“We see that each market we service has different consumer demands based on a variety of options for holiday meals,” said Bill Litvin, vice president of sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh, headquartered in Temple, PA. “Historically, we have seen an overall increase in mushroom product sales throughout the winter holidays as consumers see mushrooms as a prominent side dish to complement their holiday meals.”

Litvin explained that because mushrooms are both nutritious and delicious, their versatility as an appetizer or side dish provides multiple opportunities to make it onto consumers’ plates during the holiday season.

Both brown and white mushrooms seem to be the most popular products during the holiday season each year, whether they are whole or sliced.

Giorgio Fresh mushrooms are a wonderful compliment to any holiday meal.“We maintain the same Giorgio brand packaging on our products throughout the winter holidays,” noted Litvin. “We find that it is easiest to be consistent with our packaging so consumers can easily locate the Giorgio products they wish to purchase.”

Giorgio has been known for outstanding quality and integrity since 1928, when Pietro Giorgio constructed his first mushroom house. Giorgio Fresh has a reputation for providing the finest quality mushrooms to retailers and food service distributors. The company prides itself on being a family owned business with a national appeal.

It is a fully integrated grower-shipper of fresh mushrooms. It produces whites, browns, portabellas and various exotics along with organic whites, browns and portabellas. It also offers gourmet wild, dried and value-added products.

Being a fully integrated operation, Giorgio Fresh controls every step of the process — from growing to distribution. Its mushrooms are grown, hand-picked and processed in state-of-the-art packing facilities under strict quality control. Giorgio is fully food-safety and traceability certified, and all mushrooms are grown using IPM-certified procedures.

With demand strong for holidays, Giorgio Fresh promotes in the sense of encouraging consumers, but it does not reduce its selling prices.  Litvin said, “Nice looking mushrooms sell themselves.”

Retail customers decorate their produce departments in varying ways, depending on the company.

“Some will dress up their product departments with holiday decorations while others do not,” said Litvin. “It all depends on what each retailer chooses to do.”

Giorgio Fresh typically sees the first holiday business crunch begin the Thursday before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“And it continues all the way through the Thanksgiving weekend,” said Litvin. “The second crunch for the Christmas and other winter holidays is more spaced as many holiday entertainment events and parties are hosted throughout December and into early January. Things get back to normal in January once the holidays have wrapped up.”