James helped set up this meeting with Paul West the cherry buyer. Scott Bradley, the Director in Phoenix was not able to make the appointment. Paul said their was about 3 million boxes from California for June. They plan on being in California 6/3 thru 6/23. Safeway will transition to Northwest Cherries earlier for the Northwest divisions, on 6/24 all division in the US will be in Northwest. I let Paul know that James would be following up with Pleasanton on their ad program. I told Paul we would like to focus the ad program on a National Ad for Safeway the 3rd, or 4th week of July. We will have large volume a that time and it will be a win-win for both NW and Safeway. Paul was happy with the info, and said it needs to be a front page feature to move the needle. He said last year it was tough to promote at hot retailers. Their is a huge different in volume front page vs back page. He was interested in the early robin, plus he is excited about the 4 milllion in August and feels Safeway can run several ad during August and a a possible Labor Day ad which they have never run. He would like us to continue to sending updates, prior to the season starting. The information Northwest put together in cluding the Safeway data was very informative and he know they have an opportunity in August. The data pointed to a window Safeway needs to improve on, although they are ranked toward the top 50 in several divisions. The display cherries very well and have been putting up near the check stands the past few seasons. He thought the California division may not be as high as the Northwest because of the local California deal, but we know that isnt really the case. Paul said they will advertise cherries every week during our season. They will have a great ad for the 4th of July. He talked a lot about p ricing, but at the same time knows cherries are impulse so cutting into margins will help bring in the customer who spends more on each shopping trip. He will work on corporated to make this happen. He also hopes late season offers good pricing to promote. He thanked us for the Safeway data, Good Grower magazines with the great articles and Perishable/Nielson information. Plus I had an additional copy of everything for his boss Scott Bradley. Paul definitely feels the pulse on this being a big season for Northwest due to his interaction with several suppliers. Again, James will be following up with Pleasanton Corporate on the program. Danny Timblin is the Category Manager but does no start until the end of June. So we will have to deal with either Kristina Brite, Danny's analyst who is covering the desk or Brian Porter the Director of Category Managers.