Presented the NW cherry and apricot program for 2009 to Steve Santos. Steve was great and is looking to promote 4 main features this year. Paul Franicis, the buyer, said if they get aggressive they will need to load 8-12 trucks a day to handle ad movement. Steve felt they will also use cherries as a line item on off weeks when not on sale. They are ready to start selling * their vendor is telling them the cherry crop will be late. I explained we will send out a crop update to keep him posted. Steve had only one other concern; that is that customers are watching how much they spend. He felt if the early cherries were packed in 1# bags the customer would be more willing to purchase them. Just his thoughts.
Stop and Shop will run some apricot ads, just a couple. As far as the soft fruit deal, they are pretty committed to their California shippers and other local suppliers in the area.
Steve took time and introduced me to their entire staff * Great visit looking for some awesome cherry movement from Stop and Shop this year.