Granny Smiths Mark St Paddy's Day Pt 2
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Stemilt Growers are hoping to make your St Paddy's Day as green as popssible.
Leading up to the Irish holiday, Stemilt is promoting a crop of larger-sized, vibrant-green Granny Smith apples with a festive Leperachaun sticker on their "Apple Lover's" 5 pound bags.
Stemilt's Brianna Shales the bags are part of the promotion to get people to notice this year's big, delicious Granny Smiths ...
BRIANNA SHALES ... "Yeah, bulk is still, predominantly, the way people buy apples. You know, they like to grab them themselves, put them in the bag, weigh it out or grab enough that they're going to need for the week. Although bags are really coming along, bulk is still the primary driver in the produce department and also the driver on the dollar side as well."
Shales says bulk sales account for 64% of apple sales, but either way, this is a special crop ...
BRIANNA SHALES ... "I think, really, they should be looking for lots of Granny Smith apples on display. That's our goal. We want to see larger sized fruit being pushed at the retail level and then retailers will probably use the bags to supplement the bulk sales, to really create a captivating display for the produce department to tie into the holiday."
According to Stemilt's Fruit Tracker program and analysis of Nielsen Fresh Facts retail scan data, Granny Smith has consistently been the #4 selling apple variety in the U.S. since the new crop started in September 2016, with an average of 11% of apple category sales.
