Avocados Go Online

OK, so more and more people are using the Internet to get information about computer products, and to check air fares and hotel rates. But are there really people out there scouring cyberspace for more information about avocados?

“Yes,” says Kathryn Courtney, director of sales operations for Calavo Growers, a Tustin-based cooperative that controls 40% of the U.S. avocado market. In fact, there was such a pressing need for avocado info that the organization launched an elaborate World Wide Web site last month.

There’s a page of avocado recipes, a game page where visitors can play tick-tack-toe with avocado symbols, and an avocado market outlook page filled with price and shipment forecasts. A recent edition forecast a price rise by midsummer.

Proving just how media savvy these avocado salespeople are, Calavo even dedicated a page to Samson, the celebrity hot-tub bear brought to the Orange County Zoo last month.

Next to a picture of the cuddly creature, Calavo explains that when Samson arrived at the zoo, he “was barely tempted enough by sardines to leave his transport cage. But offered an avocado, he suddenly came alive.” Ever since, Calavo has delivered 25 pounds of avocados to the zoo each week.

Calavo set up the Internet site “not because there are statistics that say you will sell more avocados,” Courtney said, “but because we want to inform our customers and consumers.”

More than 620 computer users have visited the site since it was launched last month. Compared to other Orange County sites, “that’s above average,” said Danny Sullivan, whose Irvine company, Maximized Online, created the Calavo site.

Most visitors seem attracted by the games or recipes, he said. But others come seeking answers to timeless questions. “I think it’s a great site,” one visitor remarked electronically. “Just one question: Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?”

The Calavo web site can be found at https://calavo.com.