With demand for fresh cut increasing all over the world on the back of busier lifestyles and a push for healthy convenience food, Piotr Strzelecki, Commercial Director for Polish mushroom producer Hajduk is perplexed as to why their venture into sliced mushrooms hasn't been better received.
"The situation is not bad, but it is also not very good. The sliced mushrooms are offered to the domestic market, as well as in the UK, Germany and Norway, but the clients haven't really been going for these particular mushrooms. Sales are still not what we would like them to be and the clients are only ordering small amounts. I don't really understand because they are ready to use. In Poland and other countries, ready to use are really popular because people are working and don't have a lot of free time, but for some reason, mushrooms are not catching their eyes."
The sliced mushrooms are not washed with water because it greatly decreases the shelf life, so we specially select the cleanest mushrooms before slicing but it seems like the clients just don't understand.
The sliced mushrooms are offered in two sizes, 250gr and 500gr, in both white or brown button mushrooms, and the shelf life is between 7-10 days.
"Even though it has been a difficult start, we have no plans to stop offering our ready to eat range. I believe that the shoppers just need more time to get used to the product and understand these the sliced mushrooms are a great product." concluded Piotr.
