HACKENSACK, NJ - A stellar citrus category at retail is one of the true markers of a produce department’s overall quality and success. With companies like Vision Import Group driving excellence and differentiation into buy-side hands this spring and summer, it appears as if the months ahead are primed for growth. With a strong outlook for the summer months, Tony Mitchell, Vice President of Sales and Business Growth tells me that Vision Import group is presenting new elements across its citrus program to increase value for retailer partners.
“We ship limes from Texas 52 weeks out of the year as well as lemons across our different growing regions as we follow the sun and cultivate a program comprised of the best fruit the industry can find. This year, we made an investment to change our lime bags over to the Mr. Squeeze label to match the aesthetic of our lemon program and build more label continuity across our messaging,” Tony says. “Our Mr. Squeeze label is a brand that consumers can relate to, and we have plans to build this brand on the organic side as well with additional items that consumers can connect with.”
The company’s unique retail bags create valuable opportunities for retailers to set up secondary displays and cross-merchandise with other commodities within their department or throughout the store.
Vision Import Group will be transitioning to the Mr. Squeeze label on limes in early July 2020, so get the conversations started now. The program will be offering an array of packaging options in the company’s lime and lemon retail programs.
“We highly value our retail partners and work closely with them to respond to the demands and nuances that they see in their communities,” Tony says. “We have also expanded our distribution across various shipping points and continue to build excellence with our unfailing partnerships with growers—all while adhering to the highest food safety standards. We pride ourselves on our customer service. Our people have connections and relationships with the customer that make us different from a lot of the larger organizations. We inspect every load upon arrival and throughout the life of the product in our facilities. We are always looking at ways to improve and up our game.”
As we move through summer and into fall, Persian limes are also available and always top of mind as the category is Vision Import Group’s largest offering of its commodities. The conventional and organic Mexican mango season is here to boot, and the quality is outstanding, as Tony shares. The company has begun its Argentinean lemon season to bring the best of the best to the citrus destination and will be available through late July and early August.
“This will place us in a great transition period as the Mexican lemon season will begin in mid-July and go through the end of December. In addition, we will ramp up our Mexican organic lemon and the quality is expected to be very nice as we enter our third season across the category,” Tony adds.
Delivering eye-catching packaging and great flavor is the name of the game come summer, and Vision Import Group has your ticket to success.
