A cross between conventional broccoli and Chinese kale, Tenderstem burst onto the UK marketplace eight years ago and, in this short time, has made quite an impression on retailers and consumers.
Starting life in the innovation motivator that is Marks & Spencer, the registered trademark Tenderstem variety, known as Inspiration, was sold exclusively in its stores for a year before it was made available to the rest of the market. Now, the product can be found in all of the big four, as well as Waitrose, The Co-operative, Booths, Budgens and Costco.
Having won over UK consumers, Tenderstem seems to be facing the recession head-on, with the fact that people are shying away from eating out and instead eating a little more decadently at home working in the vegetable’s favour. And while growers and exporters face the inevitable pressure of the weak sterling, they are ploughing through with the conviction that the UK will continue to be their best customer base.
Step back in time
Japanese multinational seed developer Sakata classically bred the Inspiration seed, with early breeding work beginning in the mid-1990s. There was a strong focus on consumer requirements from the start; the company was looking for an innovative, premium variety, with high eating quality and health benefits.
What was created was a crispy and tender shoot with a broccoli head that was not as strong in flavour as conventional broccoli -a surefire hit. So early trial work began in the UK, as well as Japan and other parts of the world, but it soon became clear that the product was better suited to a hot climate.
“The potential of Tenderstem from a consumer point of view was obvious to see from the first evaluation,” says Stuart Cox, Sakata’s managing director. “But the crop posed a certain challenge for UK production and was prone to peaks and troughs in availability due to erratic weather, and proved far more labour-intensive than conventional broccoli.
“Retail interest was strong, so we worked with category managers and growers to identify more optimum production locations and techniques. This resulted in significant production in Kenya, in particular, but also crops in Morocco and Jordan, where the growing conditions produced maximum quality and yield.”
The groundwork was then laid by M&S, which developed packing solutions, conducted in-store promotions and included the product in its TV advertising campaign, helping the development of the brand.
Dancing to the tune
Now well established under its brand name Tenderstem, the product has successfully positioned itself where most fresh produce brands have failed and has been well accepted by the industry and consumers due to a vigorous PR and marketing campaign by the licence holders of the brand in the UK, Coregeo Ltd.
The product, marketed as having a similar taste to asparagus, has wowed consumers, with demand increasing tremendously each year. According to Coregeo, volume coming into the UK has grown by nearly 2,000 tonnes since 2004, taking imports up to 2,300t in 2008.
“Tenderstem is a superb product that has ticked the boxes for consumers in so many ways,” explains Coregeo’s managing director Andy Macdonald. “It is a premium product that people seem prepared to pay a reasonable price for and it cuts out consumer-end waste as you can eat all of the stem. We are now selling it in solo packs, prepared packs, in high-end vegetable mixes, with asparagus and in stir-fry combinations, and the UK has really bought into it.”
Macdonald admits that the economic climate in the UK and worldwide has taken its toll on Tenderstem sales this year, as it has on many vegetable products. “We were around 15 per cent down in January and there were several reasons - not least the recession,” he reveals. “People are not buying premium brands as they used to and that has to be expected. But if we can hold it at a 10 per cent decline and keep on investing in promotion, I think we will weather the storm. At times of recession, those who invest in a brand are the ones who come out of the situation well. We value PR and invest a good deal into our website, which, among other things, includes a section called ‘10 recipes in 10 minutes’, which directly reaches out to the consumer at a time when people are eating in more. We have to keep being innovative to stay ahead of the game.”
The ongoing marketing campaign, led by Pam Lloyd PR, has turned up a notch this year and will see many plans come into fruition. Research has been commissioned at Warwick University to investigate just how good Tenderstem is for you and will compare the nutritional value of the product to conventional broccoli, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. The facts will be ready to push forward to consumers in October.
And in April, a promotional DVD on Tenderstem production in Kenya will be screened in front of supermarket buyers and consumer magazine journalists, to promote the benefits of both buying and eating the vegetable.
A match made in heaven
Kenya is the main source of production for Tenderstem and growers have flourished due to the benefits that the crop has on the land. Production started with AAA Growers, with plantations around Nairobi and, over the years, the crop has extended to two more major companies - Vegpro Kenya Ltd and Flamingo subsidiary Homegrown - with further plantings on farms in Timau and Naivasha.
The benefits of Tenderstem continue throughout the supply chain and the product is not only beneficial to the consumers who eat it. As an interesting side effect, Kenya’s vegetable production has been improved by the inclusion of Tenderstem into its industry. Not only is it a high-value crop that commands a premium, but as a brassica, Tenderstem also puts nutrients back into the ground, making a farm’s crop rotation a good deal healthier.
Traditionally heavy on legume production, Kenyan growers produce major volumes of runner beans, mangetout and fine beans, as well as lesser quantities of baby sweetcorn and oriental leafy vegetables such as pak choi. The introduction of a brassica crop has revealed unknown benefits to the land and the individual grower.
The Naivasha-based Longonot farm - which grows Tenderstem for the UK market and is owned by Vegpro, a grower, processor and exporter of prepared and pre-pack vegetables and roses - has seen many benefits since it started growing Tenderstem three years ago and has increased its production by 300 per cent since then. Farm manager Harry Milbank says that the crop has been good for both the soil and employment in the area. “Tenderstem is a great crop for us,” he explains. “It has huge ramifications in farm management and we have employed an additional 100 workers as a result of growing it. Naivasha is a central point for people looking for a job in Kenya and has a wide skill base. We are glad that we have been able to support the economy and would grow more - and therefore employ more workers - if there was demand.”
Purity Njue, vegetable manager for Vegpro, has been heavily involved with Tenderstem for the last three years and believes that it brings benefits to the soil. The Vegpro farms in Naivasha have grown 560,000 kilos of Tenderstem over two and a half years and yields generated are good, with an increase in harvests of 50 per cent year on year.
“It is an advantage as a rotational crop as it breaks the legume cycle, which is good for the soil,” she says. “We have got an ideal climate in Naivasha to grow Tenderstem throughout the year and our soil drains well, but it is not heavy in potassium and Tenderstem puts that back into the earth, which then benefits the bean crops that are grown on that plot the next year.”
Brian Allen, Homegrown’s farm manager on Timau-based plantation Ibis Farm, agrees. “It is a great crop to grow as it provides added value, as in more return per kilo, and is a very good rotational crop for legumes,” he says. “Tenderstem uses different pathogens to beans and makes the running of the farm much easier. The crop releases gases, which fumigate the soil and attract the beneficial nematodes that beans do not.”
Leaves and leftover matter from the Tenderstem crop are then ploughed back into the ground as compost, making the soil richer and more absorbent.
On the front line
Growing and harvesting Tenderstem is labour-intensive and requires a fast-paced management scheme on the farm. Tenderstem seeds grow into seedlings over 30 days in a propagation house, which is commonly on the farm site, before they are ready to be transferred into the ground.
After the ground has been prepared, depending on the farm and its location in the country, the product is ready to be manually manipulated in eight to 10 weeks. Skilled workers then pinch the middle of the floret bud, which allows the remaining eight stems to grow further, creating the characteristic long stem that Tenderstem is known for. The plant’s long leaves serve to protect and shield the stems from the sun and heat, rather like purple sprouting broccoli. In a further one to two weeks, harvesting begins and is done entirely by hand. Harvesters have to know exactly when to pick a stem, as they do not all grow at the same rate or to the same length.
“It is a very skilled job; after you pinch the floret, it can be as quickly as four days that a stem could be ready to pick,” reveals Allen. “If the weather is particularly hot, the plant grows quicker and you have to be mindful of bolting [flowering of the plant], as then the end product is ruined.
“So it has to be picked at the correct times and then cooled down to 2°C and taken to the packhouse. It is a lot more technical than most vegetables, but it is worth doing.”
Njue maintains that the cool chain is especially important when it comes to delivering what both supermarkets and the end consumer wants. Homegrown harvesting employees are trained in food handling and given food hygiene training on the process from the field to packhouse, and are provided with regular refresher courses.
“All workers are sensitive to cool chain management, as Tenderstem is very sensitive to heat and must go from field to cooling shed in one hour,” she says. “Trailers collect the product every hour and a great amount of attention has to be given to the crop.”
Never give up on a good thing
As with all vegetable crops, Tenderstem production has its challenges. In Kenya, the last six months have seen exceptionally dry conditions. Growers have had to rely on water stored from the wetter times of the year.
Plantations in Naivasha have the advantage of being close to its namesake lake, which is also the source of water for the resident population, power generation and businesses in the town. This area has also not had rain for some time.
“All the water we source is from Lake Naivasha and it is pumped to storage on the farm,” confirms Njue. “We then irrigate the Tenderstem crops with a pivot and overhead sprinkler system, which brings an element of cooling, making sure the stems grow long without becoming woody.
“As the population and horticultural industry has grown in Naivasha, there are increasing demands being put on the lake. The growers are addressing this with the creation of a Water Allocation Plan that is intended to be adopted by all the licensed users. In this way, horticulture can continue to be a sustainable business in Naivasha, providing a livelihood to more than 50,000 people.”
Allen believes that the only drawback to growing Tenderstem in Kenya is the water availability in the dry months from January to March. “You have got to make sure you have adequate water storage collected during the rains to carry the crop through the dry season. For the rest of the year, we do have very favourable growing conditions and adequate water availability,” he says.
Pests can affect the yield of the Tenderstem crop, but Flamingo has invested in an innovative integrated pest management (IPM) business called Dudutech, which now supplies most of the Tenderstem farms with advanced natural solutions that are specifically targeted at pests that are prevalent. The company employs 35 biology graduates and has 17 different lines of bio-control solutions at its site in Naivasha.
The worst pests for a Tenderstem crop are caterpillars belonging to diamond black moths and aphids. Kenyan growers, in general, use a minimal amount of chemicals on their crops, as Tenderstem is a product that must be harvested at precisely the right time, and this must not be restricted by the presence of chemicals. The industry also uses yellow, sticky pest traps that attract the insects using the same colour as the Tenderstem broccoli in flower, as well as light traps, which guide the insects into water.
The greatest problem lately, however, has been out of the field. With a weak sterling exchange rate against the dollar, in which many of the production and transport costs are denominated, Kenyan Tenderstem growers are feeling the financial squeeze.
But Daniel Kiboi from Homegrown’s Naivasha-based Kingfisher Farm says that he has high hopes for the Tenderstem crop. “It looks promising going forward, despite the economic situation and the exchange rate working against us,” he tells FPJ. “If you grow your crop well, while maximising the shelf life with a good cool chain system, you can maximise the amount of export-quality product.”
Milbank reiterates that there is more to growing Tenderstem than money. “In general, the vegetable industry faces huge challenges,” he confirms. “Profit is very marginal and the seed is relatively expensive. But this is not the whole picture; it is not just another product for us to sell. We put the leaves back into the soil and not a lot of crops fit into the legume crop rotation like Tenderstem does.
“Every quarter, we have increased the amount we are planting since we started with the crop and we are ready to respond to market demand and be flexible. We could produce 10 times the amount we grow now and still see a benefit to the farm.”
Flying in the face of fear
While the economic situation takes hold of growers, demand also takes a hit, but the industry is determined that Tenderstem will beat the hardships brought on by worldwide recession and remains upbeat.
Sian Pickard, Flamingo’s M&S business category manager, believes that promotion is the key to further Tenderstem’s success in the UK. “As long as we can promote our product, it will survive this downturn,” she says. “Consumers do not have a checklist anymore when they go shopping and it has become a very price-competitive market.
“Tenderstem is very diverse for the end user and it has a big potential sales base. It started being sold as just a single product and now it is available in stir-fry packs, as finger food and in high-end vegetable mixes, to name a few.”
Tenderstem production and sales will continue to excel, according to Homegrown’s vegetable director Thomas Frankum, who believes that the product was just what was needed to lift the brassica industry. “Tenderstem is a superb product compared to regular broccoli and other vegetables in the same trading arena,” he says. “We are waiting to see if eating habits will be affected by the recession. We have an advantage as people need to eat vegetables and cash-conscious consumers are eating at home more.”
The Tenderstem set is also fighting an ongoing battle to break down consumer misconceptions about airfreighting the product from Kenya to the UK. Frankum provides a concise answer to the subject. He says: “Consumers in the UK demand choice and year-round availability. If they cannot afford to eat out as regularly as they did, they will want to dine well at home. The airfreight industry is using more fuel-efficient aeroplanes, but most importantly, we grow in Kenya because it is the best climate for it - we grow ‘under the sun’.
“Most of the growing and processing operations are done by hand, thus avoiding energy-consuming machinery and creating employment. In Kenya, our employees don’t drive to work or to the supermarket in their own cars, and they don’t live in centrally heated houses with washing machines, dishwashers, tumble driers and state-of-the-art home entertainment systems. These factors significantly reduce the overall carbon emissions of the Kenyan supply chain. Our employees are given free bus transport to work and subsidised meals, making the whole process not only more energy efficient but socially beneficial and sustainable.
“The carbon debate continues to develop and must be considered in its widest context. We are seeking to achieve a balance consistent with minimising carbon emissions, providing the customer with a quality product all year round and delivering huge developmental benefits to communities in Kenya.”
So as the Tenderstem brand goes forward it seems that it is a beneficial crop for all involved, but it remains to be seen if demand will live up to expectations.
“Consumers who sample Tenderstem stick with it,” says Macdonald. “So education and introducing the product to people is the key here. We have had good sales records for a new crop, but it will be a long haul and we will not do it overnight. There has been a tremendous increase in sales year on year, so it is going to look impressive, but we are definitely at the start of the journey.”
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