What Does a Stage 5 Banana Mean?
1
Bananas hold one of the highest “household penetration” rates of all foods, with 86% of American households stocking up on the fruit. In terms of household penetration, bananas are neck-and-neck with potatoes (what an exceedingly strange phrase I’ve written!), but they’ve secured the top spot in terms of produce volume sales.
“Since bananas are among the most purchased items in the store, they arguably stimulate more visits to the produce department than any other single fruit or vegetable,” says Bil Goldfield, Director of Corporate Communications for Dole Food Company.
Goldfield says this as a representative of a company that controls one of the largest market shares in the US banana economy, but his point stands. Look at your local grocery story produce department. Where is your eye drawn first?
Produce managers feature bananas in central locations at the edge of the produce section for a reason: to draw customers in. Bananas are a harbinger of higher sales, a siren call for fuller grocery carts, a catalyst for more fresh food purchases.
2
There is an internationally-accepted, 7-stage banana color chart that vendors and retailers use to agree on certain industry banana standards. In general, most US produce departments aim to offer stage 5 bananas: yellow…
