Highline strives for industry leadership

With a relatively new management team now firmly in place, Canada-based Highline Mushrooms is intent on being the No. 1 mushroom brand in the region with regard to growing practices, products and packaging.

“We want to be known for our innovation and quality and our sustainability efforts and be the top brand in North America,” said Jose Cambon, who was appointed as the new chief executive officer late last year after having been in the fresh mushroom business in Australia for a dozen years. “Our ownership structure is very supportive of these goals.”

Cambon said the company has a history of innovation, but he candidly admitted both Highline and the mushroom category have not been at the top of their game most recently. Overall mushroom sales have declined over the past year and Highline’s leadership in innovation is now moving back to the forefront.

Highline Mushrooms was founded in 1961 by Dr. Murray O’Neil as a small family farm in Leamington, Ontario, according to its website. Over the years, the company invested in the most advanced growing technology, including becoming “the first farm in Canada to incorporate the novel Dutch-growing method, where a mushroom’s growing cycle is only four weeks long.” That change allowed Highline to supply its customers with whiter, denser mushrooms, which allowed it to stand out from the competition. In 2001, it became one of Canada’s first mushroom companies to be certified organic and the first to implement a certified organic wash process for sliced mushrooms. “Our position as an industry leader was further solidified in 2010 when we became the first Canadian mushroom grower to obtain a Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification, a rigorous, credible food safety management system recognized by retailers worldwide,” says the website.

Today, Highline claims to be the world’s largest grower of organic mushrooms.

Another new member of the management team who also came aboard last fall with 15 years’ experience in produce marketing is Devon Kennedy as national marketing manager. She revealed that Highline has been forging ahead with innovative products in a very quick time frame. Recently, it introduced a new mushroom variety that Kennedy described as similar to a portabella mushroom but white. And at the recent Organic Produce Summit in Monterey, the company unveiled its new 100 percent recycled clear plastic clamshells. The initial introduction was for its organic offerings, which represent about 60 percent of its volume, but the clear plastic clamshells will eventually be used for all of its fresh mushrooms.

Cambon is seemingly the head cheerleader for the mushroom category. He seems to take offense that sales of the category have declined over the past year. “The mushroom sustainability story has not been told,” he said, calling the product the most sustainable item in the retail produce department.

Cambon ticks off their many attributes including the fact that agricultural waste is used to create the medium in which they grow, the amount of water needed to grow a mushroom is very low compared to most crops and land use is minimal. “Mushrooms are the original vertical farm,” he said, adding that their 9 - 12 crops per year on the same space makes them among the most efficient crops in production.

Cambon then launches into their nutritional value and versatility. Mushrooms are rich in B and D vitamins, are a low-carb food with no fat and have some protein. They also have a high amount of a couple specific antioxidants.

Cambon added that they can be consumed at every eating occasion from breakfast to dinner, including snacks. “Just eat a mushroom,” Cambon said, “for any occasion.”

Cambon believes merchandising mushrooms in clear packaging will be a great boost to sales at retail. “I take no credit for that innovation,” he said. “We’re just copying what many other commodities are doing.”

Cambon said the clear plastic clamshells allow for great messaging and branding, as well as showing off the mushrooms in a more attractive way than more traditional packaging method that use a colored tray or tub.

Highline has nine growing facilities across the lower portion of Canada giving it convenient access to both its customers in Canada and the United States, which Cambon notes is the biggest mushroom market. He added that Highline plans to expand in a sustainable way, making sure it does not outgrow the market.

But he is convinced that while the mushroom market has been facing a challenging situation for the past year, largely because of rising input costs, it is poised for growth. He noted that even as the conventional white button mushroom has registered sales declines organic mushrooms and the specialty varieties have seen increases.

Cambon added that Highline is striving for innovation in all areas of the mushroom category. It is looking to innovate with new mixes, blends and packs, as well as with value-added items and utilizing stems and other parts of the mushroom as ingredients in items such as the much-touted mushroom burger.

In short, Highline is bullish on the mushroom and for its prospect of leading the industry down a more profitable path.