Back in 1983, the year Mission Produce™ was founded, the avocado industry was mostly California-based, and several varieties were used to fill up the calendar. The dominant Hass variety was only available from spring to fall in California, so greenskins filled in the gaps. With heavy consumption in California and Texas1, many states didn’t even seem to know about it.
In 2022, per capita consumption was 8.2 lbs in the United States2, 19.8 lbs in Mexico3, 3.5 lbs in the E.U., and the U.K. 2 lbs (and those numbers are coming from customs data and other industry sources). With a huge opportunity in China as the younger generation starts to drink “avocado smoothies,” and China avocado imports increasing—up by 25 percent from 2020 to 20222—a long runway is ahead globally.
How did we get here from 1983? There were three key things that make up what I call the “avocado revolution.” Combined, they have catapulted the industry to what it is today around the world.
The first was the opening of the U.S./Mexican border for Hass avocados to enter the U.S. in 1997. Mexican fruit is mostly harvested in the winter months, which complements the California source, so a year-round supply of Hass avocados became available. As a result, consumption started to grow.
The second part of the “avocado revolution” was the selling of ripe fruit. Avocados can be a spontaneous purchase, but ripeness is what consumers are looking for4.
Gil Henry, of Henry Avocado in Escondido, started the preconditioned program for avocados in the early ’80s, which started the ripening process. Consumers would only have to wait a couple of days for the fruit to ripen, rather than a week or so.
This process contributed to increasing consumption, as fruit was consumed faster, and consumers returned to the store to buy more.
In the late ’90s, Mission started testing a modified atmosphere box with a graduate student from the University of British Columbia. Following the trials, we would put the various boxes out to give to the crew to take home. We had preconditioned fruit, hard fruit, and ripe, ready-to-eat fruit. The crew would always take home the ripe fruit. I asked one of the ladies one day why they did not take the harder fruit. She said, “I’ll get that next week when it is ready.”
So, we thought we should try this at retail. I went down to the local Ralphs in South Oxnard, California, and discussed with the Produce Manager what we would like to trial. He said we were crazy—that it would be a big mess. I assured him I would clean it up, if necessary, and that we would give him the fruit and he could keep the money. He reluctantly agreed, so I brought 10 cases of ripe fruit to the store the following Friday morning. The display had a ripe sign, and the fruit was displayed two-deep on the shelf, next to a tall mound of hard green fruit. We even put a higher price on the ripe fruit compared to the hard fruit. I told him I would be back on Monday to see the results, good or bad.
When I went back on Monday, there were oranges where we had put the ripe fruit. I asked the manager where the 10 boxes of avocados were, and he said, “I sold out at noon on Saturday, so I had to fill the space with oranges.”
Later that year, Ralphs agreed to a one-year trial of a ripe program, and its avocado sales rapidly increased. A short time later, I called Reggie Griffin, who was with Kroger at the time, and I had known from sitting on the Produce Marketing Association Board (now the International Fresh Produce Association). I asked him if he had seen the avocado results from Ralphs, and he said, “Yes, I have. Let’s keep this simple. You build them, and we will fill them.”
He was referring to ripe centers.
The third part of the revolution was driven by the avocado industry boards and associations, specifically in Mexico, California, and Peru. Through their research, they found that avocados don’t have cholesterol, which was a long-time myth, and are full of vitamins and nutrients. Now, consumers call avocados a superfood.
That was the start of the “avocado revolution” in the U.S. and Canada. Today we see a similar opportunity to drive consumption in Europe, the U.K., and Asia.
With that growth ahead, Mission needed to position itself to have enough supplies at the right time of the year. So, we invested in Peru, Guatemala, and South Africa to fill in supply gaps for specific destinations and during certain windows.
So, stay tuned, as this amazing fruit has more to come. 
