Potatoes Favorite Vegetable Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Potatoes have ranked as America’s favorite vegetable for the past six years when they surpassed broccoli for the top spot.
Kim Brashears, Potatoes USA Chief Marketing Officer, says their yearly surveys have shown potatoes at the number one spot over that time because, simply put, people love potatoes …
BRASHEARS-4 = 5 … “It’s fantastic news. There is a market for potatoes. Consumers love potatoes.”
And that popularity in restaurants, Brashears says continues to grow …
BRASHEARS-8 = 18 … “Yeah, potato sales at food service last year increased 12% from the year before. 12% is a pretty sizeable increase. Now we definitely lost some sales during the COVID era when restaurants were shut down. But they’re rebounding and there’s no indication the rebound isn’t going to continue.”
That’s not to say, there aren’t concerns …
BRASHEARS-9 = 10 … “Now inflation will be something that we’ll all have to pay close attention to, but we haven’t seen anything in the data thus far that shows a softening of consumer spending at food service.”
And that, Brashears says doesn’t appear to be fading …
BRASHEARS-7 = 14 … “There is a market there. There is no indication that consumers are not going to continue to want to put potatoes on their plate and enjoy them. So, the market is here and I would encourage growers to seriously consider ensuring that they continue to produce the product.”
Through June, total potato sales increased 5.7% in value and 4.4% by volume over the year before.
