The next big thing for avocado sales

The avocado industry is being targeted by the produce packaging and labeling company Sev-Rend Corp.

Tony O’Driscoll, Sev-Rend’s vice president of sales and marketing, said his firm has been aggressively pursuing the avocado market for the past 24 months.

Sev-Rend’s SR-film is used here as a half-wrap over its mesh packaging.He said a large majority of Sev-Rend’s avocado packers have a presence in both the U.S. and Mexico. “Having established a warehouse location in the southern California area we are able to quickly serve both the United States and Mexican markets. It is ideal for our avocado customers to ship from California, rather than buying from other suppliers overseas.”

Discussing the avocado industry with The Produce News this spring, Jeff Watkin, graphic and marketing manager indicated that “Avocado packaging is moving from a header-only style bag” which is a net bag with a film top that has finger holes for carrying, “to a half-wrap style bag and to a full-wrap style bag.”

The primary avocado packages Sev-Rend is supplying are three- and five-count avocado mesh bags. These utilize all three types of packaging Sev-Rend offers the avocado industry. The three are Sof-Net brand, SR-Film and branded direct thermal labels.

Sof-Net is Sev-Rend’s branded netting, which is preferred by avocado grower-packers, according to Russell Reta, Sev-Rend’s western regional sales manager. “The main use was green in the beginning and now companies have evolved to different netting colors to compliment branding along with identifying specific product types.” He added that, depending on the packer, purple or white netting is being used to identify other avocado types such as organics.

SR-Film is material Sev-Rend uses for the overwraps of its mesh packaging. These can cover half of a bag, or provide a full wrap around the avocado bags. Heavy-gauge SR-Film is used for solid colors or a repetitive “wallpaper” print. Full-wraps have “considerable room to serve as a viable branding and marketing vehicle for these customers,” Watkin said.

Larger wraps allow “for more real estate on the packaging for the company to communicate” health education, product features and avocado use.

Full-wrap film around avocado bags also boosts the opportunity for brand development and retailer-driven recipe programs.

Sev-Rend is based in Collinsville, IL. The produce packaging company was launched in 1993 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2018.