The Rise of Avocados, How Our New Favorite Fruit Came To Be

Avocados are all the rage. You can find them in every recipe from toasts to smoothies and ice cream to salads. The average American consumes 8.43 pounds of this green fruit each year, and it’s no surprise why. Avocados are loaded with potassium and are rich in vitamins like B, E, and K. Plus, they are just plain delicious!

When Did Avocados Become Trendy?

It’s no secret that avocados have been a major culinary trend. In recent years, avocado toasts have exploded on social media and menus across the world. They have everything that makes a food trend successful. They’re healthy, yet satisfying, and can be used in many ways. While we might consider their popularity recent, their rise started over a century ago and has continued to grow.

The Birth of the Hass Avocado

In the 1920s, just outside Los Angeles, postman Rudolph Hass purchased a single avocado seed with the plan to grow a tree and graft it to another avocado variety. However, after failing twice to graft the seedling with branches to a new tree, Mr. Hass was ready to chop the tree down. It wasn’t until another cultivator told him that the young tree was healthy that he was convinced to continue to grow it. Over a decade later, he patented his avocado variety, and the Hass avocado was born.

Avocados Hit the Health Food Scene

By the 1980s, avocados began to spread across the U.S. thanks to health-food trends and the fruit’s association with being healthy. According to Statista reports, annual avocado consumption rose to 436.6 million pounds by 1985.  

Even today, avocados are still associated with healthy eating with many consumers citing “good fats” and overall “health” as their top two reasons for buying avocados.

Avocados Go Mainstream

In 2000, avocado sales increased by over $3 billion. Social media and advertising helped contribute to the avocado craze. Instagrammable avocado toasts catapulted the fruit into mainstream culture, and in 2018, over 2.4 million posts were avocado related, making them one of the most talked about superfruits on social media. 

By 2021, Statista shows a significant increase in avocado consumption—reaching 3,022 million pounds!

Menu Trends: Popular Avocado Entrees

If you are looking to take advantage of the avocado fixation and boost sales, there are ways to design your menus for maximum impact. When do customers order avocados? What are the most popular dishes? Check out these ordering patterns to help you make the most of the buttery fruit.

• Burgers: Burgers reign when it comes to avocados. A study from Technomic reveals 10.9 percent of customers order burgers with avocado. 47.7 percent of lunchtime burger orders include avocado and at dinner time that number increases to 49 percent.
• Sandwiches and Wraps: The same study showed 52.3 percent of sandwich and wrap lunch orders have avocados added on.
• Entree Salads: Lunchtime is also popular for salads, with 56.6 percent of orders containing avocado.

Take a look at your current menus and see where you can leverage the power of avocados to increase sales. Offer a gourmet burger special on weekend evenings topped with plenty of avocados. Consider a plant-based sandwich featuring the buttery superfood during your bustling lunch. Or, see if avocados make sense to include in add-ons for certain menu items. 

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