WENATCHEE, Wash. – Now that Independence Day has come and gone, retailers should look to continue cherry sales momentum, specifically around Stemilt’s Artisan Organics™ dark-sweet cherries. It’s peak time for organic cherry harvest at Stemilt with great orchard locales harvesting high-quality fruit that will drive volume and sales in produce departments the remainder of July.
“Stemilt’s Artisan Organics™ dark-sweet cherries have exceptional quality this year,” states Roger Pepperl, marketing director at Stemilt. “Harvest has moved up to the legendary Stemilt Hill and the next three weeks are prime time for loading these beautiful organic cherries.”
Skeena is the featured variety of Stemilt’s organic cherry program in July and among the favorites grown by Kyle Mathison, fourth generation Stemilt cherry grower and past Organic Trade Association organic farmer of the year. Mathison finds that the large, very sweet, and dessert quality Skeena cherry is right at home growing organically on Stemilt Hill, due to the area’s natural volcanic soils that get a boost from his organic and prescriptive World Famous Compost.
“It’s no secret that Kyle’s cherries are special, and his organic cherries don’t differ. They come from the very best cherry locale and are grown with passion and the commitment needed to grow organically,” said Pepperl.
To promote these premium cherries, Pepperl encourages retailers to continuing pushing organic sales and feature Artisan Organics™ dark-sweet cherries in highly populated organic sections as the category is showing great growth. The USDA recently reported that 2016 showed a steady growth in organic purchases, increasing 8.4 percent in just one year to $43 billion in total sales. It was also reported that organic fruits and vegetables held onto the top position in the organic line-up with $15.6 billion in sales, or 36.3 percent of all organic food sales. With that and the summer season in mind, retailers need to continue to push organic cherries through displays, promotions, and high product quality.
“These next three weeks are crucial in organic dark-sweet cherry sales,” states Pepperl. “Retailers need to set up attractive displays and feature these beautiful Artisan Organics™ dark-sweet cherries to encourage impulse buys among both organic and cherry consumers.”
Every organic dark-sweet cherry Stemilt hand-picks is immediately hydrocooled near the orchard location before it heads to a Stemilt packing facility. Stemilt packs its Artisan Organics™ cherries on a dedicated organic line and uses jet coolers engineered to cool cherries effectively and rapidly, prior to shipping the fruit. These details make all the difference when it comes to maintaining freshness and quality with organic cherries.
All organic dark-sweet cherries will be packed under the Artisan Organics™ brand in either random-weight pouch bags or clamshells. Stemilt has been growing organically since 1989 when Tom Mathison, founder of Stemilt converted a large number of acres to organic.
“Stemilt was an early adopter into organics and that jumpstart enabled us to build a strong and diversified program today. Artisan Organics™ cherries only come around for a few months out of the year, and now is the time for retailers to take advantage of their sweet flavors in order to drive a higher ring item through the registers,” said Pepperl.
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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, visit www.stemilt.com and follow Stemilt on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.
Source: Stemilt Growers
