ANAHEIM, CA — Although she has been working on the mango desk for Wegman’s for less than a year, Mary Zink has already made her mark on the category.

Zink, product category manager for the Rochester, NY-based retailer, was honored Oct. 18 as the National Mango Board’s 2019 Mango Retailer of the Year during the board’s annual reception at the PMA Fresh Summit, here. This year marked the eighth year of the award presentation and Zink is the first woman to receive the award. An 18-year veteran of Wegman’s, she has worked in produce for the last three years.Mary Zink, category manager at Wegman’s, holds the 2019 Mango of the Year Award she received Oct. 18 at the National Mango Board’s annual reception in Anaheim, CA. Also shown are Valda Coryat, director of marketing at the board; Michael Warren of Central American Produce, who is chairman of the board; and Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas.

In setting her sights on revamping the mango category at Wegman’s, Zink said, “I learned that mango was the number one fruit in the world, but it wasn’t at Wegman’s, so I made it my mission to make sure customers come back to Wegman’s to purchase mangos time after time.”

Her goal was achieved in part by challenging stores to sell more mangos via an eight-week sales contest, where produce managers constructed creative displays to help move more fruit.

Wegman’s now is known as a mango powerhouse, ripening mangos in its own warehouses and doing its own fresh-cut program that showcases the versatility of the fruit with products such as sliced mangos, mango salsa and mango pico de Gallo.