Honeycrisp Draws Interest
2008-01-16
Even though it is available for a limited time in the fall and accounts for just 5% of the apple category dollar share, the honeycrisp has far exceeded expectations.
The variety, developed by the University of Minnesota and released in the early 1990s, has captured the imagination of retailers and consumers alike, said Dennis Courtier, owner of Lake City, Minn.-based Pepin Heights Orchards Inc., whose slogan is "The Honeycrisp Place."
"We didn't realize it would become such a national phenomenon so quickly," he said. "We thought it would be a hit with the foodies of the world and the alpha shoppers. It's obviously got a much broader appeal than that."
Selah, Wash.-based Rainier Fruit Co. had a 150% increase in honeycrisp volume this year over last year, said Suzanne Wolter, director of marketing.
"We can't recall another variety that has achieved this kind of popularity and demand so quickly," Wolter said.
According to ACNielsen, the honeycrisp's fourth-quarter dollar share increased 2.2% from 2005 to 2006 to a total of 5.2%.
Wolter said one retailer Rainier works reported honeycrisp revenues contributing as much as 15% to overall category sales.
PRICE BUMP
Honeycrisps also gamer a higher price than other apple varieties, frequently selling for $2.50 to $3 a pound. That a consumer is willing to hand over that much for an apple when many of its counterparts sell for half as much says something about the honeycrisp, Courtier said.
John Rice, president and partner of Rice Fruit Growers, Gardner, Pa., agreed, saying honeycrisp garnered the highest per-box charge he had ever gotten.
"We found last year that we could sell honeycrisps for $60 a box," he said. "That's the highest price we've ever had for apples."
A decrease in price is inevitable with all of the acreage coming on in the next couple of years, said Don Armock, president of Sparta, Mich.-based Riveridge Produce Marketing Inc.
"I think, to a certain extent, the competitiveness on the part of retailers is going to bring some activity, probably bringing the average retail price down," he said. "It's really an untapped market at this point. Over the next three, four and five years there is going to be more demand than product."
No apple is the magic bullet to profitability and sales, however. Honeycrisps aren't the easiest to grow, pack or ship.
They prefer cooler weather, bruise easily and aren't plentiful enough to store. Rice said his operation had a little over 10,000 bushels this year, compared with 400,000 bushels of red delicious.
SKIP STORAGE
Jim Allen, president of the Fishers-based New York Apple Association said at the prices growers are getting for honeycrisps, it's not likely they'll give storage too much consideration. Honeycrisp accounted for 8% of acreage in New York, according to this year's census, Allen said.
"When you could sell them tomorrow for $48 or $50 a carton, you do that and put your money in the bank versus putting them in storage and taking a chance that they're not as good as when they went in," he said.
Rainier Fruit Co. originally planned to have supplies into March this year, but likely will have supplies only through January, Wolter said.
The rapid rise in popularity has some concerned that honeycrisp quality could suffer.
Pepin Heights' Courtier said consumers are willing to pay a lot more money for something they really want, but it has to be worth it.
"That's the critical thing," he said. "As we look down the road with the honeycrisp, there's no question that volume is going to ramp up. The challenge to the industry in both production and retail is going to be to keep them as good as they have been."
Wolter said that also means taking extra care in packing and shipping. Rainier Fruit packs honeycrisps in 27-pound euro boxes rather than the 40-pound standard carton, despite retail requests.
"It's just not the right thing for the fruit," she said. "The moment we disappoint the consumer is the moment honeycrisp begins to slide in popularity, and we'd prefer not to take that risk."
As long as the quality is maintained, there is no telling where honeycrisp could go, Courtier said.
"I' m not really worried about too many really great honeycrisps," he said. "If there were 10 million boxes of them and they were all really good, they would move through the marketplace very comfortably at $2.99 a pound retail."
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