As shoppers prepare for the holiday stretch, fresh produce departments are stepping into the spotlight. Faced with tightening consumer budgets and direct competition from packaged CPG goods, produce suppliers and retail buyers are deploying a two-pronged strategy for the 2026 holiday season: leveraging high-margin specialty “recipe builders” for holiday feasting while anchoring value through targeted price investments on core seasonal staples.
Specialties and Cultural Traditions Drive Basket Growth
For specialty marketers like Vernon, Calif.-based Melissa's Produce, the holiday cycle represents the highest volume and margin potential of the entire year. The supplier reports substantial seasonal demand spikes across food-centric holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve.
According to Robert Schueller, director of marketing for Melissa's Produce, holiday meal prep drives dramatic category surges compared to off-peak times:
- Fresh cranberries and black-eyed peas — Cranberries spike by 700% for Thanksgiving, while black-eyed peas jump 500% leading into New Year's celebrations.
- Tamale kits and ingredients — Sales of tamale kits, corn husks, chilies and sauce ingredients surge 250% across Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, catering to traditional Mexican-American family gatherings.
- Chestnuts and pearl onions — Driven by classic holiday sides, chestnuts rise 135% during their October to December window, and pearl onions have a 150% demand bump over baseline.
- Specialty and baby potatoes — Driven by Hanukkah latke traditions and Christmas feasts, baby variety potatoes rise 65%, while sweetpotatoes and yams jump 110% from Thanksgiving through New Year's.
“Supplying such specialties adds a higher margin and ring to the retailer, offering a ‘one-stop-shop experience' for the consumer,” Schueller says, adding that high-margin exotic fruits such as Pinkglow pineapples, dragon fruit and cherimoya are increasingly serving as central elements on festive charcuterie and fruit boards.
Elevating Everyday Produce Into Turnkey Gifts
Beyond traditional feasting and recipe ingredients, produce marketers are also tapping into emotional storytelling to transform staple fruits into turnkey holiday presents.
“At Glacier Ridge, we wanted to create something for the holiday season that went beyond simply putting apples in a festive box,” says Kassi Orozco, director of sales and marketing for Glacier Ridge. “The idea behind our peace apple holiday box was to make fresh produce feel like a meaningful gift — something people could give to a teacher, neighbor, employee, customer, friend or family member.”
Orozco says apples have a long history of symbolizing peace, goodwill and harmony.
“We loved the idea of bringing that meaning into a modern holiday produce program,” Orozco says. “Each six-count box is designed to be something you can actually hand to someone as a gift while still keeping fresh fruit at the center of it.
“We think there is a real opportunity to make produce more giftable during the holidays,” she adds. “Consumers are surrounded by candy, cookies and traditional gift baskets this time of year, so we wanted to create an option that feels special and festive but is also simple, fresh and useful.”
The peace apple program is also about creating a little more emotion around the produce department, Orozco says.
“Apples are an everyday item, but presentation and storytelling can completely change the way a consumer sees them,” she says. “If we can take a beautiful apple and turn it into a thoughtful holiday gift, that creates another reason for consumers to pick up fresh produce during the season.”
Bringing Seasonal Energy and Color to the Berry Aisle
Similarly, high-impulse categories like fresh berries are leaning into festive packaging and digital touchpoints to capture consumer interest during peak entertaining weeks.
“The holidays are a great opportunity to bring some fun and excitement to the berry category,” says Ashley Finster, vice president of marketing for Naturipe Farms. “Berries have the color, flavor and versatility that naturally fit into holiday celebrations, and we want our marketing to build on that. Festive packaging, promotions and seasonal content can catch shoppers' attention and inspire new uses as they put berries in their carts.”
Naturipe's strategy focuses on pairing physical shelf appeal with omnichannel shopper engagement.
“We want to help retailers create energy around berries during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year,” Finster says. “That means showing up with eye-catching packaging at the shelf but also reaching consumers with digital content and seasonal inspiration. It's about making berries feel fun, timely and relevant while keeping great flavor and quality at the center of everything we do.”
Reframing Walnuts in the Produce Aisle
The California Walnut Board is focusing its fourth-quarter strategy on secondary displays inside the produce department. While walnuts are historically grouped with pantry baking ingredients, CWB research indicates that over 80% of walnut buyers purchase more when items are cross-merchandised directly alongside fresh produce.
“The holidays are a key walnut sales period and a great time for retailers to promote walnuts,” says Robert Verloop, CWB executive director. “While shoppers often turn to walnuts for holiday baking, retailers can drive additional sales with secondary displays in produce, where shoppers are looking for fresh, whole foods to support everyday eating, along with holiday entertaining and cooking.”
To support retail movement, CWB is rolling out its “Feel Good” holiday marketing push targeting older millennials and Gen X shoppers — the demographic with the largest purchasing power. The activation features partnerships with more than 20 cooking and wellness creators, alongside retailer-tagged connected TV spots, digital advertising and in-store sampling events.
Retailers Invest in Price Leadership to Capture Traffic
While specialty items drive margin, retailers are aggressively pricing high-volume staples to secure full-basket loyalty. Aldi announced an $86 million price investment starting Sept. 23, lowering prices across seasonal produce, lean proteins and organic favorites through Nov. 3.
Under the initiative, nearly one-third of Aldi's daily in-store products are priced lower than in 2025. Reductions target seasonal feast essentials, including Autumncrisp grapes, bartlett pears, Brussels sprouts, squash varieties, fresh herbs, potatoes and Honeycrisp apples — which dropped to $1.99 per pound (a 35% year-over-year decrease).
“At Aldi, value is a year-round promise, not a promotion,” says Scott Patton, chief commercial officer. “Customers trust us to help them make the most of their grocery budget, and we never stop looking for ways to run our business more efficiently so we can pass along savings.”
Cultural Traditions Drive Repeat Citrus Purchases
The holiday sales push doesn't end in December; smart retailers are extending their seasonal produce momentum directly into early first quarter by leveraging cultural celebrations and vibrant citrus displays.
“As Lunar New Year coincides with the start of the calendar year, retailers have an opportunity to connect cultural tradition with how shoppers are thinking about food, family and fresh routines,” says Cassie Howard, senior director of category management and marketing for Sunkist Growers.
Retailers are increasingly leaning into visually impactful citrus items during key promotional windows, particularly varieties that make a strong shelf presence, the company says. In recent promotional periods, pummelos have shown strong shopper engagement when supported with in-store activity, reinforcing their role as a bold citrus option well suited for seasonal merchandising moments like Lunar New Year.
“The strength of Lunar New Year merchandising is its flexibility,” Howard says. “Whether retailers choose to anchor their displays with limited-edition orange cartons, build out larger themed bins or complement the set with everyday citrus staples like lemons, these programs are designed to support both celebration and repeat purchase.”
By combining targeted price reductions on traffic-building staples with high-impact specialty merchandising, retailers and produce marketers are creating a compelling case for consumers to spend their holiday budgets in the fresh produce aisle.
