PASADENA, CA - Sun Pacific® and New Season Market—the 14-store, Portland-based natural foods chain—recently paired up to hold a merchandising sales contest using Air Chief® organic grapes, and the results were skyrocketing category sales.

New Season Market stores increased organic grapes sales over 200 percent from the same time period last year, and the winning store led by produce manager Ashley Phieffer increased sales by over 419 percent.

"Our organic pack is a 21-pound stem up hand-selected pack,” explained Melissa Heinrich, Vice President of Vineyard Category Development at Sun Pacific. “All bunches are at least three-quarters of a pound or larger with an emphasis on having a traditional shape composed of wide shoulders and a tapering tail. These hand-selected bunches are packed on a bubble pad, followed by a liner, and lastly paper is added to ensure our organic grapes arrive in excellent condition and are display ready.”

Jeff Fairchild, Produce Director at New Season Market, noted the prodigious success of the sales contest—noting the category-boosting properties of Air Chief organic grapes.

“When the produce managers at New Season Market are given a sales challenge, you can expect to have your sales projections smashed,” said Fairchild, in a press release. “We partnered with Sun Pacific, grower of Air Chief organic grapes, and challenged our stores to ramp up their creativity and merchandising skills with a sales contest. By merchandising our organic grapes without a plastic bag or clamshell, we are satisfying our customers’ desire to sample the grapes before purchasing and supporting our core values of doing what’s right for the environment by using less plastic. Equally important, the quality, flavor, and crunch of Air Chief organic grapes are unmatched, and our customers love them.”

For more fresh produce news, keep reading AndNowUKnow.

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