Weis shoppers hit the U.S. rice aisles hard during recent holidays
Feb 20, 2024
ARLINGTON, VA – Results are in from a new retail partnership between USA Rice and Weis Markets, a 200-unit grocery chain in the mid-Atlantic, and they’re impressive.
During the three-month campaign that ran from November 2023 to January 2024, Weis reported an 18 percent increase in units sold of the store brand long grain white rice and a 13 percent increase in units sold of the store brand long grain brown rice compared to the same three-month period in 2022 as well as increases in sales of other U.S.-grown rice brands.
“The whole point of this promotion was to see if we could cost-effectively combat the drop-off in rice sales that we traditionally see during the holiday season, while promoting the importance of choosing U.S.-grown,” said Robbie Trahan, Louisiana rice miller and chair of the USA Rice Domestic Promotion Committee.
The goal to position U.S.-grown rice as the go-to ingredient for the holidays used multiple tactics including a two-page spread in Weis’ Healthy Bites in-store magazine, titled “Home for the Holidays with U.S.-Grown Rice” that featured rice recipes and encouraged readers to look for the “Grown In The USA” (GITUSA) logo.
Weis also shared a recipe video featuring domestic rice across all their social channels to an audience of 170,000 consumers, and hosted five dietitian-led virtual rice recipe cooking classes that averaged more than 50 consumers per class.
USA Rice sponsored two local news segments with Weis Senior Regional Dietitian Lyndi Mies who conducted live cooking demonstrations showcasing the nutritional merits of both whole and enriched rice, and reminded the Philadelphia audience that rice is a high-quality carbohydrate that should be consumed as part of a healthy diet.
“These outreach and sales figures are promising and present a great first step in positioning rice as a staple ingredient for the holidays,” said Trahan.