By ANNE MARIE CHAKER, Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2012
When the waitress at the Perkins restaurant said they were
out of avocados, Nicole Breedlove walked out, got one from her car and sliced
it up at the table herself.
"I was getting the salad for the avocado," says
the 43-year-old Silver Spring, Md., mother, who was on a road trip with her
family. "It's the substance of the meal."
The avocado is experiencing a sharp rise in sales in grocery
stores and casual restaurants. Anne Marie Chaker on Lunch Break looks at how
the industry got behind this rise and why consumers are responding and
embracing the idea of "the healthy fat."
Not long ago, avocados were beloved in Super Bowl guacamole
but seldom encountered the rest of the year. Now, the fruits are having a
mass-market breakthrough, as supermarket sales surge and restaurant chains
spread them and slice them on sandwiches and salads.
In consumers' minds, the avocado has been transformed from
exotic "fatty food" to everyday source of "heart-healthy"
fats. "We fought the health message for years and years. A fat was a fat
was a fat," says Mike Browne, marketing committee chairman for the Mexican
Hass Avocado Importers Association, a Fallston, Md., marketing group. Now, he
says, "the stars have aligned."
