WENATCHEE, Wash. – Big, sweet and firm. Three key ingredients that make up the market’s best July cherries and what is found in every pack of Stemilt’s Kyle’s Pick® premium cherries. Kyle’s Pick® cherries will be ready to load the second week of July to spark post-Independence Day cherry promotions and help elevate cherry categories.
“To set apart the good cherries from the great, retailers need Kyle’s Pick®,” states Roger Pepperl, marketing director at Stemilt. “Kyle’s Pick® is a premium cherry program that reserves the best varieties, largest sizes, great sugars, and amazing quality in specially marked Kyle-approved packs to help drive impulse purchases.”
Kyle Mathison, fourth generation cherry grower and past Cherry King award recipient, dedicates much of his time seeking new varieties from around the world. Worthy varieties are grown at his renowned Stemilt Hill locale just outside of Wenatchee, WA. Only the best dark-sweet varieties including Skeena, Sweetheart and superior-tasting Bing cherries are found in the Kyle’s Pick® program. Pepperl encourages retailers to push advertisements and promotions around big cherries with exceptional flavors to bolster impulse buys.
“Utilizing Kyle’s story and mission to grow fruit with World Famous flavors will result in big sales for big-sized cherries ,” states Pepperl. “Kyle is always thinking of the shopper and how he can grow cherries that deliver a memorable eating experience. This instills trust within the consumer and offers brand transparency. Retailers will have no problem achieving these things with Stemilt’s World Famous cherries, giving you a customer for life.”
Kyle’s Pick® premium cherries are available in random-weight pouch bags as well as 1lb. and 2lb. clamshells. Every package is stamped with the Kyle’s Pick® emblem. To help promote this program, retailers can use grower-centric displays (featuring Kyle Mathison himself) in heavy traffic areas. These easy-to-assemble pop-up displays can also be used in secondary locations to drive impulse purchases. Impulse purchases make up 72 percent of cherry sales and that is heightened even more so in July.
“These displays not only catch the eye of the consumer, but share Kyle’s mission and offer brand transparency to the shopper,” states Pepperl. “Since we know cherries are an impulse buy, let’s solidify that reason to purchase through brand authenticity, an important factor in brand loyalty among millennial shoppers today.”
Brand transparency and authenticity is crucial in today’s market and implemented heavily at Stemilt. Label Insight recently conducted a survey and found 78 percent of consumers trust transparent brands more and those numbers climb to 83 percent when you look to millennial moms between the ages of 18-34.
“Sharing Kyle’s story and mission, informing consumers about his farming methods and packing cherries that meet Kyle’s standards is just one of the many ways Stemilt practices brand transparency,” states Pepperl. “And sharing this information is how we instill such a great trust with current and future cherry shoppers.”
Every cherry packed under the Kyle’s Pick® program has met quality standards set by Mathison himself. Kyle has been growing cherries on Stemilt Hill for more than four decades where premium orchards produce premium cherries. These orchards reside in unique microclimates that entrap cool night air which offers protection from the summer heat so cherries gain full luster and sugars. The trees flourish in the volcanic soil and have a high leaf to fruit ratio that provides protection from the sun, making it one of the best spots in the world to grow premium cherries.
Stemilt will harvest and pack Kyle’s Pick® cherries through mid-August and then transition into their high elevation cherries called A Half Mile Closer to the Moon® cherries. With the longest cherry season in the business, Pepperl is encouraging retailers to plan Stemilt cherry promotions well into August to continue to drive sales and impulse purchases to end the season strong.
“To see great results in their cherry category, retailers need to continue building momentum with the Kyle’s Pick® program and follow up with the Moon cherry promotions throughout August,” states Pepperl. “Seasonal fruits contribute to 3.5 percent of total produce dollars per year making the cherry category extremely valuable in the line-up.”
Contact your Stemilt representative today to get your Kyle’s Pick® premium cherries today.
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About Stemilt
Stemilt Growers is a leading tree fruit growing, packing and shipping company based in Wenatchee, Washington. Owned and operated by the Mathison family, Stemilt is a leading shipper of sweet cherries and organic tree fruits. Stemilt has also demonstrated a commitment to sustainable agriculture and social responsibility since 1989, when founder Tom Mathison launched the company’s Responsible Choice program. For more information about Stemilt, visitwww.stemilt.com and follow Stemilt on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.
Source: Stemilt Growers
