“Our continued goal is to offer customers potatoes that have traveled the least amount of miles, are of high quality, give retailers value and savings and provide the service that today’s consumers are searching out,” Ken Gray, vice president of sales and marketing for the Bushwick Commission in Farmingdale, NY, told The Produce News.

Gray said that the company feels that having a variety of package options gives it an edge. It continues to ship more three-pound packages to its customers.

“We believe the smaller size option in certain demographics is very effective for sales,” he said.

The Bushwick Commission’s ‘Pride of New York’ campaign, organized in cooperation with the New York Department of Agriculture, helped to kick off the season in September.“People are highly focused on not wasting food. More than ever before, they feel if they can’t get through a five-pound bag without having to throw one or two potatoes in the garbage, they instead opt for the three-pound bag. This is particularly true with empty nesters, smaller families, roommate situations and older couples, as examples,” he added.

Gray added that everyone wants a deal today, and bargain hunting is a common consumer theme. But they don’t want inferior product.

“Retailers need commodity products that provide them with promotional opportunities, and they want superior service,” he added. “Bushwick’s aim is to provide all of these things on a year-round basis.”

The Bushwick Commission’s crop offers great diversity. Its three-pound bags are available in Russets, reds, whites, Yukons and organics.

“And we can ship them all on the same truck with overnight delivery to our customers in the East,” said Gray.

“We continue to do white potatoes from Long Island,” he continued. “The quality is excellent this year. Our other varieties from several growing regions, such as our Superiors, Norwis and Rebas are in great shape. We didn’t have as much rain on Long Island as was experienced north of us, and so the quality is very good.”

The company is committed to locally grown programs. A recent promotional initiative ran from Sept. 28 for two weeks.

“We worked with the New York Department of Agriculture, who put us in touch with its agency,” he explained. “They assisted us in creating posters that read ‘Pride of New York’ with photos of a farm with potatoes being dug. The bags we created are red and white, and they really shout out ‘locally grown.’ It was a nice win-win for us and the agency. Getting the program out the door right at the beginning of the season created an additional boon for its success.”

The company is also seeing produce buyers, department managers and workers putting together highly attractive displays with potatoes, especially for their locally grown produce program, which often include nearby states.

“Retailers are using more bins with potatoes from local growers, especially during this time of year with holiday season upon us,” said Gray. “These bins can offer a number of things. They promote locally grown, educate consumers, deliver a nutritional message and even offer consumer handling and usage suggestions. We feel that the use of bins will continue to increase because retailers know that consumers translate locally grown to mean superior quality and exceptional value due to the fewer freight miles.”

Gray said that when consumers go to grocery stores and see the banners and other point of purchase materials, it makes them feel that they’re making good choices.

“We’ve been offering an eight-pound jumbo Russet bags that contain only 10- to 12-ounce minimum sizes of potatoes,” he said. “Especially during holiday times, when families and friends are getting together, this bag offers an excellent choice. In addition to have the same size potato to a plate, such as a single-serving baked or baked-stuffed potato side-dish, they are a great size for larger dishes such as casseroles and mashed potatoes. Uniform sizes are very important to our customers.”

He added that the quality of this year’s crop is excellent, despite that the area did get a bit more rain than growers would have liked.

The Bushwick Commission also works with the Produce for Better Health Foundation.

It is also proud of its food-safety initiatives.

“All of our packing sheds are third party audited, which vital to retailers and consumers alike,” said Gray.