Melissa's Produce is expanding its Hatch chile program for the 2026 harvest season, adding new products and scaling up its live roasting events as the New Mexico crop comes in. The company is leaning into the seasonal excitement that Hatch chiles generate with consumers every year.
Hatch chile has become one of the most effective seasonal produce events in retail — it drives traffic, creates urgency, and gives buyers a genuine limited-time story to tell. Roasting events in particular are proven traffic drivers that translate to broader produce department sales. For peppers and specialty produce buyers, the Hatch window is short and timing matters.
Retailers not already locked into a Hatch program should move fast — the season is brief and demand tends to outpace supply in the early weeks.