Promoting Mushrooms Case Study: 2009 Sodexo Promotion

1. Promoting Mushrooms Case Study: 2009 Sodexo Promotion • Overview: • Sodexo is the third-largest U.S. food management company and tenth-largest chain in the country after Dunkin Donuts and Applebee’s • With the Mushroom Council’s support, Sodexo developed five fall/holiday mushroom menu items in its “In Season” promotion • Items included: Philly Cheese Steak Wrap; PortabelloRustico; Provencal Mushroom and Chevre Pizza; Spinach and Mushroom Calzone; and Vegetable Frittata Omelet • Sodexo included a mushroom featured section in its Flavor newsletter, which was provided both printed and electronically to participating locations, and included fresh mushroom handling tips and information on an operator training video segment • Results: • Initial results show that during the promotion, Sodexo sold an incremental 1.5 million pounds of fresh mushrooms in more than six million servings of the five featured items • Gross impressions for the seasonal limited time offer were 142.3 million • Items were featured at 2,400 locations including 1,000 business workplace locations; 800 healthcare locations; 600 higher education/college locations • The Mushroom Council received final recipes, photography and the newsletter for its use; contact the Mushroom Council or visit MushroomCouncil.org for copies