Avocados’ rise to stardom in the U.S. may seem improbable: It’s a relatively expensive fruit that’s delicate and has a limited shelf life.
That’s proven little obstacle, however, as avocados’ popularity is only growing. U.S. imports of fresh Hass avocados from Mexico climbed to $2.7 billion last year, up about 38 percent from 2018, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the fiscal year ended in June, Mexico exported nearly 2.5 billion pounds of the fruit—a record high. It’s a testament to the enduring appeal of guacamole and avocado toast—and an unorthodox arrangement between Mexican growers and packers and U.S. importers.
Avocados From Mexico, created about 10 years ago to market the fruit to U.S. consumers, works with companies including Potbelly Corp., Walmart Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. to get more avocados into restaurants and onto dinner tables. It buys up Super Bowl ads, operates a kitchen to test new recipes and created a jingle that’s gotten stuck in everyone’s head. The group’s chief executive officer, Álvaro Luque, recently sat down with Bloomberg News to talk about growing seasons, inflation and how he plans to get avocados into more sandwiches, tacos—and even brownies.
The reality is that we are not from Mexico and we don’t sell avocados. We’re 100 percent an American marketing company that was built to do two things: To create a brand for Mexican avocados and to accelerate demand for avocados in the U.S.
We’ve been creating a brand in a brandless world. You don’t wake up every morning saying, I’m going to go and buy my favorite brand of celery. But we’ve been trying to build up excitement around the commodity. We now have eight Super Bowl advertisements under our belt. And now more than 60 percent of consumers prefer avocados from Mexico. That was very low at the beginning when we started.
Right now, food service represents like 30 percent of the volume of avocados in the U.S. But the opportunity is huge.
