By David MacDonald I f you work in the typical North American office setting you’re likely familiar with the resident Seinfeld diehard (although I prefer to be called a fanboy). These devotees of the ‘90s television mainstay about nothing manage to find Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer references in the minutia of even the most mundane paper-pushing drudgery – or so I’ve been told. When a recent Bloomberg article about the continent-wide love for avocados written by food and restaurant reporter Leslie Patton crossed the big table at Spotlight on Business, I couldn’t help myself. “You want to know why?” I asked our Editorial Director, Lee Ann Atwater “Because people like to say avocado. ‘Excuse me, do you have any avocado? We need more avocado. Now, if you don’t remember the altered reference you’re forgiven (and probably don’t watch re-runs as fanatically as some of the staff here at the magazine do, for which we genuinely applaud you). It was from the 1992 episode “The Pitch” and the subject matter wasn’t avocados, it was salsa. Salsa was America’s South of the Border tabletop obses- sion during the Clinton administration standing alongside, as George pointed out to Jerry whilst sitting in their usual booth at Monk’s Café, ketchup and mustard and salt and pepper on many restaurant tables. Now, 26-years later, yada, yada, yada, diners have fallen for another versatile dietary staple from South Central Mexico: the Avocado. The rush to the guacamole bowl – and please, for Timmy’s sake, don’t double-dip your chip – has become a virtual stampede in the first two quarters of 2018. In October last year, the large berries hit an 8-month high averaging USD $1.64 per Hass avocado compared to the dollar-per- unit status thus far in the summer of 2018. The fact that the Where is the avocado? No avocado?’”
higher supply-lower price dynamic happened to coincide with the World Cup is probably not a coincidence. (If the Seinfeld references have been 360 slam dunks for you then you’ll probably remember how the avocado was virtually saved by the Super Bowl in the early ‘90s.) In February just before Super Bowl LII, CBC Radio’s Terry O’Reilly spoke about the long- forgotten “Guacamo- le Bowl” advertising campaign which is credited with boosting avocado sales 70 percent in a single decade and helping the aguacate along its path to restaurant menus in every echelon of the North American dining experience. It all started, O’Reilly said, “By soliciting chip dip recipes from NFL players and their families. Hundreds of free avocado and guacamole samples were given out to sports reporters leading up to Super Bowl day. It was a huge success. Mar- keting had moved guacamole from the food pages to the sports pages.” Since then, grocers and restauranteurs alike have been making big green off the Spanish pear. Starbucks has, according to Patton, “Added avocado spread to its per- manent menu in the US and Canada.” The coffee chain’s success with avocados may leave other businesses looking greenwith envy as they roll-out southwest, avocado-themed dishes. Wendy’s, Chili’s, and Chipotle have all introduced menu items featuring the high fibre, no cholesterol fruit that appears to be well on their way to becoming an important part of their respective brands. “Prices are falling as supply spikes,” Patton said. “During the week of May 13, the US market for a deluge of more than 60 million pounds of the fruit. That compares with about 47 million last year.”
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AUGUST 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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