10295 Toebben Drive, Independence, KY 41051
September 22, 2016
Volume 27
Issue 38
SWEETEST DAY
Sweetest Day is October 15th. Sweetest Day is observed the 3rd Saturday in the month of October.
The first Sweetest Day took place in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922. A man by the name of Herbert Birch
Kingston wanted a way to bring something happy, cheerful and special into the lives of society’s forgotten
especially orphans and shut-ins. He himself was an employee of a candy company so
the leap to providing candy to these special people was not a far one. He designated
the 3rd Saturday in October and with the help of friends he began distributing candy to
those less privileged than he. Silent movie star Ann Pennington donated over 200 boxes
of candy to the Cleveland Newspaper boys as a thank you for their community work.
Theda Bara a popular movie star was performing in Cleveland at the time. She gave
candy to everyone who attended her performances as well as donating 10,000 boxes of
Ann
candy to people in Cleveland hospitals. The entire country does not celebrate Sweetest
Pennington
Day, but it is spreading a little at a time as people move around more and more. People
tend to take Sweetest Day with them when they move. Ohio is the top state for
Sweetest Day sales, followed by Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Texas, California and
Florida are among the top 10 states in sales.
Sweetest Day, which began as a day to do good deeds for the underprivileged and
forgotten, is now an occasion to celebrate the kind things people do for each other
every day. Love and friendship are popular themes on Sweetest Day cards, often with
expressions of appreciation. Hallmark actually printed their first Sweetest Day card in
the mid-1960’s.
Theda Bara
Armed with all this information what are you going to do about Bosses Day and
Sweetest Day? Too many produce departments just pass them by afraid of the shrink they might incur,
or the effort it will take. These holidays are growing, and to reap the benefits of the extra sales you
need to promote, really promote.
Sweetest Day is on Saturday October 15th, and you need to let your customers know at least 2 weeks
before. You must have a wide variety of products to sell to meet everyone’s financial needs ex: rose
bouquets, regular bouquets, mini roses, bud vases, balloons, balloons with candy and cut Serena Rose
bunches. Decorate your department take some of the history from this article and let your customers
read it.
THE ROSE
In October 1986, the Rose was endorsed by every branch of government but the Supreme Court as
America’s official floral symbol. The rose is truly a worldwide symbol. For generations, the rose has
symbolized purity, beauty, faith unity, secrecy, grace, simplicity, perfection and above all, it has been
messenger of tenderness and love! WOW!
What a flower! Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of these
beautiful accolades said about us? And to think, we can sell these wonderful roses in our stores.
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A Brief History of the Rose
The rose is the oldest flower known to man. It has been cultivated in Persia for at least 500 years
and rose decorations are found on jewelry and ornaments from minion civilization about 2800 BC. Every
civilization back to the oldest has spun legends and loved the rose.
The Mystique of the Rose
Cupid was said to have bribed Harpocrates with the rose to prevent him from revealing the love
affaires carried on by Venus. Hence the rose also cam e to be associated with secrecy.
Cleopatra once ordered a fragrant carpet of rose petals, twenty inches deep to welcome the arrival
of her Roman lover.
The Greeks believed that the white rose was stained red by the blood of Venus when her fingers
caught on it’s thorns as she was rushing to keep a date with Adonis.
Homer wrote in the Iliad that roses decorated the shield of Achilles and the helmet of Hector when
they fought their mortal duel during the Trojan War.
Doesn’t all this talk about roses make you want to sell roses on Sweetest Day? Too many stores don’t
promote Sweetest Day enough. We need to plan our work and work our plan! It has been written, “A
rose is an agreement. It proclaims the triumph of beauty over brutality, of gentleness over violence, of
the ephemeral over the lasting and the universal over the particular”.
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WESTERN VEGETABLES
AVOCADOS: Limited supplies out of Mexico is creating shortages and skyrocketing costs for all avocados.
Current conditions will continue for the next few weeks.
BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER: Supplies are available from the northern California growing regions; demand is
meeting supplies which is fair. Quality has been very nice with ideal growing conditions recently.
CELERY: Supplies are steady with great quality coming from the Santa Maria and Salina’s growing regions.
Sizing has been trending large.
GREEN ONIONS: Markets are active as limited supplies are present creating a shortage due to some field loss
due to quality issues. Expect markets to continue to rise for another week or so.
LETTUCE: Iceberg markets are overall stable with steady supplies. Rib bruise is still present but is less than
we’ve been seeing. Leafy quality has been fairly good with occasional issues present. Markets and demand
are stable.
VALUE-ADDED
Supplies of organic baby spinach and organic Romaine heart leaves are limited due to quality issues caused by
downy mildew in the California producing areas.
SOUTHERN VEGETABLES
BEANS: Will go for another week and half or so.
CABBAGE: Still coming from Michael’s.
CORN: The corn movement has dropped way off; we’ll be starting with southern corn probably the beginning
of next week.
CUCUMBERS, PEPPERS: Heading down south to Georgia.
HARD SQUASH: Acorn, butternut and spaghetti still out of Michigan or Ohio.
GREENS: All greens are still coming out of Ohio.
ONIONS: Western onion markets are unchanged; quality is very good.
POTATOES: Markets remain steady; supplies and quality are good.
YELLOW & ZUCCHINI SQUASH: Heading down south to Georgia.
ORGANICS
BEETS: Beets still remain a challenge due to curly top virus that impacts the plant leaves and bulb. Supplies
will be limited for a few more weeks until growers move to lower elevation new fields that should be clean.
BROCCOLI: Steady supplies from California with light demand is keeping markets downward. Canada is also
producing but lighter this week, but will pick back up the following week.
BUNCH CARROTS: Starting to see carrots with full tops on them again. There will be some slight burn still
to them and occasional stem that may need to be removed before reaching the sales floor. Look for things to
improve as we move into new fields towards the end of September.
CABBAGE: Supplies are starting to lighten as growers are between fields experiencing a small regional gap.
We’re looking at other locations for the best quality product to bring in.
CAULIFLOWER: Markets have been active with sporadic supplies coming on due to weather impacting the
organic crop. Quality has been fairly good with occasional curd discoloration.
CELERY: Steady supplies coming from the California growing regions. Sizing has been trending large with
overall good quality.
CUCUMBERS: Regional product has been impacted by the recent rain and cooler weather slowing production
down. We’re looking to other regions for supplies and there may be a slight skip due to this.
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GREEN PEPPERS: Steady supplies regionally with good quality. Some supplies are now present out west as
well.
KALES: Great supplies of kale currently; plenty of regional product from all over the Midwest available.
Markets are stable.
LETTUCES: Lighter supplies are coming from Canada currently due to weather that affected growth. Quality
from California has improved but we are still seeing some slight russeting.
RADISHES: Supplies are improving with better quality tops. Very little damage now to the tops and they look
much cleaner than they have been.
YELLOW SQUASH & ZUCCHINI: Regional supplies from GreenField in Ohio and Michigan have been steady.
We are also moving south to Georgia with Lady Moon product which is very nice.
ASPARAGUS
Stable supplies and level market cost; asparagus will remain steady. New crop organic asparagus back in stock
out of Argentina; volume increasing but market is very strong.
FRUIT
APPLES & PEARS: Washington is up and running with a nice crop this year. Some varieties of organic apples
will show gaps until Washington is ready. New crop Michigan apples are now becoming available and the crop
is looking to be one of the best ones ever. Varieties will be added to the books as they become available.
Michigan Honeycrisp are here now. New York macs will be available soon. Washington new crop pears are
rolling with great quality and promotable pricing.
BLACKBERRIES: New regions in Mexico producing good quality blackberries and market has dropped off some.
There is some cheaper prices on Guatemala blackberries but quality weak out of that region. Organic
blackberries will be in a gap for maybe two to three weeks until new Mexican fruit starts to arrive.
BLUEBERRIES: We are now into the last part of the Michigan deal. Argentine has started in a very small way
and that’ll transition in the next couple of weeks from domestic blueberries into the imported blueberries for
the winter season. Markets will be high until we reach their volume in mid-October on Argentine. Organics
remain available but very limited and high priced.
CANTALOUPES & HONEYDEWS: Organic cantaloupes and honeydews are in good supply with promotable
pricing. Conventional cantaloupes are promotable with good color and flavor.
CITRUS: Conventional and organic grapefruit will remain very limited as western supplies have all but
finished. Florida will start new crop grapefruit in October.
CLEMENTINES: Little change with steady supply out of South America and South Africa. Bag 2 and 3# primary
retail pack.
CRANBERRIES: Kick off for the cranberry season is a sure sign that fall has arrived. Ocean Spray label is the
mostly recognized name in cranberries. Organic cranberries will start in few weeks.
GRAPES: Good volume of grapes rolling; nice varieties of reds that are eating outstanding. There are some
newer late varieties of green seedless grapes. Columbine as a new white grape called the Milano. It has a
great size to it, 15-16/16-16th size grape that is very clean looking, great appearance ; item #69500. Holidays
are building better volume; they are already inching upward slightly in market cost as they’ve done in previous
years and that will continue as we move into later October and toward the holiday season. Organic grapes
continue to have steady volume but market starting to move upward.
RASPBERRIES: Limited production in California. Supplies are tight and will remain that way for two to three
more weeks.
STRAWBERRIES: Good supplies of fruit, but there will be bruising on all strawberries available. Industry-wide
issue due to growing conditions out west.
STONE FRUIT
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California stone fruit is wrapping up; the late season Prima Gattie peach which is a great looking peach and
offers high quality; good eating peach for fall. Nectarines has wrapped up and plums down to last varieties
of blacks and reds.
TROPICAL FRUIT
LIMES: Product is starting to become more available in the market and we should see some pricing come back
down to normal levels.
MANGOES: Both organic and conventional product is still in good supply; however we will see larger fruit
become more prevalent.
Merchandising Tips
With the onset of fall and cooler temperatures, your customers will start cooking more. This is the
perfect time for you to build some tie in displays with other departments throughout the store for some
extra impulse sales.
Begin in your own department with a fall squash display. Be sure to include all the varieties to give the
displays lots of color. When you build the display be sure to give the big 4 the most room, and by the big
4 squashes, I mean your acorn, butternut, spaghetti and buttercup. The Hubbard, sweet dumpling and
carnival squashes will be some of the next best sellers. One item to be sure to include in the display is the
pie pumpkins, because pumpkins are a variety of squash, and they will give you some added color. You can
also tie in some baking apples such as the golden delicious and the Granny Smith, as well as some pecan or
walnut meats. Get with the grocery department to get some mini marshmallows to put on a side stack by
the squash display. What a fall treat using the acorn squash, dicing up a Granny Smith Apple and putting
it in the center of the squash. Follow this up by adding some walnuts or pecans, sprinkled with some
cinnamon and a pat of butter. With about 10 minutes to go before it finishes baking add some mini
marshmallows.
With that display done head over to the meat department to build a stew display. Displaying cello
carrots, potatoes, parsnips and some celery in close proximity to the stew meat. You can even get the
grocery department involved by including a case stack of beef broth. What a meal for a cool fall night.
Next, let’s involve the bakery and the frozen food departments. Even if it is fall, a display with
strawberries and pound cake by the Cool Whip will still be a welcome treat after dinner.
Let’s also build a display of bag baking apples in the dairy department close to the Pillsbury pie crusts.
Involve the GM department by including some aluminum pie pans. A display like this could also go up in
frozen foods by the pie crusts.
Finally, returning to the produce department, sample some hot apple cider in the evening hours. Be sure
to include some cider spice or cinnamon stick in the cider for some added flavor. You can also include the
caramel apples with the cider display. With displays all over the store you are bound to pick up some extra
sales.
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Good Selling!!
CROSSET NEW ITEM & DELETION SHEET
W/B: 9/25/16
ITEM #
34285
34278
31025
38041
89049
89079
89070
69615
66020
73020
62807
62836
62837
94850
774021
774022
774025
774026
774027
774028
774029
NEW ITEMS
ORGANIC JONAGOLD APPLE
ORGANIC JONAGOLD APPLE
ORGANIC CAMEO APPLE
ORGANIC DANJOU PEAR
ORGANIC FRENCH FINGERLING
ORGANIC RUSSIAN FINGERLING
ORGANIC BUTTERCREAM POTATO
MICHIGAN CONCORD GRAPES
CRANBERRIES
ORGANIC RED PLUMS
DATE DRIED PITTED
DATE CHOPPED
DATE WHOLE
PEANUT BRITTLE
VEGGIE TRAY SNAP PEA MEDIUM
VEGGIE TRAY PEAS & PEPPER
ORGANIC VEGGIE TRAY
PROTEIN PUNCH SNACK PACK
BETTER CHEDDAR SNACK PACK
HEALTH HARVEST SNACK PACK
ORGANIC VEGGIE SNACK PACK
SIZE
12/3#
40#
40#
40#
10/1.5#
10/1.5#
12/2#
12/1#
24/12 OZ
28#
24/10 OZ
24/10 OZ
24/12 OZ
20#
6/20 OZ
6/18 OZ
6/16 OZ
6/6.5 OZ
6/6 OZ
6/5.75 OZ
6/7 OZ
DELETIONS
34025
33770
7035
1870
20515
18505
66600
72038
72035
71160
71280
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3# RED DELICIOUS APPLES
3# GALA APPLES
ORGANIC OHIO GREEN CABBAGE
ORGANIC WATERMELON
ORGANIC OHIO EGGPLANT
ORGANIC OHIO GREEN PEPPERS
SWEET TANGO CIDER
ORGANIC NETARINES
PP NECTARINES
PEACH-A-RINE
ORGANIC PEACHES – FM
12
12
45#
60 CT
20#
25#
12/64 OZ
18#
18#
12#
18#
Good Selling!!
78515
78824
107290
107291
107292
107295
107297
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PT BLUEBERRIES
ORGANIC BLACKBERRIES
SAUCE MEMPHIS BBQ
SAUCE SCALLION GINGER
SAUCE MAPLE BOURBON
SAUCE TERIYAKI
SAUCE BLACK PEPPER
12 PT
12/6 OZ
6/16 OZ
6/16 OZ
6/16 OZ
6/16 OZ
6/16 OZ
Good Selling!!
THE 2016 SWEETEST DAY SURVEY
Saturday, October 15, 2016
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Good Selling!!
ROSES
50CM SINGLE ROSE BQT
50CM TRIPLE ROSE BQT
ITEM #: 705569
ITEM #: 708827
PACK: 40
CASE COST: $103.00
UNIT COST: $2.58
RETAIL: $3.99
G.P. %: 35 %
PACK: 25
CASE COST: $77.00
UNIT COST: $3.08
RETAIL: $4.99
G.P. %: 38%
50CM HALF DOZEN ROSE BQT
BUD VASE ASST. (THREE ROSES)
ITEM #: 701367
PACK: 20
CASE COST: $97.00
UNIT COST: $4.85
RETAIL: $6.99
G.P. %: 31%
BUD VASE ASST. (DOZEN ROSES)
ITEM #: 701366
PACK: 9
CASE COST: $124.00
UNIT COST: $13.77
RETAIL: $19.99
G.P. %: 31%
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ITEM #: 703330
PACK: 12
CASE COST: $108.00
UNIT COST: $9.00
RETAIL: $12.99
G.P. %: 31%
50CM DOZEN ROSE BQT RED
ITEM #: 701052
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $79.00
UNIT COST: $7.90
RETAIL: $11.99
G.P. %: 34%
Good Selling!!
MORE ROSES
40CM DOZEN ROSE BQT COLOR
40CM DOZEN ROSE BQT 40/60
ITEM #: 701067
ITEM #: 701042
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $70.00
UNIT COST: $7.00
RETAIL: $10.99
G.P. %: 36 %
50CM DOZEN ROSE BQT COLOR
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $74.00
UNIT COST: $7.00
RETAIL: $10.99
G.P. %: 33%
50CM DOZEN ROSE BQT 40/60
ITEM #: 701051
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $79.00
UNIT COST: $7.90
RETAIL: $11.99
G.P. %: 34%
ITEM #: 703329
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $80.00
UNIT COST: $8.15
RETAIL: $11.99
G.P. %: 33%
50CM DOZEN RAINBOW ROSE BQT
ITEM #: 701019
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $85.00
UNIT COST: $8.50
RETAIL: $12.99
G.P. %: 35%
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Good Selling!!
BOUQUETS
MY SWEET LOVE BQT
SWEETIE PIE BQT
ITEM #: 701088
PACK: 10
CASE COST: $84.00
UNIT COST: $8.40
RETAIL: $12.99
G.P. %: 35%
SWEET LOVE BQT
ITEM #: 705445
PACK: 12
CASE COST: $87.00
UNIT COST: $7.25
RETAIL: $11.99
G.P. %: 40%
SWEET AND YOU BQT
ITEM #: 701125
PACK: 18
CASE COST: $113.00
UNIT COST: $6.27
RETAIL: $9.99
G.P. %: 37%
ITEM #: 708047
CASE PACK: 10
CASE COST: $64.00
UNIT COST: $6.40
RETAIL: $10.99
G.P. %: 42%
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POTTED ITEMS/ORDER FORM
Item #
Description
Pack
Case
Cost
Retail
G.P.
%
703358
3” Mini Orchid
20
$129.00
$9.99
35%
705407
6” Kalanchoe
8
$47.00
$8.99
35%
701263
4” Mini Rose
18
$58.00
$4.99
35%
707269
6” Mini Rose
8
$52.00
$9.99
35%
701354
8” Bromeliad
12
$98.00
$11.99
32%
701137
6” Pelee Mum
8
$45.00
$9.99
44%
701165
6” Point Pelee Mum
8
$45.00
$9.99
44%
701233
5” Double Orchid
13
$151.00
$19.99
42%
MINI ROSE
PELEE MUM
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KALANCHOE
POINT PELEE MUM
Thursday
10/6
Friday
10/7
Thursday
10/13
Friday
10/14
BROMELIAD
DOUBLE ORCHID
Good Selling!!
ROSES & BOUQUETS ORDER FORM
Item #
Monday 10/10
Tuesday 10/11
Wednesday 10/12
Thursday 10/13
Friday 10/14
705569
708827
701367
703330
701366
701052
701067
701042
701051
703329
701019
703331
703332
701088
705445
701125
708047
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING
CROSSET FLORAL!
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Good Selling!!