LOS ALAMITOS, CA – The Wall Street Journal is going bananas for bananas!
In a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Is the Time Right for Baby Bananas?,” Barry Newman focuses on the development of small bananas and their growth from a test case to a staple at Brooklyn, New York's Key Food store.
That store’s Produce Manager, Mario Marabello, first brought the “babies,” as they are known, into the store. In the beginning, their market was limited to customers who had sampled the banana internationally and were excited to re-experience the taste. This grew, however, until people who’d never ventured into the small banana market were giving them a try. It took off from there.
Dole Spokesman, William Goldfield, spoke to Newman about bananas at the New York Produce Show in December. According to a press release, Goldfield said that the Cavendish, the big banana in the U.S. market, is the “only banana consumers are comfortable with.”
Frieda’s President and CEO, Karen Caplan, gave Newman a different perspective. She spoke to him at the show saying that the U.S. banana market needs a “disruption,” adding, “Did people ask Chrysler for the minivan?”
This Wall Street Journal article comes as a result of an effort by the New York Produce Show to solicit coverage of the produce industry in the mainstream press.
