Category: Produce with Pamela

As we've been publishing the Produce Blueprints November/December feature on convenience stores, I can't help but be a Texan about my favorite convenience store: Buc-ee's. 

“I’m dying a slow breakout session death,” is how one industry colleague put it, and I can't come up with a better way to describe my yearning for an in-person event.

It's not surprising that 64% have tried a pomegranate, and more than 50% have tried dates, papayas, and figs, but what about other items? 

Turns out it might have backfired to have an amazingly delicious, perfectly tart and ripe Honeyglow compared to the milder flavor of a Pinkglow, which has been described as "cotton candy-like." 

Fresh holdings of red delicious, the punching bag of apple snobs (like myself), are down 33% compared to the 5-year average. The pandemic could push that number down further.

Have we found a compromise between shelf life and plastic?

The insightful list is a mix carefully curated everyday items and wacky things no one but the trendiest of foodies has ever heard of (think of last year’s tiger nut flour.)  

You know what hot dogs are made of, right?

Another Cotton Candy-inspired produce item? Well, it worked for grapes, I guess?

I’ve long been convinced the model of in-store picking for online grocery isn’t sustainable in the long run, and the service’s rapid expansion during the pandemic is exposing pain points.