Retailers Have A Gas

As Ripening Programs Bolster Sales  Technology still evolving but options growing for retailers.

The likelihood of impulse purchases and the imperative of repeat buys make a strong case for pre-conditioning climacteric fruit — or in layman’s terms, fruit that continues ripening after harvest with ethylene.

An avocado picked off the tree with the right dry matter — an indicator of oil content — will eventually ripen thanks to its own enzymatic activity that softens the flesh and in varieties such as Hass, darkens the skin. 

In the case of bananas, mangos, pears and a host of other crops, the produce’s own ethylene hormones convert starch to sugar.

Few shoppers would care to learn this science or have the patience to wait for it to play out, so offering ready-to-eat food is key for retailers wanting to encourage regular consumption habits.

This means they need to give many fruits a kick-start with natural ethylene gas to set the process in motion, whether it be done in-house, through a third-party provider or by fruit suppliers themselves.

“Customers buy with their eyes, but they return with their tastebuds,” says Dennis Kihlstadius, owner of Produce Technical Services in Bemidji, MN. “The American retail industry is so worried about controlling shrink that they forget about growing their sales by having a product that the customer will buy and come back to buy.”

Kihlstadius, a ripening consultant who has worked with a range of commodity boards over decades and teaches a course on the practice at the University of California-Davis each April, says there is still a lot of “tribal knowledge” in supermarkets when it comes to ripening.

He says this is partly because of confusing messages from suppliers and experts who present their ripening practices differently, but it is also a force of habit.

For example, the hackneyed truism of bananas giving off more ethylene than most fruits is completely untrue; avocados, pears and apples release more ethylene at room temperature, says Kihlstadius.

“You can only ripen physiologically mature fruit — for example in mangos and avocados — and you have a lot of diversity of maturities in a given pallet,” he says. “You can actually create more shelf life by giving fruit ethylene because you allow it to ripen more uniformly and use less energy, because otherwise the fruit has to produce its own ethylene.”

Get the temperature wrong though, and all that careful work goes out the window. Add to that the challenge of produce delivery, and the industry’s need to perfect the ripening process is greater still.

“We’ve got this banana thing really figured out, but we don’t have the other commodities really dialed in yet,” he says.

Kihlstadius cites two pivotal moments in his career when the industry made drastic changes for the better; one was the groundswell at retail that tomatoes ought not be refrigerated, and the other was avocado companies establishing regional ripening centers to “control their own destiny.”

“Avocados still have a problem — there are a lot of people who want to keep avocados in the refrigerator, and they should never go below 40°F no matter what the shipper’s box says,” he explains. “The science says they turn black inside around the pit if you keep them too cold, and for mangos it’s 50°F.

“There are a lot of people who treat avocados at too high a temperature and then they want to cool it down to too low a temperature, and that causes chilling injury. It can literally shock the fruit.”

MIXING IT UP

Banking on consumer preferences for a mix of ripeness levels, Mission Produce of Oxnard, CA, has launched its “Ready” elevated ripening and merchandising program for avocados.

Denise Junqueiro, Mission’s director of marketing, says retailers that have run the program — giving consumers the option between “Ready in a Couple of Days” and “Ready Tonight” — have seen more than 50 percent average weekly lifts in sales.

“We discovered, because of the everyday use, consumers need multistage ripe avocados in their homes to enjoy them through the week,” she says. “Before that, consumers would maybe end up with overripe avocados or avocados that are not ripe enough for their needs.”

“It is always recommended that produce managers stay engaged with the program and rotate fruit from the Stage 2 on the shelves as it becomes ready to give consumers the best experience.”

This consumer preference is also noted by John Vena, president of John Vena Inc., based in Philadelphia.

“For retailers, it seems that an avocado program that offers both pre-conditioned and green fruit, supported by trained store associates, will move the most fruit and provide higher customer satisfaction levels,” says Vena.

Dionysios Christou, vice president of marketing at Del Monte Fresh Produce of Coral Gables, FL, says although some retailers may see benefit in providing consumers with harder, less-ripe fruit, consumers’ needs should “always be a key factor in the decision-making process.” 

“While less-ripe fruit can help with shrink, displaying less-ripe fruit can also reduce sales, as consumers increasingly desire fruit that is ready to eat now,” he says, clarifying the company is still equipped to supply both green, unripened and ripened avocados to customers.

Christou says most major retailers have ripening rooms, which is not a new trend and likely will continue.

“As business continues to grow, additional ripening rooms are typically added to supply demand,” he says.

Del Monte partners with several large retailers to exclusively supply ripening personnel and services within the customer’s own facilities and ripening rooms. But as a major player in bananas where ripening is essential, it also has its own ripening rooms.

“We find that for 99% of the banana business, ripening is non-negotiable,” says Christou. “However, there is a small percentage of unripened bananas that are sold to meet the needs of specific consumers who use them green for cooking.”

As bananas and avocados have different respiration rates, they have not been traditionally compatible. But Del Monte has gotten innovative to challenge the orthodoxy.

“Over the past three years, Del Monte Fresh Produce has installed several new ripening rooms at various facilities across North America,” explains Christou. “These new rooms are “multi-fruit” rooms that are capable of ripening both bananas and avocados.”

FRUITS GAINING TRACTION

Kihlstadius of Produce Technical Services says the mango industry right now is in a similar position to the avocado industry in the late 1980s, when forced-air ripening rooms were in their infancy, controlling heat given off from the fruit and allowing for the category to flourish.

Tammy Wiard, retail program manager at the National Mango Board (NMB) in Orlando, FL, says a 2013 study found 45 percent of consumers who were disappointed in mango quality cited “not ripe enough” as the reason.

In 2017, a study found almost a third of non-mango purchases cited their reason for not buying as not knowing how to pick ripeness. Like Kihlstadius, Wiard sees inspiration for the category in what has been achieved for avocados.

“Avocados provide the roadmap for successful ripening programs,” she says. “Avocado consumption more than doubled from 1999 to 2009, a period during which ripening became standard practice.

“The increased interest in, and adoption of, ripening programs for mangos has skyrocketed in the past two years.”

Wiard says some retailers rely on suppliers to provide ripened fruit, and as their ripening rooms reach capacity, third-party ripening options are becoming part of the norm.

 “Suppliers who offer ripening services can differentiate themselves and create more loyalty in their retail relationships,” she says. “Retailers should use every opportunity to let their customers know that their produce is ripe and ready to eat. Instant gratification is part of our culture.”

Both Vena and Del Monte’s Christou also see benefits in mango ripening programs, with the potential to dramatically improve the fruit’s texture, aroma and sweetness.

“We also see rising demand for pre-conditioned mangos, particularly for fresh-cut customers and for retail during certain periods,” says Vena. “We know there is demand for pre-conditioned pears, but the current packaging used does not make the process very easy.  We have had good luck with papayas and honeydew melons.”

John Vena Inc. also has looked at ripening certain specialty items such as persimmons that require more complex systems and use carbon dioxide as the active agent.

“But the initial investment and volume to support that is out of our reach right now,” says Vena. 

Kihlstadius is emphatic that pears don’t need a new variety but rather better ripening practices in order to lift sales, while kiwifruit also could get more attention for ripening programs and complementary consumer awareness programs around quality.

ETHYLENE INHIBITION

Some experts, such as Kihlstadius, are skeptical about the rise of ethylene inhibitors, with concerns around the impact on flavor. However, proponents are adamant it can improve taste and shelf life.

Dave Biswell, president of Ethylene Control Inc., based in Selma, CA, says putting his company’s packets in a box of fruit allow it to last longer in good condition, so it can be picked off trees in a riper state.

“They can leave it on the tree longer, it gets more natural sugar on it so it flavors better, and then they can go ahead and ship it out normally with the temperature, humidity and everything else,” he says. “It’s a different way of going about getting a better piece of fruit to the consumer.”

He emphasizes the product is very safe compared to other alternatives out there and also comes in the form of filters and filtration systems for large cold storage rooms.

“It started out with kiwifruit in the beginning, but then we went into stone fruit and then lettuce,” he says. “Lettuce turns brown because of ethylene gas. Other products like cucumbers turn yellow. I would say avocados are needing it more because the avocado market has gotten bigger, and also the citrus market.”