Unstoppable Women

It Takes a Village

Proper Ataulfo handling practices increase sales and consumer satisfaction

Instagram Reels Sundays #CrespoPeople

Summer Mango Mania Education (The People)

Empaque don Jorge (El Original)

Celebrating Courageous, Confident Women

Confident, courageous women #BreaktheBias

Gratitude for Organic Farmers

A pause for appreciation for those that feed us, organically

Crespo Organic Mallika Mangoes

Indian mangoes, grown in Mexico & where Jorge the Mango Man has been….

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