The Greenery is targeting the vegetable and soft-fruit markets as it plans to expand the range of club varieties it sells.
The Dutch fresh produce giant already markets a number of club varieties in the apple and pear arena, but chief executive Philip Smits told freshinfo that top fruit was just the start of the company’s ambitions. “The concept of marketing a club variety, where you co-operate through the whole supply chain and regulate the marketing, is a very profitable way for all partners to survive,” he said. “Sometimes fresh produce is driven like a commodity market and we think this concept can also be applied in veg and soft fruit.
“That would necessitate a different attitude, but we are negotiating with interested companies to see if we can copy the same angle [of club varieties].”
Smits’ comments came as The Greenery this week unveiled Dazzling Gold, the new name for Next Fruit Generation’s Gold Sensation pear.
There are currently 13 hectares of Dazzling Gold on trial in the Netherlands, with volumes of the sweet-tasting fruit set to increase over the coming years.
The company expects Dazzling Gold to follow in the footsteps of Sweet Sensation, another recently-introduced pear club variety that is now being planted around the world. Capespan has begun planting this year, with new orchards also confirmed for France, Argentina and Chile. This year was the first full commercial season for the sweet variety.
The Greenery’s top-fruit product manager, Bert Wilschut, added. “Last season was all about establishing the brand in the market, and we tried to get consumers acquainted as much as possible with Sweet Sensation and we had a very good reaction from our customers and retailers.”
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