Phillips Mushroom gears up for completion of 3rd Maryland expansion
Phillips Mushroom gears up for completion of 3rd Maryland expansion
When Phillips Mushroom Farms, headquartered in Kennett Square, PA, completes the third expansion of its Warwick, MD, facility, the company will increase its production to about one million pounds of mushrooms per week from it.
National Sales Manager, Kevin Donovan, told The Produce News that the expansion would double the size of the facility, which opened about six years ago.
Workers inside Phillips’ Warwick, MD, facility.“The increased production will help us to meet the growing demand for mushrooms,” said Donovan. “The current expansion project will be completed after the first of next year.”
Donovan explained that the demand for mushrooms is growing strongly each year.
“White mushrooms continue to lead the category, and organic white demand is growing very strongly,” he said. “Phillips Mushroom Farms will produce both conventional and organic in the newly expanded space.”
He noted that Phillips Mushroom continues to find interest in the Mushroom Councils The Blend campaign, which promotes replacing a portion of meat protein with chopped mushrooms.
“The council has done a great job of communicating ‘The Blend’ message to industry professionals, culinary colleges and other groups,” Donovan added. “Foodservice operators are now embracing it. In some cases they are doing this to offer a healthier burger on their menus. And we’re seeing its use in universities increase continually as young people are highly attuned to nutrition today.”
Phillips Mushroom is working with its partners in new ways that encourage them to promote mushrooms in their produce departments. Donovan noted that by providing blending information and value added package options, along with cross promotions, consumers are getting the message that replacing a portion of meat protein with mushrooms in recipes results in lower fat, higher nutrition and better flavor.
The mushroom industry continues to face the challenge of the high cost of growing medium.
“In recent years, many farmers have switched their crops from hay and straw to meal grains because the prices have gone up on these alternative crops,” explained Donovan. “That has resulted in shortages of local growing medium and it forces us to truck it in from greater distances. The fuel costs to move it across country drives production costs higher.”
