Bard Valley Natural Delights is outpacing date category growth
Bard Valley Natural Delights is outpacing date category growth
Bard Valley Natural Delights, which offers whole dates for the traditionalists, pitted dates for convenience seekers and Mini Medjool Date Rolls and Medjool Date Strips for those looking for innovative, flavor-packed snacks, continues to make dates accessible to a broad audience.
“The total U.S. category is up 26 percent and Bard Valley Natural Delights is outpacing the category growth in dollars and volume at 30 percent,” said Alexandra Rae Molumby, senior brand manager at the Yuma, AZ-based company.
Over the past year, the company has been focusing on creating campaigns centered around the season of life that shoppers are in.
“During the holidays we encouraged shoppers to use pitted organic Medjool dates in their festive recipes,” Molumby said. “For Ramadan, the bulk boxes will be high in demand because they’ll be used to break the fast or gift to someone.”
Bard Valley has found that consumer perceptions of dates has evolved a great deal in recent years, particularly around health, snacking and natural sweeteners.
“Shoppers incorporate dates into everything now,” Molumby said. “We see them baking then grinding the Medjool date seeds to make date coffee, using the dates to replace sugar in recipes and they love grabbing our mini Medjools for a convenient snack.”
Organic date dollar sales for the category is up 107 percent and Bard Valley’s organic segment has seen an increase of 237 percent over last year.
“We will see a lot of retailers with full Ramadan displays encouraging shoppers to stock up on 5-pound Medjool date boxes for the holiday,” Molumby said.
Still, the company knows it’s important to work with retail partners to expand usage occasions for dates beyond traditional baking and holiday-driven demand.
“We create at least 4-6 recipes with the help of influencers,” Molumby said. “All our recipes can be found on our website and have also been pushed onto social channels.”
In 2026, Bard Valley is increasing its efforts to educate consumers through social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube.
“We constantly get tagged organically in recipes by unpaid influencers and shoppers because of our brand recognition,” Molumby said. “We also talk about our organic growing methods whenever there is an opportunity on social and also in ecommerce listings.”
Success in the date category, she noted, requires a commitment to quality and consistency.
“Customers need to trust that they’re getting a great product every time,” Molumby said. “Innovation is also important—we need to keep things fresh for both retailers and consumers. Lastly, flexibility is key. We work closely with our retail partners to ensure we’re meeting their specific needs and adjusting as those needs evolve.”
Bard Valley works with a diverse range of retailers across the globe, from small independent grocers to large national chains. The key to strong partnerships is listening and being adaptable, with the company tailoring its approach based on each retailer’s shopper base and business goals, whether that’s through custom merchandising strategies, co-branded promotions or offering products that meet their specific needs.
“In the year ahead, we see a lot of opportunity to capitalize on flavor and offer shoppers more reasons to purchase and try dates,” Molumby said.
