The first arrivals of grapes under the new Capespan Gold brand were selling well at New Covent Garden this week.
Capespan trading partner Premier Fruits sold four pallets of the Thompson Seedless, and achieved a 100-150p premium a box for the top-quality fruit, according to owner Roger Garber. “It is nice to expect something to be high quality and when it arrives it meets all your expectations,” he told freshinfo. “The fruit is extra, extra large, it looks good and tastes beautiful. We’ve sold it all at a premium, and our better clients are buying it.
“It’s very hard to get people excited in the market these days, but brands can make a difference. Once people know a brand, they will follow it, as long as every box they open up is the same as the one before. There are too many examples of brands that have come in and been consistently excellent in year one, before the quality slips away in the second year.”
Garber said the volume of Capespan Gold he will sell depends largely on availability, but added: “When good fruit comes in, we’ll sell it, and we hope to extend our sales of this brand into plums, apples and whatever other premium lines Capespan can offer us.”
