In Their Words: Jimbo's Ryan Peterson

Ryan Peterson is produce director for Jimbo’s, an independent natural foods retailer with five stores in San Diego County. Founded in 1984 by Jim (“Jimbo”) Someck, Jimbo’s has strict ingredient standards for all its products and features an exclusively organic produce department. OPN caught up with Ryan for a chat about Jimbo’s strong relationships with local growers, his department’s creative merchandising efforts, the three produce items he looks forward to each year, and more.

How did you get started working in the produce industry?

I started working at Jimbo’s as a part-time produce clerk while I was still in high school back in 1999. I quickly fell in love with produce merchandising and interacting with local farmers that delivered directly to our store. My passion for produce grew as I advanced into a supervisor, manager, and then director role.

Ryan Peterson, Produce Director, Jimbo’s

What are Jimbo’s sourcing standards for its organic produce?

First, we only source produce that is certified organic. From there, I look for produce that is both great-tasting and local (from farms that are as close to our stores as possible). I also support fair trade and biodynamic growers whenever I can.

Overall, we look for the best of the best in each produce category, often staying farm-specific on certain commodities that we’ve hand selected for exceptional taste. A good example is the partnership we’ve developed with Frog Hollow Farm, a fruit orchard located in Brentwood near San Francisco. At Frog Hollow Farm, the stone fruit is allowed to hang until it is truly tree-ripe, heavy with sweetness and juice and rich with old-fashioned flavors that few other farms can match. Though the fruit must be sold at a premium price, and there is a greater chance for shrink, our customers anxiously await each year for Frog Hollow’s fruit to appear in our stores.

Frog Hollow Farm produce display at Jimbo's

Can you talk about your relationships with local farms? Do you do any production planning with any of the farms that you source directly from?

Working with local San Diego growers is my favorite part of my job. With all of our stores located in San Diego County, we are perfectly situated within a vast region of organic farms with lots of produce diversity.

Our local in-store signage is specific to produce grown in San Diego County, and each sign gives the distance in miles from the store to the farm. The strong partnerships that Jimbo’s has formed over the years allow us to have an extensive local selection, first choice of produce when supplies are limited (including when seasons are starting or finishing), and grower exclusive offerings. We are in constant communication with our growers planning future items that are new or trending. Locally grown shishito peppers and dragon fruit have really become hot items in our stores where they were unheard of just a few years ago.

Jimbo's organic produce

What wholesalers/distributors of organic produce does Jimbo’s work with?

Jimbo’s utilizes two main distributors for our stores—UNFI Fresh (formerly Albert’s Organics) and Charlie’s Produce. Between the two, we are able to minimize our out-of-stocks and build a large assortment of organic produce.

"Overall, we look for the best of the best in each produce category, often staying farm-specific on certain commodities that we’ve hand selected for exceptional taste." -Ryan Peterson

Have you noticed any trends in organic produce sales over the last year or several years? 

We have seen great growth in our in-house fresh-cut fruit and veggie program. We use only organic produce in our production and make sure that ripe, flavorful fruit is a strong focus. New to the program this year has been fresh-cut dragon fruit, which we cross-merchandise with our whole dragon fruit displays. The stunning visual color of the magenta fruit has boosted our dragon fruit sales by over 500 percent!

Over the last few years, we have developed a very strong year-round program on three premium retail vegetable items: asparagus, artichokes, and brussels sprouts. We have built the sales on these three items through extensive ads, impactful merchandising, and maintaining high-quality availability on a year-round basis. These are items that in the past would have seen larger seasonal gaps, but they are now a big part of everyday shopping for our customers.

Jimbo's refrigerated organic produce

What led you to target those three items?

We’ve focused on them for two reasons. First, all of these items typically have a higher retail price than other vegetable choices. And second, purchases of asparagus, artichokes, and brussels sprouts generate additional revenue for the stores through the purchase of complementary items such as lemons, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegars, and a top-end protein (a great accompaniment to these exquisite vegetables). The added bonus is all three of these vegetables are extremely nutritious and have introduced more healthy options into our customers’ households.

"We are in constant communication with our growers planning future items that are new or trending. Locally grown shishito peppers and dragon fruit have really become hot items in our stores where they were unheard of just a few years ago." -Ryan Peterson

Can you tell us a bit about your department’s merchandising, marketing, and consumer-education efforts?

Our produce department partners with our marketing team to capture the unique stories of our farmers and share the tales with our customers over our social media platforms. Recently, our produce management and marketing teams spent a day in our local mountain town of Julian touring an apple orchard called Bailey Creek Ranch. We were able to walk the rows of trees, sample their unique heirloom offerings, and learn about the different processes it takes to produce these flavorful apples. Our produce managers were invited to select rustic decor from the farm and bring it back to their stores to use in the merchandising of the apples.

California avocado display at Jimbo's

How does Jimbo’s stay competitive with other area retailers that offer organic produce?

The relationship and commitment Jimbo’s has with our local farmers is unmatched by our competitors, and the farm-specific items that we have built programs around are not found in larger-scale markets. It has been proven in our stores year after year that customers are willing to pay more for higher-quality, better-tasting organic produce.

 "It has been proven in our stores year after year that customers are willing to pay more for higher-quality, better-tasting organic produce." -Ryan Peterson

How has the COVID-19 situation been affecting Jimbo’s produce department?

Since COVID-19, we have seen significant increases in sales and are still seeing double-digit year-over-year sales growth. Our supply chain has remained strong. In fact, when the COVID-19 panic buying first began, our stores were in a much better situation than our competitors because we have such strong relationships with our local growers and and so are able to react quickly to keep our shelves in stock.

A COVID-related challenge our produce departments have faced is that we are no longer able to use passive samples to drive impulse buys with our customers. To help overcome this obstacle, we have used more point-of-purchase information for our special items, and our team members do a great job on interacting with our customers through suggestive selling and personal recommendations.

Jimbo's local organic apple display

Do you have any favorite organic produce items?

There are three items that I look forward to having in our produce departments each year. We get a lot of our stone fruit from Frog Hollow Farm, but one variety that is on another level of flavor are their Flavor King pluots.

In the late summer, we get dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes from Sea Level Farm in the Santa Cruz area. The rich, sweet flavor of these tomatoes is unlike any other, and when they arrive, they are quickly shared with all my friends and family.

Also arriving in late summer/early fall are the giant California Keitt mangoes (CCH Citrus’s Ava’s label), which are grown in the Coachella Valley. These large mangoes are deep-green skinned, have no strings, are smooth as butter, and are the sweetest mangoes you will ever try.