Sales of the purple sweet potato, the first Vegetable of the Year 2024, continue to soar in the U.S. after last year's Netflix documentary that featured the product. Jeremy Fookes, director of sales at A.V. Thomas Produce, based in Livingston, California. "Our proprietary varieties like Stokes Purple and Ben Yagi Purple sweet potatoes saw a tremendous surge in demand following the Netflix docuseries Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, which premiered on August 30, 2023. As the popularity of the show increased, the demand for purple sweet potatoes also increased."
Last year when the docuseries was released, they were not prepared for the big increase in demand, but were pleasantly surprised at the boost in sales as a result of the popularity of the purple sweet potatoes since then. "At the time the docuseries was released, we were in the beginning of our harvest season, we did not have the ability to grow more for that crop year, so our supply was limited to what was already planted for the year. Our marketing partner Frieda's had already put together a great sales strategy and this docuseries added additional interest in purple sweet potatoes. Our challenge last season was to fulfil the requests for purple sweet potatoes as they came in. This season, we are encouraging more of our retailers to incorporate additional types of sweet potatoes - including our purple sweet potatoes - into their product assortment and expanding their sweet potato sales overall," explains Fookes.
The success of the documentary to drive people to buy more purple sweet potatoes is fast becoming a tale of legend. "I had the opportunity to attend a vendor fair hosted by a wholesale client of ours, and one of their independent retailers with less than 10 stores shared their success of putting a monitor in their sweet potato displays that played a segment from episode 1 on a loop, from around minute 10 through to minute 12— and their sales went from a few cases per week, to multiple pallets per week," Fookes recounts the story.
A.V. Thomas Produce, Inc. is family owned and operated and has specialized in growing sweet potatoes in California since 1960. Their organic program started in 1988. "Today we are the largest organic sweet potato grower in the United States, shipping throughout North America and overseas. We are directly exporting heavily into Canada and Mexico, indirectly our overseas markets include countries in the Middle East, primarily Dubai. Our primary clients are retailers and wholesalers which focus on retail business. We also provide value to processors and manufactures that need sweet potatoes as an ingredient. I have to commend Frieda's Inc. because the Stokes are being marketed successfully through their efforts. They're the ones that have really put the information about the Stokes and popularity in Live to 100 in front of the consumers," states Fookes.
The cooler weather in the U.S. is when the consumption of sweet potatoes increases, traditionally, says Fookes. "The demand for sweet potatoes increases as the weather across the country starts to cool down and around the traditional baking holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The fall and winter periods are the timeframes when sweet potato consumption is at its highest."
He just returned from hosting the company's stand at the IFPA Global Produce and Floral show held in Atlanta last week. "The Global Produce and Floral show is always a great opportunity to see existing clients in person and to meet new customers from around the world. This year was a great show, the weather was great in Atlanta and the show provided many quality engagements that should result in increased sales for our company. I really enjoy the opportunity to introduce our variety of sweet potatoes to folks that aren't aware of the different types that are available," concludes Fookes.
For more information:
Jeremy Fookes
A.V. Thomas Produce
Tel: +1 209-394-7514
[email protected]
www.avthomasproduce.com